The first of nine PH-1 production aircraft for the US Navy. Delivered to Anacostia twelve days before the given photo date, and this is indeed the Anacostia River with a wing of the Roosevelt Hall visible on the far left. A8687 saw overseas service at Coco Solo, Panama, and Pearl Harbor. Hit and sunk by its own mooring buoy in a strong wind at French Frigate Shoals atoll, Hawaii on 27 October 1936. Salvaged but written off. Photo from: Hall

The PH-3 model of the Hall flying boat had a revised, modern-looking cockpit. Below is the terminal of Floyd Bennett Field, which was unsuccessful as an airport for New York. Note the civilian seaplane jetty. Coast Guard Air Station Brooklyn was on the other side of the field. Photo by: Rudy Arnold / Smithsonian Institution

The Hall Aluminum Aircraft Corporation was not terribly successful, but managed to sell nine PH-1 flying boats to the US Navy in 1930. Production of the PH recommenced in 1936 for the Coast Guard which ordered seven PH-2s, and seven PH-3s in 1939. These were the USCG's largest aircraft. Rudy Arnold photographed V164 off Coney Island - the building on the far right is the Half Moon Hotel which stood at West 29th Street. This one was lost in July 1939. The type was used for anti-submarine patrols during the war and kept in service until 1944. Photo by: Rudy Arnold / Smithsonian Institution