 He proved to be a gifted and natural pilot.With Admiral Edmund Fremantle as chairman and Louis Béchereau as Technical Director of the Paris Deperdussin works acting as technical advisor, Porte was test pilot, and joint managing director of the British Deperdussin Company in April 1912 alongside Italian D. Lawrence Santoni, who was already well known in aviation circles and went on to found Savoia.They were the first to establish a British factory for the manufacture of a foreign aircraft; with Porte also as technical director and designer, Frederick Koolhoven joined them from France as chief engineer and works manager in the summer of 1912.