China Clipper marks 80 years since historic first flight from Bay Area

[petronius]

On Nov. 22, 1935, the China Clipper took off from Alameda for Manila. The journey would take 59 hours, and by the time the plane landed, a new era of air flight had begun.

The China Clipper was the first commercial flight across the Pacific, and the fanfare around it was incredible. Over 25,000 people came to watch its departure for the Philippines, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt bid the crew good luck on a radio broadcast.

The Pan American flight was so full of letters — over 110,000 — that the plane was too heavy to gain enough altitude to clear the under-construction Bay Bridge. Instead, the heavy plane went under the bridge's cables before soaring up above the Golden Gate on its way to Honolulu.

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http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/The-80th-anniversary-of-the-China-Clipper-6644051.php#photo-5082332



And some older DU threads, with video:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022325304
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x9628444

[KT2000]

1. 77 years for the Yankee Clipper

Boeing 314 Clipper - another marvel of engineering
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_314_Clipper

Back then the sky was not even the limit. The serious dedication that was required to push beyond was incredible. They were grownups!

[Brother Buzz]

2. There were Clippers then there were Clippers

The Pan Am Orion III Space Clipper: 2001

[KT2000]

3. Wowza!!

I miss Pan Am!!

[jmowreader]

4. Did you ever fly Pan Am?

The last time I flew Pan Am out of Frankfurt I was on a 747...I would have felt more comfortable flying back from Europe on a C-130.

[KT2000]

5. OMG!!! No Way!!!

No - never flew Pan Am.
I am not so young now but I was a Boeing kid - that actually means a Boeing engineer's "orphan." He flew the round the world inaugural flight of the Yankee Clipper in '38 as a young engineer rep for Boeing.
Without Pan Am and the military, Boeing would never have made it. Also - back then, my boyfriend's father was a Pan Am pilot - a real hot dog who they said could bring a plane in through anything.