DOCSLIB.ORG

The Search for Samoan Clipper

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Search for Samoan Clipper Fall/Winter 2019 www.panam.org NEWSLETTERCLI OF THEPP PAN AMER HISTORICAL FOUNDATION From The Chairman, Edward Trippe... Last Spring, Steve Lyons, the producer of the documentary film,Across the Pacific, came to us with a proposal to add an extra hour to the Pan Am saga. He reasoned that the extra hour would allow greater character development of the four principals who were the core of the story: Igor Sikorsky, Hugo Leuteritz, Charles Lindbergh, and Juan Trippe. For Trippe it became an opportunity THE SEARCH FOR SAMOANBy Russ CLIPPERMatthews to include his bride, Betty Stettinius, Expedition Leader, President & Co-founder, and the story of their turbulent court- Air/Sea Heritage Foundation ship amidst the founding and start-up ore than 81 years after Pan Am’s struggles of launching Pan Am. The MSamoan Clipper went missing, Pan Am community met the funding underwater wreckage of the historic fly- challenge and by August we were able ing boat remains elusive. In mid-July the to commit to the additional funding to Air/Sea Heritage Foundation mounted an complete the third hour. expedition to conduct extensive side-scan sonar surveys of the ocean floor near the Progress on the film is proceeding with reported crash location of the lost aircraft. final editing near completion. Episode 1, the first hour, will be completed by The big Sikorsky S-42B went down dur- the time the Fall Clipper goes to press. ing an audacious attempt to inaugurate DEVON CHIVVIS PHOTO: regular air mail service between Hono- American Public Television (APT) will Russ Matthews in Pago Pago use Episode 1 to solicit interest from lulu, Hawaii and Auckland, New Zealand everyone’s worst fears. Investigators later member stations across the country to with a crew of seven, including PAA’s concluded that Samoan Clipper had schedule the film presentations. celebrated Chief Pilot, Captain Edwin C. Musick. Shortly after takeoff from Pago caught fire and exploded while dump- At the same time, former Pan Am-er Pago, American Samoa on January 11, ing fuel to lighten the aircraft prior to Jim Zockoll and his family made a very 1938, an oil leak forced the crew to shut landing. generous gift to the Foundation. Not down one of the plane’s four engines and Using eyewitness accounts and the posi- only did it complete the funding for the turn back to base. The stricken craft was tion of floating debris recovered by the documentary, it also allows the Founda- mere minutes away from safety when seaplane tender USS Avocet (AVP-4) tion to move forward with a number of all communication ceased. Soon word within a day of the accident, searchers at our initiatives important to the preser- came of smoke sighted to the Northwest the time quickly zeroed-in on a location vation of Pan Am’s legacy. and an aerial search spotted a telltale oil approximately 12 miles North of Tapu slick on the ocean surface that confirmed Chairman cont. p. 2 Samoan Clipper cont. p. 4 The PAHF Tours continue with great 1st. A great friend to many of us, George Chairman from p.1 enthusiasm. The second tour this past was a long-time Director of the PAHF. We owe a special thanks to Jim who September to Morocco was outstanding, Following a tour as a Marine aviator, joined Pan Am in 1955 as a flight en- as was the first tour in March. The next George joined Pan Am as Vice President, gineer flying the DC-6B and the DC-7 planned tour to Egypt, scheduled for Operations. In 1978, he moved to Hong in the Atlantic Division out of what was March 3-15, is filling up fast. The trip will Kong to head Pan Am’s Far East Opera- then Idlewild Airport in NY. He also include a night in Alexandria, three nights tions. After retiring from Pan Am George flew in the Latin America division and in Cairo at the Semiramis InterContinen- founded Geographic Expeditions, or transferred in 1963 to the IGS in Frank- tal, and a three-night Nile Cruise from GeoEX, an early leader in adventure trav- furt and Berlin. Though he left Pan Am Luxor to Aswan. See page 7 for details. el. Our condolences go out to George’s ✈ to form his own