Pan American air ways, Vol. 10, No. 1, March 1939

              W orld’s S tandard F or A ir T ra n sp o r­ ta tio n

P4ISI
MARCH, 1939

W AYS
♦

Y ankee Clipper Over A tlan tic

Vol. 10

No. 1

WHITNEY IS NAMED CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF P AN AMERICAN
C h a ir m a n o f B o a r d A s s u m e s A c ­ t iv e D ir e c t io n o f S y s t e m ’s A c ­ tiv itie s ; H e a d q u a r te r s I n N .Y .

SET FOR OCEAN CONQUEST

NEW FLAGSHIP ON INSPECTION TOUR TO FOREIGN BASES
T u r n s in R e c o r d o n F ir st 2 ,7 8 0 M ile B a ltim o r e to H o r ta F ly in g in 1 7 ^ 4 H o u r s

COMPANY FOUNDER
F ir st P r e s id e n t o f C o r p o r a tio n , A n d H a s B e e n C h a ir m a n o f B o a r d S in c e 1 9 3 1

TWENTY-ONE ABOARD
W ill I n s p e c t B a se F a c ilitie s a t A z o r e s , L isb o n , M a r s e ille s, F o y n e s , S o u th a m p to n

N E W YORK.— C. V. W h it­ ney, founder of the company now known as P an A m erican A irw ays Corporation, its first president and chairm an of its B oard of D irectors since 1931, w as nam ed Chief E xecutive Officer of the Com pany a t a m eeting of the B oard of D irec­ to rs on M arch 14. In assum ing active charge of the business of the com­ pany, Mr. W hitney w ill con­ tinue a t close ran g e the w ork of o rganization and develop­ m ent which have been his pro­ vince th roughout th e y ears th a t P an A m erican A irw ays has been o perating from the U nited S tates to foreign lands. His h ea d q u arte rs will be in the com pany’s offices in New York, w ith P an A m erican’s long-tim e president and general m an­ ager, J. T. T rippe. One of A m erica’s early fly­ ing men, Mr. W hitney is a vet­ eran of W orld W a r aviation, hav ing earned his w ings w ith th e C a n a d i a n Royal F lying Corps, to w hich he w as as­ signed fo r train in g . As soon as Benbrook Field a t F o rt W orth, Tex., w as ready fo r service as a tra in in g center, he w as tra n s fe rre d to th a t station, w as commissioned there, and be­ came Benbrook’s chief in stru c ­ to r in tactical flying, one of a v ery few A m erican officers to hold such a ra tin g . E ventually he w as ordered overseas, and w as a t Roosevelt F ield p re ­ p a ra to ry to em barkation w hen th e A rm istice w as signed. In the y ears follow ing the w ar, M r. W hitney developed a keen in te rest in the com mer­ cial possibilities of flying. A pioneer flyer, he became even m ore of a pioneer in the busi­ ness w orld by going into the aviation field w ith the idea of building up a tra n sp o rta tio n system. W ith M r. T rip p e and the la te John H am bleton of B a lti­ more, he w as associated in establishing th e first domestic Continued on Page 3

The first three of the great Boeing-built Clippers pose for their pictures on Seattle's Lake W ashington, prior to delivery to Pan American Airways for transocean service. A s this is written, one of them has just returned from Hong Kong, another is in San Francisco ready to start for the Orient, and the third, the new Flagship of the Pan American Fleet, christened "Y ank ee Clipper" by Mrs. Roosevelt, is proving itself on the Atlantic to whose base the first of the B-314 series has been delivered.

“ Yankee C lip p e r ” Christened by Mrs. D. Roosevelt Flagship o f America's Merchant Marine of the Air
----------W A S H IN G T O N . — T h e Y ankee C lipper, forty-one-ton flagship of the P an A m erican fleet which w ill c a rry A m er­ ica’s colors in an in te rn atio n a l race fo r T ra n sa tla n tic a ir su­ prem acy, w as christened by M rs. F ra n k lin D. Roosevelt in a colorful ceremony a t the N aval A ir S tation a t Anacostia on M arch 3. Several thousand wide-eyed spectators w atched the sm iling F irs t L ady crack a goldtrim m ed bottle over th e b lu n t nose of th e all-m etal, fourm otored plane, la rg e st of th e w orld’s h ea v ier-th an -air c ra ft, and the first of six now being delivered fo r P an A m erican transoceanic services. W a te r from th e seven seas, r a th e r th a n the custom ary cham pagne, filled th e bottle. I t splashed on M rs. Roosevelt’s

