|
start up and you hear the announcement that they are ready for takeoff. It moves through the water slowly, then picks up speed, spraying salt water as it skims the surface and finally rides the air.
Shortly after reaching cruising altitude, the passengers are allowed to do as they please. Drinks and snacks are provided whenever you wish. The stewards are neatly dressed and always considerate. Magazines and newspapers lie about the softly-lit lounge.
Lunchtime comes and the flight staff converts the lounge into a dining room. Tables are set up and adorned with tablecloths, china, silverware and real glasses. Your compartment is called to a table. (I imagine meals were ordered beforehand and each compartment or party took turns eating in the lounge.) The dinnerware is sparkling clean and an equally spiffy waiter in a white waistcoat stares cheerfully back at you. You have a wide choice of drinks, even champagne on ice. Meals are hot and of restaurant class. The kitchen is small, but fully functional for producing several-course meals.
It has been a long and tiring day, so you ring for the stewardess to make your sleeping berth. The couches make into beds and curtains are drawn for privacy. You drift to sleep as you fly 180 mph toward some destination across the sea.
Flying as a Crew Member
Being a part of the flight operations crew on one of these Clippers rivaled anything today . . . . . . . .
The working area is a 21ft x 9ft, turquoise-carpeted room and tall enough to stand up anywhere. Captain and Co-pilot sit on cushiony red chairs which are raised about 2 feet off the floor. A trapdoor between the seats opens into the nose bow. The cockpit is comfortable and becomes a room of its own at night when the thick, maroon curtains are drawn to block out the light from the rest of the cabin.
In many respects the flight deck looks and operates much like a cruise ship. Along the port wall stands a 7ft chart table, on which the navigator sprawls his sectionals, and a conference table. Opposite is the spiral staircase to the lower deck, and panels of instruments and radios. One man sits at his station and monitors the weather, while another handles communications. Telegraph equipment is standard and passengers can even receive telegrams while in flight.
Even navigating is similar to the old ship-going days. Without the benefit of GPS or VOR, positioning is determined by a sextant. The
|
navigator uses an observation platform located between the cargo holds to measure the angular elevation between a star and the horizon. Then he refers to calculation tables in order to convert the information into the aircraft's
geo-position. However, cloud cover could make this method obsolete, in which
case dead reckoning is substituted. Drift due to wind is estimated by dropping a flare from the wing's trapdoor and watching its path compared to the plane's tail.
Hatches for each wing crawl space are just before the partition separating the cargo hold. Crew members have access to the engines if maintenance is needed. Sometimes in-flight repairs are performed.
End of an Era
Peace time did not last long. Only two short years after the introduction of the first six B-314's, America was involved in World War II. Three of the remaining airplanes ordered by Pan Am were sold right off the assembly line to British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) for the war effort. These became the Berwick, Bangor, and Bristol.
In 1942, the remaining fleet was dedicated to the War. The B-314's were split up between the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Army Air Forces (renamed C-98's). Three of the Clippers owned by the Navy were still commanded by Pan Am. The M-130's were taken over by the Navy. Only the
Honolulu Clipper remained civilian, and continued its route between San Francisco and Honolulu.
Ten of the original Clipper fleet survived the War. The M-130's crashed and only the B-314's were left. The three owned by BOAC were sold to General Phoenix Corp. and the remaining were bought by a new airline, New World Airways. Yet the practicality of long-range seaplanes was obsolete. Better technology and runways had developed from the War. The more efficient, less-stately descendents pushed their predecessors to scrap or bone yards. The last B-314 was retired in 1951.
Even though these airships were a decadent and ambitious form of travel, I must admit I admire the ingenuity that made it possible. Such effort and engineering went into this visionary concept of comfortable, fast world travel. And if it still fascinates us today, I wonder how it felt back then. What was it like to be on one of these new flying boats and fly over the Golden Gate Bridge still under construction, and possibly be thinking -
if this is a taste of the future, what marvels will another 50 years bring?
Natalie Kunz
February 28, 2000
|
