Clipper, Vol. 3, No. 36, March 15, 1946

              11th YEAR PACIFIC-ALASKA DIVISION
Pa/v Amrrícasí World Airways
PACIFIC-ALASKA DIVISION
WLÍPPPP
18th Year Pan American World Airways
Copyright 1944 by Pan American Airway*, Inc.
VOL. 3, No. 36
PUBLISHED BY THE EMPLOYES OF PAN AMERICAN WORLD AIRWAYS
MARCH 15, 1946
Additional DC-3 for Alaska Region
An additional DC-3 Clipper arrived at Seattle recently to raise the fleet of Douglas (DC-3) Clippers operated in the Alaska Region to five. The plane, flown to Seattle to accommodate the unusually heavy—and early—spring rush, was lent last fall to the Latin American Division for their heavy winter traffic when the demand in Alaska slackened late last fall.
Constellation Proving Flight Made to Hawaii
Pacific-Alaska’s official proving flight to Honolulu with the new Constellation left San Francisco on March 3, returned March 7. Aboard were (L to R): CAA officials R. 0. Blanchard, B. Gaines, PAA Operations official D. E. Conklin, R. V. Keeler and 0. Rosto, the latter two also of the CAA. The trip was an important one from every standpoint. It was the flight to prove that every detail of the new landplane operation is in accordance with the rules and regulations of the CAA.
Constellation Clipper Sets New Pacific Records
The Constellation proving flight which left San Francisco for Honolulu on March 3, returning on March 7, broke all previous commercial flight records for both the westbound and eastbound flights. The new record from San Francisco to Honolulu now stands at 9 hours, 43 minutes, while the record from Honolulu to Los Angeles is 9 hours and 53 minutes—only ten minutes longer.
Captain J. L. Fleming, Assistant Chief Pilot, Technical, in command of the CAA flight, reported a 40 mile an hour head wind on the trip from Honolulu to Los Angeles. The best record ever set by the Boeing Clipper from Honolulu to Los Angeles was 13 hours and 45 minutes, a record made prior to the war.
Admiral Halsey Elected V. P. of Pacific-Alaska
Fleet Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr., USN, Ret., has been elected Vice-President of Pan American’s Pacific-Alaska Division according to an announcement made by President J. T. Trippe. Admiral Halsey, who will take over his new duties in April, will be in charge of the System’s service to Honolulu, the South Pacific, the Far East, and Alaska.
Halsey’s wide knowledge o f this area and his great interest in developing American trade with the Orient will be of great value in the expansion of the Pan American services throughout the Pacific.
Born in New Jersey in 1882, the son of a Navy Captain, Halsey took part of his (Continued on Page 7)
210 Employees Take Local Boeing Flights
210 Panam employees at the San Francisco base enjoyed hour-long familiarization flights on the Boeing March 12 and 13 when five flights were set aside specifically for this purpose. An onslaught of bad weather caused the cancellation of three more flights designed to give employees a ride in the famous Clippers.
Credit for yeoman work in lining up the personnel for the flights goes to Bob Maxwell of Traffic and his crew. With the assistance of Archie Hall and L. Maino of Accounting, Betty Stamp, Lucille Hansen and Rosemary Morgan of Traffic, Mr. Maxwell was able to process all employee passengers in a minimum of time.
These employee flights were the first of their kind since before the war when shuttles between San Francisco and Los Angeles carried PAA personnel for familiarization purposes.
In addition to meeting the regular schedule requirements, the additional Clipper will permit certain charter flights in the Alaska Region, which will increase the utilization of this fleet.
Although the date for delivery of DC-4 equipment to the Alaska Region is still indefinite, it is hoped that they will be available for delivery sometime in April. The complement of planes in the Alaska Region then will be 6—three DC-4s and 3 DC-3s.
PAA Australian Service Awaits Agreement
Pan American World Airways can make no definite arrangements for a transpacific service to Australia until the United States and Australian Governments agree on reciprocal landing rights, says Mr. Harold Gatty, PAA’s South Pacific Region official. Because of the lack of agreements on landing arrangements, PAA has never had a commercial service to Australia.
Hallanger Elected Head Meteorological Society
At a recent meeting of the San Francisco branch of the American Meteorological Society, Mr. N. L. Hallanger of PAA’s Meteorology Department was elected chairman for the coming year. This is the third time that Mr. Hallanger has been accorded this honor. When he was stationed in Honolulu in 1940 and 1941 he held the position of chairman for the Mid-Pacific branch for two years.
So if there are any complaints about weather in the Pacific area, it appears that Mr. Hallanger is going to be the man who has the say so about it during 1946.