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Title: Long Way Home--Pan Am Pacific Clipper 31K Mile WWII Saga
Source:
LiveLeak
URL Source: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=196_1363275401
Published: Mar 14, 2013
Author: mtnmanx
Post Date: 2014-07-07 17:40:38 by X-15
Keywords: aviation, Pan Am
Views: 855
Comments: 23
Long Way Home--Pan Am Pacific Clipper 31K Mile WWII Saga Astonishing story of Pan Am's Pacific Clipper, caught in the South Pacific during the attack in Pearl Harbor, and declared a "strategic resource at the disposal of the American military", resulting in an incredible 31K mile trip back to the USA. "Do not return to Hawaii. Do not return to US west coast...Strip aircraft of all markings and identification...proceed west...maintain radio silence...deliver aircraft to Marine Terminal, LaGuardia, NY. Good luck."
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#1. To: X-15 (#0)
Awesome story.
If no one knew war was imminent, how were the orders given prior to takeoff?
I recall a Clipper also at Wake Island that got away.
Wars and rumors of wars: always have a contingency/backup plan. Those Clippers were already on somebody's TOE before the Japs bombed Pearl Harbor.
#2. To: X-15 (#0)
#3. To: Fred Mertz (#1)
#4. To: Cynicom (#2)
-Alex Kurtagic
#5. To: X-15 (#4)
A contingency plan could not have known which way to fly. The Clipper at Wake returned to the States.
#6. To: Cynicom (#3)
Your mind is sharp and memory great. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Wake_Island Following this attack, the Pan Am employees were evacuated along with the passengers of a Clipper flying boat that had survived the attack unscathed. The Chamorro men were not allowed to board the plane and were left behind. Do a word search (ctrl-f) on Clipper at the link. Second reference. I recall a Clipper also at Wake Island that got away.
#7. To: Fred Mertz (#6)
Thanks...found it. Been in and out of Wake a few times. Once even by Pan Am, not by Clipper, rather a DC-4. Recall that one clearly as we lost engine on takeoff, fully loaded, staggered back in.
#8. To: X-15 (#0)
God was their co-pilot...what a vacation those folks "enjoyed."
“The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out... without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, intolerable.” ~ H. L. Mencken
#9. To: Lod, Cynicom (#8)
The side blisters of PBY Catalina always looked to me to be the best place to spend a war, although not the safest. Pack a cooler, a bag of weed, and a couple ammo belts... 
corruptissima re publica plurimae leges - Tacitus
#10. To: Dakmar (#9)
B-29,B-50 and B-36 all had blisters and were pressurized. Think about that.
#11. To: Cynicom (#10)
Good for keeping radioactive particles out.
#12. To: Cynicom (#10)
B-29 had room for the tail-gunner, six-pack, china-doll, and a one gallon "relief jug" :)
-Alex Kurtagic
#13. To: Cynicom (#10)
None of those could land in a small lagoon of some godforsaken south pacific paradise either, too big and heavy. I tried to climb down into the ball turret of a B-17, I think it was, when I was about 17yo, 130lb. Those things were made for malnourished kids born before fresh fruits and vegetables were widely available. The PBY gunners compartment was a lot bigger, although I'm sure they got claustrophobic in no time too. B-29,B-50 and B-36 all had blisters and were pressurized.
corruptissima re publica plurimae leges - Tacitus
#14. To: Deasy (#11)
The gunners at the blisters could actually lean into the blister and see fore and aft, up and down. If a blister popped, they better have seat belt fastened.
#15. To: Cynicom (#10)
The China Clipper culminated into this: 
-Alex Kurtagic
#16. To: Cynicom (#14)
I imagine to lean into the blister the harness had to be loose. To be prepared, an oxygen mask must have been needed during combat and bomb runs. A few guys must have been mauled by the side of the plane as they were dragged out in too-loose seat belts. I imagine the plexiglass was wicked sharp when it cracked, too.
#17. To: Dakmar, Cynicom (#13)
B-17: more than one young man got squashed when the hydraulics got shot out and the ball turret couldn't be rotated into the upright position for egress before a wheels-up landing.
-Alex Kurtagic
#18. To: Deasy (#16)
Still must have been better than front line infantry. I imagine to lean into the blister the harness had to be loose. To be prepared, an oxygen mask must have been needed during combat and bomb runs. A few guys must have been mauled by the side of the plane as they were dragged out in too-loose seat belts. I imagine the plexiglass was wicked sharp when it cracked, too.
corruptissima re publica plurimae leges - Tacitus
#19. To: Dakmar (#18)
More beautiful, at any rate. For the unpressurized planes, it was very cold. Still, seeing the earth and heavens from up so high must have beat trudging through the snow and ice and mud in worn out boots. Or wading up beaches against withering fire and artillery, Hell yes.
#20. To: X-15 (#17)
Yep. My Grandfather was a B-17 mechanic/sergeant in Burma / India during the war, I remember him telling a similar grissly tale. The biggest problem he had was pilots taking off before letting engines warm up completely. Fine for flying from Passiac to Schenectady, but in 1942, a 19,000 foot climb into the Himalayas might cause some icing in the carbuerator; if not on the wings. B-17: more than one young man got squashed when the hydraulics got shot out and the ball turret couldn't be rotated into the upright position for egress before a wheels-up landing.
corruptissima re publica plurimae leges - Tacitus
#21. To: Dakmar, Cynicom (#18)
Army Air Corps was considered front line infantry, and they (USAAF) lost more men in the air than the U.S. Army on the ground around the planet during WWII. Still must have been better than front line infantry.
-Alex Kurtagic
#22. To: X-15 (#21)
That doesn't necessarily mean that the attrition rate for front-line infantry (Marines/Army) was lower or equal. I know the AAF bomber crews had tremendous attrition rates. It probably does indicate that it was an air war, primarily. "On the ground" would have included a lot of REMFs. Still I didn't know that losses were greater in the air overall. Remember, the Soviets took the brunt of ground fighting and had literally defeated Germany by the time we entered the European theater with a ground front with the Operation Shingle opening at Anzio beach in Italy in January 1944. (Of course excepting the North African campaign which was relatively small for American ground forces.)
#23. To: Deasy (#22)
AAF lost over 200,000 dead in the air, that was more than dead on the ground.
-Alex Kurtagic
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