company, Jim remains a It is with great sadness to report that family and friends around the world. loyal supporter of Pan Am and its legacy. George Doubleday passed away on Sept He tells us that one wall of his library is dedicated solely to Pan Am. This past summer, we all watched with On the Set at Filming ‘Across the Pacific’ great anticipation the search for the Samoan Clipper, the expedition to find Ed Trippe on set the S-42 flying boat that crashed off of with producer, American Samoa in 1938 with Chief crew and cast Pilot Edwin Musick in command. In members this issue we bring you an article by Russ Producer Stephen Matthews, expedition leader and presi- Lyons, re-enactment dent of the Air/Sea Heritage Foundation. Russ provides an on-the-scene report Director Lisa Quijano, about the expedition and the commit- PAHF chairman Ed ment to continue the search for the Sa- Trippe and his “father” moan Clipper, as well as the wreckage of Juan, played by actor Amelia Earhart’s Electra. We will follow their search with keen interest. Brian Muller, on the set of Across the Pacific in The Foundation’s plans for the Marine RADIO SHED Tewksbury, Massachu- Air Terminal at La Guardia have pro- Director of Photography Ezra Wolfinger (right) films Pan Am gressed albeit at a slower pace and with a setts, in June 2018. Chief Engineer Andre Priester (left, Brooks Reeves) and radio modified program. The Foundation’s plan engineer Ferris Sullinger (Dennis Staroselsky) as they follow is now focused on two initiatives. The first initiative includes installing bronze plaques the ill-fated 1928 flight of the mail plane called the General on the building identifying the building’s Machado in the Key West radio shed on the set of Across the historic importance. A plaque at the build- Pacificin Allston, Massachusetts, in June 2018. ing entrance will recognize the architects, Delano and Aldrich, and the building’s place in history as Pan Am’s headquarters for its North Atlantic operation 1939- 1947. A second plaque in the entrance foyer will provide information about the massive James Brooks mural “Flight” which wraps around the entire circum- ference of the rotunda. A third plaque would identify the model B-314 aircraft suspended from the ceiling of the rotunda. The present plan also calls for the replace- ment of the existing model, possibly with three models; the B-314 “Yankee Clip- per”, the S-42 “Bermuda Clipper”, and the M-130 “China Clipper”. The existing model would be moved to a new LaGuar- dia Airport museum planned for the new main terminal building. Photos by Jeffrey Dunn, © Moreno/Lyons Productions LLC. © Moreno/Lyons Photos by Jeffrey Dunn, 2 ‘Lest We Forget’ — The Fathers of the 747 By Ron Marasco Preliminary concept Boeing 747 (1966) Pan Am Historical Foundation 2020 Calendar The 50th Anniversary of the iconic Boeing 747 is being celebrated around the world in articles, exhibits and tributes to the ‘Queen of the Skies’. The Pan Am Historical Foun- dation 2020 calendar is dedicated to this groundbreaking achievement n the last half of the twentieth century fly non-stop from New York to Paris, and with dramatic photos each month, Ithere were only a few notable airline Trippe witnessed his historic takeoff from along with a history of the airplane executives who made an enormous impact Long Island’s Roosevelt Field. that changed our world. Visit www. panam.org to order additional copies on the growth of commercial aviation. But unlike other “firsts” in commercial Leaders like Frank Borman and Howard of the 2020 Calendar. It’s a perfect aviation, no one was racing to create the holiday gift! Hughes were the last of aviation’s swash- first 747. On the contrary neither Boeing, buckling, glorious past who had great nor anyone else in the airline industry had ing confidence in Pan Am, in an era where vision, brashness, and considerable nerve. any interest in such a ground-breaking en- But none rivaled the pioneering accom- many were skeptical of flying and airline deavor ­­— other than Juan Trippe, Chair- companies in general. plishments or the power to influence their man of Pan American World Airways. company’s direction, as Juan Trippe. Trippe went on to