Pan American air ways, Vol. 9, No. 1, January 1938

              World’s Standard For Air Transpor­ tation

WAYS
JANUARY, 1938
P u erto R ico’s C hief A rd en t A ir T raveler
SAN JU A N . — H aving flown enough miles to circle the globe one and a h alf tim es on his m issions be­ tw een P uerto Rico and the U n i t e d S t a t e s , G eneral B lanton W inship, Governor of P u erto Rico, in J a n u a ry completed his 17th trip by Clipper Ship between Mi­ ami, San Ju a n , W ashington and New York. A rriv in g a t the In te rn a ­ tional P an A m erican A ir­ p o rt the genial retire d arm y officer explained his trav e l record w ith : “ W hen th e re is w ork to be done in W ashington or New York, I go and g et it done. Lolling in an arm ch air in P uerto Rico never produced an y th in g b u t more lolling.” tim e, and the practicab ility of term inal facilities. The first scheduled revenue B erm uda flight w as carried out Ju n e 18, w ith a fu ll load of 26 passengers who could forever a fte r boast to fam ily and friends th a t they h ad p a r ­ ticipated in th e first scheduled A tlan tic service. Soon C aptain G ray moved into the broader stages of A t­ lantic survey flying, and th e B erm uda service w as tak en over by th e v eteran C aptain Continued on Page 15

Coming— Review of P rogress 1937

Volume 9

No. 1
R o to S ection M akes B ow W ith T his Issue
P an A merican A ir Ways
p resen ts herein th e first edi­ tion of its new “ R o to g ra­ v u re ” section. In p rep a ra tio n fo r it, professional and am ­ a te u r p h o to g rap h ers from A laska to Buenos A ires to China have been called upon fo r fre sh and in te restin g p ictu res of P an A m erican activities and P an A m eri­ can people. And th e scenes a t Mi­ am i’s in te rn atio n a l a ir g a te ­ way, of flying fre ig h t in Bo­ livia and other fe a tu re s are only th e beginning. Over all th e System , personnel are invited to continue th e search fo r new pictures. And w atch fo r th e p ictu re supplem ent in P an A meri­ can A ir W ays e v e r y m onth. alen t of one p assenger flown one mile, and if all these p ass­ enger miles w ere c o m b in e d in one trip it would ta k e the tra v e le r f a r enough to be w ithin shouting distance of th e sun.) The increase fo r 1937 over 1936 w as 38 per cent, the to ta l fo r th e previous y ear h aving been 65,000,000. A ir express, which has grow n a t a phenom enal ra te on all A m erican airlin es in the p a s t few y ears, had th e highest im provem ent of all in Continued on Page 4

BERMUDA SERVICE TOTALS 100 TRIPS BY MID-JANUARY
P r a c tic a b ility o f L a te r T r a n s ­ a tla n tic O p e r a tio n P r o v e d b y E ig h t M o n th s T e st

SYSTEM’S TRAFFIC UP 30-40 PER CENT FROM 1936 TOTAL
P a s s e n g e r s M ail a n d E x p r e ss A ll S h o w G a in s In 1937

AIR TRAVELOGUES IN COLOR TO HAVE WORLD AUDIENCE
P a n A m e r ic a n S c o r e s A g a in W ith F ir st N a tu r a l C o lo r F e a ­ tu r e s o f S o u th e r n A m e r ic a s

ATLANTIC IS STUDIED
L o g T o ta l o f 7 9 ,2 9 2 M iles In 5 4 5 H o u r s o f S c h e d u le d T r a n s o c e a n ic S e r v ic e

AIR EXPRESS LEADS
M e r c h a n d is e S h ip m e n ts I n c r e a se b y 7 5 0 ,0 0 0 P o u n d s fo r G a in o f 4 0 p e r c e n t

“ FIRST SALES A ID ”
S e r ie s o f E ig h te e n R e e ls to b e S h o w n in T h e a tr e s E veryw h ere

