Pan American air ways, Vol. 6, No. 5, September 1935

              W orld’s S tan d ard F o r A ir T ra n sp o r­ tatio n

p a s a m e Ric a s ^ a ir
SEPTEMBER
-

w ays

E v ery M an A Traffic M an Sell Se rv ice !

Volume 6

1935

-

OCTOBER

No. 5

Trans-Pacific Service To Open November 22
New A irport At L im a D edicated B y P resid en t LIMA.—Lima’s new air­ port, operating terminal of Pan American-Grace Air­ New C lip p e r S h ip s, H igh S p e e d ways was formally opened L a n d T r a n s p o r ts E n ab le C u t by the President of the o f 2 0 % O n S c h ed u le s Republic and other officials on November 2. 5 yz DAYS TO B. A. Constructed within three Will G ive A m e ric a n T r a d e F a s t ­ miles of the centre of the e st In te rn atio n al S e rv ic e F o r city, the airport is one of M ail, P a sse n g e rs, E x p re s s the finest on the west coast NEW YORK. - $ To speed of South America. Its main the process of transport and features include a passen­ communication behind the ger station of one story, national drive to aid Amer­ built of brick and rein­ ican industry in recovering forced concrete and de­ our former two billion dollar signed in Spanish mission trade volume in Latin Amer­ style. It contains a large ica, threatened by increasing­ waiting room and adminis­ ly aggressive .competition from trative offices. Europe, all-American inter­ The field is about 1,282 national air mail, passenger, yards long by 490 wide. and express service, from the Electric and telephone United States toYoreign coun- cables are la id under­ tr iesv'■ ^as-’-bSsISJ put on high-1 ground, eliminating danger speed schedules averaging 150 from overhead wires. miles per hour, cutting days from the fastest previous time between North and South SPEED WORK ON America. GREAT AIR FLEET The new schedules, wh-ieh became effective November 1, T w en ty -O n e A irlin e rs, In clu d ­ represent J the fastest inter­ in g 7 G ian t C lip p e rs, N e a r­ national a,ir service.? in the in g C o m p letio n F o r P A A worlcl. / They are1 ’ nearly 50 NEW YORK.—Nearly three miles per hour faster than the average European mail thousand technicians in nine a e r o n a u tic a l manufacturing and transport services. A fleet of thirty ney high­ plants throughout the United speed transports w 'ffl- be used States are rushing construc­ for the new service. Dividing tion on twenty-one big multi­ the hemisphere south of the engined aircraft which will United States into three “time provide the Pan American zones,” they wtH . cut air mail Airways. System with the time to Buenos Aires, ‘most greatest commercial air fleet distant capital, to five and in the world. At the Sikorsky plant in one-half days as compared with the nine and one-half B r id g e p o r t w here Pan days required when the ser­ American’s first Clipper Ships were built, seven more great vice was inaugurated. tra n s-o c e a n Virtually a ll o p e ra tin g four-engined schedules on the 32,000-mile Clippers are on the way. network of Pan American’s Larger and faster than their aerial trade routes, will lie prototype, the Pan American moved ahead approximately Clipper which pioneered the 20% on the new plan. Larger trans-Pacific route to the and faster aircraft, headed by Orient, two of these Clipper the giant trans-ocean type Ships are shortly to be de­ four-engined Clipper Ships, livered with five more follow­ and including twin-engined, ing in quick succession. They high-speed lan d transpgrts^ are scheduled for service on for the overland sections, will the inter-American routes of be pressed into service as Pan American to relieve pres­ rapidly as they can be de­ ent traffic congestion and to livered by the manufacturer. make possible the establish­ During the first six months ment of even faster schedules of this year, American trade between the United States with the southern Americas and the West Indies and the has reached the half billion North and East coasts of dollar mark, an increase of South America. Also at the Sikorsky plant one hundred and fifty million dollars over the same period work is being advanced on Continued on Page 12 Continued on page 13

FASTER SERVICES ON ALL ROUTES NOVEMBER FIRST

MARTIN CLIPPERS COM M ISSIONED FOR OCEAN LINE
W o rld -R ecord F ly in g B o a t, T w o Siste r-sh ip s, R e ad y F o r T ran sP a c ific S e rv ic e

AMERICA’S LARGEST
F irst o f G re a t A irlin e rs to S ta r t M ail R o u te a s “ C h in a C lip p e r”

