A lack of airfields and the need for travel to remote locations made this unique aircraft a necessary form of transportation. Pan Am pioneered the use of flying boats in the 1930s. With a wingspan of 152 feet, the plane weighed 84,000 pounds (38,000 kg) when loaded with passengers and fuel, requiring the full power of its four 1,600-horsepower Wright Cyclone engines to help it break free of the water's pull and get into the air. The Boeing 314 was one of the largest aircraft of its era - nearly as large as a Boeing 747 today. These planes were beautiful, but they were hard to fly." "They didn't get lost and they had only one engine problem, which they fixed. Robert van der Linden, curator of Air Transportation and Special Purpose Aircraft at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. "Flying around the world with no charts is astounding," said F. To top it off, the crew managed this feat without the aid of maps or radio contact, using only celestial navigation and an atlas obtained from a library in New Zealand.īy submitting your email you are agreeing to Nine Publishing's ![]() They flew more than 30,000 miles (48,000 km) over vast expanses of empty oceans and remote landscapes on five continents while crossing the equator four times. They were shot at twice, narrowly escaped getting blown up and otherwise avoided disaster while piloting the first commercial flight to circumnavigate the globe. Instead of heading home by going east, they took the massive Boeing 314 in the opposite direction, flying blind with no charts and no support from the airline. That event, 80 years ago Tuesday, propelled the United States into war and forced the Pacific Clipper's crew of 12 to make a dangerous - and historic - detour from their scheduled flight plan. The return flight from New Zealand to San Francisco via Honolulu was interrupted by the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 - "A date which will live in infamy," as President Franklin D. The Boeing 314 'flying boats' were like flying premium first class with a suite in an airliner today. Little did he know it would be the only change of clothing he would have for more than a month. He had only a few dollars in his wallet, so this extra shirt was going to have to last him until then. Poindexter had no clean clothes for the flight, which still had to make another stop in Auckland, New Zealand, and was not scheduled to return to San Francisco until December 10. He had left California unexpectedly the day before as a stand-in for an ill radio man onboard the Pacific Clipper, a large flying boat - essentially a seaplane on steroids. The chief flight radio officer on Pan Am Flight NC18602 needed a spare shirt. ![]() It was December 2, 1941, and palm trees swayed to the gentle rhythm of the trade winds that sunny Tuesday morning. Jack Poindexter walked briskly into the Liberty House department store on King Street in downtown Honolulu. It was a luxury long-range aircraft, used by the super-rich people of the time who had in-flight amenities that were never seen before – or after, for that matter.A long stretch of calm water was all the landing strip this behemoth needed to reach populous seaports. The Clipper is an iconic airplane from the flying boat era, and became famous under the Pan Am colors flying transatlantic and transpacific flights to destinations such as Ireland, Lisbon, Southampton, or Honolulu. We don’t know yet what the developers are planning to release in MSFS, but it will likely happen in a similar form. This follows on a recent release of that same aircraft for P3D, although in its “basic” form, as the goal is to provide a study-level airplane somewhere in the future. The developers, who so far have only released the admittedly very pretty Cedar Key Airport for MSFS, are now teasing an upcoming release of their Boeing 314 Clipper, with an accompanying set of images to prove it. The newest addition to this is the magnificent Boeing 314 Clipper, the quintessential flying boat that will be coming soon to MSFS by the hands of PILOT’S. Vintage airplanes have found a new home in MSFS, as we get a steady influx of new projects that aim to bring these historic machines to Microsoft’s latest simulator.
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