build a legacy for being From 1927 until the beginning of the When Juan Trippe was about ten his ahead of the aircraft technology curve, jet age in 1958 Trippe forged a sprawl- purchasing the latest aircraft, often not yet father took him to see Wilbur Wright fly ing international airline. What he and a around the Statue of Liberty. From then built, with more seats for a lower seat mile handful of surrogates accomplished during cost, to fulfill his vision of a premier inter- on Trippe’s life-long passion to be in the that period of time was unprecedented. He forefront of aviation would never cease. national airline. During his march to cre- cleverly hired Charles Lindbergh, an indis- ate a successful company, he had amassed He had known Charles Lindbergh, who pensable asset to Pan Am’s early operation was just one of many in a race to be first to considerable power and influence with the because Lindbergh epitomized an operat- Pan Am Board of Directors, financial com- munity, and the aircraft manufacturers.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Civilian Involvement in the 1990-91 Gulf War Through the Civil Reserve Air Fleet Charles Imbriani
    Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2012 Civilian Involvement in the 1990-91 Gulf War Through the Civil Reserve Air Fleet Charles Imbriani Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCE CIVILIAN INVOLVEMENT IN THE 1990-91 GULF WAR THROUGH THE CIVIL RESERVE AIR FLEET By CHARLES IMBRIANI A Dissertation submitted to the Interdisciplinary Program in the Humanities in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Degree Awarded: Fall Semester, 2012 Charles Imbriani defended this dissertation on October 4, 2012. The members of the supervisory committee were: Peter Garretson Professor Directing Dissertation Jonathan Grant University Representative Dennis Moore Committee Member Irene Zanini-Cordi Committee Member The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members, and certifies that the dissertation has been approved in accordance with university requirements. ii DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to Fred (Freddie) Bissert 1935-2012. I first met Freddie over forty years ago when I stared working for Pan American World Airways in New York. It was twenty-two year later, still with Pan Am, when I took a position as ramp operations trainer; and Freddie was assigned to teach me the tools of the trade. In 1989 while in Berlin for training, Freddie and I witnessed the abandoning of the guard towers along the Berlin Wall by the East Germans. We didn’t realize it then, but we were witnessing the beginning of the end of the Cold War.
    [Show full text]
  • From Aviation's Quiet Pioneer
    CHAPTER 4- MIAMI AND THE FLYING HONEYMOON At the end of 1929 Leslie was transferred to Miami where he was given added responsibilities. His job title was Assistant Division Engineer. Leslie’s initial duties involved maintaining the Consolidated Commodores acquired from The New York, Rio and Buenos Aires Airways - NYRBA, and testing new aircraft. In mid 1930 Leslie was awarded two round trip passes to Trinidad on the Fokker F-10’s and the Sikorsky S-38’s. He and his wife Jean stopped at all the Pan American bases along the way. The trip was Mr. Priester’s way of making up for having asked them earlier to cancel their honeymoon due to urgent airline business. Their photograph album of this trip with pilots who later went on to Paciic crossing fame is a witness to early aviation, its equipment, its people, and primitive operating environment. These pictures speak for themselves. 12 Famous Pan American pilots Ed Musick and Leo Terletzky would perish a few years later in the crash of the Samoan Clipper and the mysterious disappearance of the Hawaii Clipper Fokker F-10 at Havana, Cuba. Sikorsky S-38 Amphibian 13 Jean and John Leslie amid the struts of the S-38 Stuck in the mud at Santo Domingo 14 Captain Tilton signs the ships papers and clears customs, St Thomas, Virgin Islands S-38 beached for the night would make a water take off at dawn. 15 Leslie’s career had one dramatic hiccup, but when he told the story years later he made it sound like a lucky break.
