FLYING BOAT MAIL SERVICE
ACROSS THE PACIFIC .. 1941
Pacific (California) Clipper, a Pan American Airways Boeing 314 flying boat, which was the first commercial airliner to fly around the world. In 1941-42, it was stranded in New Zealand after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and made it to New York, flying west, through Australia, the Dutch East Indies, India, Africa, the South Atlantic, and Caribbean.
Captain Bob Ford and the crew overcame lack of facilities, bad fuel, engine failure and enemy intrigue to complete their mission.
Captain Bob Ford and crew of a Pan American Airways flying boat that had to circumnavigate the globe in 1941 just after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The flight was a thirty-four day ordeal. It took over 31,000 miles, 3 oceans, 5 continents, 12 nations, 22 landings, and crossed the equator 4 times. They had no airways to follow, had to use bad fuel, had no spare parts. They had engine failures, were nearly shot down, and made numerous overloaded takeoffs. With few air navigation aids, Ford was still able to employ precision celestial air navigation. Captain Ford and crew accomplished the impossible and made aviation history.
