Airboat History-Airboats for Military Use

The earliest use of an air-driven boat was in Mesopotamia (present day Iraq). In World War I, the British military enlisted the Farman Aircraft Company in France to build boats that could traverse the vast marshland of Mesopotamia as they fought the Ottoman Empire to protect British interest in the oil fields near Basra.

- Dave "Straycat" Laviolette

Farman Aircraft was founded by brothers Maurice, Henri, and Richard Farman. They designed and constructed more than 200 types of aircraft from 1908 to 1941. Their building of airboats (in France called hydroglisseurs) began in the 1920s. The craft they designed proved to be quite successful and were fitted with sophisticated military hardware for that era.

Britain also ordered airboats from Charles de Lambert Company for use on the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. The Lambert Company was known for its construction and development of hydrofoils. The first hydrofoils were propelled forward by air propulsion with motors mounted above the hull, using pusher-style propellers.