BA LTIM O R E. — On J a n u ­ a ry 17, P an A m erican’s A t­ lan tic Division completed its h u n d redth flight between th e U nited S tates and Berm uda, th ereb y laying a firm fo unda­ tion in experience fo r the A t­ lan tic operation to come. Of course, one hundred flights to a id from Berm uda don’t comp ire in to ta l figures w ith a sim ilar num ber across the nine thousand miles of the Pacific Ocean, b u t none th e less th e sta tistician s have tu rn ed in seme in te restin g totals. The 100 flights— 50 roundtrip s — across th is 800-mile stretch of n o r t h A t l a n t i c Ocean have proved the fe a si­ bility of scheduled service over th e A tlantic, and have brought a new conception of tra v e l to a section of the country th e re to ­ fo re u n in itiated in th e advan­ tag es of over-ocean flying. B erm uda service w as first conceived several y ears ago when it w as seen th a t in addi­ tion to ta p p in g a trav e l route iew to a ir tra n sp o rta tio n , it ould provide invaluable p rac­ tical experience fo r th e broader ale of flying th a t spanning e A tlan tic would entail. Thereupon P an A m erican’s tgineers drew up a compremsive plan fo r study and mlysis of A tlantic seaboard e ra tin g conditions, A tlantic cean w eather, and A tlantic aboard traffic potentialities. These p relim in ary s t u d i e s led to the first U nited S tatesB erm uda survey flight from '’o rt W a s h i n g t o n , on Long island, a few miles from New Y ork City. The first of th ree such surveys, w ith C aptain H arold E. G ray in command, got under w ay la st M ay 15. Sim ultaneously, f r o m t h e Berm uda end, C aptain W illiam N. Cumming of the B ritish Im ­ perial A irw ays, left Berm uda in one of the new E m pire-class flyingboats fo r the first B ritish route survey to the A m erican m ainland. T here w ere th ree such ro u nd-trip survey flights between Berm uda and P o rt W ashington, all of which bore out th e charted g raph of the engineers as to w eather, flying

N E W YORK. — Traffic re ­ p o rts p ouring into New Y ork from points as widely se p a r­ ated as Buenos A ires, F a ir ­ banks and H ong Kong all add up to an im pressive to tal, evi­ dence of th e best y ea r in P an A m erican’s history, w ith in ­ creases of 30 to 40 p er cent over 1936 in every division of traffic. P assen g er to ta l fo r th e year came to 225,000 persons c a r­ ried on all th e routes of the System . In th e previous y ear th e to ta l w as 168,000— increase fo r 1937, 34 p er cent. And th e increase has been trac ed chiefly to P an A m erican A irw ay s’ own sales th ro u g h its D istrict Traffic offices. Sales by th ese offices increased 80% in 1937 over 1936. And th a t m ercilessly e x a c t i n d e x of p assenger volume, th e passen­ ger mile, s h o w e d a n e v e n la rg e r increase fo r 1937 over 1936. P assen g er miles flown over th e System in th e y ea r ju s t closed w ere 90,000,000. (A p assenger mile is th e equiv-

