by Robert Gandt
4.Delear, Igor Sikorsky, 172.
5.Rance, Seaplanes and Flying Boats of the Solent, 51–58.
6.Stroud, Civil Marine Aircraft, 73.
7.Rance, Seaplanes and Flying Boats of the Solent, 58.
8.“Another Laté 631 Flying Boat is Lost,” Aviation Week (19 June 1950), 50–51.
9.Stroud, European Transport Aircraft Since 1910, 149–50.
10.Brock, Flying the Oceans, 232. Horace Brock was the Pan American chief pilot in Miami. “The type of accident was not unusual,” he wrote, “and not understood then. It was always over water, either with boats or landplanes. . . . There were many such crashes until it came to be understood they were due to an optical illusion. In most cases, the experienced pilot who survived swore on a stack of bibles that he was at least 200 feet in the air when the plane was seen to hit the water in normal descending flight.”
11.Lodeesen, Captain Lodi Speaking, 159.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX. DINOSAURS AND MIGHT-HAVE-BEENS
1.Pan Am’s chief engineer, Andre Priester, according to an anecdote by Captain James O’Neal, a former Pan Am chief pilot, arranged a conference call in 1949 with the engineering departments of Boeing, Lockheed, and Douglas. Before him on his desk was the stunning report of the maiden flight of the De Havilland Comet I in England. When he had all his audience on the line, he said into the phone, “The British are coming.” Then he hung up.
2.Stroud, Civil Marine Aircraft, 81–84. The Princess’s advertised passenger configuration was only 105, which, considering her great size, double decks, and various cabins, implied a standard of comfort to match the prewar days of the Empire boats and the Pan Am ocean clippers.
3.“Is Kaiser Crazy?” was the title of an article in Air News (October 1942). The article reached the same conclusion, however, as the War Production Board, who thought a man with Kaiser’s record should be given the chance to make good his claim. Kaiser was authorized to proceed with the project.
4.Knott, The American Flying Boat, 193–98.
5.An experienced American Export Airlines flying boat captain, C. T. Robertson, was “loaned” to Martin to do much of the flight testing on the prototype Mars. (F. L. Wallace to author, 16 October 1989).
6.Knott, The American Flying Boat, 183.
7.Ibid., 186. The 1948 records were set by the newly delivered JRM-2, christened Caroline Mars.
8.Ibid., 187.
Sources
PRIMARY SOURCES:
Beyer, Captain Harry. Interview/correspondence July 1989: M-130, B-314.
Blackburn, E. F. Correspondence March–August 1989: aerial navigation, anecdotal material.
Blair, Maureen O’Hara. Interview June 1987: career of Captain Charles Blair.
Brock, Captain Horace. Interviews/correspondence January–December 1980: China Clipper and B-314.
Ford, Captain Robert. Telephone interviews/correspondence January–November 1989: B-314 and round-the-world wartime flight, 1941.
Lodeesen, Captain Marius. Interviews/correspondence January–September 1980: China Clipper and Pacific operations.
Martin Marietta Corp. Corporate archives: M-130, Glenn L. Martin.
Musée de l’Air. (Stephane Nicolaou), archival material, French flying boats and airmen.
National Air and Space Museum. (NASM) Archival material.
O’Neal, Captain J. D. Correspondence May–November 1989: B-314, anecdotal material.
Pan American World Airways. (PAWA) Corporate archives.
Ralph, Captain Fred. Correspondence Sept. 1977: Hong Kong Clipper, 8 December 1941.
Roberts, Captain Thomas. Correspondence March 1989: survey flights, B-314.
Sikorsky, Sergei. Sikorsky company archives/correspondence 1986–1989: Igor Sikorsky and Sikorsky flying boats.
United Technologies Corporation. Corporate archives.
Wallace, Captain F. L. Interviews/correspondence August–December 1989: VS-44A, American Export Airlines.
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Angelucci, Enzo. World Encyclopedia of Civil Aircraft. New York: Crown Publishers, 1981.
Beaty, David. The Water Jump. New York: Harper & Row, 1976.
Bender, Marylin and Selig Altschul. The Chosen Instrument. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1982.
Blair, Charles F. Red Ball in the Sky. New York: Random House, 1960.
Bowers, Peter M. Curtiss Aircraft 1907–1947. London: Putnam & Co. Ltd., 1979.
Brock, Horace. Flying the Oceans. Lunenberg, VT: Stinehour Press, 1978.
Casey, Louis, & John Batchelor. Seaplanes and Flying Boats. New York: Exeter Books, 1980.
