One of the most famous commercial flying boats, the Short S.23 C Class (known as the Empire) was built by Short Brothers for Imperial Airways and Qantas, particularly for the routes from the United Kingdom to Australia.

S E Saunders Ltd (later Saunders Roe) on the Isle of Wight was set up in the 1920s to design and construct amphibians and flying boats, and one of the first designs produced by the Company was the Saro A.17 Cutty Sark.