George Herbert Volk

Who is George Herbert Volk?

George Herbert Volk, known as "Bert", was a British automobile and general engineer noted as a pioneer builder of seaplanes. He is also the second son of Magnus Volk, who built Volk's Electric Railway, and Anna Volk.

George Herbert's younger brother Conrad wrote a biography of their father, in which he recalls George Herbert attending a dame school in Walton-on-Thames. In March 1902 George Herbert sailed for South Africa and he later served in Zululand with the Natal Mounted Rifles. During this period he farmed at Mooi River near Durban and in January 1908 married Annie Hephzibah "Hephie" Rosanna. He returned to Brighton in 1909 and in March traveled to Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques in France, where Louis Bleriot - who was to make his famous Channel flight a few years later - had started a Flight Training school.

In 1910–12 he worked in a small workshop at 86 Gloucester Road, situated in the North Laine district of Brighton. In this workshop he repaired cars, and also made parts for engines, wings, floats, and fabric bodies for seaplanes. Once assembled, they were taken to Volk's carriage sheds on the beach at Paston Place, to an arch which was known as Volk's Seaplane Station.