My Newly Acquired Clipper Covers!

Whats with the guy in the Engine Nacelle?

what a strange place!

Read page 3 below for the answer to "the guy in the Engine Nacelle":


http://articles.latimes.com/1989-06...passengers/3

Thanks BaldEagle, a very interesting read, a bit of a sobering thought though when he stated that a 747 would float longer.....!

It must have been a very thick wing for men to crawl inside it to the engines

In the article BaldEagle links to there is discussion of the difficulty caused by the swells at Horta. This was apparently worse flying west than east, so eventually the return on the Southern Route went south to Africa, then across to South America as shown on the following map:

Much longer flight!

Basil

was that the north, south route I have seen on PAA covers?

When TransAtlantic service started in 1939, the Southern Route was NY-Bermuda-Horta-Lisbonand back the same way. The Northern Route (not shown on the map in my prior post, but you can see the cities involved) was from NY-Shediac-Botwood-Foynes-London (and back the same way). But the Northern route was short-lived because of the beginning of WWII in Europe in late 1939. Because the US remained "neutral" direct service between the US and London via PAA on the Northern route was terminated, and all TransAtlantic Clipper service henceforth went on the Southern route. If you wanted to fly to London after the Northern route was terminated, you'd fly the Southern route to Lisbon, and then take a KLM (Dutch) DC-3 from Lisbon to London. This is how "air mail" from the US to England traveled after the Northern route was terminated.

The "first flight" covers which show "Northern" or "Southern" routes were flown before the Northern route was terminated because of the war.

In 1941 all TransAtlantic Clipper service was via the Southern route. But it was NY-Bermuda-Horta-Lisbon going east, and then Lisbon-Africa-South America-Trinidad-San Juan-Bermuda-NY coming back. Both of these were considered the Southern route, but now an "O" rather than out and back on the same track. This was to deal with the difficult swells as I wrote earlier. Don't ask me more because I don't know: wouldn't the landing pattern into Horta be the same whether flying east or west? And wouldn't the prevailing winds be the same in either case? It doesn't make sense to me that it was the swells that was the problem, but that is what I've read (I think!). Now maybe the headwinds flying back were less of a problem further south. That would make more sense.

Basil

Thank you Basil for clarifying that.
I am loving the Clipper covers and info!
I was looking through my Postal Stationery shoe box wondering what am I going to do with this stuff...... and I came across this From 195
6




From PAA, would it be a "Samoan Clipper" flight?

Cheers

I Just found this in an American Airmail Society Journal Dated March 1956.
-----------------------------------------------------


PAGO PAGO- New Stop On
P.A.A. Trans- PaciFic F.A.M. Service
•
Capt. He~ry G Evans Inaugural Flight Pi lot
•
by RICHARD L. SINGLEY, Past President A. A. M. S .
Pan American Airways is back in the
inaugural spotlight this month with a
first flight to and from Pago Pago·, Samoa
and again the International Date
Line played an important part in the
postmarking and backstamping of first
flight co ers. Covers from the north of
Samoa are postmarked January 24, 1956
and backstamped at Pago Pago, January
26, 1956, and from Pago Pago are poste
Captain Evans was in command
on First Flight between Nandi, Fijis
and Tafuna Airport, near Pago Pago.
Captain Evans has flown for P AA for
14 years and now commands the
Clippers from the Pacific Coast to the
Orient.
•
marked January 27, 1956 and backstamped
the 28th, except to Canton Island
where the date was. January 27.
The cachet used at each port of call
was in the form of a box with ''First Air
Mail Flight'' at the top and "F. A. M.
14" on the side. The front of the box
outlined the route from San Francisco to
Auckland, New Zealand and Sydney,
Australia. Collectors who attempted to
complete coverage south of Samoa ran
into no end of difficulty and there is
some question as to whether any of these
covers at hand are authentic. Generally
speaking, the cachet was applied in magenta
at Pago Pago and in black at all
other points, including the San Francisco
Airfield. For a small service charge,
Pan American will handle the covers out
of Pago Pago but collectors had to present
them to P. A. A. already franked
and addressed. The number of covers
carried has not been reported as yet..
The inaugural was actually a spur
from Nandi in the Fiji Islands to Tafuna,
the. airport city for Pago Pago, Samao.
The service is only once a month
by DC-4 Clippers carrying both President
and Rainbow passengers (First
Cia ·s and Tourist). The International
Date Line is between Nandi and Tafuna
so that passengers leaving Nandi at 8 a.
m. on Friday, land at Tafuna at 12:30
p. m. on Thursday or the day before
their departure. So the actual first flight
was between Nandi and Tafuna and
surely such cover or covers will appear
sooner or later.

