Yes, I'm going to borrow an article for this one. They tell it better than I ever could. It was borrowed from Hawaii Aviation. It's Chapter 10: Trans-Pacific. I know it's long as hell, but it's worth the read. SO DON'T TL;DR IT!
COMMERCIAL SERVICE
The first scheduled
airline in America was inaugurated in January, 1914, with Tony Jannus
hauling one passenger 22 miles from Tampa to St. Petersburg, Florida, in
a Benoist flying boat. Losing money, the venture was discontinued after
three months. In a few years, however, commercial airlines operated in
many areas of the continent. As for flying to other lands, it took a
foreign firm’s activities to accelerate such efforts. In 1925, Scadtka
Air Lines was set up in Colombia by a World War I German military
aviator. SAL planned to fly to Panama, Central America, Cuba and the
United States transporting passengers and mail. According to Postmaster
General New, an airmail contract with the foreign company would be
granted unless an American firm came forward. Acting fast, the Army Air
Service’s Major Henry H. Arnold and several other officers drew up a
proposed airline operation, Pan American, Incorporated, and considered
resigning to comprise its leadership. Civilian manned in the final
analysis, Pan American was awarded an airmail contract with the Cuban
government. Competitive firms were urged by the leader of one, Juan T.
Trippe, to join forces. They formed Pan American Airways, Inc., in 1927,
and the Key West to Havana airmail route became theirs. Under the
inspired leadership of Trippe, PAA surveyed foreign routes, secured
franchises from the governments, and so were able to win contracts at
the maximum rate fixed by law. In 1929, the company had four contracts,
44 multi-engine planes, many employees and an optimistic future.
Juan Trippe was
interested in trans-oceanic passenger and mail service to the Orient
and, with the help of Charles A. Lindbergh, PAA technical advisor, and
the company’s chief engineer, Andre Preister, plans were laid out which
would take several years to reach flight proportions.
Choosing a flying boat
configuration for maximum safety, PAA finalized designs and sent out
invitations for bid. Manufacture was to be no easy task. The plane was
to safely and comfortably carry crew, passengers, mail and cargo, from
California to the Orient and back again, over water on a regularly
scheduled basis. In addition, this had to be done profitably. Companies
from other countries were interested in the same Oriental route. Being
highly subsidized gave them a decided advantage. Dutch, British, Soviet
and German airlines surveyed their own routes and prepared airplane
specifications. Therefore competition and time entered into the picture,
bringing in also United States interest. The stringent requirements
narrowed the list of interested contractors to two, veterans Martin and
Sikorsky. Contracts were let to the two manufacturers. Then began the
enormous task of putting into material and techniques what was drawn on
paper—airplanes to function dependably over an 8,000-mile watery route.
There were many
technical and manufacturing problems, but a small army of highly skilled
people worked them out. In October, 1931, PAA introduced the Sikorsky
S-40, the first American Clipper. When it began to fly, record after
record was broken for performance in the air. Engineering efforts proved
out, on the whole (some had to be redone) but PAA responded by placing
more such planes on requisition. As soon as they were ready, Sikorskys
were put on the South American route, already filled with foreign planes
on busy runs. This was to be a proving ground for the grandest test of
aircraft and flying man for the ultimate mission—crossing the Pacific.
There they would train, test, and improve, until such flights could be
done better than by anyone else.
Securing control of
China National Aviation Company, Pan American sought to avoid for
political reasons the arctic great circle route surveyed for the company
in 1932 by Lindbergh and his wife. Trippe elected to reach the Orient
by use of the springboard, Hawaii, and stepping stone islands along the
route upon which to light for servicing, passengers and rest. The route
was fixed as San Francisco to Honolulu, Midway Island, Wake Island,
Guam, the Philippines, and then to China.
Shortly after
Sikorsky’s plane was unveiled, the Martin craft followed. Sixteen
impressive records were mercilessly broken when put to flight. Immensely
pleased, Trippe and his directors knew this was the product of their
efforts. A requisition was placed for expedited construction of two more
such planes. Selected crews were placed on rigid training over PAA’s
operating over water routes in South America and the Caribbean, covering
navigation, ground school, blind flying, and every technique thought
essential to the Pacific venture.
On January 1, 1935,
circumstances were favorable so Trippe sent his technical staff from the
east coast to San Francisco to set up a Pacific base of operations. Two
months later, an expedition sailed with enough plans and equipment to
construct the island facilities. Then on April 17, 1935, the S-42
PIONEER CLIPPER skimmed to her first landing in Hawaiian waters, just 17
hours and 44 minutes from its Alameda, California, starting point.
Piloted by Captain Edwin C. Musick, aboard the aircraft with him were
Captain R. O. D. Sullivan, Frederick Noonan, William Jarboe and Victor
Wright. The flight was a smashing success. From there the survey flight
crew continued to Midway, Wake and Guam. A second visit to Honolulu was
made on June 13, the Clipper remaining two days before its 9 hour flight
to Midway. August saw PAA’s third flight to Pearl Harbor by the hard
working crew. No longer was it a stupendous spectacle.
