En-route to Trincomalee. Approximately 14018 miles to go
May 1, 2018 5:43 AM Subscribe
Taking the long war round Starting in late 1941 Pan Am flight 18602, the California Clipper, flew to New York via an unusual route.
(part 2, part 3)
I know it's a typo but I am claiming "Take the Long War 'Round" for the title of my novel.
posted by gauche at 6:52 AM on May 1, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by gauche at 6:52 AM on May 1, 2018 [6 favorites]
Missed it first time round. Great story.
Since the previous post, a YouTube went up with some nice action shots of the 314.
posted by MtDewd at 6:53 AM on May 1, 2018
Since the previous post, a YouTube went up with some nice action shots of the 314.
posted by MtDewd at 6:53 AM on May 1, 2018
Amazing. I was so proud I kept my driveway clear of snow this year, and these guys flew a flying boat around the world on bad gas and library atlases.
posted by lstanley at 7:32 AM on May 1, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by lstanley at 7:32 AM on May 1, 2018 [1 favorite]
Trippe was a man who always believed in the financial and publicity value of constantly pushing the frontiers of aviation. Nothing represented this better than Pan American’s glamorous “Clipper” services.
My mariner/novelist granddad flew the PanAm Clipper the other way - from Hamburg, via Beirut, Calcutta, Hongkong, Tokyo, Wake Island, Honolulu, San Francisco, Chicago, and New York back to Hamburg - just a few years later, right after the war, in a nine-day circumglobal dash that he chronicled for the German radio audience (it’s being rebroadcast later this month). The great romanticism/adventure in flying back then is kind of lost on us now...
posted by progosk at 7:52 AM on May 1, 2018 [8 favorites]
My mariner/novelist granddad flew the PanAm Clipper the other way - from Hamburg, via Beirut, Calcutta, Hongkong, Tokyo, Wake Island, Honolulu, San Francisco, Chicago, and New York back to Hamburg - just a few years later, right after the war, in a nine-day circumglobal dash that he chronicled for the German radio audience (it’s being rebroadcast later this month). The great romanticism/adventure in flying back then is kind of lost on us now...
posted by progosk at 7:52 AM on May 1, 2018 [8 favorites]
I love this story!
posted by vibrotronica at 7:54 AM on May 1, 2018
posted by vibrotronica at 7:54 AM on May 1, 2018
How is this not a movie already?
posted by jacquilynne at 7:56 AM on May 1, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by jacquilynne at 7:56 AM on May 1, 2018 [4 favorites]
By MeFi's own ridiculously talented garius.
posted by ambrosen at 8:08 AM on May 1, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by ambrosen at 8:08 AM on May 1, 2018 [4 favorites]
Speaking of movies, garius was recently looking for an agent, if you know anything about that world.
posted by Rock Steady at 8:59 AM on May 1, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Rock Steady at 8:59 AM on May 1, 2018 [2 favorites]
I am so sorry about the typo, gauche. That's what I get for posting w/o sleep.
On the other hand, "war" for "way" is actually pretty good here.
posted by doctornemo at 11:01 AM on May 1, 2018
On the other hand, "war" for "way" is actually pretty good here.
posted by doctornemo at 11:01 AM on May 1, 2018
Oh man that was wonderful, and I'm so excited to run across a story about the Clippers that I'd never run across despite an ongoing low-grade obsession with both the flying boat and Zeppelin age of air travel.
Ages ago I had this Pan Am poster framed for display. I had to leave it behind when I moved cross country, but immediately replaced it. Sadly, the replacement still sits safely rolled up awaiting framing all these years later. One day I'll get around to it.
While the age of flying boats will never return, I'm still convinced that modern technology and satellites means you could launch successful airship routes. Travel doesn't have to be about the speed, I'm sure of it, especially now that you can effortlessly work and maintain contact 24/7 no matter where you are. New York to London, no jet lag? Yes, please.
posted by los pantalones del muerte at 11:20 AM on May 1, 2018 [3 favorites]
Ages ago I had this Pan Am poster framed for display. I had to leave it behind when I moved cross country, but immediately replaced it. Sadly, the replacement still sits safely rolled up awaiting framing all these years later. One day I'll get around to it.
While the age of flying boats will never return, I'm still convinced that modern technology and satellites means you could launch successful airship routes. Travel doesn't have to be about the speed, I'm sure of it, especially now that you can effortlessly work and maintain contact 24/7 no matter where you are. New York to London, no jet lag? Yes, please.
posted by los pantalones del muerte at 11:20 AM on May 1, 2018 [3 favorites]
I missed this the first time too. I was late for work this morning diving into it and finished as soon as I got home.
Thank you so much.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 7:36 PM on May 1, 2018
Thank you so much.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 7:36 PM on May 1, 2018
Speaking of airships in the future, Kim Stanley Robinson’s New York 2140, contains the immortal line “polar bears have taken over my airship!”
posted by monotreme at 8:25 PM on May 1, 2018
posted by monotreme at 8:25 PM on May 1, 2018
Although a smaller plane by far, The Last African Flying Boat gives you an idea of what it was to travel by seaplane (in this case, if I noticed correctly, a wartime PBY5A Catalina)
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 8:27 PM on May 1, 2018
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 8:27 PM on May 1, 2018
Wonderful post, thanks doctornemo and garius! Needs to be a movie, like yesterday.
posted by Quietgal at 8:49 PM on May 1, 2018
posted by Quietgal at 8:49 PM on May 1, 2018
“We’re red-lining!” Swede shouted again, as the plane he’d grown to love began to shudder violently, as if howling in pain. “We could blow at any time!”
