ERA | WORLD WAR TWO
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.
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
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.
The day Geo. E. Warren III watched the last B-314 in 'Warpaint' and its final landing and take off in Miami with his dad, a PAA flying boat mechanic.
Loading the China Clipper: An Excerpt from Morten Beyer's book about Pan American World Airways' China Clipper cargo, "Flying Higher" (2010).
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.
"How America's Airline Went To War," by Steve Weintz, about Pan Am during WW2, from War Is Boring, with an original clip from "Clippers At War."
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.)
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.
Pan American Airways in World War Two by Bob Gandt: A story that began December 7, 1941 with the bombing at Pearl Harbor. Read the PDF.
The building of Treasure Island Terminal and seaplane base in San Francisco Bay, and the Pan Am flying boats that took part in World War Two.
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.
July 12, 1940, a B-314 mail survey flightwith Capt."Pop" Tilton commanding, flew from San Francisco to New Zealand via Canton & Noumea.
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.
Engaging accounts by Ed Dover, former Pan Am Flight Radio Officer & author of "The Long Way Home," on his career with Pan Am during World War Two.
