Beginning in 1911, Glenn Curtiss test-flew pioneering seaplanes and flying boats from this beach in Hammondsport. By 1911 he had already built a working seaplane that could take off from and land on water using pontoons, but a successful flying boat required the right hull shape. During the warm season each year, the beach was busy as Curtiss developed and tested new flying boat designs, and in the summer of 1912 he solved the hull design problem. By 1913 he was building and selling the Model E, the world's first practical flying boat. The United States Navy followed his experiments closely and soon hired him to help create a fledgling naval aviation program. In 1911 he trained the Navy's first pilots and built its first seaplane, and in 1914 he introduced the America, the world's first twin-engine flying boat, designed to carry a crew of two across the ocean. Beginning as a self-taught bicycle mechanic, Curtiss rose to national prominence as a pioneer aviator, the founder of the American aviation industry, and the father of U.S. Naval Aviation.