For some reason in my mind I heard everything Swede said in a Scottish accent. "She canna take anymore, Captain. She's gonna blow!"
posted by eye of newt at 9:16 PM on May 1, 2018 [1 favorite]
For some reason in my mind I heard everything Swede said in a Scottish accent. "She canna take anymore, Captain. She's gonna blow!"
posted by eye of newt at 9:16 PM on May 1, 2018 [1 favorite]
Ha! Yes - it's one of mine. I actually wrote it some time ago, but moving a whole bunch of my stuff to Medium (to simplify things) seemed to kick up interest in this piece again. Which is nice, because it's easily one of my favourite bits of 'forgotten history' ever. A real example of ordinary people doing extraordinary things in wartime, not out of any hope or expectation of glory, but simply because they needed to be done.
A lot of my writing is about those people or moments, because I am endlessly fascinated by them - whether it's the likes of Stanislav Petrov stopping to think rather than trigger nuclear war, the Suffragette-run WW1 military hospital or Jack Klugman's personal crusade to change US orphan drug laws. Few are quite so unknown, but also as incredible, as this one though.
To me, there's also a real romance about the era of the Clippers. They were a necessary, but ultimately dead-end, technology. The culmination of a particular branch of aerospace engineering and ingenuity. The Boeing 314 was the absolute zenith of that, and I suspect that if Ford and co. had been flying any other plane they'd have had no chance of success. The California was as much a hero of their story as the crew were, and they both knew it and loved her for it.
For the record:
How is this not a movie already?
and:
Speaking of movies, garius was recently looking for an agent
Are actually related. I've had enquiries. I suspect nothing will come of it, but it would be nice if it did. I really do think it's a story that deserves to be on the silver screen.
And do download Ed Dover's book if you can. There are a few things in it I'd dispute, based on my own research, but they're pretty minor. Hard as it may be to believe, there are actually other things that happened on the way and more people involved that I omitted from my narrative history for the sake of a concise, focused story. Ed expands on those. He also managed to talk first-hand with Bob Ford before he died, of which I will always be jealous.
My mariner/novelist granddad flew the PanAm Clipper the other way
Oooh. Drop me a MeMail! Sounds like that needs writing up as a story too!
By MeFi's own ridiculously talented garius.
Cheque's in the mail! ;)
posted by garius at 1:16 AM on May 2, 2018 [10 favorites]
A lot of my writing is about those people or moments, because I am endlessly fascinated by them - whether it's the likes of Stanislav Petrov stopping to think rather than trigger nuclear war, the Suffragette-run WW1 military hospital or Jack Klugman's personal crusade to change US orphan drug laws. Few are quite so unknown, but also as incredible, as this one though.
To me, there's also a real romance about the era of the Clippers. They were a necessary, but ultimately dead-end, technology. The culmination of a particular branch of aerospace engineering and ingenuity. The Boeing 314 was the absolute zenith of that, and I suspect that if Ford and co. had been flying any other plane they'd have had no chance of success. The California was as much a hero of their story as the crew were, and they both knew it and loved her for it.
For the record:
How is this not a movie already?
and:
Speaking of movies, garius was recently looking for an agent
Are actually related. I've had enquiries. I suspect nothing will come of it, but it would be nice if it did. I really do think it's a story that deserves to be on the silver screen.
And do download Ed Dover's book if you can. There are a few things in it I'd dispute, based on my own research, but they're pretty minor. Hard as it may be to believe, there are actually other things that happened on the way and more people involved that I omitted from my narrative history for the sake of a concise, focused story. Ed expands on those. He also managed to talk first-hand with Bob Ford before he died, of which I will always be jealous.
My mariner/novelist granddad flew the PanAm Clipper the other way
Oooh. Drop me a MeMail! Sounds like that needs writing up as a story too!
By MeFi's own ridiculously talented garius.
Cheque's in the mail! ;)
posted by garius at 1:16 AM on May 2, 2018 [10 favorites]
Thanks for the story, garius. I especially appreciated the epilogue where you discussed the sources and how you became aware of the story. I wish more articles about historical events did that.
posted by Kattullus at 1:31 AM on May 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Kattullus at 1:31 AM on May 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
I was about to raise the same point of order re: Lord Wavell's son, but some smart-ass commenter already beat me to it.
Read it in one big gulp over lunch break. Wonderful story!
posted by tirutiru at 5:38 AM on May 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
Read it in one big gulp over lunch break. Wonderful story!
posted by tirutiru at 5:38 AM on May 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
yup - was one of the 'minor points' from Ed's book I wasn't comfortable with, but left in anyway. Nice to have a different avenue to explore.
posted by garius at 5:48 AM on May 2, 2018
posted by garius at 5:48 AM on May 2, 2018
That's a great scene, monotreme.
posted by doctornemo at 7:01 AM on May 2, 2018
posted by doctornemo at 7:01 AM on May 2, 2018
Great story!
posted by Secretariat at 12:43 PM on May 2, 2018
posted by Secretariat at 12:43 PM on May 2, 2018
I somehow missed this being posted, was only alerted when I tried to post it myself!
posted by tavella at 2:50 PM on May 5, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by tavella at 2:50 PM on May 5, 2018 [2 favorites]
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posted by jedicus at 6:36 AM on May 1, 2018 [4 favorites]