On November 22, 1935, the first "China Clipper" a Martin-130 seaplane aircraft left Alameda Island near San Francisco for a voyage across of 8,000 miles to Manila that took six days, with stops in Hawaii,Midway Island, Wake Island and Guam.
Pan-American airlines, under its executive Juan Trippe, named the planes "China Clippers" after the clipper ships that had made his family's fortune. The Sikorsky-42 plane was also used in the long-distance flights.
The first air-flight carried only airmail. The following year passenger service was inaugurated, with passengers occupying only 28-32 available seats.
According to the World Almanac Website: "The actual time spent in flight was 59 hours, 47 minutes. Now the same trip can be done in one or two legs in about 12-15 hours. The China Clipper averaged 143.3 mph compared to the 650 mph cruising speed of a Boeing 747. But it was a huge leap forward from the ocean liners that would take more than 20 days to cover the same distance. Of course, airfare was exorbitantly expensive, far higher than what even the most brilliant World Almanac editors could afford. When regular passenger service began Oct. 21, 1936, a round-trip ticket to Manila cost $1,438.20 or about $21,000 by today’s prices."
The main purpose of the trans-oceanic flight was to cut the time to travel to the American Commonwealth (colony) of the Philippines and also keep Americans in the race to open up Chinese markets to business and tourist dollars. British, French, Dutch and German airline companies were also investing in air travel to the Far East at this time.
The Second World War put an end to the services but this early achievement of regular air flights across half the globe was a major technological break through just three decades after the very first engine-powered plane flights. It will be celebrated with a commemoration at the decommissioned Alameda Naval Air Station in California later this month.
http://www.chinaclipper75.com/history.html
These were the true queens of the skies. The Boeing 314 clippers were on both coasts and the Trans Atlantic service was also cut short by the war. The Midway and Wake Island bases are now just memories and wildlife refuges.
ReplyDeleteDoug, there are a few things for which I'd like to have been born a bit earlier -and traveling in a Clipper is one of them.
ReplyDeleteMe too. Been born at the right time and be rich enough to fly on these planes.
ReplyDeleteCan you imagine having to travel for six days. I wonder if that included nights in a hotel or did you have to pay extra?
ReplyDeleteConsidering the whole flight cost roughly the equivalent of $21,000 in today's dollars, they had some unprecedented amenities. Each of the 4 stops had a hotel built. Midway and Wake had hotels built for resting between legs and those costs were included in the price. The aircraft itself had couches that would fold down into beds so one could also sleep on the plane.
ReplyDeleteI left out the Boeing Clippers. Thans for including them Stephen.
ReplyDeleteII'm glad the Wake and Midway airport centers are returned to the fragile Pacific wildlife. It's the birds that are rightfully the first masters of the skies.
I heartily agree with that choice Will. I remmeber seeing a sequence from the first "Indiana Jones" movie about the Pan-Am service. I was amazed at the distance their non-jets covered! Still am.
ReplyDeleteYes, there is the price of the fare! I imagine in 1936 it would be a rare traveller to have the luxury. But if I did have it, I'd be on one of those planes.
ReplyDeleteIt does seem arduous fo a trip you have to pay for yourself by the standards of today. But I'll bet it was like a dream--barring turbulent weather now and then--for those first travellers.
ReplyDeleteThey were flying many days, Fred, but to them it must have been like hitching a ride on the Space Shuttle to people today.
I think that is a very good analogy. Can you imagine telling people you were the first to fly on an airplane. You were probably treated like a pop star.
ReplyDeleteCan't imagine anyone today giving up six days to travel.
ReplyDeleteYes, Fred, flying as an end in itself must have been exciting! Just the designs of those old planes is more inviting I think.
ReplyDeleteToday with all the security and packing-them-in business model of the major airlines, all the romance has gone out of it. At least that is what friends who fly for their businesses say to me.