Starring:
Movietone News (Production)
Edmund Reek (Supervisor)
Lowell Thomas (Writter)
Released for the home market, this short, silent documentary film consists of newsreels showing the Pan American Clippers in their heydey, 1934-1938 including the Martin 130 China Clipper and the Giant Boeing 314 Clipper. Footage includes interior shots of the aircraft showing the fairly deluxe sleeping accommodations.
1934 - Giant Clipper Ship Sets Speed Mark on Honolulu Hop
Registration NR-823M, c/n 4201. Delivered new to PAA-Pan American Airways System in 1934, named West Indies Clipper. Sent back to the factory, stripped of its interior and fitted with extra fuel tanks to give it a range of 3000 nautical miles, the airliner, renamed Pan American Clipper, made the first survey flight from Alameda, California (San Francisco Bay) to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii in April 1935. Was later re-registered NC823M and renamed Hong Kong Clipper. Lost on take-off in Antilla, Cuba in 1944.
Registration NC14716, c/n 558. Inaugurated the first scheduled trans-Pacific commercial flight on 22 November 1935. Crashed on approach at Port of Spain, Trindad & Tobago in January 1945.
Same aircraft in other movies at Frequently Seen Aircraft (Civil Fixed-Wing).
Registration NC14715, c/n 557. First flight in 1934. Crashed into a mountain near Ukiah (North San Francisco) in January 1943.
Same aircraft in other movies at Frequently Seen Aircraft (Civil Fixed-Wing).
Reg. G-ADUU Short S.23 Empire Mk I Cavalier of Imperial Airways.Reg. G-ADUU Short S.23 Empire Mk I Cavalier of Imperial Airways.Reg. G-ADUU Short S.23 Empire Mk I Cavalier of Imperial Airways.Reg. G-ADUU Short S.23 Empire Mk I Cavalier of Imperial Airways.Reg. G-ADUU Short S.23 Empire Mk I Cavalier of Imperial Airways.
1936 - Clippers Achieve Two-Way Flight Over Atlantic
Reg. G-ADHM Short S.23 Empire Mk I Caledonia of Imperial Airways.Reg. G-ADHM Short S.23 Empire Mk I Caledonia of Imperial Airways.Reg. G-ADHM Short S.23 Empire Mk I Caledonia of Imperial Airways.Reg. G-ADHM Short S.23 Empire Mk I Caledonia of Imperial Airways.Reg. G-ADHM Short S.23 Empire Mk I Caledonia of Imperial Airways.
1937 - The Last Pictures of Lost Clipper in New Zealand
Registration NC16734, c/n 4207. Delivered new to PAA-Pan American Airways System in 1936, named Pan American Clipper II, later renamed Samoan Clipper. It exploded near Pago Pago, American Samoa in January 1938, after taking off on route to New Zealand. The aircraft was carrying only airmail and express freight; no passengers were aboard but all the six occupants died in the crash.
Seen here in 1937 at Auckland-Mechanics Bay seaplane base (Auckland Marine Rescue Centre and Mechanics Bay Heliport nowadays).
Registration NC18602, c/n 1989. Delivered new to PAA-Pan American Airways System in 1939, named California Clipper, renamed Pacific Clipper in 1942 after having completed an unplanned nearly around-the-world flight in December 1941 and January 1942. Sold to Universal Airlines in 1946 but was damaged in a storm and ultimately salvaged for parts in 1951.
Two other aircraft of the type in the background.
Registration NC18603, c/n 1990. First flight in 1939. Named Yankee Clipper. Inaugurated the first trans-Atlantic flight on 20th May 1939, Port-Washington, New-York, Horta, Lisbon, Marseilles. Crashed while attempting to land at Lisboa-Cabo Ruivo Seaplane Base in February 1943.
