Science: Lily

Small birds can land on floating lily-pads. So could airplanes—if the lily-pads were big and buoyant enough.

The British Admiralty last week described its floating airstrip, called “Lily” for short. Made of closely linked hexagonal buoys 6 ft. across and 30 in. deep, it yields a little to the waves, but is rigid enough to support a plane. Recently a 9,000 Ib. plane landed and took off from a strip 520 ft. long and 60 ft. wide.

Floating airports have been an engineer’s dream for years. The sober Lords of the Admiralty claim that the Lily stays fairly flat when jolted by waves 35 ft. high, can be quickly assembled or towed to any desired spot. A Lily with larger, deeper buoys would allow trans-ocean airplanes to land at sea.

Inventor R. M. Hamilton started in a small way with the “Swiss Roll,” a can-vas-and-wood pier to be carried, rolled up, on a ship’s deck. During the Normandy invasion, trucks speeded over an unrolled roll to safety on the beach. Final flowering of the idea was Lily.