GIANT CLIPPERS

Evening Star, Issue 23092, 19 October 1938, Page 18

GIANT CLIPPERS

FLIGHT TO DOMINION PAN-AMERICAN AIRWAYS PLANS [Peb United Press Association.] ANCKLAND, Oct. 18. The resumption of the San Fran-cisco-Auckland air service by PanAmerican Airways is brought a step nearer by the advice that eminently satisfactory flying tests have now been made by the first of the giant Boeing Clippers ordered by the company, according to information received by Mr Harold Gatty, special representative of Pan-Ameri-can Airways in New Zealand. The first of the Boeings, after being modified, underwent her flight tests perfectly in the hands of Boeing pilots and engineers. Auckland may see the South Seas Clipper early in the New Year, although no date for the resumption of the service has yet been announced, a great deal of preliminary work being involved. The latest reports suggest that the Boeing, one of the world’s largest aircraft, and the new base on Canton Island, should be ready for the service to be resumed about 12 months after the tragic loss of the Samoan Clipper and her crew early this year. Three series of tests are required before the new Boeings, of which only one has yet taken the air, can be put into service. The manufacturing company itself makes extensive tests, and these are followed by the rigorous trials of the United States Bureau of Air Commerce. Finally come the acceptance tests of PanAmerican Airways. Modifications to the tail assembly, which was originally a single unit, were found to be necessary when the Boeing Company’s tests were begun earlter this year. The ship was promptly provided with a doubletail unit, similar in general appearance to the type used on Lockheed Electras in New Zealand, and news has now come to hand that the Boeing Company’s flight tests were completed to the satisfaction of the experts who supervised them. Weight-carrying Record Carrying a gross weight of 77,5001 b, the greatest weight ever taken aloft by American aircraft, the huge craft took to the air at Seattle, being flown by Edmund T Allen. The first tests with the new tail assembly took place parly last month, and were to be followed at close intervals, first by the official trials, and then by the acceptance tests.

When the service is resumed the Clippers will fly from San Francisco to Honolulu, from there to Carton Island; and on to Auckland a performance well within the enormous cruising range of the craft., Since an agreement has been readied between the British and United States Governments concerning the control :f Canton Island, Pan-American Airways has pushed on rapidly with the work of preparing the lonely site as a modern air base on the lines of that at Wake Island on the company’s China run. “A little time is necessary to complete the arrangements at Canton Island,” Mr Gatty said. “It is only recently that matters were settled between the British and United States Governments, and quite a lot of work is involved, as much as there was in preparing Wake Island for the Martin Clippers. Men are already getting Canton Island ready to receive the Boeings. Mooring and landing facilities have to be installed, a modern overnight rest house constructed and all incidental work attendant upon the preparation of an air port completed. The company’s powerful radio installation is still at Pago Pago, American Samoa, and may remain there.” Return of Staff Two members of the staff of PanAmerican Airways who were prominently associated with the flights of the Samoan Clipper last year, Messrs A. L. Lewis (airport manager) and E. B. Buston (meteorologist), are expected to return to Auckland by the end of the year. Mr Lewis is airport manager at Wake Island and Mr Buston meteorologist at Guam. Members of the engineering staff who were in Auckland earlier are also likely to be sent back before the Boeing makes her first South Pacific crossing.