Churchill, Winston S. The Grand Alliance. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1950.
Daley, Robert. An American Saga. New York: Random House, 1980.
Davies, R. E. G. A History of the World’s Airlines. London: Oxford University Press, 1964.
Delear, Frank. Igor Sikorsky. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1969.
Duval, G. R. American Flying Boats. Cornwall, U.K.: D. Bradford Barton Ltd., 1966.
Grooch, William S. Skyway to Asia. New York: Longmans, Green & Co., 1936.
Grooch, William S. Winged Highway. New York: Longmans, Green & Co., 1938.
Grooch, William S. From Crate to Clipper. New York: Longmans, Green & Co., 1939.
Gütschow, Fred. Die deutschen Flugboote. Stuttgart: Motorbuch Verlag, 1978.
Hannah, Donald. Shorts. Stamford, England: Key Publishing Ltd., 1983.
Jablonski, Edward. Sea Wings. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1972.
Jackson, Ronald. China Clipper. Saddle Brook, NJ: Everest House, 1980.
Josephson, Matthew. The Empire of the Air: Juan Trippe and the Struggle for World Airways. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1943.
Juptner, Joseph P. U.S. Civil Aircraft, Vol. 8. Fallbrook, CA: Aero Publishers, 1980.
Kaucher, Dorothy. Wings Over Wake. San Francisco: John Howell, 1947.
King, H. F. Aeromarine Origins. London: Putnam, 1976.
Kipling, Rudyard. “With the Night Mail.” Actions and Reactions. London: Macmillan, 1951 (1909).
Knott, Richard C. The American Flying Boat. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1979.
Lindbergh, Anne Morrow. North to the Orient. New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, 1935.
Lindbergh, Charles A. Autobiography of Values. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1976.
Lodeesen, Marius. Captain Lodi Speaking. Minneapolis: Argonaut Press, 1984.
Loening, Grover. Our Wings Grow Faster. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1935.
Loening, Grover. Amphibian: The Story of the Loening Biplane. Greenwich, CT: New York Graphic Society, 1973.
Masland, William M. Through the Back Doors of the World in a Ship That Had Wings. New York: Vantage, 1984.
Messimer, Dwight R. No Margin for Error. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1981.
Munsen, Kenneth. Flying Boats and Seaplanes Since 1910. New York: Macmillan, 1971.
Norris, Geoffrey. Shorts. London: Profile Publications Ltd.
O’Neill, Ralph. A Dream of Eagles. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1973.
Rance, Adrian B. Sea Planes and Flying Boats of the Solent. Southampton: Southampton University Industrial Group, 1981.
Rowe, Basil L. Under My Wings. New York: Bobbs, Merrill, 1956.
Saint-Exupéry, Antoine. Airman’s Odyssey (Wind, Sand and Stars, Night Flight, Flight to Arras). New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1984.
Scharff, R. and W. S. Taylor. Over Land and Sea: A Biography of Glenn Curtiss. New York: McKay, 1968.
Sikorsky, Igor. The Story of the Winged S. New York: Dodd Mead and Co., 1938.
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Studer, C. Sky Storming Yankee: The Life of Glenn Curtiss. New York: Stackpole Sons, 1937.
Turner, P. St. John
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Vie-Klaze, Marie-Paul. Les Grands Latécoère sur l’Atlantique. Paris: Editions Denoel, 1981.
