I always considered the Italians to be designers of the most stylish and innovative forms of transport, amongst which this Piaggio P7 built in 1928-29 to contest the same Schneider Trophy that gave rise to the Spitfire. To avoid the weight and drag of floats it deployed hydrofoils, pre-dating Regent's Seaglider by a mere century.
There are lessons here for our own proj, for the standout obstacles to its success were limited visibility due spray ~ presumably from the airscrew out front ~ and problems with transferring the power from the water-screw to airscrew by dint of a pilot-operated clutch.
Personally I'd have left the water-screw permanently engaged, simple solutions ever the best... the drag and frictional losses would have likely been marginal.
Perfection, the enemy of progress but precisely what Italian designers aim at.
