On March 28, 1910, Henri Fabre made the first successful powered seaplane flight. Traveling over 1,900 feet and wowing a crowd of spectators, he inaugurated the seaplane and flying boat industry that would flourish for the next several decades. Some of the earliest attempts at building planes that could takeoff from the water came in the late 1800s. In 1876, Alphonse Pénaud of France filed a patent for a flying vessel with a boat hull and retractable landing gear. Wilhelm Kress of Austria is often considered the first person to build a seaplane in 1898. However, his Drachenflieger’s engines weren’t strong enough for it take off and it sank. In 1905, Gabriel Voisin of France made one of the first unpowered flights when he used a glider pulled by an automobile.