Pago Pago is not new to FAM collectors
for mail was first carried to this
American port of call by planes of Pan
American's F. A. M. 14 on a survey
flight back in December of 1937. In fact
it was the SAMOAN CLIPPER that
crashed off Samoa, carrying to their
deaths the Senior Commercial Pilot of
the United States, Capt. Edwin C. Musick,
and his entire crew.
Mail was only carried to Samoa on the
survey flight and there were no dispatches
from the port. These covers were
at one time classed as F. A. M.'s but
have since been moved to the Trans
Oceanic Record Section of the American
Air Mail Catalogue and may be found
on page 835 of the 1950 edition.

In 1958 (date of the first flight cover to Pago Pago) the era of the Clippers was long over. And as the article you posted notes, the Samoan Clipper was lost at Pago Pago in 1938.

A nice summary of what happened to all the Clippers can be found here:

http://www.flyingclippers.com/panam.html

Those that were still flying at the start of WWII were conscripted for military use. Those remained after the war were sold, but by the early 1950's the era of the Clipper was over.

That said, PAA used the term "Clipper" for some of its operations later on but they were conventional transports, not flying boats. While it is possible (even likely) that the aircraft that carried the 1958 cover was designated a "Clipper" -- Boeing 377's called "Clippers" were flying the Pacific until 1961, and the Boeing 707 "Clippers" started service in 1958 -- none were ever named after Samoa. And after the flying boat era, Boeing reversed the way it named its aircraft, so that instead of "Polynesian Clipper" there was a "Clipper Polynesia." My best guess is that the cover was flown on a Boeing 377 named "Clipper XXXX" but I don't have any idea which one in particular.

Basil

Thanks Basil,From what I can ascertain they were flown by DC-4 "Clipper"

The first time Pan Am named one of their aircraft a "Clipper" and used it on one of their actual airmail and passenger routes was in October of 1932 when Pan Am named their newest flying boat, a Sikorsky S-40, the American Clipper and began flying it on their Miami, Florida to San Juan, Puerto Rico route with intermediate stops in Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. An S-40 was huge for its day, but it was quite small compared to the Boeing 314 flying boat that is illustrated previously. As aircraft design advanced, Pan Am bought the newest and biggest flying boats as they came out - after the S-40 they went to the S-42, then the Martin M-130 and finally the Boeing 314. As was mentioned, Pan Am sold all of the ones that were still in service at the beginning of WW2 to the US military. Those few still surviving after the war were sold to World Airways that used them for a few years and then scrapped them by 1950. Here is a link to a list of all of their flying boat Clippers: http://www.flyingclippers.com/panam.html Pan Am kept on using the term "Clipper" when naming all of their aircraft they had after they switched to land planes from propeller planes to jet planes up until they went out of business in 1991. I remember flying on Pan Am a few times from the US to Asia and Africa and Europe on some of their Boeing 747s and all were named the "Clipper XXX" with their name painted next to their doorways as you entered. I recall two I flew on as the Clipper Empress of the Skies and the Clipper Cathay. I don't remember any of the others as it was a long time ago.

In addition, there is a story on this flight in the March, 1956 issue of the Air Post Journal which is the journal of the American Air Mail Society. This, and many other old issues of the Air Post Journal are now available for free on line courtesy of the American Air Mail Society. Here is a link to this March, 1956 issue - scroll down to page 173 to see this article.

http://www.americanairmailsociety.o...0%201956.pdf

Hi kimo, thats the piece I copy and pasted in an earlier post, excellent magazine though!

Complete list of Pan Am aircraft and Clipper names here:

http://www.panam.org/images/History...facturer.pdf

Thanks Lawrence. I missed your already having seen the AAMS article. If you are finding yourself being fascinated by Pan Am clippers and their first and special flights to the point of wanting to collect them, have you already become a member of the American Air Mail Society? They welcome overseas members with open arms. Here is a link to their website and if you would like a reference to put on your application for joining I would be happy to send you my details to use me for a reference. Or if any other regulars here would like to put my name as a reference to join the AAMS I would be happy to do so. http://www.americanairmailsociety.org/