China Clipper: Pan Am's Conquest of the Pacific (circa 1990s, Documentary)
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- Опубликовано: 10 апр 2022
- From CAV Video Productions and directed by Donald McGee, this monumental documentary is the compelling story of Pan American Airways conquest of the Pacific.
It contains stunning and never before seen color archival footage of Pan Americans Airways epoch ten year, ten thousand mile conquest of the Pacific Ocean. Our story begins in 1929 with the first plane to be christened a Pan American Clipper by Mrs. Herbert Hoover. She was assisted by Pan Am's legendary founder Juan Trippe. See aviation pioneers such as Igor Sikorsky and Pan Am's technical advisor, Charles Lindbergh play integral roles in designing, the Sikorsky S-42. This was the first plane capable of trans-Pacific flight. Next see the first plane to be called the China Clipper, the beautiful Martin M-130.
Witness its construction and historic first flight across the Pacific Ocean, piloted by the legendary Captain Musick in 1935. This was the beginning of the Romantic Period of flight. You'll marvel at the heroic Pan Am construction crews ability to construct island bases on Wake, Midway and Guam. Pan Am Clipper passengers and crews used these island oases during their trans-Pacific flights. Pan Am struggled to stay financially viable until a plane was designed that could carry both passengers and mail profitably on its Pacific routes.
The plane that saved Pan Am and changed the world was the Boeing designed Model-314. With the B-314, Pan Am completed it's conquest of the Pacific and established trans-Pacific service. The B-314 was a magnificent airplane that was instrumental in creating the romantic legend of the China Clipper during America's Golden Age of Aviation. As part of this grand adventure, you'll see spectacular aviation footage of the famous seaplanes like the Sikorsky's S-40 and S-42, the Martin M-130, the Boeing Model-314 and Sikorsky's last seaplane, the VS-44A. All these planes made aviation history and contributed immeasurably to transoceanic flight.
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My father in law was a mechanic on the 314 right after Pearl Harbor and would tell stories about working on the engines in flight. The USN seconded all the 314 and PanAm employees assigned to B314. He often flew with Nimitz as a passenger. Hank Anholzer spent his whole carrier starting at 19 year's old with PanAM. He retired after 40 years and I have all his service pins and a large collection of all the memorabilia he collected.
My parents met on Wake Island in 1938, where my father was the Assistant Airport Manager for Pan Am, and my mother was a Pan Am passenger, traveling from Honolulu to Guam. He is the well-tanned snorkeler at 45:33.
Amazing pioneers. What an era. Today, airline execs look for gates. In the thirties, Trippe and chief pilots Musick and Lindbergh looked for islands to build bases on. The operational challenges were mind boggling.
Bravissimo, proud to be an American and a former Pan Am employee!!!❤❤
This is an exceptional documentary film. As a Pacific War historian, I'm delighted to have seen (and will watch again) this wonderful historical film! The first time I flew to the Hawaiian Islands, as a Navy dependent, was in the mid-1950's. We flew into Oahu on a Pan American flight. Even after many flights since then, I have never forgotten that flight on Pan American Airlines! It was superb! Thank you very much for this video! Andy McKane, Maunaloa, Hawaii, 23 September 2022.
During a stay (at the old Navy BOQ) on Midway, we visited the old Pan Am hotel. It remains, of the PAA network.
Excellent historical documentary. I wish Pan Am was still flying today 🇺🇸
There are several books on what it took to build the overseas bases.
The Lindbergs were employed to scout the Pacific looking for suitable stopover islands. At present, several were uninhabited or had a small population. Everything Pan Am needed to construct hotels, fuel stations, radio communications, and the infrastructure to support them were shipped out from the U.S. Dynamite was used to blast a channel through the coral if necessary to provide access to the shore base.
Can you imagine the thunderous noise those engines made! I should think conversation would be difficult over the roar. Look at the way passengers dressed. Class to the core. People today have no idea. This is a wonderful documentary!
Amazing that this only has 199 views after a month! What a great intro to the history of trans-oceanic passenger flight!
It took awhile for the algorithm to pick it up, doing pretty well now.
After further reflection, I'd love to see Pan Am go back into business! Thanks again for this wonderful video! Andy McKane
There's a great story about a Pan Am clipper that was in Manila when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour. They had to fly to Indonesia to refuel and then fly to India, Egypt, across Africa to Senegal. Then across the Atlantic to Brazil then finally back to the U.S.
There's a video somewhere here on RUclips about that incident. They also at one point couldn't get aviation fuel and had to use regular automobile fuel which really slowed down their speed but they made it home.