    [Show full text]
  • China Clipper Glider
    Build and Fly the China Clipper Glider How to create a Fascinating Flying Silhouette Model of the Trans-oceanic Clippers From Sheet Balsa Wood By Jesse Davidson THE clipper ships of the Andrew Jackson. It was indeed a middle 19th century were the triumph of which every American at fastest sailing vessels ever built the time had reason to be proud for and were used extensively in the it reduced by one-quarter the California and Australia gold rushes record of 120 days made by the and in the tea, opium and slave clipper ship Memon two years trades. They were the last effort to before. compete evenly with the steam It was of this event that the vessels on long voyages and with New York Commercial on October heavy cargoes, and for many years 8th, 1851, said: "Such a passage they were moderately successful in as this is more than a local triumph delaying the final victory of steam. and inures to the reputation not When Donald McKay's Flying alone of the builders of the ship Cloud arrived in San Francisco 89 and her enterprising owners, but of days out of New York it established the United States. It is truly a a record never surpassed and only national triumph and points clearly twice equaled—once by the Flying and unmistakably to the Cloud herself three years preeminence upon the ocean which afterward, and in 1860 by the 1 awaits the United States of Expansion, development and America." progress was moving at a fast clip. At this period of its history, the And so we leave these United States was at the peak of precursors of the modern clipper her maritime glory.
    [Show full text]
  • Edwin C. Musick Collection History of Aviation Collection Biographical
    Edwin C. Musick Collection History of Aviation Collection Biographical Sketch Born: St. Louis, Missouri 1894 Died: Near Pago Pago, Samoa 1938 Survey flight to New Zealand Education: Incomplete formal education in a Los Angeles high school Aviation Background: January, exposed to aviation at the Dominguez Field 1910 air races, Los Angeles, CA. With Arthur C. Burns, Harry Reynolds, and others 1912 built an airplane (note Burns photos) that flew nine feet off the ground and pancaked. Built another airplane that Reynolds crashed. 1913 Took a course at Schiller Flying School consisting of lectures, followed by taxiing and eventually flying in a single seat Curtiss Pusher. The trio purchased a used plane to build up time. 1914. Musick worked as mechanic for exhibition fliers 1915 in Venice, California, renting Schiller’s airplane for practice. Became exhibition flier for several months; then became 1915-16 instructor at Venice in Summer of 1916. Served as civilian instructor in the Army Air Corps, 1917 North Island San Diego; transferred to Call Field, Wichita Falls, Texas. Commissioned as Lieutenant in the Marine Corps and 1918 assigned to Miami, Florida; remained in service after the Armistice. In the Fall released from Marine Corps to join 1919-20 Plane and Motor Corporation, Keyport, New Jersey. Flew F5-L’s from Miami to Havana. May 14, Inaugurated New New-Atlantic City airline 1921 in F5-L’s. Because the airline attracted few passengers, Musick was sent on goodwill flights around the Great Lakes, down the Mississippi, and around the Gulf Coast. For the 1921-22 season, Musick returned to the Miami-Havana run.
    [Show full text]
  • The China Clipper
    The China Clipper The China Clipper (NC14716) was the first of three Martin M-130 four-engine flying boats built for Pan American Airways and was used to inaugurate the first commercial transpacific airmail service from San Francisco to Manila in November 1935. Built at a cost of $417,000 by the Glenn L. Martin Company in Baltimore, Maryland, it was delivered to Pan Am on October 9, 1935. It was one of the largest airplanes of its time. On November 22, 1935, it took off from Alameda, California in an attempt to deliver the first airmail cargo across the Pacific Ocean. Although its inaugural flight plan called for the China Clipper to fly over the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge (still under construction at the time), upon take-off the pilot real- ized the plane would not clear the structure, and was forced to fly narrowly under instead. On November 29, the airplane reached its destination, Manila, after traveling via Honolulu, Midway Island, Wake Island, and Guam, and delivered over 110,000 pieces of mail. The inauguration of ocean airmail service and com- mercial air flight across the Pacific was a significant event for both California and the world. Its departure point is California Historical Landmark #968 and can be found in the Naval Air Station at Alameda. During World War II, the China Clipper was painted olive drab with a large American flag painted below the cockpit. The China Clipper was referred to as "Sweet Sixteen" by Pan American personnel. The "Sixteen" is a reference to the aircraft's registration number NC14716.
