ERA | WORLD WAR TWO
1937, Glenn Martin’s Birds of a Feather, Two Branches of the Family Tree: “Russian Clipper" & the “Tadpole Clipper" at the Martin Company in MD.
Pan Am's Air Ferry Service to Africa in World War 2: August 18 [1941] Pres. Roosevelt announced plans for the world’s most ambitious airways project.
Air Mail & Pan Am History: China Clipper Endnote, a cover from Ken Sanford's impressive collection of stamps, courtesy of Jon Krupnick. Read the PDF.
Loading the China Clipper: An Excerpt from Morten Beyer's book about Pan American World Airways' China Clipper cargo, "Flying Higher" (2010).
Flying Cloud's debut: In Feb.1940 Boeing's famed test pilot Eddie Allen & PAA's Francis Jacobs flew the airline's first B-307 down to Brownsville TX.
The M-130 China Clipper was the first out of the gate, but it was the Philippine Clipper that saw WW2 up close on Wake Island in 1941 for Pan Am.
As WW2 began in Europe, PAA Pilot Charles Lorber landed his B-314 in Bermuda and British censors & marines removed all mail bound for Germany.
A Mighty Design: The story of the development and construction of Pan Am's famous Boeing B-314 flying boat, written by Doug Miller. Read the PDF
"The Day Wendell Willkie Chose To Fly Pan Am" by Tom Culbert: Willkie's tour around the world for FDR, and a story about an unusual WW2 mission.
Pan Am Capt. I. Wayne Eveland flew the notorious Hump between India and China in World War Two & experienced the 1942 Evacuation of Burma. PDF.
Marine Air Terminal (MAT) at LaGuardia, still in operation, was New York's first true airport where Pan Am's Clipper ships flew.
The Commodore and the President, from John C. Leslie's memoir: Arranging Pres. Roosevelt's daring WW2 flight to Casablanca on B-314 Dixie Clipper.
"When Passengers Were News." Pan Am's flying clipper ships were a lifeline in June 1941, prior to United States' involvement in World War Two.
NYC's 1965 Landmarks Preservation Law preserved the Interior at the MAT, LaGuardia with its Art Deco Design and stunning WPA Mural by James Brooks.
Echoes of Wake Island, by Bonnie Gilbert tells the story behind her 2012 book, "Building for War" and the civilian contractors and marines on Wake Is.
Service Aboard Clippers in Wartime: A few notes on Pan Am's flying boat operations during World War II, from Pan Am Transpacific Newsletter 1942.
War Claims a Clipper: Six hours after the Pearl Harbor attack, at Kai Tak Airport, Hong Kong, December 8, 1941: 6:50 a.m., local time (Dec. 7, 1941, 12:20 p.m.)
After the Pearl Harbor attack, Churchill sailed to Washington DC to meet with FDR, but flew home on the B-314 Clipper Berwick due to safety concerns.