Paper Skies did a video on that flight. There is also a book about it written by a Pan Am employee who interviewed the crew from the flight.
It's "The Long Way Home" , an EXCELLENT book!
@@arnenelson4495 in
"The History Guy" here on RUclips does a good job describing the return trip
What a treat to see actual video and sound from that great pioneering era of flight. Will watch it again. Flew an early 747 to Hawaii first class on United Mainliner one. Was treated to stories by their chief pilot and explanations of the cockpit. We were served on fine china and crystal and ordered off a menu with fine french wines and cheeses. It was the last of truly flying first class.We had 5 beautiful stewardesses for 32 first First class lounge was up a spiral staircase where all seats were open just to relax .
Flew a 747 in 1971 with a spiral staircase up to a piano bar.....I was headed to basic training and bought my first drinks as a 18 yr old young man on that flight....I turn 70 next month! lol And now some folks are buying tickets for rocket ships.....and the beat goes on..
I flew a 747 to KSA for DS/DS. The planes were painted white, the inside was the only things that had PAA on them.
A truly romantic time to fly.
Great to hear the stories of almost 100 years ago. What a beautiful graceful plane.
Great trip into the glorious past of trans-continental flight. With u-tube we can watch and learn. This from a man born in the early 1940,s ✈️
Pan Am was always the pioneers of air travel and their operations in the Pacific would prove invaluable during WW2! This video goes a long way to showing what life was like for a select few back in the days before jet travel.
Now it's all: Your husband or wife trying to stop at the departure terminal in a place where they won't tow you away, stand in line for 30 minutes to have an electronic frisk, lug your bags on a 2-mile walk to the gate, stand in line again for boarding, feel you're lucky if you can find space in an overhead bin, squeeze into less space than a solitary-confinement cell, then another 2-mile walk to the car rental bus, stand in line there for another 20 minutes at their counter, lug your bags out to the parking lot.... kinda Planes Trains & Automobiles.
@@billolsen4360 I know, and then you find out that your luggage has been sent to the wrong airport!
Wonderful documentary. I wish they would show films like this in school like they did when I was growing up.
Would have loved to be traveling in those days. I remember as a small boy watching a flying boat take off from the river in my home town. It may have been the last one.
Fantastic video. I've read all about this era, but this provides color images. Great video on the Pan Am hotels on Midway and Wake Island. I really enjoyed it!
I fly a 757 flying resupply to Wake Island. One of the China Clippers fuel and rest stops. The Pan Am facility can still be seen with hotel pass and clipper ramp into the water.
This is a truly outstanding documentary. It is eye-opening, fascinating and gave great insight into travel life in the 1930s. I enjoyed every frame!
Very good production. I was imagining myself on the production crew at the various locations. What a huge job that must have been. And while we were watching the advances in aircraft, we got to witness the transition from BW film to color, too!
The color was Kodachrome, which came out in 1935. Kodachrome is the only color film that was color stable. I have assorted Kodachromes from my USCG Photographer's Mate father, going back to prewar and then later. Still perfect color.
30+ years before these Pacific flights, the Wright brothers flew 120 feet. 30+ years after these Pacific flights, passengers were flying world wide in the stratosphere.
can't believe the 747 has come and gone ...all with my life, thought they would last forever.
And now another 50 years on, all the food service is gone, passengers are assaulting flight attendants and flights are being diverted due to lunatics and drunks!
And going to the moon, also 30 years later!
@@williamhoskins2300 There are still many in cargo service. The last one to be built was just a relatively few years ago.
OMG! What a journey this would have been!!!
I thank you profusely for sharing this. It is a profound insight that is very important to me and I'm grateful for the archive preservation that allows me a glimpse into this period in our history.
I wish my father-in-law was still alive to tell his stories about those events. He was a flight engineer with PAA for some 33 years. He had lots of stories about the china clipper. He was stationed in Hong Kong in the early mid 50's, and my wife has many fond memories of their life there. I would love to connect with someone at the foundation to find out more about some of his adventures. How can I do that?
The Martin M130 really was a stunningly beautiful airplane. For such hard economic times, industrial design was never better.
Enjoying it immensely at 10 min. It is really hard to convey the excitement of Pan Am and the expectant future of easy and convenient world travel. When you get down to it, a flight across an ocean is a miracle.
We take it for granted? At the beginning, it was a wonder.
What a fantastic film - I never realised Pan Am had so many interests outside of aviation.
Awesome era I missed out on. Thanks for this. I’ll make the best of this era in my lil 172.
