Botwood is a town in north-central Newfoundland, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada in Census Division 6. It is positioned on the west shore of the Bay of Exploits on a natural deep-water harbour. Historically, this harbour has been a significant hub for cargo ships and seaplanes. Botwood served as the North American endpoint for the first transatlantic commercial flights.
Exploits River Lumber and Pulp Company
Seal
Botwood in 1940
A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of taking off and landing (alighting) on water. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their technological characteristics: floatplanes and flying boats; the latter are generally far larger and can carry far more. Seaplanes that can also take off and land on airfields are in a subclass called amphibious aircraft, or amphibians. Seaplanes were sometimes called hydroplanes, but currently this term applies instead to motor-powered watercraft that use the technique of hydrodynamic lift to skim the surface of water when running at speed.
A Grumman G-111 Albatross amphibious flying boat landing
OS2U Kingfisher in 1944, seaplanes were commonly used in WW2 to do reconnaissance and do search and rescue. They were launched from ships or seaplane tenders, or could take off from water in the right conditions
de Havilland Otter floatplane
Dornier X a flying boat airliner of the interwar period
