Classroom clipper, Vol. II, No. 7, April 1946

              April, 1946
Published by Pan American World Airways
Vol. II, No. 7
LAND PLANE TYPE CLIPPERS TAKE OYER OCEAN FLYING ASSIGNMENTS
Land Plane Clippers* Take Over . .
Inauguration of land plane service from the Pacific coast to Hawaii, announced last month, marks the passing of an era in ocean air transportation—the era of the flying boat.
The new Hawaii service of Pan American World Airways is to be carried out with four engine Lockheed Constellations, 47-passenger Clippers which will make the 2500 mile journey to the “Paradise of the Pacific” in nine and three-quarter hours, about half the time required by the Boeing 314 flying boats which they replace.
Within a few months, the Constellations in turn will give way to 80-passenger doubled-decked Clippers now under construction by the Boeing Aircraft Company in Seattle, making possible further reductions in flight times.
With establishment of the Constellation operation, the fare for air transportation to Hawaii is to be reduced from $278 to $195. This development in the Pacific area follows a pattern set in Pan American’s Atlantic operation earlier this year when introduction of land plane type equipment brought reductions both in flight times and fare rates.
The change from flying boat types to land plane types dias been made because in the present stage of development of aeronautical designing, the land plane offers most when speed, range, carrying capacity and economy of operation all are considered. The two new U.S. operators on the Atlantic—American Overseas Division of American Airlines, and Transcontinental
* The airplane shown is the Republic RC2, the commercial version of which will be the Rainbow type of Clipper.
t The flying boat in the picture is a Boeing 314.
World Airways, began their services with land planes and the dozen or more air lines entered into the field by as many foreign countries are using, or will use, land planes.
Flying boat types operated by Pan American World Airways in the past have included some of the world’s most famous airplanes. In the Caribbean, where Pan American Airways began international operations in 1927, flying boats have included the Sikorsky S-38 (an amphibian), the Consolidated Commodore, the Sikorsky S-40 (first four-engine flying boat to be operated commercially) the four-engine Sikorsky S-42 (some of which still are in operation) and the two-engine Sikorsky S-43 for short range operations.
Pan American Clippers of the Sikorsky S-42 type blazed the ocean air trails, as survey planes, both in the Pacific and the Atlantic. Commercial service then was inaugurated in 1935 in the Pacific area by China Clipper, a Martin M-130 flying boat
which was aided by sister ships of the same type. Atlantic service was established in 1939 with Boeing-built B-314 flying boats, referred to in the Atlantic area as the Yankee Clipper type in the Pacific as the California Clipper type.
The trend toward land planes began in 1940 with the introduction of the four-engine Boeing 307. Three of these planes, known as the Clipper Rainbow, Clipper Comet and Clipper Flying Cloud were put into service on the trans-Caribbean routes between Miami and the Canal Zone and between New Orleans and the Canal Zone.
Landplane types now in use on ocean routes flown by PAA include the Douglas DC-4 and the Lockheed Constellation. On order are the double deck Boeing mentioned above, the new Douglas DC-6, the Consolidated CV-37 and the Republic Rainbow, fastest (450 m.p. top speed 400 m.p.h. cruising speed) 4-engine transport in the world, illustrated on this page.
Companies affiliated with Pan American World Airways System likewise will use land planes for future operations.
Pan American Grace Airways (Panagra), always a land plane operator, since that company’s routes on the west coast of South America and across the Andes to Buenos Aires are overland, is adding new equipment.
Panagra recently has acquired additional transports of the Douglas DC-3 A type, similar to the DC-3’s which are a familiar sight on air routes in the United States, and has announced that this new equipment has afforded an increase of 38 per cent in cargo carrying capacity. These planes were acquired from the Army, which had procured them for use as military transports, and were converted for commercial operation. Of a total of five, Panagra put four into service as passenger (Continued on page 5)
... As Flying Boatst End Their Jobs