Lake Aircraft

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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.

[edit] 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."

EVOLUTION OF LAKE AMPHIBIAN Aircraft
YEARS PRODUCED	MODEL	seats	HORSEPOWER	MAX CRUISE Speed	PAYLOAD W/MAIN FUEL FULL
1948-1959	C1 AND C2	2	150-180	90 mph	340 lb payload
1960-1969	LAKE LA-4	4	180	110 mph	440 lb
1970-1982	LAKE LA4-200	4	200	105 knots	500 lb
1983-1985	LAKE LA4-200 EP	4	200	110 knots	550 lb
1984-1995	LAKE LA-250	6	250	132 knots	800 lb
1987-2005	LAKE LA-270T	6	270	155 knots	720 lb
2006	SEAFURY		250 & 270