    [Show full text]
  • CHINA CLIPPER Education Program SFO MUSEUM
    CHINA CLIPPER Education Program SFO MUSEUM China Clipper An Educational Program for Grade Two and Grade Three Students This is a free, hands-on educational program designed for second grade and third grade students centered on the current exhibition China Clipper. The program includes directed looking, exploring the history of trans-Pacific air service, and hands-on activities to learn about the basic principles of powered flight with making and flying paper airplanes. The program is guided by experienced museum and library staff and runs 45 minutes. Additional activities are also available. Please see the California Department of Education Content Standards on page 4 for the subject areas that are addressed in this program. China Clipper can accommodate up to approximately 30 students at a time. Special arrangements can be made for groups larger than 30. PROGRAM PLAN Schedule: • Students arrive at the aviation museum and library and deposit bags, jackets, etc. • Staff introductions, welcoming remarks, and description of the two planned activities. • Students are divided into two groups. • One group will do the BUILD IT! ACTIVITY and MAP IT! ACTIVITY through an exploration of the China Clipper exhibition. • One group will do the FLY IT! ACTIVITY by discussing how airplanes fly and then making and flying paper airplanes. • Allow 15–20 minutes for each group’s activity, then groups will switch activities. • Conclusion and wrap-up. Additional guided museum activities and airport tours are also available to extend class visits as described on page 5. 1 ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION BUILD IT! ACTIVITY Objectives: • Learn about evolution of long- distance airplanes • Look closely at the different types of airplanes on display • Compare the different features of the airplanes • Examine how flying boat and other airplane designs have evolved through time and what that means for air travel then and now Above is the board used to lead a discussion about the different flying boats used by Pan American Airways.
    [Show full text]
  • Telepresence-Enabled Exploration of The
    ! ! ! ! 2014 WORKSHOP TELEPRESENCE-ENABLED EXPLORATION OF THE !EASTERN PACIFIC OCEAN WHITE PAPER SUBMISSIONS ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! TABLE OF CONTENTS ! ! NORTHERN PACIFIC! Deep Hawaiian Slopes 7 Amy Baco-Taylor (Florida State University) USS Stickleback (SS-415) 9 Alexis Catsambis (Naval History and Heritage Command's Underwater Archaeology Branch) Sunken Battlefield of Midway 10 Alexis Catsambis (Naval History and Heritage Command's Underwater Archaeology Branch) Systematic Mapping of the California Continental Borderland from the Northern Channel Islands to Ensenada, Mexico 11 Jason Chaytor (USGS) Southern California Borderland 16 Marie-Helene Cormier (University of Rhode Island) Expanded Exploration of Approaches to Pearl Harbor and Seabed Impacts Off Oahu, Hawaii 20 James Delgado (NOAA ONMS Maritime Heritage Program) Gulf of the Farallones NMS Shipwrecks and Submerged Prehistoric Landscape 22 James Delgado (NOAA ONMS Maritime Heritage Program) USS Independence 24 James Delgado (NOAA ONMS Maritime Heritage Program) Battle of Midway Survey and Characterization of USS Yorktown 26 James Delgado (NOAA ONMS Maritime Heritage Program) Deep Oases: Seamounts and Food-Falls (Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary) 28 Andrew DeVogelaere (Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary) Lost Shipping Containers in the Deep: Trash, Time Capsules, Artificial Reefs, or Stepping Stones for Invasive Species? 31 Andrew DeVogelaere (Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary) Channel Islands Early Sites and Unmapped Wrecks 33 Lynn Dodd (University of Southern
    [Show full text]
  • Pan Am at War by Robert Gandt Marking the 70Th Anniversary of America's Entry Into World War II
