Pan American air ways, Vol. 8, No. 2, February 1937

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World’s Standard For Air Transpor­ tation

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FEBRUARY, 1937

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WORLD'S FIRST "STRATOSPHERE" LINER

First Air Mail To China —March!

Volume 8

No. 2

U. S. AIR MAIL TO GO HALFWAY ’ROUND WORLD
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PAN AMERICAN LAYS PLANS FOR “STRATOSPHERE”
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WASHINGTON. — When the first air mail to China starts moving westward, to climax the most spectacular decade in the history of Amer­ ican transportation, the United States mail will swing into ser­ vice one continuous route that reaches more than half way around the world. Giving the practical a ir lin e d is ta n c e around the globe at the present time at 21,000 miles, the air mail service across the conti­ nent from New York to San Francisco thence across the Pacific via Pan American, will cover 11,600 miles into Macao and Hong Kong—more than a thousand miles past the half­ way mark, r e c e n t bulletins here disclosed. With all the dramatic ele­ ments of romance and adven­ ture crammed into this latest achievement of American avia­ tion, Post Offices throughout the country report unprecedented interest on the part of the pub­ lic in the forthcoming inaugu­ ration of service. Philatelic so­ cieties, stamp collectors’ clubs and thousands of individuals are planning to send special “covers” on the inaugural flight and the demand for more time fo r th e ir preparation may postpone the date set for the opening of the service, Post Office officials indicated. Business organizations which have been carrying on com­ merce with the Orient for years, trade associations and others, are likewise planning to capitalize on this historic flight with the dispatch of spe­ cial messages and business cor­ respondence to customers and clients in the Far East who will now be less than a week away from cities within the United States. A tentative date of April 8th has now been set for the first through-flight le a v in g San Francisco, with a return flight from Hong Kong scheduled for April 15. It is expected that these dates will either be con­ firmed or changed within the next few days when final de­ tails are made relative to post­ age charges and transfer of Continued on Page 5

Scale Perspective of the sealed cabin, fully super-charged airliner, designed for passenger flight at 20,000-foot level and above which is joint Boeing-Pan American project

FOUR CLIPPERS GET NEW NAMES
“ W e s t I n d ie s ,” “ A n t ille s ,” " D o m in ic a n ,” “ C o lo m b ia ” A d d e d T o N a m e d F le e t

Sets T erm in al R eco rd ; 3 5 0 P assengers a Day
MIAMI. — All-time peak for international air travel­ ers in one day was estab­ lished by Pan American Airways here February 19, when 356 passengers cleared through the international airport. Last year’s high was 288 passengers reached one day in March. This unprece­ dented air traffic represents a rate of over 9,000 passen­ gers per month at one port. Traffic officials credit the new mark to the increas­ ing popularity of “Clipper Cruises” for pleasure travel which have necessitated ad­ ditional services to Havana, Nassau and Jamaica. ship to the newest Clipper as­ signed to the Pacific Division as an auxiliary. The airliner incorporates many new fea­ tures advanced over the origi­ nal transocean flyingboat, Bra­ zilian Clipper, which was first put into service on the Eastern Division route, Miami to Rio and Buenos Aires, two years ago. Addition of the new Clipper and the three Baby Clippers to be delivered in March, will bring Pan American’s total fleet to 141 aircraft, by far the largest international air trans­ port fleet in the world.

“BABY CLIPPERS” WILL JOIN FLEET
T h r e e N e w S - 4 3 s , F ly in g B o a t T y p e F o r M a rch D e ­ liv e r y

NEW YORK. — Imparting the personality of a title, to take the place of the formal registry number which they have carried since being placed into international service, four of Pan American’s latest aerial giants are to be given names. In recognition of the import­ ant part these areas represent in the System, President J. T. Trippe has designated the fol­ lowing names for the four Clippers: the NC822M is to be named the Colombia Clipper; the NC15374, the Antilles Clip­ per; and the NC15376, the Do­ minican Clipper. Since this title has been re­ served for exploratory and survey craft, the proud name of Pan American Clipper is being removed from the NC823M, its adventurous career over, after its famous pioneer­ ing of the transpacific airway. Henceforth this airliner will be known as the West Indies Clip­ per in the Miami-West IndiesRio service. In the final stages of con­ struction at the Bridgeport plant of the Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation, a new four-en­ gined Clipper will shortly join the Pan American fleet. An S-42B type, it is a full sister

BRIDGEPORT.—Three new “Baby Clippers” — twin-en­ gined flying boats — fastest transports of their type in the world, are scheduled to leave the Sikorsky plant here during March. They will augment Pan American’s present fleet of ten twin-engined Sikorsky S-43type amphibians which have taken over important links in the aerial network around the Caribbean and on the South American continent. Originally designed as am­ phibians for sections of the combined la n d -a n d -w a te r routes of the international ser­ vice, the three new airliners will be flyingboats instead of amphibians, and will see their first service on the eastern route through the West Indies to Brazil and Argentina. At the present time “Baby Clippers” are used alternately with the big four-engined Clip­ pers on this eastern trunk air­ line, operating as far south as Rio de Janeiro. A fleet of three of them are in service on the northern tr a n s c o n t in e n t a l route between Trinidad and Cristobal. From this junction p o in t, P an American-Grace covers their Cristobal to Guay­ aquil section with sister ships.

NEW YORK.—Again taking the lead in practical research and experimentation for the advancement of American air transport, the Pan American Airways System expects short­ ly to place orders for the con­ struction of the world’s first “stratosphere”-type airliners. The Boeing Aircraft Com­ pany, in Seattle, are preparing to start immediate production of two advanced four-engined transports designed to cruise upper flight levels four and five miles above the earth at speeds ranging over four and one-half miles a minute. Boe­ ing engineers have extended research over the past two years on the project, looking toward the practical operation of transport craft at sub-strat­ osphere altitudes. Their studies reached the stage upon which basic designs could be projected some months ago. Pan American secured an option on the first two fourengined land transport to be built by the Boeing Company for the practical application of the seven years of record data assembled by Pan American in upper air studies on the inter-American r o u te s and particularly the valuable flight observations secured in two years of transpacific flying. The results of both these lines of research are incorporated in the new “stratosphere” air­ liners which the Boeing Com­ pany are prepared to start building at once. While only preliminary, de­ tails of their specifications were made available, it is known the “stratosphere” air­ liners incorporate a number of advanced features. The fusel­ age, which will be 74 feet long, is a perfectly stream­ lined circular body tapering to a fine point at the tail. In the 107-foot wing will be housed four Wright G-100 Whirlwinds which will develop a total of nearly 5,000 horsepower. At the cruising altitude of 20,000 feet the airliner will have an indicated speed of 266 miles per hour on 75% horsepower,