"dhb" wrote in message
nk.net...
Sure, he could have. But where would he fly it? There were no
runways
as long as the ocean. Very big engines mean lots of weight, means
that
no mere mile long runway would be enough. There weren't many mile
long runways at airports.

At that time, there were no production aircraft engines available
_anywhere in the world_ with the needed power. Only race-tuned
prototype engines for national-team Schneider cup racers. It took a
German national-effort race-tuned DB601 engine for a landplane to
finally surpass the seaplanes in 1939.

In America, there weren't even any of those prototype engines.