Burgess-Collier Flying Boat

The Burgess-Collier Flying boat was custom-built for the editor and publisher of the popular Collier’s Weekly, Robert Collier. Designer, W. Starling Burgess of Massachusetts designed it to utilize a 20-cylinder, 220 HP Anzani engine, which Collier provided. Completed in July 1913 it was test-flown by Burgess test pilot, Frank T. Coffyn. Some sources refer to it as a Model I, but it has also been reported as a Model M. It is believed to be the first aircraft with a self-starter. The 137-pound Hartford electric self-starter was geared to the crankshaft extension with a Diamond chain, allowing the pilot to start the engine by pressing a button – an innovation for 1913! It was featured on the cover of the December 23, 1913 and January 24, 1914 issues of Aero and Hydro and reports of its development and first flights appeared in numerous newspapers.

The wings and portions of the tail are all that remain of this one-of-a-kind biplane. We long thought it to be a French Breguet due to its steel tubular wing spar, a distinguishing feature of early Breguet designs. In 2007, aviation historian and founder/publisher of World War I Aero, Leo Opdycke suggested that it might be the Burgess-Collier Flying Boat, as the components were retrieved from the Collier Estate in Wickatunk, NJ. Aerodrome volunteers measured the remains of the aircraft against drawings of the original parts and found the parts to be an exact match. This story is covered in issue #196 of WWI Aero, May 2007.

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