ERA | EXPLORATIONS
Hawaiian ships are shaking and shoulders quivering to a brand new island dance-the “Clipper Hula”-dedicated to Pan American Airways).
After years of on-again-off-again geopolitical negotiations, passengers flew the Atlantic on Pan Am B-314 Dixie Clipper (Photos by Betty Trippe).
Pan Am in 1935: Check back for month-by-month stories of PAA people, aircraft, operations, explorations & destinations (90 Years ago series).
Lighter than Air by Doug Miller: When Juan Trippe of Pan Am explored the possibilities of airships and the technology that might have been.
First-Hand Accounts of John Cooke, Bob Ford and Robert Hicks: How weather and mechanical problems affected the Pacific operations of Pan Am.
Bill Taylor Interview (1993): His story as an engineer on the M-130 China Clipper while flying home across the Pacific, Dec. 1935 on her 1st transpacific flight.
Celebrating the life of Pan Am pilot Capt. Ed Musick. He is legendary for breaking the isolation of the remote Pacific island of New Zealand.
The Life and Times of Dinner Key, by Doug Miller: A story that looks at the development of Pan Am's Miami flying boat base in the 1930s. (PDF).
The 1939 arrival of the B-314 California Clipper survey flight, on a new route to Auckland, the first flight to NZ since the loss of Samoan Clipper in 1938.
After a record-breaking flight to Europe, it must have been trying to veteran flying boat skipper Capt. Charles Lorber to wait to land on the return home.
Oct. 1, 1932 Juan Trippe ordered the first S-42s from Sikorsky Aircraft. S. Paul Johnson details the plane's features and construction in March 1934.
Stepping-stone surveys: Sikorsky S-42 Pan American Clipper extended the Pacific route by one island on each flight, finally arriving in Guam.
The 2nd Pan Am Pacific Survey flight, June 1935: Pilot Ed Musick & his crew celebrate their arrival at the remote Midway Atoll, 1,254 miles beyond Hawaii.
Mission to China, Parts 1-4 by Eric Hobson. 1932-1938, Juan Trippe enlisted the help of the talented Harold Bixby to map out PAA's Pacific routes.
Martin M-130s: John Borger, first hired as a Junior Engineer to work on the North Haven Expedition in 1935, had a long, stellar career with PAA.
H. Donald “Doc” Singer: Pan Am’s Salesman at Dinner Key & Humanitarian Extraordinaire, Parts 1&2 by Eric Hobson, iIlustrations by Vic Zimmer.
Celebration of airship Hindenburg's big 1936 Atlantic travel season by German Zeppelin Co. & Standard Oil of NJ, included passenger Juan Trippe.
The Yankee Clipper: In 1939 Pan Am's Boeing-314 flying boat was christened in Washington, DC by Eleanor Roosevelt, with Juan Trippe looking on.
