Clipper, Vol. 5, No. 18, September 22, 1949

              F) 14th YEAR aCIFIC- ALASKA DIVISION
17th YEAR PAA HAS FLOWN IN ALASKA
Read From California To Calcutta, From Alaska To Australia
Voi. 5, No. 18	PUBLISHED BY THE EMPLOYES OF PAN AMERICAN WORLD AIRWAYS	September 22, 1949
FIRST STRATOCRUISER FLIGHT TO THE ORIENT LEAVES TOMORROW
PAA WELCOMES AERIAL COMPETITOR
Stratocruisers and Sleeperettes had to move over last week-end to make room for something new in the sky—football! Over 150,000 watched the Berkeley Football Festival parade last Friday night in Berkeley. Outstanding feature of the parade was the Pan American float, pictured above, staffed with eight of the best backs in the nation. Four thousand Hawaiian vanda orchids were thrown to the crowd by the girls as they moved down the parade street.
LAUNDRYMEN WITH WINGS
World's Longest Laundry Route Operated by Pan American Between Fairbanks and Seattle
PAA Inaugurates Luxury Service With Tokyo Trip
Vice President Gray To Speak At Pre-departure Ceremonies
Pan American will give its doubledecked Stratocruiser service to the Orient an official send-off tomorrow morning when Captain Bill Pryce will move a B-377 away from the San Francisco blocks and take-off on the flight that ultimately will take the huge plane to Tokyo.
The first airline to fly from the United States to the Orient and the first to resume such service after the war, Pan American is now the first to bring the luxury of Stratocruiser travel to the Orient.
A twice-weekly schedule, effective October 15th, has been set up to operate between the states and Tokyo using B-377 equipment. The routing will be via Honolulu and Midway. Flight time for the westbound trip will be 25:50, and for the eastbound trip, 22:45. This is eight hours faster than the present schedule. Total elapsed time for the trip will be 32 hours out and 29 hours back. The difference in time is accounted for by the prevailing westerly winds.
Interesting to note is the fact that U. S. bound passengers will arrive in San Francisco the same day that they leave Tokyo! Combining to make this possible are the Strato-cruiser’s four 3500 HP engines and the international date line.
A pre-departure program has been arranged for tomorrow morning. Bunting, flags and all the carnival trimmings will be in evidence. The Clipper will be christened by an oriental girl with sake and by an occidental girl with champagne. Vice President Gray will give a short talk before the plane leaves the blocks.
Dee Godard Will Reign as Queen of Oakland Air Fair
Selected to rule over the Oakland Air Fair early next month was Dee Godard, PAA stewardess. Dee won out over 15 other girls in the contest for “Miss Aviation for 1949“ sponsored by the Oakland Junior Chamber of Commerce.
PÀA-AOÀ
The deadline for a final CAB decision on the proposed purchase of American Overseas Airlines by Pan American has been extended six months past the original date, September 13, 1949, by mutual agreement between PAA and AOA.
Probably the most unique laundry service in the world is being carried on between Fairbanks, Alaska and the states.
For the past year a steady stream of dirty laundry has been flown via Pan American Clippers to Seattle, where it is cleaned, pressed and flown back to Fairbanks residents again
Thus, the clothes are toted 3,400 miles by air round-trip. Flight time each way is 8 hours.
In Fairbanks, where the over-
crowded population has the local laundry services overworked, this almost unbelievable, personal-type laundry service has rapidly caught on.
It began when an enterprising solicitor in Fairbanks started collecting the soiled laundry of many bachelors and families and shipping it via Clipper cargo on a fast, nonstop flight to Seattle. Here a laundry cleans the clothes on a two-day service, enabling the fresh (Continued on Page 2)
Pan American Petitions CAB for Mail Pay Change
Company Asks $1 Per Mile in Pacific, 90 Cents in Alaska
By petition dated August 31, 1949 and September 1, 1949, Pan American has asked the CAB to increase the temporary Pacific mail rate of 75 cents per mile and base mileage of 49,000 miles daily to one dollar per mile for a daily base mileage of 36,750; and to increase the present temporary 59 cents per mile in Alaska to 90 cents per mile.
The Pacific petition points out that with the inauguration of Boeing service the daily scheduled mileage flown has decreased with resulting loss of revenue of approximately 3 million dollars annually, since operation of the large aircraft providing the same total lift with fewer miles scheduled costs more per airplane-mile flown.
Actually the requested change in Pacific payments would only give the same return to the company as was intended in the original temporary rate—49,000 miles at 75 cents amounting to the same as 36,-750 miles at one dollar.
The Alaska petition points out after present temporary mail pay that operation showed a loss of $248,000 for the first six months of this year, and the present temporary rate of 58 cents per mile was computed on the basis of DC-3 aircraft operation.
Cargo and Passenger Traffic Still on Upswing for 1949
Passenger and cargo figures for both the Pacific and Alaskan routes of the PAD showed a gain for 1949 when compared with the same month a year ago.
Passenger traffic was up 9 per cent in the Pacific and 10 per cent in the Alaska sector. Cargo carried on Alaskan routes was up 25 per cent and soared to a 115 per cent increase on the Pacific routes. Part, but not all, of this latter gain was attributed to the Hawaiian deck strike.
Al's Gottam and All the Speedometers Read 0-0-0
Arrangements have now been completed whereby certain makes of cars can be purchased by Pan American employees through their company on the San Francisco base.
For details on this see A1 Farnocchia.