CLIPPER ON WAY

New Zealand Herald, Volume 78, Issue 24101, 21 October 1941, Page 6

CLIPPER ON WAY

NEW ROUTE NEXT FLIGHT SUVA AND PALMYRA ISLAND No confirmation of a report that the departure of two Clipper services across the Pacific had been postponed for 24 hours, because of the Far Eastern situation, had been received in Auckland, said Mr. P. S. Delany, South Pacific traffic manager of Pan American Airways, yesterday. The Pacific Clipper left San Francisco yesterday morning, Auckland time, and is expected at Auckland on Friday. The Clipper will leave on the return flight on Saturday morning. The inaugural flight over the new route via Palmyra Island and Suva will now start from San Francisco on October 30, and the Clipper will be here on November 4. It was formerly expected that the Clipper now on the way would make the inaugural flight over the new route.

The distances between bases on the new route are as follows: —Los Angeles to Honolulu, 2530 miles; Honolulu to Palmyra Island, 1100 miles; Palmyra to Canton Island, 896 miles; Canton to Sura, 1250 miles; Suva to Noumea, 827 miles; Noumea to Auckland, 1142 miles. Because of the shorter distances between the new bases the clippers will need less fuel and thus will be able to greatly increase their passenger and freight loads between Auckland and Honolulu. From 20 to 24 passengers is the average number now taken from Auckland, but it is expected that more than 40 will be carried over the new route to Honolulu. Palmyra Island, which has an area of only one and a-half square miles, is six degrees north and 162 degrees 30 minutes west. The island was discovered by Captain Sawle, of the American ship Palmyra, in 1802. Claimed by the United States in 1935, the island produces copra. The United States Navy Department in August, 1939, ordered work to be started on five Pacific Island air bases —two in the Hawaiian group and Midway. Johnson and Palmyra Islands. Contracts covering the work were awarded, of a total value of 14.607.000 dollars. It was announced last August that Palmyra Island would be taken over by the United States Navy and the Air Command.