Lake Aircraft

Lake LA-4-200 Buccaneer

Lake LA-4-200 Buccaneer at Cornwall, Ontario on 21 May 2005.

Lake Aircraft was a manufacturer of amphibious aircraft. Their factory was in Sanford, Maine, USA, and their sales offices were located at Laconia / Gilford, New Hampshire and Kissimmee, Florida. The assets of the company were sold in 2004 to an investor who incorporated as "Sun Lake Aircraft" in Vero Beach, Florida. The assets are now owned by Revo inc . www.lakeamphib.com

History

The first plane produced was the Colonial Skimmer. It was derived from an original design produced by Dave Thurston in 1946 when he was with Grumman Aircraft. Grumman never produced the design, but Thurston formed Colonial Aircraft as a side business to continue development. Colonial's first amphibious aircraft, designated the "Colonial Aircraft C-1 Skimmer" and based on the original Grumman G-65 Tadpole design, first flew in 1948. Colonial grew to produce almost 50 of the C-1 and larger C-2 design before being sold in 1959. The new owner, Jack Strayer, renamed the company Lake Aircraft and enlarged the basic design again into the LA-4, a 180-horsepower, 4-seat aircraft, which was the basis for the entire line of aircraft that continues today. Lake aircraft produced in the 1960 - 1980 range are listed by the FAA as having been built by "Consolidated Aeronautics." For many years the Lake LA-4-200 was advertised as "The world's only single-engine production amphibian."