Pan-American "Clippers"
Pan Am's leader, Juan Trippe, decided to call his flying boats "clippers" as part of his
effort to link his airliner with the maritime heritage of the ocean liners with which Pan
Am was in competition, and with which the public were so comfortable.
The first Pan American plane to be called a "Clipper" was the Sikorsky S-40 flying boat,
introduced in 1931. The S-40 helped Pan Am spread its wings in Latin American, but it
was a relatively primitive machine which never fully satisfied the needs of the airline.
This is the Pan American Clipper (DC6-B) "John Alden"
John Alden was reputedly the first person to press foot on
Plymouth Rock from the Mayflower in 1620
He was not a pilgrim but a "Cooper".
Posted 06/08/2010 2:27 pm