Wonderful documentary. So interesting and educational. Thank You
We were lucky to have Pan Am at the start of WII. They had the technical training material and infrastructure to give us a quick start in aviation
It’s really cool that there was a flying boat era, amazing. Sea planes are cool and all, but hull in the water is something I wish I’d experienced.
Fabulous period movie.
Thanks!
Crew if 16. WOW. GReat documentary showing how America used to lead.
I love this! You should make one on the pacific clippers circumnavigation aswell!
This is fascinating!
Brilliant!
IIRC, the fare for the trans-Pacific flight was ca. $8000 in today's money. Obviously, you get what you pay for. A lot different than the sardine cans we fly in today.
That’s interesting because that’s about what a business class or first class ticket costs from LA to Tokyo for example so it’s a very similar price. And today you get a very nice experience for your money
Gotta love the Flying Boats of a bygone era!
💪✌️❤️🩹🇺🇸👍👍
The romance of Pan American lives. Uncle Sam should have preserved the Icon
There are a couple of huge seaplanes in western Canada used in fire control. I mention this so others can investigate if they wish
The planes you mentioned are Martin Mars flying boats. There were only about 6 of the giants ever built. They were built for the U.S. navy as patrol bombers but were used as high priority cargo planes during World War 2.
@@jollyjohnthepirate3168 the last remaining airworthy Mars is currently for sale for $5M. My Dad works at the Martin Marietta Aircraft Museum, and they were trying to get the other Mars back to Baltimore for static display. It proved to be just too big of an endeavor.
@@scottfahdt177 I believe I saw one off Carolina around 75. Maybe a Canadian plane?
The New York to Southampton run in 1938 cost the equivalent of $12,000 in today's money.
I hope that was from NYC to Southampton, UK, and not just a flight out to the east end of Long Island 😃
Fantastic documentary, especially the music.
It's funny hearing 80s electronic music with this old video.
Excellent and interesting documentary. Would have been even better without the often intrusive and not always well chosen BGM. None the less, thanks for posting this.
Wow glad I found this channel 👍👍
Welcome aboard, your Pan American Jet Clipper!
@@PanAmMuseum I work at an aviation museum and the section on the 314 is one of my favorites. It’s such a beautiful plane and I wish I could’ve flown on it!! I love the emphasis on comfort from this era. I’m thankful for pan am working so hard and so well and creating so many positive aviation memories
It should be remembered that during the second World War President Roosevelt flew from New York to Casablanca to meet with Churchill for the Casablanca conference and he did it on the Pan Am clipper
They had to have a small boat create chop in front of the Clipper in Pearl Harbor if the water was too flat or it couldn’t take off because of the surface tension.😉
Fantastic video! Getting the planes built was only part of Pan Am's job. They had to build and staff the island bases and facilities for passengers and crews. Juan Tripp was the man!
Little information about the planes themselves. They are the stars of this video.
I love hearing the story of the PA around the world flight at the very onset of WW2, that flight required some cast iron balls to keep ahead of the Japanese.
Was the navigator at 35:05 Fred Noonan who was lost with Amelia Earhart? It looks like him!
@@smudgey1kenobey I really don't think it was Noonan. He and Earhart are reported to have crashed in 1937. The China Clipper ( PAA Boeing 314) made it's around the world trip right at the beginning of WW2.
Does anybody know what the horsepower of those radial engines were on the Clipper they never mentioned it! Also if anybody knows, how often did they change the oil at every leg of the trip or at the end or somewhere in between? I'm curious, I would just like to know
I think that they mentioned the HP rating was 1260 for the Pratt & Whitney engines . Oil was probably changed after the complete trip to Manila or Hong Kong.
1600 hp each.
@@arnenelson4495 Thank you Arne , your ears are better than mine ! That is a lot of horsepower for an engine even today .
Delve into the rabbit hole of Radial engines and you’ll be even more amazed. There is plenty of content on the RUclips about them. They are amazing works of engineering. Good luck!
All that horsepower for......150MPH.
Actually, the Clippers flew for a few years after WWII. I knew a woman who was a toddler on a flight from USA to Africa, ca. 1948. Also, my grandparents returning home after years in Brazil flew in 1949. I suspect it would have been a Clipper.
I can't imagine the difficulty of provisioning the planes and the hotels with the quality and variety of foods the rich would have demanded.
For an incredible foray into life on a Clipper, read Ken Follett's "Night Over Water." A murder mystery. Excruciatingly researched. For instance, they estimated cross winds by dropping a flare from a hatch and seeing which way it veered from their own direction.
Great video, thanks. Oh, yeah, all that color footage? Thank you Kodak Kodachrome, 1935.
Damm, I want one!
My father was a senior pilot on 747's with Pan Am when they folded 18 months before his retirement age.
