| 314 Clipper | |
|---|---|
| A Boeing 314 “Clipper” flying low | |
| Role | Flying boat airliner |
| Manufacturer | Boeing Airplane Company |
| First flight | June 7, 1938 |
| Introduction | 1939 |
| Retired | 1946 |
| Status | retired (all examples scrapped or lost) |
| Primary users | Pan American World Airways British Overseas Airways Corporation United States Navy |
| Produced | 1938–1941 |
| Number built | 12 |
| Developed from | Boeing XB-15 (used wing only) |
The Boeing 314 Clipper was a long-range flying boat produced by the Boeing Airplane Company between 1938 and 1941 and is comparable to the British Short S.26. One of the largest aircraft of the time, it used the massive wing of Boeing’s earlier XB-15 bomber prototype to achieve the range necessary for flights across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Twelve Clippers were built for Pan Am, three of which were sold to BOAC in 1941 before delivery.
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The 314 was a response to Pan American's request for a flying boat with unprecedented range capability that could augment the airline's trans-Pacific Martin M-130. Boeing's bid was successful and on July 21, 1936, Pan American signed a contract for six. Boeing engineers adapted the cancelled XB-15's 149 feet (45 m) wing, and replaced the original 850 horsepower (630 kW) Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp radial engines with the more powerful 1,600 horsepower (1,200 kW) Wright Twin Cyclone.[1] Pan Am ordered an additional six aircraft with increased engine power and a larger carrying capacity of 77 daytime passengers as the Boeing 314A.
The huge flying boat was assembled at Boeing's Plant 1 on the Duwamish River and then towed to Elliott Bay for taxi and flight tests. The first flight was on June 7, 1938, piloted by Edmund T. "Eddie" Allen. As originally built, the aircraft had a single vertical tail. Allen found that he was unable to keep the aircraft flying straight, due to inadequate directional control. The aircraft was returned to the factory and fitted with the endplates on the ends of the horizontal tail in place of the single vertical fin. This too was found to be lacking and finally the centerline vertical fin was restored. In this configuration, the aircraft was found to fly satisfactorily.[2]
Internally, the 314 used a series of heavy ribs and spars to create a robust fuselage and cantilevered wing. This sturdy structure obviated the need for external drag-inducing struts to brace the wings. Boeing also incorporated Dornier-style sponsons into the hull structure.[3] The sponsons, which were broad lateral extensions placed at the water line, on both the port and starboard sides of the hull, served several purposes: they provided a wide platform to stabilize the craft while floating on water, they acted as an entryway for passengers boarding the flying boat and they were shaped to contribute additional lift in flight. With weight an extremely sensitive concern, passengers and their baggage were weighed, with each passenger allowed up to 77 pounds (35 kg) free baggage allowance (in the later 314 series) but then charged $3.25 per lb ($7.15/kg) for exceeding the limit.[4] 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 later 314A model carried a further 1,200 US gallons (4,500 l; 1,000 imp gal). To quench the radial engines’ thirst for oil, a capacity of 300 US gallons (1,100 l; 250 imp gal) was required.
Pan Am's "Clippers" were built for "one-class" luxury air travel, a necessity given the long duration of transoceanic flights. The seats could be converted into 36 bunks for overnight accommodation; with a cruise speed of only 188 miles per hour (303 km/h) (typically flights at maximum gross weight were carried out at 155 miles per hour (249 km/h)), many flights lasted over 12 hours.[5] The 314s had a lounge and dining area, and the galleys were crewed by chefs from four-star hotels. Men and women were provided with separate dressing rooms, and white-coated stewards served five and six-course meals with gleaming silver service. Although the transatlantic flights were only operated for three months in 1939, their standard of luxury has not been matched by heavier-than-air transport since then; they were a form of travel for the super-rich, at $675 return from New York to Southampton, comparable to a round trip aboard Concorde in 2006.[6] Most of the flights were transpacific with a one-way ticket from San Francisco to Hong Kong, via the "stepping-stone" islands posted at $760 (or $1,368 round-trip).[7]
Equally critical to the 314's success was the proficiency of its Pan Am flight crews, who were extremely skilled at long-distance, over-water flight operations and navigation. For training, many of the transpacific flights carried a second crew.[8] Only the very best and most experienced flight crews were assigned Boeing 314 flying boat duty. Before coming aboard, all Pan Am captains as well as first and second officers had thousands of hours of flight time in other seaplanes and flying boats. Rigorous training in dead reckoning, timed turns, judging drift from sea current, astral navigation, and radio navigation were conducted. In conditions of poor or no visibility, pilots sometimes made successful landings at fogged-in harbors by landing out to sea, then taxiing the Clipper into port.[9]
The first 314, Honolulu Clipper, entered regular service on the San Francisco-Hong Kong route in January 1939. A one-way trip on this route took over six days to complete. Commercial passenger service lasted less than three years, ending when the United States entered World War II in December 1941.
