Pan Am Dateline Certificate

 
Pan Am Pacific Route Map

The Last Clipper Painting

As airplane travel became popular during the mid-1930s, passengers wanted to fly across the ocean, so Pan American Airlines asked for a long-range, four-engine flying boat. In response, Boeing developed the Model 314, nicknamed the "Clipper" after the great oceangoing sailing ships.

The Clipper used the wings and engine nacelles of the giant Boeing XB-15 bomber on the flying boat’s towering, whale-shaped body. The installation of new Wright 1,500 horsepower Double Cyclone engines eliminated the lack of power that handicapped the XB-15. With a nose similar to that of the modern 747, the Clipper was the "jumbo" airplane of its time.

The Model 314 had a 3,500-mile range and made the first scheduled trans-Atlantic flight June 28, 1939. By the year’s end, Clippers were routinely flying across the Pacific. Clipper passengers looked down at the sea from large windows and enjoyed the comforts of dressing rooms, a dining salon that could be turned into a lounge and a bridal suite. The Clipper's 74 seats converted into 40 bunks for overnight travelers. Four-star hotels catered gourmet meals served from its galley.

Boeing built 12 Model 314s between 1938 and 1941. At the outbreak of World War II, the Clipper was drafted into service to ferry materials and personnel. Few other aircraft of the day could meet the wartime distance and load requirements. President Franklin D. Roosevelt traveled by Boeing Clipper to meet with Winston Churchill at the Casablanca conference in 1943. On the way home, President Roosevelt celebrated his birthday in the flying boat's dining room.

First Scheduled Airline Service between Europe and U.S.

Within a year of its first flight, PAA began 314 scheduled transpacific passenger and mail service on March 29, 1939, with flights from San Francisco to Hong Kong. The Atlantic Ocean was next with the first scheduled airplane passenger service from New York City to Europe beginning on June 28, 1939. The 314 ushered in a new era of transatlantic travel - scheduled airline service providing an Atlantic ocean crossing in less than a day (weather permitting). Fuel stops were made in Eire (Ireland) or the Azores, depending upon final destination.

It provided the ultimate in luxury airplane travel in its day, un-matched even today in sheer elegance. The air conditioned and heated cabin had: five passenger compartments, a sit-down dining room with china and linen service, a bar, men’s and women’s dressing rooms, a galley, a honeymoon suite and sleeping berths. First class fare (the only choice) from New York to Marseilles, France, was $375 each way.

PAA nautical theme bestowed the crew with maritime ratings and uniforms. A master crew position, equivalent to a ship’s captain, was in overall command. His desk (without flying controls) was on the port side of the control cabin, third behind the (first) pilot and the navigator. With operating experience, this position was later eliminated. Juan Trippe (PanAm's CEO) borrowed and copyrighted the term Clipper from the New England-built sleek and fast sailing ships of the 1850s. The 314 was the fourth PAA airplane to bear the Clipper appellation.

The British Short S.26 G-Class flying boat airliner was the only direct competitor to the 314. It was a larger, more powerful development of the S.23 C-Class Empire flying boat, designed expressly for transatlantic service. World War II prevented the start of airline service, and the three aircraft built were taken into the Royal Air Force for patrol duties.

In 1941 British Overseas Airlines Corp. purchased three 314A's from PAA (prior to delivery and probably under pressure from the U.S. government) for $1 million each, to establish rapid transatlantic communications. These exported aircraft, plus the Martin M-156 sold to the USSR, were the only overseas sales of new, U.S. built, large passenger-carrying flying boats.

During World War II. the 314’s flew high-priority passengers and cargo for the U.S. and U.K. military services. President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill (he had a short stint at the co-pilot’s controls during a flight home) were among those carried. Roosevelt was flown to the Casablanca Conference, to meet with Churchill and Stalin, on January 14, 1943, thus becoming the first in-office president to fly, and the 314 Dixie Clipper the first presidential airplane. Additionally, clandestine missions were flown in support of the war effort.

Golden Era of the Passenger Flying Boat Ends in 1946

PAA flew its last Clipper service in 1946, bringing an end to the golden era of the passenger-carrying flying boat, which had begun less than 20 years earlier. The majestic flying boats were replaced by the more utilitarian and faster Douglas DC-4 and Lockheed Constellation landplanes. In 1951, the last existing Clipper, 314A NC16808/G-AGCA Berwick was raised, then scrapped, after sinking in the Baltimore, Maryland, harbor.