    Pan Am at War by Robert Gandt Marking the 70th Anniversary of America's entry into World War II Sunday morning, 7 December, 1941. An era was ending. In the space of a few violent hours, the United States had shed its lofty detachment from the conflicts of Europe and Asia. And as the dawn rolled westward over the Pacific, the most glamorous chapter in commercial aviation was coming to a close. The transpacific routes pioneered by Pan American Airways — and the elegant chain of specially constructed island bases — were now a combat zone. America was at war, and so was Pan Am. One of the first to know was Lanier Turner, captain of Pan American’s B-314 flying boat Anzac Clipper. Turner and his crew of ten, with their seventeen passengers, were an hour from arrival at Pearl Harbor when they received the report: Pearl Harbor was under attack by enemy airplanes. Stunned, Turner pulled out the ship’s briefcase that contained his sealed war A Boeing B-314 takes off at dawn emergency orders. Pan Am Historical Foundation Farther to the west the Martin M- 130 Philippine Clipper, commanded by Capt. John “Hammy” Hamilton, had just taken off from Wake Island lagoon, bound for Guam. By radio Hamilton received the news about the Japanese attack on Hawaii. And with the news came new orders: the Philippine Clipper was to return immediately to Wake and evacuate all Pan American personnel. An enemy attack on the island could come at any time. In the South Pacific, the B-314 flying boat Pacific Clipper was midway between New Caledonia and New Zealand, en route to Auckland.
    [Show full text]
  • (A) No Person Or Corporation May Publish Or Reproduce in Any Manner
    RULE-S ADOPTED BY. THE BOARD OF-REGENTS. OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII NOV 8 1 9 5 5 WITH REGARD TO THE REPRODUCTION OF MASTERS. THESES (a) No person or corporation may publish or reproduce in any manner, without the consent of the Committee on Research and Graduate Study, a thesis which has been submitted to the University in partial fulfillment of the require rrients for an advanced degree, (b) No individual or corporation or other organization may publish quota tions or excerpts from a graduate thesis without the consent of the author and of the Committee on Research and Graduate Study. EARLY TRANSPACIFIC AVIATION 11 1930-1941 A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS AUGUST 1958 By Thomas P. Bartow I Thesis Committee; Dr. Charles H. Hunter, Chairman Dr. Donald Johnson Dr. John Warner PREFACE This paper is the story of how the vast stretches of the Pacific had been plotted from the air a decade before hostilities broke out between the United States and Japan. The Army and Navy were able to draw upon the vast knowledge of these commercial fliers in order to conduct the far-flung air operations that characterized Pacific aviation. There has been, to date, little research into the expansion of the United States commercial aviation into the Pacific region. Sources are limited and often fragmentary. Many of the details are unavailable for reasons of national security and commer­ cial policy. The history of Pacific aviation is further obscured by the relationship of the United States Government toward her commercial air carriers.
    [Show full text]
  • Boardwalk Empire of the Air: Aerial Bootlegging in Prohibition Era America
    1 Boardwalk Empire of the Air: Aerial Bootlegging in Prohibition Era America Roger Douglas Connor Smithsonian Institution, National Air and Space Museum, Washington, D.C., 20560 Abstract Though minimized in the historiography of air commerce, aerial smuggling was a significant factor in the growth of American civil aviation during the 1920s and ‘30s. While aviators engaged in bootlegging liquor – an illicit, if popular activity – for reasons of personal gain, I argue that the airplane’s disruptive ability to abrogate physical, geopolitical, legal, and social boundaries resonated culturally in ways that enabled the rapid growth of smuggling beyond the motivations of simple greed and adventurism. This underlying disruptive discourse emerged in the decade before Prohibition and as aviation became commonplace, it required negotiations both in aeronautical culture and in a nation that eagerly embraced the airplane while shaping a technological identity through “air-mindedness.” If Prohibition bootlegging and air-mindedness were compatible in the minds of many Americans, alien and narcotic smuggling by airplane represented far greater transgressions and greatly complicated this new technological identity. 2 Introduction On June 6, 1931, Customs officials acting on a tip, arrested Los Angeles millionaire oil tycoon and airline entrepreneur Erle P. Halliburton (founder of the Halliburton megacorporation) along with his chief pilot, Frank Glennan, after crossing the border from Mexico to land at El Paso, Texas. Ten cases of high-grade liquor were discovered in his personal Ford 5-AT Tri- Motor “The Cementer.” Halliburton paid the then staggering sum of $13,000 as a fine for tariff evasion, but avoided felony prosecution, unlike the vast majority of other aerial smugglers of the era.
