Lieutenant Colonel John Cyril Porte, CMG, FRAeS (26 February 1884 – 22 October 1919) was a British flying boat pioneer associated with the First World War Seaplane Experimental Station at Felixstowe.

[6] Six days prior, Porte took part in the Daily Mail Circuit of Britain from Brooklands with the first British built 60hp Anzani Deperdussin monoplane,[4][6] but suffered an unfortunate accident shortly after takeoff.

[6] With Admiral Edmund Fremantle as chairman[6] and Louis Béchereau as Technical Director of the Paris Deperdussin works acting as technical advisor, Porte was test pilot,[6][5] and joint managing director of the British Deperdussin Company in April 1912 alongside Italian D. Lawrence Santoni, who was already well known in aviation circles and went on to found Savoia.

[6] They were the first to establish a British factory for the manufacture of a foreign aircraft; with Porte also as technical director and designer,[6] Frederick Koolhoven joined them from France as chief engineer[6] and works manager in the summer of 1912.

[6] He flew Deperdussin aircraft in the Military Aeroplane Trials[4][5] at Larkhill and air races at Hendon Aerodrome, where he became a popular figure with the weekend crowds, by now achieving a considerable reputation as a skilled pilot.

[19] Porte tested the British Deperdussin Seagull float plane[5] successfully at Osea Island about June 1913;[20] around this time he was recovering from a serious operation to his jaw.

Widely publicised, Porte and Curtiss then worked together on a design at Hammondsport, New York, US[4] between February and August 1914, commissioned and funded by American businessman Rodman Wanamaker for a prototype flying boat with which they intended to cross the North Atlantic Ocean and win a $50,000 cash prize put up by the Daily Mail, supported by Lord Northcliffe; in connection with the London, Anglo-American Exhibition beginning 14 May 1914, Victoria Woodhull Martin announced a further $5,000 and silver trophy on behalf of the Woman's Aerial League of Great Britain, 4 February 1914.

[6] By 20 May 1914 the official contenders for the prize were Irishman Porte, and Englishman Gustav Hamel with a British built prototype Martinsyde monoplane funded by Canadian businessman Mackay Edgar.

The commencement of hostilities stopped Wanamaker's plan on 4 August 1914 when the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland declared war on Germany and Porte, leaving with nothing but his clothes,[6] boarded Lusitania at New York bound for Liverpool.

[26] Captain Murray Sueter, now Director of the Admiralty Air Department was looking for a suitable aircraft to combat the German U-boat and Zeppelin forces in the North Sea.

[6] His first design implemented at Felixstowe was the Porte Baby, a large, three-engined biplane flying-boat powered by one central pusher and two outboard tractor Rolls-Royce Eagle engines.

[32] Porte modified a Curtiss H-4 (No.3580)[27] with Hispano-Suiza engines and a new hull[30] whose improved hydrodynamic qualities made taxiing, take-off and landing much more practical, and renamed it the Felixstowe F.1.

Acutely aware of the flying boat's limitations, Porte pioneered the use of a small towing lighter with a planing hull to increase its effective range.

[39] On 25 July 1917, while he was engaged in his large flying boat design,[6] Porte, William Augustus Casson (age 63), Lyman J. Seeley and other persons were indicted in London's Bow Street Magistrates' Court on charges of profiteering under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906.

[42] On 19 November 1917 Casson admitted guilt but, on return of the money, the Attorney General entered a plea of nolle prosequi against Porte in light of his failing health and important war service.

[22] The nervous strain of the proceedings combined with the onerous commitments at Felixstowe had an adverse effect on Porte's already poor state of health,[41] the circumstances making it very difficult to mount a proper defense;[6] he was taken ill toward the end of the second hearing and remained for a period at the Russell Hotel in the advanced stages of chronic pulmonary tuberculosis; proceedings continued in his absence until the final hearing at the Old Bailey.

The distinguished Casson, a retired civil servant and barrister living in Bedford Park, was 'persuaded' to plead guilty so the trial could be brought to a swift conclusion[6] and reprimanded by the sentencing judge, Henry McCardie.

[6] Demobilised from the RAF,[17][46] and still very sick, Porte joined the Gosport Aircraft Company in August 1919 as chief designer;[6] it was hoped that there would be progressive developments as he agreed to use his recent patents that were very forward looking, one incorporating a ski or hydrofoil.

The meeting was brokered by Air Commodore R. M. Groves (an RNAS contemporary) for the end of October 1919, who in a letter described the invention "As incredible as the Ironship or Telephone in their day".

"[50] Even into his last moments, Porte was thinking and talking about his future ideas; at the time of his death, there was a sense of real loss in the aviation world.

C. G. Grey, Editor of The Aeroplane, stated in a long obituary, "The history of John Cyril Porte is a tragedy relieved by the example of indomitable will and loyalty which he has set to all who serve the King.

[51][52] The award was announced posthumously in the London Gazette 12 December 1919[41] with some of Porte's contemporaries in the Royal Navy and RAF who also received the Distinguished Service Medal from the United States: Sir Godfrey Marshall Paine, Arthur Vyell Vyvyan, Charles Laverock Lambe, Robert Marsland Groves and Edward Maitland Maitland.