At the outbreak of the war in the Pacific, the Pacific Clipper was en-route to New Zealand. Rather than risk flying back to Honolulu and being shot down by Japanese fighters, it was decided to fly west to New York. Starting on December 8, 1941 at Auckland, New Zealand, the Pacific Clipper covered over 8,500 miles (13,700 km) via such exotic locales as Surabaya, Karachi, Bahrain, Khartoum and Leopoldville. The Pacific Clipper landed at Pan American's LaGuardia Field seaplane base at 7:12 on the morning of January 6, 1942.
The Yankee Clipper flew across the Atlantic on a route from Southampton to Port Washington, New York with intermediate stops at Foynes, Ireland, Botwood, Newfoundland, and Shediac, New Brunswick. The inaugural trip occurred on June 24, 1939.
The Clipper fleet was pressed into military service during World War II, and the flying boats were used for ferrying personnel and equipment to the European and Pacific fronts. Only the markings on the aircraft changed: the Clippers continued to be flown by their experienced Pan Am civilian crews. American military cargo was carried via Natal, Brazil to Liberia, to supply the British forces at Cairo and even the Russians, via Teheran. The Model 314 was then the only aircraft in the world that could make the 2,150-statute mile (3,460 km) crossing over water.[10] and were given the military designation C-98. Since the Pan Am pilots and crews had extensive expertise in using flying boats for extreme long-distance, over-water flights, the company's pilots and navigators continued to serve as flight crew. In 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt traveled to the Casablanca Conference in a Pan-Am crewed Boeing 314. Winston Churchill also flew on them several times adding to the Clippers’ fame during the war.[11]
After the war, several Clippers were returned to Pan American hands. However, even before hostilities had ended, the Clipper had become obsolete. The introduction of long-range airliners such as the Lockheed Constellation and Douglas DC-4, together with a prodigious wartime runway construction program, made the flying boat all but superfluous. The new landplanes were relatively easy to fly, and did not require the extensive pilot training programs mandated for seaplane operations. One of the 314's most experienced pilots said, "We were indeed glad to change to DC-4s, and I argued daily for eliminating all flying boats. The landplanes were much safer. No one in the operations department... had any idea of the hazards of flying boat operations. The main problem now was lack of the very high level of experience and competence required of seaplane pilots"[12]
The last Pan Am 314 to be retired in 1946, the California Clipper NC18602, had accumulated more than a million flight miles.[13] Of the 12 Boeing 314 Clippers built, three were lost to accidents, although only one of those resulted in fatalities with 24 fatalities among passengers and crew aboard the "Yankee Clipper" NC18603 in a landing accident at Lisbon, Portugal, on February 22, 1943.[14] Pan-Am's 314 was removed from scheduled service in 1946 and the seven serviceable B-314s were purchased by a start-up airline called New World Airways, although they sat for long time on San Diego's Lindbergh Field before all were eventually sold for scrap in 1950. The last of the fleet, the Anzac Clipper NC18611(A) was resold and scrapped in late 1951 in Baltimore, Maryland.
