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The RFS-1 was constructed by Donald V. Reid, an early R/C submarine enthusiast, and defense contractor, of Asbury Park, New Jersey, USA, using parts from other (crashed) aircraft. A serious attempt to make an aircraft that could also serve as a submarine, Reid's design came to him almost by accident when a set of model airplane wings fell off a shelf and landed on the hull of one of his radio-controlled submarines he had been building since 1954. An idea was born and he decided to build the world's first flying submarine.
Reid first tested various model-sized flying submarines before attempting to build a piloted craft. As a plane, registered as N1740 and powered by a 65 hp four-cylinder Lycoming aircraft engine, the RFS-1 has flown over 75 ft (23 m) on the Shrewsbury River in 1962 by Don's son Bruce. Initially the pilot's position was in the engine pylon but was moved forward onto the fuselage before the first flight.
To convert it into a submarine, the pilot removed the propeller and covered the engine with a rubber "diving bell". On auxiliary power, a small 1 hp electric motor situated in the tail, it traveled submerged, the pilot using an Aqualung, at a depth of 10 to 12 ft (ca. 3.5 m). The RFS-1 also bore the New Jersey State watercraft license NJ18S on the nose.
Underpowered, the Reid RFS-1, also known as the Flying Submarine, really did fly, briefly, but was unable to sustain flight; and it was submersible. Don Reid tried to interest the military in the craft, without success; he died at the age of 79 in 1991