Bristol-Burney seaplanes

The Bristol-Burney seaplanes were a pair of experimental seaplanes produced in 1912 to 1914 by a collaboration between Lieutenant Dennistoun Burney and the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company. Burney, a naval officer convinced of the possibilities of naval aviation, approached Bristol, which set up a highly secret design office called the X Department with Frank Barnwell as designer. The aircraft had a novel hydroplane undercarriage, and the work was the basis for Burney's later invention of the paravane. The X.2 began as an inflatable wing monoplane idea that proved too heavy and was redesigned with a conventional wing. Neither aircraft was successfully flown.