Properly primed, the
CHINA CLIPPER went on a 2,400 mile practice flight on November 2. Flying
from Miami to San Juan, Puerto Rico in 8 hours and 15 minutes, the
large craft turned around and flew back. One of its four engines
malfunctioned slightly.
Hawaii waited
anxiously, expectantly. Island living continued at its normal pace.
Andrew Flying Service at John Rodgers Airport advertised flights at one
cent a pound carried. On November 8, Honolulu received the terrible news
that popular Australian air hero, the first user of the springboard,
Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith was missing over Malacca Strait on his
England to Australia flight attempt. That same day the CHINA CLIPPER
flew from Miami to Acapulco, Mexico, leaving at 7:25 the following
morning on its 1,500 mile jaunt to San Diego.
Less than eight months
after construction of the airway was begun, on November 22, 1935,
Postmaster General James A. Farley and Mr. Juan Trippe ordered Pilot
Musick, commanding the Martin M-130 CHINA CLIPPER, to take off on the
first airmail flight, by way of Hawaii and the other islands, on to its
Manila destination. Farley stated in his speech that day that this
marked the beginning of “the greatest and most significant achievement
in the marvelous, fascinating development of air transportation.” Twenty
thousand spectators were on hand to watch festivities at Alameda, all
eyes on the immense silver airplane. They saw an estimated 110,000
pieces of mail weighing nearly two tons being stowed on board. The band
struck up the tune, Star Spangled Banner, as the engines were put to the
test and the big flying boat began to respond to Musick’s expert
commands. Heavily but efficiently the proud plane knifed through the
water. Aboard was the veteran crew plus new comers George King and Chan
Wright. An anxious throng breathed a sigh of relief as the pride of
aviation suddenly escaped from the clutching surface. As it steadily
made headway over the unfinished Golden Gate Bridge, a gentleman
pensively watched from the University Club in San Francisco. Emory
Bronte was brought back in time eight years to the period in 1927 when
his flight across the same route was made, with Ernie Smith, the first
civilians to do so.
Back in Hawaii, news of
the scheduled take-off was heralded with expectation, for this was the
beginning of the biggest development for the Islands since the first
commercial ship inaugurated its services to Hawaii many years prior.
News of the CHINA CLIPPER added color to droll local events. That day
(November 22) on the Big Island (Hawaii) the active volcano,
Mokuaweoweo staged a
second big eruption, overflowing and releasing a lava river seeping
mercilessly toward Kohala and the principal city of Hilo. One witness
called the terrible sight “like a Niagara Falls of fire.” It moved
relentlessly at a rate of five miles each day and Hilo looked to be on
the verge of destruction. The Army responded with yet another aspect of
air-ability, by sending aircraft to the area on surveillance flights.
Flows were reported to be a few miles below the summit of the mountain.
At the 10,000 foot level there burst three fountains of molten rock,
their fiery glow reflecting on the clouds, even becoming visible in
Honolulu 200 miles away. One of the Air Corps officers flying on
surveillance was Lieutenant Karl Truesdell Jr., who brought his Boeing
P-12 over the summit crater and watched great fountains of lava,
propelled by exploding gases, reach heights of 200 feet. In the weeks
that followed, the lava flow continued under surveillance and the Army
eventually concluded that it threatened destruction of the city of Hilo.
At this point, large B-4 bombers were sent to the area loaded with live
bombs. Under direction of Dr. Thomas A. Jagger Jr., the government
volcanologist, the aircraft bombed the lava flow. Within one day, the
deadly lava was diverted and Hilo was saved. However, tragedy marred the
event when two of the big bombers cracked up on landing at Luke Field
and caught fire, killing several Army flyers. Comments from residents
included some from the superstitious to the effect that the ancient fire
goddess, PELE, caused the crackups for having been disturbed.
In Miami, a second PAA clipper plane took off, departing at 6:18 a.m. for Alameda by way of Acapulco.
The huge CHINA CLIPPER
was joined by a great mass of clouds, even before it left the Bay. By
nightfall, the plane was completely encased by a ceiling of clouds above
and below. Because this was the ninth crossing for all but two of the
crew, no one was ruffled. In eight hours, 1,200 miles had been covered
in the Pacific Ocean. They were in radio communication with the U.S.
Coast Guard cutter ITASCA first, and then spoke to the Norwegian motor
ship ROSEVILLE, followed by the USS WRIGHT 900 miles west. Throughout
the night seven celestial sightings had been obtained, and 41 radio
directive bearings received.
Flying at 10,300 feet,
the crew sighted Molokai 200 miles away, then a great mantle of smoke
from the erupting crater on the Big Island.
Triumphantly boring
their way toward Diamond Head at last, Musick and his expert crew were
joined by 60 planes form Oahu’s Army and Navy air forces in spectacular,
sky-filling escort. (It was a fitting escort, for had not the military
shown the way?). Majestically, and once again alone, the CHINA CLIPPER
ended 21 hours and 20 minutes of flying with a gentle landing on Pearl
Harbor’s placid waters. The time was 10:19 a.m., the day November 23,
1935. Nosing into the floating buoy a few yards off shore from the new
PAA base on the Pearl City peninsula—Pan American Airways Ocean Air Base
Number One—the plane was greeted by 3,000 people who began to applaud.