Atlantic Clipper Outgrows Quarters in Boeing Plant; Moves Outside for Installation of Wing and Engines
S E A T T L E . — W ith eig h ty five per cent of construction assem bly completed, th e 42 >4ton A tla n tic C lipper has o ut­ grow n the w orking q u a rte rs in the Boeing p la n t and moved outdoors fo r th e final o p era­ tion of fitting the 152-foot w ing to the g ia n t hull, in stallin g en­ gines, and p r e p a r a t i o n for flight te sts about M ay 1. T russed up on its special fifteen-ton dock, th e hull fo r th is first of six tran so cean aerial passenger c a rrie rs w as rolled out ste rn first, w ith cen­ te r w ing section and horizontal ta il surfaces in place, b u t w ith the huge 41-foot vertical fin m issing because, as installed on th e hull, it would not go through th e doors. The tr a n s f e r to th e 200-foot assem bly dock built ad jacen t to th e Boeing p la n t is being m ade by degrees. In fac t, th e first move took only th e ta il and p a r t of th e fuselage out­ side, leaving th e bow u nder 'cover. F o r the tim e being th e bow of th e huge c r a ft will re ­ m ain w ithin th e building w hile th e innum erable precision me­ chanical g ears and engine and flight accessories a re being m ounted on th e big flight deck and on th e bridge. In th e m eantim e, other w orkm en on th e outside will be in stallin g the o u ter w ing sections and th e vertical fin. A ccording to th e w orking schedule, th e w ing-tips should be in place, w ith controls in op­ e ra tin g o rder by th e first week in M arch, when th e first in sta l­ lation will be m ade of th e huge 1,500 h o r s e p o w e r tw in -ro w W rig h t Cyclones, A m e r i c a ’s la rg e st a irc ra ft engines. These engines, which are still on th e secret list, will be seen by th e public fo r th e first tim e when th e c ra ft is ready fo r its in itial engine te sts about th e first of A pril. A t the p resen t tim e an assem bly crew of 500 men is w orking on the A tlan tic C lippers and all p a rts fo r completion of th e six a ir ­ c ra ft, a p ro ject which required 2,000 men on 3-shift days fo r th e b e tte r p a r t of nine m onths, have been fab ricated . Two elem ents in connection w ith th e g ia n t a irc ra ft a re in ­ dicative of its size. F irs t, the flight deck, th a t section of th e c ra ft devoted to th e bridge and the w orking q u a rte rs fo r th e flight crew, is equal in size to th e to ta l cabin space aboard th e p resen t D ouglas DC-3 a ir ­ liner, th e la rg e st in use a t the p resen t tim e on th e domestic routes w i t h i n t h e U nited S tates. Second, although only tw ice as la rg e as th e Sikorsky ty p e Clipper w ith w hich the Pacific and A tlan tic routes w ere pioneered, th e A tla n tic Clipper will c a rry ap p ro x i­ m ately ten tim es th e commer­ cial load which th e p resen t China C lipper ty p e (the M ar­ tin ocean tra n s p o rts ) c a rry on th e p rese n t Pacific route.

N E W YORK. — P raised in p r o f e s s i o n a l motion p ictu re circles as “th e best tra v e l pic­ tu re s ever filmed,” P an A m er­ ican A irw ays follows th e out­ sta n d in g success scored by th e ir now fam ous “ F ly in g th e L indbergh T ra il” motion pic­ tu re fea tu re , w ith th e comple­ tion— and world-w ide d istri­ bution co n tract— fo r th e first aerial travelogue ever filmed in n a tu ra l color, a new series of eighteen reels of strik in g ly b eau tifu l scenes depicting fly­ ing to and tra v e l in th e color­ fu l countries of th e southern Am ericas. R equiring m ore th a n a y ea r to film and p rep are, th e new “ L indbergh T ra il” series is a com plete p icto rial record, in n a tu ra l color, of th e m agnifi­ cent country, h isto rical lan d ­ m arks, n a tu ra l life, customs a n d c o s tu m e s , fields a n d m arket-places, fiestas and pil­ grim ages — literally e v e r y phase of life in th e southern Am ericas. To obtain th is unique p icto r­ ial record P an A m erican A ir­ w ays dispatched two op erato rs of M iller-N agel Color Film s on a 21,000-mile flight th a t took them to every m ajo r cap ital in th e W est Indies, C entral Am­ erica and on both coasts of the S o u t h A m erican c o n t i n e n t w hile other trip s w ere m ade by th e cam era men into th e in ­ te rio r of the G uianas, th ro u g h P atag o n ia over th e lovely Chil­ ean lakes. They retu rn ed , a fte r n early a fu ll y ea r spent in th e field, w ith some fifteen miles of exposed n egative and 15,600 feet of sound track. The P an A m erican Union, th ro u g h its T ravel Division co­ operated extensively w ith P an A m erican A irw ays in th e p ro ­ duction of th e tra v e l epic. Selected fo r d i s t r i b u t i o n th ro u g h th e a tre s to a world audience estim ated a t 20,000,000 persons, it is expected th a t th e first reel, w ith other reels to f o l l o w consecutively fo r fou rteen weeks, w ill be re ­ leased fo r th e first nation-w ide show ing in the U nited S tates. Continued on Page 4