The Plane that Had It All: The Rise And Fall Of The Boeing 314 Clipper

A century ago, before the Second World War, travel was very different. Flying boats offered luxuries and facilities that have not been seen since, and the Boeing 314 was one of the most capable and successful of them. It had a glamourous but somewhat short life. But… What was this aircraft like? And why did it fall out of favor?

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[wstral]

My grandpa was one of the VERY few pilots who flew this aircraft. He loved it and still says it was the best aircraft he ever flew... other than the fact that the fuel gauges were always WRONG and read high. That and almost every single flight you took off on 4 engines but landed on 3 engines or less.

[jeffk]

The saddest part of this is that not a single one survived to live in a museum anywhere. I've been fascinated by the Pan Am 314's and would love to see one on display to get a feel for what travel was like in those slower paced, more elegant days.

[axellajohannesson]

I worked for Pan Am Shuttle in the 1980s, which operated from the Marine Air Terminal at LaGuardia airport. The MAT was built for the flying boats.

There were murals which featured the 314s, and one couldn't help thinking about what it must have been like to travel in such grand style (couldn't have happened on MY wages!).

When I discovered that not one was left to see, I actually cried.

In September, I finally get to go to Foynes in Ireland to see the reproduction 314 which was built from Boeing's original blueprints. Can't wait!

[Dan-ggfk]

I have an original leather baggage tag from these clippers. It was given to me by a wonderful women whom I greatly respected and admired. Her late husband Jack Wentworth designed embassy buildings in South America for the US government. She flew down there on a regular basis to be with him. It was a gift for me to attach to my pilot bag while I was a student pilot. She said it would inspire me to reach for the sky. It was with me on every flight. God bless you Laura.

[danbernstein]

Great video. During ww2, My father was a USAAF navigator who was to serve on a B 24 LR, which was a very long range maritime patrol bomber. Because he had to learn to navigate over thousands oc ocean miles, he was sent to Coral Gable FL, to train on the Pan Am Clippers. He loved the plane and the way it flew

[DTHAEW]

This video brings us back to the beautiful times, thank you for your efforts

[orionwesley]

Awesome video! I think that the 314's contribution was probably that it highlighted air travel as a viable option that inspired future engineers & others in aviation onto faster, greater things.

[johnsymonstcu]

Thanks for highlighting my favorite airplane of all time. I fantasize sometimes of constructing a 314 using modern technology and materials. I love reading about the late '30's and WW2 era and how this incredible plane played such an interesting part of those times. Take care and have a pleasant weekend.

[normandunckley]

You need to check out TEAL (Air New Zealand) Short Solent's flying boats and the "Coral Route" that operated during the 50's 30hrs from Auckland to Tahiti stopping in Fiji, Cook Islands, Somoa along the way. Entire flight was 1st class. One of the Solents still exists at Museum in NZ. Its big 2 decks, sleeper berths, lounges, dining room, full kitchen

[richardferg]

Greatest contribution was to the glamor and mystique of air travel. Bringing people to exotic places on earth in luxury and comfort. What can be better?

[LWolf]

Well, Pacific Clipper did chart and map out the first flight around the world when World War Two broke out. That was pretty impressive. Especially considering it was unplanned.

[timothyhopkins]

Just a beautiful way to travel wish they could come back again .

[andrewneedham]

There's a full scale mock up of a Boeing 314 at The Foynes Flying Boat Museum in Ireland. It gives you an appreciation of them you can't get by reading about them.

[johntechwriter]

10:19 — My first-ever airliner flight was in 1969, across the pond from Canada to, I guess it was, Heathrow. Until I saw this photo I had forgotten how beautiful the 707 was. And how luxurious. But then, the amenities from that era for tourist class would rival business class today.

[richbuckley]

It’s greatest contribution was the aircraft inspired a tiny influential fraction of society to explore our world from a relative position of safety, much like the internet does today. The promotional imagery of the era was seldom just the aircraft. Usually the promotional imagery showed exotic and dramatic backdrop screens of places that you could personally experience within hours, even if you could not afford to buy a ticket. The world beckoned you.... come on, let’s go! It sparked imagination.

[adimo]

Very informative, but unfortunately the footage is often showing the M-130 while the commentary indicates the B-314., which is confusing.

[kfeltenberger]

I fell in love with this aircraft when I was a boy and found a tattered original copy of "Timmy Flies The China Clipper" in the school library. I must have checked that book out every couple months for five years and read it cover to cover each time and getting lost in a simpler age of style and class.

[airspace]

Finally a video that deals with this amazing plane!!!

[philbelyea]

Thanks. One of my fondest childhood memories was watching the Lisbon Clipper landing at Shediac NB Canada

[daigriffiths]

Juan Trippe did NOT work with Boeing to design the Model 314. Boeing, in fact, refused to tender for the contract being too busy eyeing up the lucrative USAAF market for bombers. The design was a private venture by Wellwood Beall to stave off boredom while selling Boeing P-36 'Peashooters' in China and Martha Beall, his wife. It is always glossed over that Martha designed the Model 314's interior. Boeing only decided to tender for the contract because Wellwood proposed using the XB-15 wing which reduced tooling costs considerably. However, they ignored their own windtunnel tests which said the single fin would not be enough and pretty much wiped out the cost-savings of using the XB-15 wing trying to solve the problem of rudder authority. That's where the iconic triple-fin layout originated from.

The Foynes Flying Boat museum replica unfortunately leaves a lot to be desired. There are huge discrepancies between their representative instrument panels and what were actually used. To be fair to Foynes though, of the twelve hulls built, no two hulls had the same instrument layout... Boeing were (in)famous for this in the 1930s.

@w8stral: yes - the autosyn fuel level gauges did read high as often as not because they were a rheostat-type mechanism which was prone to corrosion caused by water condensation in the fuel tanks. As for many landings with three engines: I have a Pan-Am report here that states between June 1939 and and June 1941 flight engineers carried out 431 in-flight repairs. The most common problem (around 90% of cases) was fouled spark plugs.

I spent almost five years gathering information on this aircraft to turn it into zeroes and ones to run in Lockheed-Martin's Prepar3D simulation platform. In that time I made contact with some very helpful people, some of whom had first-hand experience of the Model 314. I also amassed a large collection of books, manuals and magazines from the 1930s, 40s and 50s that had anything to do with the Model 314. I even had help from Boeing!

Finally, the name of G-AGCA is pronounced 'Berik' and not 'Beughwick'. Similarly, the airline is pronounced 'B.O.A.C' and not 'Boac'. I was a bit disappointed to hear an English accent that could not pronounce English words.