![]() ![]() ![]() The Pan Am Boeing 314 Clippers brought exotic destinations like the Far East within reach of air travelers and came to represent the romance of flight. A round trip from New York to Southampton was $675 (equivalent to $13,000 in 2021), while a one-way ticket from San Francisco to Hong Kong via the "stepping-stone" islands posted at $760 (equivalent to $15,000 in 2021). The standard of luxury on Pan American's Boeing 314s has rarely been matched on heavier-than-air transport since then. Men and women were provided with separate dressing rooms, and white-coated stewards served five and six-course meals with gleaming silver service. The 314s had a lounge and dining area, and the galleys were crewed by chefs from four-star hotels. Clipper service catered to elite businessmen and the wealthy traveler. The seats could be converted into 36 bunks for overnight accommodation with a cruising speed of 188 miles per hour (303 km/h) (typically flights at maximum gross weight were flown at 155 miles per hour (249 km/h)) in 1940, Pan Am's schedule San Francisco to Honolulu was 19 hours. Pan Am's "Clippers" were built for "one-class" luxury air travel, a necessity given the long duration of transoceanic flights. The California Clipper at Cavite, the Philippines, 1940 A capacity of 300 US gallons (1,100 l 250 imp gal) of oil was required for operation of the radial engines. The later 314A model carried a further 1,200 US gallons (4,500 l 1,000 imp gal). To fly the long ranges needed for trans-Pacific service, the 314 carried 4,246 US gallons (16,070 l 3,536 imp gal) of gasoline. The sponsons, broad lateral extensions at the waterline on both sides of the hull, served several purposes: They provided a wide platform to stabilize the craft while floating, they acted as a gangway for boarding and exiting, and they possessed intentional shaping to contribute additional aerodynamic lift in flight. Boeing also incorporated Dornier-style sponsons into the hull structure. The 314 used a series of heavy ribs and spars to create a robust fuselage and cantilevered wing, eliminating the need for external drag-inducing struts to brace the wings. This too was found to be insufficient and finally the centerline vertical fin was restored, after which the aircraft flew satisfactorily. The aircraft returned to the factory and was fitted with the endplates on the ends of the horizontal tail in place of the single vertical fin. At first the aircraft had a single vertical tail, and Allen found he had inadequate directional control. The first flight was on June 7, 1938, piloted by Edmund T. The huge flying boat was assembled at Boeing's Plant 1 on the Duwamish River in Seattle, and towed to Elliott Bay for taxi and flight tests. Pan Am ordered six more aircraft with increased engine power and capacity for 77 daytime passengers as the Boeing 314A. Boeing engineers adapted the cancelled XB-15's 149 ft (45 m) wing, and replaced the 850 hp (630 kW) Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp radial engines with the 1,600 hp (1,200 kW) Wright Twin Cyclone. Boeing's bid was successful and on July 21, 1936, Pan American signed a contract for six. ![]() Pan American had requested a truly trans-Pacific flying boat with unprecedented range and double the passenger payload of the airline's Martin M-130. ![]()
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