The German designer of racing yachts Max Oertz at the beginning of the last century became interested in the construction of airplanes.
In 1909, his first biplane took off, and since 1911 he had been working on a modification of Wright’s biplanes.
In the spring of 1913, Oertz received an order from the German Navy Command to build a flying boat.
The project, which received the unpretentious designation FB.1 (Flying Boat 1) was ready for the summer of the same year and was a two-seater wooden biplane equipped with a 100 hp Argus engine.
At the end of November 1913, in Warnemund, French pilot Anselme Marchal made the first taxiing and take-off attempts on FB.1.
However, the flying boat was never able to break away from the water surface.
FB.1 was returned for the supplement.
It was not until mid-May of the following year that another test was undertaken.
As a result, it was possible to climb into the air for only 10 meters.
The military was disappointed and ordered the designer to complete the redesign of the project.
As a result, the second version was developed: The FB.2 featuring wing design and more powerful Mercedes D.I engine (160 hp).
Unfortunately, it didn’t manage to achieve good flight characteristics.
Only on the third attempt Oertz was able to build a flying boat, the flight characteristics of which satisfied the navy.
The third option was the FB. 3, was an upgraded version of the FB.2 with the same engine Daimler -Mercedes.
At the end of the summer of 1914, the flying boat was adopted by the navy and received the flight number – “46”.