Musick was an hour behind schedule because of strong headwinds for half
of the journey, but otherwise the flight had been uneventful. Mrs.
Stanley C. Kennedy, wife of Hawaii’s commercial aviation leader, was
first to greet the flyers as they stepped onto the floating wharf. Gay
festivities followed for the crew of seven. The feeling in Hawaii was
most aptly put by a local newspaper, “Aloha, gallant clipper of the
skies!”
Two tons of cargo went
into the big holds of the CHINA CLIPPER on the morning of November 24,
Sunday, in preparation for the 8,000 mile race with the sun across the
Pacific with the first air mail for the Philippines and the Orient. Hand
trucks brought 21 crates of fresh vegetables for PAA island air bases
to the west, nine crates of oranges and lemons, 12 crates of turkeys for
the first Thanksgiving dinners in the history of those colonies on
Midway and Wake, and cartons of cranberries, sweet potatoes and mince
meat. Also crated were office and utility supplies, oil lamp wicks,
sports equipment, electric light bulbs, spare parts, and a barber’s
outfit. Also loaded were 16,000 letters (weight 265 lbs), giving a total
air mail cargo of 6,653 lbs. bound for Guam and Manila. Next came 14
passengers, two complete air base staff replacements for Midway and
Wake.
At 4:50 p.m., all being
ready, the crew cast off from the float. Captain Sullivan pointed the
25-ton craft’s nose into the north wind towards Midway, 1,380 miles
away, as the CHINA CLIPPER became airborne at 7:05 p.m. They passed
Kauai Peak, Niihau and found clear weather facing them. At this point,
their course was set directly for Midway. In order, the flying boat
passed over Necker Island; to the port, the French Frigate Shoals,
Gardner Pinnacles, Marco Reef, then Midway, where at 2:01 p.m. (Midway
time) a landing was made.
On November 25, the
shortest hop (1,252 miles) was started for a tiny point on the map, Wake
Island. Averaging 148.7 mph enroute, the plane settled onto Wake Lagoon
after an uneventful flight.
At 7:04 p.m., November
27, the plane’s keel knifed through the waters and into the air under a
2,000-foot ceiling. At 10:21 p.m., the CHINA CLIPPER overtook the USS
CHESTER, eastbound out of Manila. At 3:05 p.m. (Guam time), Guam’s Apra
Harbor accepted the big seaplane. On Friday, November 29, the crew bid
adieu to Guam and soon found the best weather of the journey. They
climbed to 6,000 feet, much farther away from the whitecaps and ocean
spray.
As the rugged hills of
the Philippines came to view, the CHINA CLIPPER’s crew, up to then too
preoccupied with the innumerable tasks of the job, began to realize the
significance of this achievement in American aviation. They were pleased
that America’s air service, American
aircraft and American
personnel should be the first to accomplish scheduled air transport
service over the world’s greatest ocean. At 3:32 p.m. (Manila time), the
CHINA CLIPPER came to a landing in Manila Harbor—on schedule, 59 hours
and 48 minutes of flying time since leaving California.
Thus came into reality
the dreams of many over the tumultuous aviation years. For Hawaii, too,
this meant the reaching of a fond dream. Millions had been invested in a
venture which would produce millions in increased business. Foreseeable
next was the most active water-bound aerial port in the world with huge
airliners halting in Hawaii for a few hours or less enroute to the
South Seas, Antipodes, and around the world. The local press described
the airplane as the newest and one of the most vital forces in the
advancement of civilization. It was expected that Hawaii was to be the
hub of trans-Pacific flying, military and civilian.
During this period,
landing rights at Auckland were granted by the New Zealand government
with PAA service to begin December 31, 1936. PAA’s attention had turned
to the development of a South Pacific route to Australia and New Zealand
via Kingman Reef and Pago Pago. Plans were hastened to put the new
service into operation, but the lack of adequate facilities along the
route forced PAA to apply for an extension of the inaugural date.
During the period of Musick’s grand entrance to and beyond Hawaii, Billy
Mitchell talked with President of the United States, Franklin Delano
Roosevelt, about his Pacific area defense survey finds of 1924. Mitchell
urged decisive action in view of military buildups in Japan, as well as
Germany and Italy. Talking about this experience after his meeting with
the Chief Executive, Mitchell stated that Japan had designs on Hawaii
militarily and intended to attack the islands from the air with no
advance warning or formal declaration of war. He stated that the blow
would be made on Pearl Harbor on a quiet Sunday morning when it would be
full of ships. In February, 1936, the great air leader died. (Four
years later, Roosevelt ordered the production of 50,000 airplanes per
year. One year later, Mitchell’s predictions were to come to reality.
America was better prepared to respond than expected.)
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