He lost all of his pension and no other airline would pickup his contract because he was so close to retirement.
He lived to fly and when he couldn't anymore he died shortly after.
Sorry for your loss Marshall, your Dad must have been a great pilot to get up to the 747 .
I think the end of Pan Am was a blow to all aviation enthusiasts. I still remember the slow decline and how I felt on the news of the company’s demise as if it was yesterday.
Sorry to hear that. It's been said that people need something to live for and when the game is gone they move on to another game. Take heart, the soul is eternal he will fly again if he so chooses.
My coworker as aircraft mechanic in AF Reserves was terminated at 17 years of service. No pension or benefits at 50 years old. He had to open a transmission shop for cars. Pan Am folded and a lot if folks suffered. This was in 1981.
I am sorry to hear that about your father. I am a senior AA 777 Capt. I was flying when PanAm folded. Another tradgedy of mismanagement. God bless your father. He flew thousands of people safely around the world. He was special.
during the second world war when the Navy took over the Pan Am Hotel on Midway they named it The Gooney Bird Hotel cuz it was used as a rest area for the US submarines base there
29:10 I bet the guys on Alcatraz had a fine view of it since they began the take off on Berkeley Bay!
I loved PM
One of the magnificent stories of capitalism, and AMERICAN capitalism in particular.
All three M-130s crashed while carrying passengers.
never minded this boom bombs music in this film terrible headache gave me.
That's americans for you. They always have to be loud and overbearing.
Bizarre
Glad the music drowned out engine noise.
Certainly sad that the world does not have ONE example of a 314 anywhere.
not sure about the date of this document, seems more very 80's early 80's at that
Recorded on magnetic wire. State of the art, 1925.
What they really needed at this time were airships. The answer.
"I'll be a little late getting home for dinner, dear."
Can't imagine what all the wives thought about that flight. They were probably ready to string up the entire board of directors of Pan Am.
I made a similar call to my wife one evening but I had been hit by a car as I walked home from the commuter rail station. The wife's comment was something on the order of "I had you dead in a ditch somewhere!"
And now we have Spirit
GET the book "Pacific Pioneers" by somebody ...got it but havent leafed it thru in ages. As big and heavy as a B-314, excellent work, 550 pp or sth , 80s ,,,,.....,,,,,.....
Difficult to see how they made a profit.
16 flight crew plus cabin staff, fuel, building and operating hotels etc, etc.
Maybe mail and cargo paid the way.
They did say mail subsidized flights. So maybe that was the difference.
Air transportation, from luxury to mass transport.
Look how air travel used to be such a wonderful experience! Today we shuffle in board into cramped, painful seats and get snarked at 60 year old union flight attendants and get terrible food and get side eye if you bring a carry on.
You know what ruined it? Those damn baby boomers with their jeans and rock and roll. Us greatest generation should never have had those disco dancing bast**ds!
Well it's no coincidence that travelling by air is the same as living in a neighbourhood- the more it becomes diverse, the worse the experience. Look at the average DMV employee or NYC transit employee.
@@clownnworldorder So what you’re saying is, flying would be great if it was all people of a single color/sex/age/nationality?
Pax had class back then, now it’s just an aluminium tube stuffed with boguns!
When we where building them. Mitsubishi was building the a6m3 ZERO. Mitsubishi heavy industries now has built two of my favorite cruise ships. And where today are all those airplanes only for the rich. A Zero today 10/12/2022 is for sale for $3300.000 Thomas at 90 years old
My friend, Mike kawato possibly shot down pappy boyington. They were friends, an I met them both at Chino. Bout 1983. Mike flew the zero, and was shot down several times
I like how in 85 the guy said "this time fly over the bridge " 🤣🤣
Love the golden age of Seaplanes... Umm.. a little correction on the distance between Long Beach California to Avalon Catalina though.. it's not 12 miles it's more like 26 miles 🤣.
💪✌️❤️🩹🇺🇸
As the song said....
26 miles across the sea,
Santa Catalina lies waiting for me
Ide like to see pan am back, but several major lines died. Probabl6 forporat business decisions. Money over all else. When I dated, I sometimes would say we're goin to lunch, the girl said great. I drove to torrance air port, she asked, why here? I said ,gt in this piper 200, wer3 go8ng to Catalina. That usually go5 a big surprise look. Girls were usually better passengers, they isn't have the macho boy attitude, they weren't afraid,they just enjoyed it.