BALTIMORE.—After three years of carefully guarded construction and testing, the first of the great Martin fly­ ing-boats, built to the speci­ fications of Colonel Charles A. Lindbergh, Pan American’s technical adviser, and their engineers, and designed for trans-ocean se rv ic e , w as trundled out of her huge hangar at the Baltimore plant of the Glenn L. Martin Com­ pany for her first public pre­ view in October. To be named the China Clipper, Pan Amer­ ican plans soon to launch this huge flying-boat, largest air­ liner ever developed in Amer­ ica, and two identical sister ships on regularly scheduled service across the Pacific. The ceremonies attending the transfer of the great air­ liner to Pan American were brief and informal. A pro­ gram was outlined that would take the China Clipper through even more severe transport tests at the Baltimore plant and through the 10,000 miles of ocean training flights from Baltimore to Miami, to Puerto Rico and back; thence over the 3,750-mile course across the Gulf and up the Pacific coast to San Diego, Los An­ geles and San Francisco, re­ cently completed, preparatory to the first scheduled flight with the air mail, 8,000 miles across the Pacific to the Philippines. In the absence, through ill­ ness, of Glenn L. Martin, L. C. Milburn, vice-president of the Martin organization, voiced the pride of that company in having achieved so successful­ ly the Pan American specifi­ cations for this revolutionary ocean transport. President Trippe responded briefly. An inspection of the huge flyingboat was made by Mr. Trippe and Colonel Lindbergh and it was then turned over to the Pan American operating crew for the inauguration of the test program. Continued on Page 8

President Catches E rro r In C lip per Stam p D esign WASHINGTON. — Be­ cause of President Roose­ velt’s intimate knowledge of ships, the figure of an old Yankee Clipper on the forthcoming issue of trans­ pacific air mail stamps will have three masts instead of two. The Bureau of Engrav­ ing recently did a rush job in preparing the plate for the stamp. After working all night the engravers submitted their work to the President. He found, in one corner, the clipper with only two masts. He suggested it should have three and the plate was changed hastily. The 25-cent stamp, which depicts progress of trans­ pacific travel, will be ready in time for the inaugural flight November 22.

“ PAN AMERICAN” COMPLETES FINAL FLIGHT TO GUAM
L a s t S tre tc h B e fo re the P h ilip ­ p in e s M ap p ed , B a se s T e sted , O n G rea t F ligh t

RECORD OCEAN

HOP

L o n g e st E v e r M ade, C a p ta in Su lliv a n an d C re w C o v e r 1 3 ,0 0 0 -M ile C o u rse

OCEAN AIR MAIL ' CONTRACTS LET
P a n A m e ric a n O n ly B id d e r F o r T ran s-P a c ific R ou te A w a rd

WASHINGTON. — Without ceremony of any kind—on an occasion which, for any other age, would have called for national c e le b ratio n and streams of oratory—the United States Post Office Depart­ ment, on October 24, officially turned a dream into a reality. On that date Postmaster Gen­ eral James A. Farley issued the first orders for establish­ ment of air mail service to span an ocean. In accordance with the poli­ cies of the Government to provide American trade and industry with the most mod­ ern means of transport and communication the Post Office Department, in late summer, advertised for bids for the carrying of United States mails by air across the Pacific en route to Hawaii, the Phil­ ippines and the Orient. Pan American A irw ay s System which for four years had ad­ vanced technical studies look­ ing toward the operation of such a route and then pio­ neered an airway via Hawaii, Midway, Wake, Guam and the Philippines over 8,600 miles of the heretofore unflown Pa­ cific Ocean, was the only com­ pany to submit a bid for the operation of the service.

SAN FRANCISCO.—Roar­ ing confidently westward, with that same effortless precision that has characterized the pio­ neering of the greatest air­ way in history, the Pan Amer­ ican Clipper dramatically re­ moved from the “unknown” column with the longest over­ ocean airplane flight ever made, the long 1,560-mile stretch of heretofore unflown Pacific that lies between Wake Islands and Guam, and cleared the way for the first sched­ uled transport flight across the world’s greatest ocean. Step by step, with flawless direction and coordination of Pan American’s four mid­ ocean air bases, the now his­ toric Clipper under command of Captain R. O. D. Sullivan, covered each section of the 6,600-mile course to the island of Guam, on schedule or ahead of time at each station. In the crew were J. H. Til­ ton, first officer; M. Lodeesen, second officer; Victor A. Wright, engineering officer; Fred Noonan, navigating offi­ cer; W. T. Jarboe, Jr., radio officer; H. R. Canaday, junior flight officer. Favorable con ditio n s of wind and weather over prac­ tically the entire route en­ abled them to make the best time yet recorded for the cross­ ing. Leaving California at 3:00 P. M. (P.S.T.), on Oc­ tober 5, cruising along the upper flight levels, high above solid cloud masses that ob­ scured the ocean for long hours at a time, the Pan American Clipper settled on the sheltered waters of Pearl Harbor at 8:05 A. M. (P.S.T.). 17 hours and 5 minutes from California. At the Honolulu station a cargo of fresh vegetables and other foodstuffs, and operat­ ing equipment for the island bases was put aboard. On October 10, the Clipper was again speeding north and west to arrive at Midway in the early afternoon, nine hours