Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. The Sopwith Bat Boats were British flying boats designed and built from 1912 to 1914. A single engined pusher biplane, the Bat Boat was the first successful flying boat and amphibious aircraft built in the United Kingdom, with examples used by the Royal Navy and by Greece and Germany. In summer 1912, the British pioneer aviator and yachtman and power-boat racer, Thomas Sopwith started design of a flying boat, to be called the "Bat Boat" (after a flying machine in Rudyard Kipling's short story With the Night Mail) to combine his interests in aviation and the sea. The resultant design was a biplane, powered by a Gnome rotary engine in a tractor configuration. The hull, which was made of Consuta, i.e. plywood sheeting sewn in place with copper wire, was built by S E Saunders, the shipbuilders based at Cowes on the Isle of White who were experienced in the construction of power-boats, while the wings, of about 30 ft (9.15 m) span, were built at Sopwith's flying school at Brooklands. Although the aircraft was approaching completion by August 1912, it was abandoned and was never flown.

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