Moments and Milestones: Birth of the Clippers
- By George C. Larson, Member, NAA
- Air & Space magazine, November 2010
Thousands watched the China Clipper as it set off on the first trans-Pacific airmail flight on November 22, 1935. Courtesy San Francisco Airport Museum
Glenn L. Martin made his reputation building big bombers for the air forces of the world. In 1933, he won the Collier Trophy for his spectacular B-10, renowned for being speedier than the fighters of its day. Juan Trippe made his reputation building Pan American World Airways into an airline that, for a time, was the United States’ unofficial flag carrier. Trippe and his group of investors initially aimed their expansion south toward Latin America because they were able to maneuver business and politics to their advantage there. But Trippe’s real objective was the lucrative transatlantic routes, which the British government and the steamship operators were blocking.
Pan Am had bought Sikorsky’s S-40, an awkward, strut-braced contraption of an airplane that the airline’s technical advisor, legendary aviator Charles Lindbergh, openly mocked. Trippe wanted a much bigger airplane, which could span both the Atlantic and the Pacific, and two giants of the industry stepped up: Glenn Martin and Igor Sikorsky. Pan Am’s chief engineer, André Priester, wrote the demanding specification. The required range was 2,500 miles against 30-mile headwinds. Trippe split the order evenly, taking three from Martin and three from Sikorsky.
Sikorsky offered the S-42, an improvement over its predecessor, certainly, but able to cross the Pacific to Hawaii only if its interior were stripped and crammed with fuel tanks. Although Martin was late delivering the M-130, which was priced at a staggering $417,000 (at a time when a Douglas DC-2 went for $78,000), it was worth the wait: The M-130 was the airplane that would open the Pacific for Pan Am. And in October 1935, just 75 years ago, Pan Am accepted delivery of its first one, named the China Clipper. On November 22, the airplane left Alameda, California, on the first scheduled airmail run across the Pacific, landing in Manila, the Philippines, on November 29 some 8,000 miles later.
The trans-Pacific run was a formidable trip, the first leg, 2,400 miles to Hawaii, being the longest. Then came Midway, Wake, Guam, Manila, and Hong Kong. The passengers enjoyed lavish quarters and equally lavish treatment by the onboard staff. The M-130 could carry 32 passengers; crews were uniformed in the manner of staff on an oceanliner, and meals were served in a dining room.
Martin knew that if he delivered only the three M-130s Trippe ordered, he’d lose money, but he wanted to break into the commercial aircraft business, and Douglas Aircraft Company had a lock on it. Martin may have expected to have a leg up on any competition when Trippe was ready for his next generation of giant flying boats. He was to be bitterly disappointed.
Trippe did invite designs for a follow-on transport and awarded the contract for six aircraft to Boeing, whose 314 was even bigger and more powerful than the M-130, and had elegant compartments and spacious lounges. At the end of the 1930s, having applied his wiles and plied his political connections for a period of years, Trippe, by agreeing to some British and European conditions, finally concluded a deal to serve the Atlantic. The 314 began flying those routes in 1939, but with a war coming, Pan Am’s expansion plan had to change.
Pan American named the first Sikorsky S-40s and -42s “Clippers,” part of a constant effort to link the aircraft with the fast 19th century sailing vessels of that name, but it wasn’t until Martin’s M-130 China Clipper debuted that the phrase took off among the public. And it stuck: After that, all Clippers were China Clippers. And right up until the airline’s collapse in December 1991, its air crews used the call sign “Clipper” to identify their flights.
Related topics: Aerospace Manufacturing Airlines Airliners and airfreight carriers 20th Century Aviation
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Comments (8)
While Pan-Am's trans-ocean aircraft were generically known as China Clippers, most of the individual airplanes had unique names, usually of the form +Clipper. See http://www.flyingclippers.com/panam.html
Posted by Patrick McGrath on September 17,2010 | 05:18 AM
Proudly I can say that I witnessed the China Clipper leaving San Francisco Bay on this historic flight. My dear old father was a complete aviation buff and took me to everything that had to do with flying. On Nov 22, 1935 he woke me early and we drove to Coit Tower, took the elevator to the top and watched Capt Musik fly past. It is a great memory!
Posted by L.K.Weber, CDR USN (Ret) on October 3,2010 | 02:43 PM
Enjoyed article on Clipper. Mentioned was the 35 date and California. I remember being on the China Clipper somewhere before my 9th birthday in span of 35 - 39. My father was a close friend of a Chinese man who owned a restaurant called the China Clipper, his name Watson Choy. Reason for being on the Clipper, as a guest, was to see Mr.Choy off. He was killed either on a Clipper or another aircraft, when shot down by enemy aircraft to hinder delivery of gold bullion during war crisis. For some reason, I seem to remember a #314 as a model. Do not know if it was one of Martin's. Will try to get my memory together, none are alive that I might seek cooboration from. My impression was a water take off in Long Island, New York vicinity. Idlewild? Were there any seats of woven rattan in the rear for crew?
Large print of name was CHINA CLIPPER.
George M. Levy
Posted by George M Levy on October 27,2010 | 03:13 PM
George - Watson Choy was my uncle. The disappearance of the Hawaii Clipper between Guam and Manila in 1938 with my uncle aboard was a turning point in my family history, as it resulted in my father coming to America on the eve of WW2. The mystery of the plane's disappearance without a trace and the questions about a mission by my uncle to deliver gold to China for military defense against Japan remain unsolved. My father inherited the China Clipper restaurant in Jersey City, and I remember it well from my early youth. P. Choy
Posted by P. Choy on November 9,2010 | 08:35 PM
I can remember November 22,1935 when the China Clpper left California for it's inaugural flight. The following month for Christmas my father gave me a Strombecker solid model kit for the China Clipper, I was seven years old. That model started me on an interest in aviation which lasted until today when I am 82 with 32,000 flying hours logged. These hours were logged in everything from a Piper J-3 Cub seaplane to a Boeing 727. I also remember a elementry school field trip to Laquardia Airport during the 30,s and the Marine Terminal there with the Boeing Yankee Clippers there after they landed at Port Washington out on Long Island Sound. It has been a rewarding life so far.
Posted by Captain Robert B. Kaplan, USAIR Airlines, Rtd.. on December 11,2010 | 02:10 PM
I am currently writing a book on the latest investigation of the Hawaii Clipper and would like to meet Paul Choy. If you read this Paul, could you please contact me at flagshipfilms@aol.com?
Thanks for this website, it's great!
Posted by Guy Noffsinger on January 7,2011 | 04:55 PM
I am the grandson of Edward E Wyman, former assistant to Juan Trippe. My grandfather was also traveling to China on behalf of Curtis Wright to provide aircraft to the Chinese govbernment to fight the Japanese. I'd love to speak with Paul Choy or anyone else interested or involved with the Hawaii Clipper flight.
EEW
973-981-9198
Posted by Edward E Wyman on January 19,2011 | 10:48 PM