Nobody Asked Me…

Stuffed in the back of the sardine can on the way back from SLC yesterday, got pretzels and a little glass of Coke… sigh…

Granted it was a quicker trip, but…

An interesting bit of history that most of you are too young to remember. The docks where the Clippers tied up on Guam are now part of the marina on Naval Station.

Flying the Atlantic during the late 1930’s in the Pan Am Clipper.

You jet jockeys and frequent fliers will really appreciate this nostalgic look back in time at the Pan Am Clipper! Be sure to look at it all. The ‘fate’ of the Pan-Am Clipper was shocking.

Clipper passengers took their meals at real tables, not their seats. See below…

For most travelers in the  21st century flying is a dreary experience full of inconvenience, indignity and discomfort.

That wasn’t the case in the late 1930’s when those with the money to afford trans-oceanic flight got to take the Boeing Model 314, better known as the Clipper. Even Franklin Roosevelt used the plane celebrating his 61st birthday on board. Between 1938 and 1941 Boeing built 12 of the jumbo planes for Pan American World Airways.

The Clipper had a range of 3,500 miles — enough to cross either the Atlantic or Pacific with room for 74 passengers onboard. Of course modern aviation offers an amazing first class experience (and it’s a whole lot safer), but nothing in the air today matches the romanticism of crossing the oceans in the famed Clipper.

The nickname Clipper came from an especially fast type of sailing ship used in the 19th century. The ship analogy was appropriate, as the Clipper landed on the water, not runways.

On the Pan Am flights passengers had access to dressing rooms and a dining salon that could be converted into a lounge or bridal suite.
 The galley served up meals catered from four-star hotels. If you want to sit at a table to eat with other people these days you have to fly in a private jet. There was room for a crew of 10 to serve as many as 74 passengers.

On overnight flights the 74 seats could be turned into 40 bunks for comfortable sleeping.  The bunk beds came with curtains for privacy.

Unlike some modern jets that come with joysticks the Clipper had controls that resembled car steering wheels.

Navigating across the oceans required more manpower in the air.
The Clipper made its maiden Trans-Atlantic voyage on June 28, 1939.

But once the U. S. entered World War II the Clippers were pressed into service to transport materials and personnel.

POSTSCRIPT:

Prior to WWII the Japanese military became very interested in the new Pratt & Whitney radial engines that powered the PanAm Clipper.

On a flight from San Francisco to China a Clipper landed on Truk Lagoon to be refueled by Japanese authorities.  Later the Clipper was assumed lost over the Pacific. Years later it was revealed that the crew and passengers were arrested and executed.  The engines were retrieved and sent to Japan and the Clipper was sunk in deep water off Truk Lagoon.

Sadly, none of these aircraft exist today.