    [Show full text]
  • Volume 36 #2 April 2020
    THE JOURNAL OF THE INTERNATIONAL GROUP FOR HISTORIC AIRCRAFT RECOVERY April 2020 © TIGHAR 2020 Volume 36 #2 THE WRONG NAVIGATOR by Ric Gillespie, Executive Director Abstract The deeper we dig into the Earhart disappearance, the more we discover many accepted truths to be based upon publicity and presumption rather than fact. Amelia hailed Fred Noonan as “tops among aerial navigators.”1 I bought into the myth myself when, in my book Finding Amelia, I described him as “arguably the world’s finest aerial navigator.”2 He wasn’t, but neither was he a bad navigator. He was simply the wrong navigator. A realistic assessment of CONTENTS ON THE COVER his methods, record, and prejudices sheds new light on the events of July 2, 1937. The Wrong Navigator ...............................3 “Pan Am Clipper” Navigation Officer The Chosen Instrument 2-2-V-1 Update ....................................... 16 Frederick J. Noonan, 1935. Frederick J. Noonan had a long and successful nautical career, but his experience in aerial navigation was entirely in the context of his employment at Pan American Airways. Founded ABOUT TIGHAR ON THE WEB in 1927, the airline was originally formed at the behest of senior U.S. Army Air Corps officers to TIGHAR (pronounced “tiger”) is an acronym for The International Group for Historic Aircraft head off a German-owned South American carrier lobbying for landing rights in the American Panama Recovery, a 501(c)(3) non-profit educational http://www.tighar.org Sikorsky S-40 foundation. Canal Zone. Quickly expanding to serve Cuba, Rio de Janeiro, and Buenos Aires, Pan American TIGHAR’s activities include: BOarD OF DirECTORS enjoyed a monopoly as the U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • By Peter Leslie of His Father’S Remarkable Career Will Both Inform and Inspire You."
    This book about my father’s 42-year Pan Am career is compiled from the documents, memoirs, clippings, photos and mementos he left behind. In a sense it is the scrapbook he was too busy to get around to. My words are few, just factual history to tie together 200 plus quotes, letters, documents and photos. -- Peter Leslie, Director, Pan Am Historical Foundation Proceeds from the sale of this book will benefit the Pan Am Historical Foundation and its mission. John Leslie's Legacy Clipper One with FDR aboard alights alongside the USS Memphis on the Gambia River in Africa. Painting by Ian Marshall When John Leslie, in charge of President Roosevelt’s 1943 Pan Am Special Mission flight to the wartime Casablanca summit, named the presidential aircraft Clipper One, he started an American tradition. That legacy lives on today and the phrase Air Force One instantly symbolizes American prestige and power around the globe. 2 John Leslie was Pan Am’s first aeronautical engineer. Leslie designed this aircraft in 1927 at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Leslie was hired in 1929 and worked in Miami on Pan Am’s earliest aircraft: The Fokker F-10, the Sikorsky S-38, the Consolidated Commodore and this Sikorsky S-40 shown in a postcard sent to him by his niece in 1935. 3 Leslie was called the “Father of Long Range Cruising.” He tested his theories and techniques with his good friend Captain Ed Musick at the controls of a Sikorsky S-42. 4 In 1935 Leslie was transferred to San Francisco to prepare for the epic Pacific crossing flights.
    [Show full text]