Flying boats are fixed-wing aircraft with hulls like boats, allowing them to land on water instsead of runways. Lakes, seas, reflecting pools, you name it.

In the early history of flight this kind of thing was popular because there were a lot of places without runways and airstrips, and a lot of those that did exist were too small to accomodate larger, long-distance airplanes. There were other advantages too - because their size wasn't limited by the length of runways, they could be built to an impressive size, and had longer range than land-based airplanes. I imagine it was also comforting to be able to land safely on the water in case of mechanical problems.

I think my favorite flying boat is the Dornier Do X (pictured in the thumbnail) which was made in the 1920's. In addition to seats for about a hundred passengers, its three decks contained an onboard kitchen, a dining room, multiple bathrooms, and a bar. Each nacelle on the top has two engines, for a total of twelve. There's just something magnificent about it.

In the 21st century flying boats are quite rare, although there are a few models used for fighting wildfires. The CL-415 Super Scooper for example, can skim the surface of a lake or reservoir for a few seconds and take in more than six thousand liters of water without stopping!

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