«--------------------------------------- ; -------------------------------------face, w hite gloves, d ark red su it and h at, b u t she and th e officials on a b arg e in th e riv er tu rn ed im m ediately to stan d a t atten tio n fo r “ The S tarSpangled B an n er.” The A m er­ ican flag then w as raised over th e huge silver plane. The ship, w hich b y stan d ers said looked “longer th a n two box cars,” th en w as w arped in ­ to position fo r a take-off on its first passen g er flight. Soon it had skim med off th e w aters of th e A nacostia R iver w ith fifty-one governm ent and av ia­ tion officials aboard, circled the cap ital fo r thirty-five m inutes and landed again. B efore th e christening, M rs. Roosevelt sa t w ith P an A m er­ ican ’s P resid en t and G eneral M anager, J. T. T rippe, on a big b u n tin g -d rap ed ro stru m , set off by th e huge Clipper restin g easily in th e w aters of th e Potomac. W ith them on th e p latfo rm w ere Jam es A. F a r ­ ley, P o stm aster G eneral; R. W alton, Moore, Counselor of th e S tate D ep artm en t; the N avy’s R ear A dm iral George P etten g ill; E d w ard J. Noble, C hairm an of th e Civil A ero­ n au tics A u th o rity ; M ajor Gen­ eral H. H. Arnold, Chief of the A rm y A ir C orps; S enator Josiah Bailey, C hairm an of the Senate Com mittee on Com­ m erce; Guy V aughan, P re si­ dent of th e W rig h t A ero n au t­ ical C orporation; and Jam es M urray, of th e Boeing A ir­ plane Company. Before them , attach ed to the ro stru m railin g , w as a b a tte ry of microphones of the N ational B roadcasting Com pany and th e Columbia B roadcasting C ontinued on Page 2

B A LTIM O R E.— S ettin g out on her first A tlan tic crossing — a 1 0 ,0 0 0 - m ile inspection flight fro m B altim ore to E u ­ rope and re tu rn , looking tow ard early establishm ent of sched­ uled T ra n sa tla n tic service, the Yankee Clipper, new flagship of P an A m erican’s m erchant m arine of th e air, w as in the a ir a t 2:34 o’clock on th e a f te r ­ noon of M arch 26, ca rry in g the g re a te st num ber of persons ever to tak e off fo r an A tlan tic crossing in a h eav ier-th an -air cra ft. H eading fo r the Azores, L is­ bon, M arseilles, Southam pton and Foynes, w ith th e re tu rn jo u rn ey scheduled to retrac e th is route, the C lipper’s m is­ sion w as to check all the p re­ p ara tio n s th a t had been m ade a t these five bases. To th a t end, the flight schedule w as flexible, and th e plan w as th a t 24 to 48 hours would be devoted a t each base to calibration of radio direction finding equipm ent, to te stin g of th e p a rtic u la r moor­ ing and servicing procedures adopted fo r each statio n , and to tra in in g personnel in the p ro p er handling and servicing of th e big flyingboats a t the in te rn atio n a l bases. U n d er command of C aptain H arold E. G ray, th e Y a nkee C lipper’s crew fo r th is signifi­ can t flight consisted o f: F irs t Officer-Pilot, C aptain A. E. La P o rte ; Second Officer-Pilot, A. E. K alkow sky; T h ird OfficerP ilot, J. W. W alk er; Ju n io r F lig h t Officers, H orace Brock and L. C. L indsey; E n g in eer­ in g Officer, C. D. W r ig h t; A ssis­ ta n t E n g in eerin g Officer, D. R. Cornish; Second A ssistan t E n ­ gin eerin g Officer, S. M. K ritse r; Radio Officer, A .W . Beidem an ; A ssistan t Radio Officer, R. P. D u tto n ; Stew ard, W il­ liam T haler. As technical observers, th e re w ere Clarence H. Schildhauer, operations m a n ag er fo r P an A m erican’s A tlan tic D ivision; E dm und E. Duff, Jr., of the C ontinued on Page 4