Newfoundland Flying Boat Festival going International The central Newfoundland, Canada towns of Botwood and Norris Arm, and the Town of Foynes, Ireland are  exploring  partnership  opportunities  for  the  Flying  Boat  Festival  International  (F.B.F.I.)  that  is  being organized for the summer of 2007.  A celebration of the well-known Flying Boat era that saw hundreds of non-stop  Atlantic  crossings  between  Botwood  and  Foynes,  the  F.B.F.I.  project  also  includes  newly developed infrastructure and attractions in the two Bay of Exploits communities.  Initial consultations with representatives  of  the  Foynes  Flying  Boat  Museum  have  been  met  with  an  enthusiastic  response. Communications have been ongoing for a number of months via e-mail, and this past Sept. a conference call  was  held  between  local  F.B.F.I.  committee  representatives  and  members  of  the  Foynes  Museum Board of Directors.  Foynes representatives have been asked to consider a cultural exchange, including: music and other forms of entertainment, food, crafts, reciprocal pavilions and dignitary visitations.  A new web site for the festival was launched in Nov. - www.flyingboatfestival.ca.  The site has already received responses and enquiries from aviation enthusiasts, and festival coordinators are in the process of making contact via email with hundreds of flying boat and aviation organizations and devotees throughout North America and around the world.   A prelude of the festival will take place in early August of this year and will include activities in both Botwood and Norris Arm. In  2007  the  main  celebration  for  the  FBFI  will  be  held  as  this  year  marks  the  70th  anniversary  of  an important event in aviation history. On July 5, 1937 two flying boats - one eastbound from Botwood and the other westbound from Foynes - were each successful in their attempts to traverse the Atlantic Ocean non-stop. This event is said to have heralded a new era in human connectivity.  Although experimental, these  first  triumphant  flights  were  touted  as  a  tremendous  feat  by  the  media  of  the  day.  They  led  to  a short,  but  colourful,  period  in  aviation  history  that  included  492  scheduled  flying  boat  Atlantic  crossings between 1939 and 1945.  [editor’s note – Shell aviation fuel was central to these flights as depicted above.   Promotion of the role of high quality aviation fuels was a major marketing component in those days.]   At a time when Britain, and later the U.S., were inevitably being drawn closer to a formal declaration of war, and during WW2 itself, the Ireland-Newfoundland flying boat connection was the central part of an important  transportation  route  starting  in  Port  Washington,  New  York,  through  the  Bay  of  Exploits,  and ending in South Hampton, England.  Dignitaries and entertainers such as Winston Churchill and Bob Hope were among those who traveled between North America and Europe via flying boat. The new Central Newfoundland celebration will bring to life the vision of a group of dedicated individuals from Botwood and Norris Arm who have put in countless volunteer hours since Dec. of 2002.  Norris Arm's involvement in the F.B.F.I. stems from its aviation history and its link to Botwood.  Meteorological survey work for the British Air Ministry was carried out from Norris Arm in the early to mid 1930's. This included work required before non-stop flights across the Atlantic could be attempted. Petroleum History Society Archives, February 2006, Volume XVII, Number 1   Page 6