Excuse a little thread creep, but any flying boat enthusiasts should have a look at this site:
http://www.pinetreeline.org/rds/detail/rds99-35.html
A fascinating description of a base I had never heard of. Its nickname was "Eveless Eden" and there was a pith helmet behind the bar - "The Second Most Useless Thing in Alliford Bay". It also had Bambi on the station crest:
http://www.pinetreeline.org/rds/detail/rds27-4.html
Some nice photos of Stranraers, including a fly-over of a tall ship (a barquentine for the purists), also one of two Sharks (I didn't know that Boeing built them) and especially for pigboat and Chuck, a beautiful picture of a Canso just touching down on glassy water.
And pigboat's mention of BC Airlines calls for further thread creep. I had my one and only flying boat flight in a BC Airlines Mallard out of Vancouver in the early 70s. I was flying to Tofino (an airfield) and then the Mallard was going on to Tahsis, a remote logging and fishing community on northern Vancouver Island, before returning to YVR.
The departure was delayed due to some mechanical issues and so just before startup, the Captain asked if the two Tofino passengers would mind going to Tahsis first, since that was where everyone else was going. And so I got to experience a long letdown and glassy water landing in Tahsis Inlet, the gear-lowering and taxying up onto the ramp and then finally a graphic demonstration of a glassy water takeoff. We must have run for over a mile before liftoff!
And finally,
. No hills like that in Central Alberta, last time I looked, pigboat.