BOAC's 314As were withdrawn from the Baltimore to Bermuda route in January 1948. They were replaced by Lockheed Constellations flying from New York and Baltimore to Bermuda.[15]
| Registration | Type | Name | In service | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NC18601 | 314 | Honolulu Clipper | 1939–1945 | Successfully landed 650 miles east of Oahu after losing power in two engines while flying for the US Navy on 3 November 1945. Aircraft mechanics from the escort carrier Manila Bay were unable to repair the engines at sea. The seaplane tender San Pablo attempted tow into port; but the flying boat was damaged in a collision with the tender and intentionally sunk on 14 November by perforating the hull with 20mm Oerlikon gunfire after salvage was deemed impractical.[2] |
| NC18602 | 314 | California Clipper | 1939–1950 | Sold to World Airways after the War and was scrapped in 1950. |
| NC18603 | 314 | Yankee Clipper | 1939–1943 | Started Transatlantic mail service. Crashed on February 22 when a wing hit the water during a turn on landing at Lisbon Portugal. A total of 24 of 39 on board were killed.[17] |
| NC18604 | 314 | Atlantic Clipper | 1939–1946 | Purchased by the US Navy in 1942, but operated by Pan Am; salvaged for parts. |
| NC18605 | 314 | Dixie Clipper | 1939–1950 | Started transatlantic passenger service, later sold to World Airways. First Presidential flight for the Casablanca Conference. Scrapped 1950. |
| NC18606 | 314 | American Clipper | 1939–1946 | Later sold to World Airways. Scrapped 1950. |
| NC18609 | 314A | Pacific Clipper | 1941–1946 | Temporarily named California Clipper to replace 18602 that was being moved to Atlantic service, renamed Pacific Clipper in 1942. Later sold to Universal Airlines. Damaged by storm and salvaged for parts. |
| NC18611 | 314A | Anzac Clipper | 1941–1951 | Sold to Universal Airlines 1946, American International Airways 1947, World Airways 1948. Sold privately 1951, destroyed at Baltimore, Maryland 1951. |
| NC18612 | 314A | Cape Town Clipper | 1941–1946 | Sold to: US Navy - 1942, Sold to: American International Airways - 1947. As the Bermuda Sky Queen she ditched at sea on October 14, 1947. After the rescue of all passengers and crew she was sunk by the United States Coast Guard as a hazard to navigation.[18] |
| Registration | Type | Name | In service | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| G-AGBZ | 314A (#2081) | Bristol | 1941–1948 | Originally NC18607, sold to General Phoenix Corporation, Baltimore as NC18607 in 1948 |
| G-AGCA | 314A (#2082) | Berwick | 1941–1948 | Originally NC18608, sold to General Phoenix Corporation, Baltimore as NC18608 in 1948 |
| G-AGCB | 314A (#2084) | Bangor | 1941–1948 | Originally NC18610, sold to General Phoenix Corporation, Baltimore as NC18610 in 1948 |
None of the dozen 314s built between 1939 and 1941 survived beyond 1951 with all 12 having been scrapped, scuttled, cannibalized for parts, or otherwise written off. Underwater Admiralty Sciences, a non-profit oceanographic exploration and science research organization based in Kirkland, Washington, announced in 2005, at the 70th Anniversary of the first China Clipper flight in San Francisco, its plans to survey, photograph, and possibly recover the remains of the hulls of two sunken 314s: NC18601 (Honolulu Clipper), scuttled in the Pacific Ocean in 1945; and NC18612 (Bermuda Sky Queen, formerly Cape Town Clipper), sunk in the Atlantic by the Coast Guard in 1947. UAS has also spent significant time at Pan Am reunions and with individual crewmembers and employees of Pan Am conducting videotaped interviews for the mission's companion documentary.[19][20]
There are unconfirmed reports that a private team of French businessmen initiated an expedition to find the Honolulu Clipper on February 15, 2011 using Russian equipment. It was further reported that the aircraft will be kept in a private collection and not open to the public.[21]
There is a life-size 314 mock-up at the Foynes Flying Boat Museum, Foynes, County Limerick, Ireland. The museum is at the site of the original transatlantic flying-boat terminus.[22]
Data from Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War II[23]
General characteristics
Performance
The 314 has been featured many times in pop culture, including several novels. The 1940 Alfred Hitchcock film Foreign Correspondent features the 314 in a pivotal in-flight disaster. The best-known example, in the film Raiders of the Lost Ark, actually used a Short Solent Mark III made to resemble a 314 by use of matte effects.[24] The 1991 novel Night Over Water by author Ken Follett centers around a 314 flight from Southampton to New York during the outbreak of World War II.
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