What was the best floatplane design that never entered active service?
Short answerNo single design stands out: most good examples were used, while promising postwar projects were overtaken as naval aviation moved on from the type.
NotesNo clear interwar winner emerges because most of the good floatplane designs actually entered service. Many proposed variants should never have advanced as far as they did. Some postwar designs may have deserved a better chance, but the operating world moved away from the mission they were built to perform. Their failure to enter service therefore says more about technological transition than about whether the airframes were intrinsically poor. The answer remains qualified rather than naming one forgotten design as obviously superior.