Akubra
What was the date that the first amphibian aircraft was produced?
Interesting question, according to the Guinness "Book of Air Facts and Feats" the first take off from water by an aeroplane was made by Henri Fabre in his Gnome-powered monoplane floatplane at Martigues, near Marseille on the 28th March. However the first aeroplane to perform a premeditated landing on water,taxi and then take off was a Curtiss 'hydroaeroplane' flown by Glenn Curtiss on the 20 Jan 1911. He took off and then landed in San Diego Harbour,turned round and took off again, flying about 1 mile before coming down near his starting point.
I am not sure what the difference was between his flight and Henri Fabre's flight possibly the fact that Fabre took off and flew a short distance before landing on the water again. I am sure that his landing was also "premeditated".
According to Peter M Bowers book "Curtiss Aircraft 1907-1947" by Putnam Glenn Curtiss demonstrated the first successful amphibian the Triad at North Island, San Diego on 25th February 1911. This was a conventional landplane converted to water operations by the substitution of pontoons for wheels. Curtiss added retractable wheels under the lower wings of a hydro and adding a nosewheel to the bow of the float.