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Index
Ad Astra Aero, 46
Adcock direction finder, 76, 104, 145–46
Aerial Experiment Association, 4–5
Aeroflot, 161
Aeromarine aircraft, 19, 20, 24
Aeromarine Airways, 20, 21, 100
Aéropostale, 67, 86, 88, 124
Aim off (navigational technique), 104
Air France, 85, 87–89, 92–93, 122
Airmail, 35; F AM contracts, 27, 36–37, 52–54, 98, 101
Alameda, 77, 79, 100, 103, 106, 157
Alcock, John, 16
Alexander, Wallace, 108
Allen, Edmond, 130, 138
American Export Airlines, 128–33, 161
American Overseas Airlines, 133
Amundsen, Roald, 48
Antilles Air Boats, 162
Anzani engines, 4
Apollo mission, 17
Argus engines, 41
Arnold, Henry H. “Hap”, 26
Ash-621R engines, 161
Aspect ratio, 68, 87, 93
Avalon Air Transport, 162
Aviation Corporation of America, 26–27
Avocet, USS, 115
Bahama Airways, Ltd., 38
Barnett, T. E., 144–45
Bauer, Peter Paul von, 51
Beall, Wellwood, 135–36, 138
Bell, Alexander Graham, 4
Bell, W. H., 142
Bellinger, Patrick, 8, 12, 14
Benoist Airboat Co., 18
Bermuda Sky Queen, 160
Bibb, USS, 160
Blair, Captain Charles, 131, 162
Blériot aircraft, 87, 89
Blohm und Voss aircraft, 127
BMW engines, 47, 51, 125, 127
BOAC, 141, 153–54, 159, 163–64
Boeing aircraft, 135, 137; 314 development, 111–12, 120, 133, 135–41; World War II, 143, 148–57; 314 final disposition, 159–60
Boeing Aircraft Co., 29
Bogart, Humphrey, 106
Bond, William Langhorne, 148
Bradley Air Museum, 162
Bristol engines, 122–23, 163, 168
Brock, Horace, 56
Brown, Arthur Whitten, 16
Brown, Walter (postmaster general), 36–37
Burns, John Curtis, 156
Byrd, Richard E., 13
Caldwell, Cy, 28, 52–53
Caldwell, Frank, 68
Canaday, Harry, 79, 113
Caproni Ca 60, 22
Carimare, SS, 125
Carter, Amon, 108
Chennault, Claire, 110
China Clipper, 3, 91, 96–107, 115, 147, 158, 169; crash, 165–66. See also Martin M-130
Churchill, Winston, 154–55, 160
Clause H, 113, 128, 139–40
Clippers, Pan American
American Clipper (Boeing 314), 139, 152
American Clipper (Sikorsky S-40), 40, 63, 65, 67
Anzac Clipper, 141–42, 152
Atlantic Clipper, 139, 152, 160
California Clipper, 111, 139, 141, 152
Capetown Clipper, 141, 152, 160
Caribbean Clipper, 65
China Clipper. See China Clipper and Martin M-130
Clipper III, 119–20
Dixie Clipper, 139, 152, 155–56
Hawaii Clipper, 96, 107, 117–18
Hong Kong Clipper, 109–10, 142, 147–48
Honolulu Clipper, 139, 141, 152
Pacific Clipper, 141–42, 148–52, 160
Pan American Clipper, 77–80
Philippine Clipper, 96, 107–8, 142, 144–47, 152–53, 157–58
Russian Clipper, 161. See also Martin M-156
Southern Clipper, 65
Yankee Clipper, 139–41, 152, 156–57
CMA (Compañía Mexicana de Aviación), 53
CMASA (Construzioni Meccaniche Aeronautiche), 47
CNAC (China National Aviation Corp.), 38, 77, 107, 147–48
Collier Trophy, 7
Colonial Air Transport, 25–27, 43
Cone, Captain Howard, 155
Consolidated Aircaft Corp., 30, 32
Consolidated aircraft:
Admiral, 32–33, 37
B-24 Liberator, 152
Catalina, 129
Commodore, 30, 35, 52
PB2Y, 130, 136
Cooke, John, 144–45
Courtney, Captain Frank, 48
Cram, Ralph, 135
Cramer, Leonard, 165
Cunningham, Admiral, 131
Cunningham, Commander W. S., 144
Curtiss, Glenn Hammond, 4–12, 23
Curtiss aircraft
America, 8–9, 10; Small America (H-4) and Large America (H-12, H-16), 9, 10
A-1 and A-2, 7
F boats, 7, 10, 18
Golden Flier, 6
HS-2L, 19
June Bug, 5
Loon, 5
NC boats, 12–17, 33
Triad, 7
Curtiss engines, 5, 7–8, 24, 49
Dabry, Jean, 86
Daurat, Didier, 56
De Gaulle, General Charles, 155
Deutsche Luft Hansa, 47, 50–51, 86, 121, 124–27
