Clipper, Vol. 11, No. 22, November 22, 1955

              Volume 11 No. 22
Pa/v Amer/ca/v World Aíruave
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Read From California To Calcutta, From Alaska To Australasia
PUBLISHED BY THE EMPLOYEES OF PAN AMERICAN WORLD AIRWAYS
November 22,1955
JUST 20 YEARS AGO TODAY . . . .
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Twenty years ago today, I stood on the ramp at Alameda and watched the China Clipper take off for Honolulu enroute to Manila. It was a flight that was destined to be a major epic aviation history, and everyone who watched the departure knew it. I felt proud to be^^^|^of the airline that was pjoneeripf fransP^^ific service, and
ill#! with adrrMtfion for those American whose istollective skills fction were instrunWntal in mak-WANikinft the c%plete suc-L it jpas. For this piolteering the IMms awarded th» coveted
C
Co
TodaY, tjRJWars later, Kan /«tierica, is still	pioneering across t
Pacific, fi^Jlfcobust adventurer, bCit as a fineryMntiigraTed team whose\fufc-tion is to-fbre-shor\en time and dis-for thgLTcomkenjHnce and plea the^ni^plesv^of jflHe world. Wh American comrrrSnced trans-Pacifi, . ice there was but one flight a week. Today, Pan American alone operates thirty departures weekly from the West Coast. Initially, 5*/2 days were required to fly from San Francisco to Manila; today, I */j days suffice to span the Pacific. Since commencing its trans-Pacific ocean service Pan American has completed more than 35,000 ocean crossings and carried in excess of 1,200,000 passengers. This remarkable record is a team achievement in which Pan American personnel have all shared.
Just as the first flight of the China Clipper made possible the comfort and convenience of today's trans-Pacific air service, so does today's service presage greater progress in the future. The air of adventure which cloaked the China Clipper is now gone, but the same pioneering spirit that then prevailed continues uninterrupted on new frontiers of greater speed, regularity, and convenience. It is this heritage, this spirit, that assures the continuing success of PAD, a success to which we have all contributed, and in which we can all be proud.
C. M. YOUNG.
"CLEARED FOR TAKE-OFF"
Historic Flight Of The China Clipper To Manila Was The Greatest Of Pan American's Many "Firsts"
It was 3:46 p.m. Pacific Standard Time on November 22, 1935.
Captain Edwin C. Musick had advanced full power to the four 930 horsepower engines of the China Clipper. As those engines roared the largest air transport in the world kicked up a spray from San Francisco Bay, rose easily into the air and headed west. At that instant a trans-Pacific airline was born.
Twenty-one hours and three ♦“ minutes later the China Clipper landed at Pearl Harbor. Six days later it was at anchor in Manila Bay.
Over 125,000 persons ^Weered from vantage points aro»d the bay as Pan American ir«uguratedf<i trans-Pacific air mail s«ice. The L flight was the greatest rwlestone in the history of commercial aviation.
The governor of ^California, Frank L. Merriam, ha« proclaimed Novemhg|^2nd as PJa American Airud^^UaySPostmaaer James A.
Farley jvlFsonally de^iered 58 bags of majr to Pan AmeriMn President Juan/r. Trippe. As hemirned over the /l,837 pounds of wnail, the o/master General said'
r. Trippe, it is an abnor and ___ vilege for me, as Mastmaster MTDWaV United mtates o America, to hereby order! the iw auguration of the first fxhedimed service on Foreign Air Mc|Z B£ute Number Fourteen at 3:28 this day which will forev\r/mark (Continued 6QPage
INA CUPPER bEiTCulTS M&jND 20 YEARS AGO
GUAM


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!
This is the beginning of trans-Pacific air mail service. Just a few minutes before this picture was taken twenty years ago Captain Musick had lifted the China Clipper from San Francisco Bay. Barely visible in the background is Yerba Buena Island and the towers and cables of the unfinished Bay Bridge. And just below the climbing M-130 is one of the towers of the Golden Gate Bridge, also still under construction. (Clyde H. Sunderland photo).
Twenty years ago today Pan American had already effhlUished itself as the world's most outranging airline. It was the onl^^irjine flying, 4be Pacific.
is rvw^the ow|jp airline flying Pacific, 'but^lhroiighout the past wenty years Pan Anuf-ican has maintained its position as tree most outstanding. The claim, "worlcbfe enced airline," is an evablished fact. By its over-ocean pioneering. Pan American has irrevocable title toYlwt claim. Some of the handful of employees who played a part in the epochal VKfNit of the China Clipper are still witn' (>cific-Alaska Division For their conTril to our Division's growth and excellent reputation, we are all proud' and graf^hil.
Other employees of the Pacific-Alaska Divis\oiy/were not yet born when Captain Musick made the first commercial trans-Pacific flight. But no matter when you joined Pan American, each can contribute to the further growth and improvement of our great airline.
Twenty years ago, Pan American had the only aircraft capable of flying the trans-Pacific route. Today our competitors can and do buy and operate the same or similar aircraft. They use the same navigational facilities, the same airports and terminals, and operate in accordance with the same operational standards.
Our pioneering now and in the future must be in the fields of service and dependability. As we lead our competitors in these aspects of our business, so will we lead them in attracting and maintaining public confidence and respect. Thus, through the provision of better service and greater dependability, we can and will stand head and shoulders above all competition.
Today we can all look back over the past twenty years with justifiable pride, but we must also look ahead and continuously plan for the future so that in 1975 we will still be saying with pride that Pan American is the world's most outstanding airline.
G. F. MAXWELL.