Pan American Clippers: The Golden Age of Flying Boats.

Description

272 pages
Contains Photos, Illustrations, Bibliography, Index
$49.95
ISBN 978-1-55046-476-4
DDC 387.7'06573

Publisher

Year

2007

Contributor

Reviewed by Gordon Turner

Gordon Turner is the author of Empress of Britain: Canadian Pacific’s
Greatest Ship and the editor of SeaFare, a quarterly newsletter on sea
travel.

Review

Pan American Airways’ flying boats of the 1930s symbolized glamour in air travel. Their principal routes were across the Pacific, but they also connected the United States with Europe and with South America. They performed nobly during the Second World War, yet by the early 1950s all were gone, with not even one preserved for posterity. The author is a thorough researcher and a capable writer who has brought the story of the clippers to life in words and pictures.

 

Names of flying-boat manufacturers, airline executives, and pilots have passed into history but that of Juan Trippe, founder of Pan American, remains familiar to aviation enthusiasts. He was the driving force in keeping his company at the forefront of long-distance air travel. He concentrated on flying boats because in the 1930s they were the only practical means of crossing the Pacific by air. Flights from California to Asia meant a series of island-hopping segments, where passengers disembarked at tiny islands such as Midway, Wake, and Guam to spend the night at hotels that Pan American had erected, while aircraft were serviced and refuelled before the next leg began the following morning. A few accidents occurred and two planes simply vanished in flight, but generally Pan Am had a commendable safety record for the times.

 

The most modern flying boats were equipped with well-stocked dining rooms. Eight-passenger compartments, separated from adjacent ones by teakwood panelling, were arranged so that on each side of the aisle two seats faced forward and two aft, with a table between them. For the passengers, all First Class, flying boats provided an experience in service, luxury and, yes, adventure that today’s aircraft simply cannot match. Ticket prices were high, but there were always plenty of takers.

 

Aeronautical development in the Second World War made flying boats redundant. The era of the clipper simply came to an end.

 

Mr. Trautman has a firm grasp of his subject matter. His text is authoritative and he has assembled a large selection of illustrations, including well-chosen photographs and reproductions of informative advertisements and nostalgia-inducing ephemera.

Citation

Trautman, James., “Pan American Clippers: The Golden Age of Flying Boats.,” Canadian Book Review Annual Online, accessed November 21, 2024, https://cbra.library.utoronto.ca/items/show/28929.