Flying Boat

By Dirk Braun

A good friend introduced me to the Grumman Albatross when I was 18 years old, and it never left me. My interests kept growing, and I would dream and fantasize about what I would do with one. It wasn’t until many years later that I began the pursuit of making FLYING BOAT. This film is about the handful of pilots and mechanics still maintaining and flying the last remaining examples of this aircraft.

Most of these had been decommissioned and were sitting neglected for many decades in Tucson, AZ, at Davis Monthan Air Force Base, also known as the Boneyard. What fascinates me about this particular type of aircraft is its diverse capabilities and ruggedness, being able to take off and land in open ocean and even on ice and snow. With long-range capabilities, they can cross oceans without refueling and reach places that would otherwise not be possible. They were initially designed for open ocean search & rescue for the military, were the last passenger transport flying boats used by Pan American Airlines, and have been used for countless expeditions and research missions.

The few airworthy examples today are privately owned, and those flying them have their own ambitions and aspirations as to what they do with them. During the making of the film, I also started the journey of getting my pilot’s license and enjoy flying all over the place and landing on and off airports.

The world premiere of FLYING BOAT was at the Ford Motor Theatre at AirVenture, and it is now available to stream and on DVD on Amazon Prime. Limited edition prints and other merchandise are also available through my art gallery at 23708 Malibu Road in Malibu, CA (DIRKBRAUNgallery.com).

AMAZON:

Streaming https://bit.ly/streamFLYINGBOAT

DVD (includes 21-minute extras film) https://amzn.to/3PjEMgn