I think it is very telling, to this very day, about the British and their attitude towards the US . . . . . of how Pan Am was refused landing rights in Britain or their territories, until they caught up with the Americans in aircraft technology . . . . 'Reciprocity' in their words. Surely an equitable agreement could have been made. Even after GE picked up where Whittle left off and the two countries shared in the advancement of the jet engine, the British still floundered and then fell completely out of the 'cutting edge' of flight technology . Imagine where things could have gone without that lost 3 years of refusal, so worried about the American's having a head start, it did nothing but hold both countries back in an environment where the other competition wasn't interested in 'passengers' for their cargo, and your approval is not needed for their ambitions that followed shortly after. It is very unfortunate when like minded societies don't work together for mutual benefit . . . . or even, survival.
33:28 Ah Ha! Now we know what happened to Aunt Leona’s patio chairs! 😉
the 130 was named for its wingspan.....that many feet LONG ???? Wingspan is measured in WIDE.
Seven minutes was all I could stand. Background "music" could be used to extract confessions from innocent prisoners,
this is the best comment! 😂
I agree Doc , the music was a bit rough , and it kept repeating .But the film was interesting .
Only people with big money could fly back then. At least you could ditch at sea if had too.
I gained 10 lbs just watch those lucky passengers dining aboard the China Clipper.. so jealous.
My first flight to the US in 1963 was very nice ...people dressed(me in very high heels), food was very good, I ask for a banana and sure enough, I got one. The crew was great, will NEVER forget...not much later things started to change..and we all know how it is now...my flying days are over, I am so glad I have seen so many beautiful places on this great earth when I was younger...
Why the annoying music?
Zany!
Just think. All those people have passed away by now.
and then ww2
They pioneered the route eventually taken to island hop to Japan in WW2. The government subsidized them to do it.
Narrator sounds like Leonard Nemoy.
A logical choice
I sailed on Matson Lines and Pan Am. Well fucked now, aren't they? What you get for innovating in this cuntry.
And ....they gave you a " flight bag ".......
That "music" er terrible. It is NOISE
It still behooves me that the U.S. Government allowed Pan American to go under, all that Pan American did for aviation and all we did for the U.S. Government, but we bail everybody else in the world out, to think of all the lives destroyed which delta airlines also had a big part of makes you loose faith in our system.
I believe carrol Shelby built his early cobras 8n L A . My sister was 9ne of his office staff, and my friendcted, was mechanic in Venice, building mustangs
In the old pan am hangar
@@thomasclark8233 You remember years ago before HGR 19 was built they used to say it will get better at the new Hangar
Flying for over 20 hrs, or several days is he'll. Low and slow. It had to be very exhausting o those prop planes. Pan ams lax hanger, was taken over by carrol Shelby, where they c9nvert3d the cobras into American hot rods. Dick gulstrand I Culver city, told me he got 5he 427 up to 172, out side of mojave Catalina had some seaplane accidents and also chopper crashes, so y9u gave t9 take th boats old Catalina ferry is sunk in harbor in west mexico, below Rosarita beach
Remember. H7gh3s 8dn5 like spruce goose, he call3d it 5he Hercules. His convair airl8ner 2as in hanger at santa monica. Maybe a Martin?
314A. The King of sexy.
Too bad Panam dissapeared
Ruined by the music. If you can call it that.
My Dad.was.in COMUNICATION and.helped
In the Doolittle raid.via COMUNICATION and
Possibly Hiroshima and
Nagasaki!
Panam was a great pioneer airline. But I don't think it's donation worthy
We respect your opinion, but disagree. We are a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the history of Pan Am so that future generations can appreciate.
Very poorly research to many facts incorrect.
OSHA dude woulda lost his cotton pickin' mind....
Yes, climbing in and out of those engine nacelles while the engine was running.😄
Ruined by the noisy music.
The narrator said that the flying boats would sometimes have to return to San Francisco due to strong westerly headwinds. That doesn't make sense. And "always a chronic problem" is redundant.
Look at a map: From San Francisco to Hawaii, you are flying west. (Now, don't tell me "But it's called 'far east', please!) And west winds are coming from the west. So heavy west wind would have the machines fly slower in relation to ground (slower ground speeds). Sometimes they had to turn because they couldn't have reached Hawaii with the remaining fuel but it was enough to turn back to San Francisco.
CORRECT.
Plus metrology was in its infantacy, and wx reporting stations virtually nonexistent except for few isolated PanAm stations.
A very severe handicap to aviation.
@@pmullins8821 You mean meteorology (study of weather), not metrology (study of measurement).
@@vancouverman4313 Thank you, having an interest in both I was going to intervene but you beat me to it.
Look up the recent Cessna 172 that flew to Hawaii. Even today it’s a big deal in a small plane.