Deutsche Luft Reederei, 21
Devereaux, Major James, 144
Dewoitine aircraft, 85
Dornier, Claudius, 46–51, 126
Dornier aircraft:
Delphin, 47
Do X, 45–46, 49–51, 137
Do 18, 124–25
Do 24, 125–26
Do 26, 126
Do 214, 127
Gs I, 46–47
Wal series, 47–48
Douglas, Donald, 95
Douglas aircraft, 82, 93, 133, 137, 148, 159
Doyle, Mike, 132
Drasin, Tamara, 156
Earhart, Amelia, 118
Eastern Air Transport, 25
Ebel, W. K. (“Ken”), 96
Egtvedt, Clair, 135
Electrolysis, problem of, 61, 97
Ellyson, Lieutenant T. G. (“Spuds”), 6
Ely, Eugene, 6
Elzay, Captain Robert, 157–58
Empire-class flying boats, 83–85. See Shorts
English, Rear Admiral R. R., 157–58
Fabre, Henri, 5–6
Fairchild, Sherman, 26, 53
Fairchild aircraft, 28, 52–53
Farley, James, 100–101
Felixstowe flying boats, 10, 19
Felixstowe Seaplane Experimental Establishment, 10
Fiat engines, 50
Fleet, Reuben, 30, 32, 37
Flossenstummel, 46, 49, 135
Focke-Wulf Condor, 121
Fokker, Tony, 54
Fokker aircraft, 28, 57, 76
Fonck, René, 43
Ford, Captain Robert, 142–43, 148–51
Ford trimotor, 32
Franco, Major, 48
Froman, Jane, 156
Gatty, Harold, 114
Gimie, Léopold, 86
Glover, W. Irving, 34
Gluhareff, Michael and Serge, 69
Gnome engines, 90, 92
Gooney birds, 108–9
Gouge, Arthur, 82–85
Goyette, Cyril, 165
Grace, W. R., Corp., 53
Graf Zeppelin, 67, 124
Gray, Harold, 119, 141, 153
Grieve, Mackenzie, 16
Grooch, William, 35, 75
Guillaumet, Henri, 91, 164
Gulf Caribbean Airways, 27
Hallett, George, 8
Hambleton, John, 25, 26, 58
Hamilton, John, 142–47, 153
Hamilton Standard, 68–69, 78, 135–36
Hammondsport, N. Y., 5, 9
Handley Page Harrow, 122
Harmon Trophy, 105, 115
Hart, Joe, 153
Hauptmann, Bruno, 97
Hawker, Harry, 16
Hemingway, Ernest, 110
Hindenburg, 124
Hinton, Walter, 13
Hispano-Suiza engines, 24, 47, 87, 89–91
Hong Kong, 107, 109–10, 142, 147–48
Hoover, Mrs. Herbert, 33–34, 63
Hopkins, Harry, 155
Horta, 9
Howard, Roy, 108
Hoyt, Richard F., 27
Hughes, Howard, 167, 169
Hughes H-4, 168–69
Hurtsky, J. A., 146
Hydravion, 5–6
Imperial Airways, 72, 82–85, 113–14, 123, 139–41
Ionia, SS, 14
Jannus, Tony, 18
Jarboe, Wilson, Jr., 79, 103
Johnson, Osa and Martin, 44
Junkers Jumo engines, 124, 126
Kaiser, Henry, 168–69
Kawanishi flying boat, 125
Kelly Act, 25
Kelly-Rogers, J. C., 154–55
Keuka, Lake, 5
Keys, Clement, 57
Key West, 26–28
Kido butai, 111, 146
King, George, 103
Kingman Reef, 112–14
KLM (Dutch airline), 85
Kurusu, Saburo, 110–11
Lame Duck, 15, 16
LaPorte, Captain Arthur, 140
LARA (Ligne Aérienne du Roi Albert), 21
Latécoère aircraft, 67:
Laté 28, 86
Laté 520–21, 90–92
Laté 631, 92–93, 164–65
Leuteritz, Hugo, 57, 76–77, 79, 145
Levy-Lepen flying boat, 21
Liberty engines, 13
Lindbergh, Charles, 26, 43, 57–66, 97, 105, 140
Lindbergh, Anne Morrow, 58
Lioré et Olivier aircraft, 89–90
Litvinoff, Maxim, 110
Load-to-tare, 66, 85, 93, 97, 126, 133, 139
Locatelli, Count, 48
Lockheed aircraft, 159
Lodeesen, Captain Marius, 153, 165–66
Loening, Grover, 26, 167
London Daily Mail prize, 8, 11, 12, 16
Lorber, Charles, 64
Lurline, SS, 108, 158
McAdoo, Senator William, 107
MacArthur, General Douglas, 110
McCarty (radio officer), 117
Machado, Gerardo, 25–27
Manhattan Project, 166
Marine Corps, U.S., 100, 144, 146
Marston mat, 159
Martin, Clarence and Araminta, 94
Martin, Glenn L., 7, 33, 37, 70–71, 94–96, 134–35, 160, 167, 169–70
Martin aircraft
during World War II, 142, 144–47, 152, 157–58
M-130, 70–71, 73, 85, 96–98, 106–11, 116, 120, 126, 134, 141, 160. See China Clipper