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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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?

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.

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.

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.

Cool video for a cool plane! :D Btw BOAC is Bee-Oh-Ayy-Sea

The Boeing 314 was a personification of and a result of Juan Trippe. Little known fact that he enjoyed flying all the aircraft in the Pan Am livery. He had family that lived on the Eastern Shore of Maryland near Easton. Juan would often weekend with his relatives and there are still residents of Easton who could describe the excitement and hoopla of Juan bringing in a Pan Am clipper to land on the water around Easton for a weekend visit.

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

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.

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

The Boeing 314 Clippers were instrumental as gateways to romantic holidays in Hawai’i, and as critical military transport aircraft throughout WWII. Pan Am flight crews had a particularly stellar list of oceanic navigation expertise with which they supported the Allied wartime effort.

An EXCELLENT overview!

There is a Short Solent flying boat on display at the Oakland Aviation Museum in California. It is a bit smaller than the 314, but it still harkens back to that age of overnight air travel around the world. This particular plane is the City of Cardiff operated by BOAC Teal. Very special planes!

Ken Follett wrote an interesting novel around the Clipper. The title is "Night Over Water".

Talking about the Boeing 340 but showing many shots of the Martin-130. This is because the video is voice-over a production made by Pan Am about their intercontinental services. The Martin-130 is a smaller airplane ... but more photogenic.

My parents an us two kids flew the clipper from Key West-Havana-Colón. The rest of the trip to Antofagasta, Chile was by DC3. The year was 1942.

Many of the clips of flying boats are of Martin Clippers not Boeing 314's which look very different - the tail is a good way to tell the difference. Very interesting video though!

Awesome and Nice video

Thank you, so much for sharing this. The Boeing 314's, always remind me of two movies one about Midway Island and the other was Flying down to Rio. Now, if I just had a time machine would love to fly across the Pacific during 1930's.

A resto-mod turbo prop 314 would be interesting.

Aloha! Kiwi living in Hawaii. I joined T.E A.L ( now AirNZ) in 1964 from school. I remember working with a guy whose job in Fiji was to row out to the sealane to pickup any coconuts as they were a constant hazard. He also said flying from AKL/SYD was great because the food was all cooked onboard and served tableside. Oh, sweet memories 😊

My Mother was a Pan Am ground hostess in Fiji in the late 50's, pre jet. She had a pretty impressive autograph book

That is à grand documentary, well researched and beautifully spoken narration.

My experience with seaplanes more or less begins and ends with the aircraft I saw on "Miami Vice," so this video was quite informative.

I like flying boats and I think its a pity that not a single 314 survives in a museum.

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

Relaxed and stylish travel. 😎🥂🍾

Very Good!...

Greatest contribution: confidence (despite engine failure, you can land on the water), prestige, and gushy romance (probably magnified from the actual reality). Dad and my uncle flew during those days, and they weren't so romantic about the situation.

Unusual to hear BOAC pronounced as a name, rather than as the component letters

Anyone notice that many of the film clips are NOT Boeing 314 but Sirkosky's. Whoever put the video together couldn't tell one aircraft from another: The Boeing plane is easily recognized by its triple vertical stabilizer and lack of "hump" that could be seen in Martin and Sikorsky planes.

Flying boats lasted on Sydney Harbour till the 1970s. Short Sunderlands flew Sydney to Lord Howe Island regularly.

I just recently started to get into the flying boat era of air travel, and it's honestly fascinating. These aircraft (especially the Pan Am, and Imperial Airways aircraft) where like flying cruise ships (of today, and I guess the Ocean Liners of the time). It also would've been neat to see if a line like Pan Am paired with the United States Line (as an example), so you could fly after a trip on a ship. If I could I would build a replica, I just one don't have the funds, and two don't know entirely the laws on full scale (or close to full scale) replica aircraft.

The Boing 314 boat ship is the most important historic of flying trans Pacif trip. Thank you for your very importan information historic of Boing "Martin" 314. Edgar Ayala C. Quito'

The concept of international reach began with the 314 prior to the beginning of World War II. It made doing business around the world possible, which appealed to the government and larger corporations in the U.S.. Even then, despite the expense, it saved time reducing the time it took for people to conduct business in far flung locations. And even then, time was money.

Timestamp 06:03 An amphibious Boeing 314 did in fact transport President Franklin D. Roosevelt to the January 12, 1943 Casablanca Conference. An allied summit with Prime Minister Winston Churchill and General Charles de Gaulle. President Roosevelt's aircraft was a Boeing 314 named the "Dixie Clipper". The entire journey covered 17,000 nautical miles. Boarding the aircraft in Florida, FDR made stops in the Caribbean, Brazil, and then across the Atlantic Ocean to Gambia before pushing on to Morocco. The route was repeated in reverse as President Roosevelt flew home. Source: Glossary TAKING PARIS: The Epic Battle for The City of Lights (c) 2021 by Martin Dugard

Hello the best of the contributions in my opinion by Pan American Airways and the clippers are ,,, long range navigation by aircraft, and spark my interest in aviation,,, by reading Reader’s Digest, 1940s colección and seeing those grate colorful Pan American Airways commercials. Saludos thanks for the memories

Informative video about an awesome aircraft, but a lot of your movie inflight footage about the B314 show show smaller Martin M130 aircraft - easy to spot with their strutted tail planes

An amazing aircraft, believe it or not, they are missed. A shame none survived. Many, many pilots have one of these on their desk, of course just a model. Mine is on the shelf. 👍👍👍. 5-11-21

We spent our first night in Ireland in Foynes. I wanted to see the museum the next morning but my wife wanted to hit the road. We hit the road.

Interesting video. However, you omitted the fact that most flights routed through Foynes, Ireland. The Bermuda Sky Queen refuelled there prior to attempting its Atlantic crossing.The museum is well worth a visit. In 1945 operations switched to land based planes. Many pre jet flights routed through Shannon Airport, across the Shannon Estuary from Foynes

This ship and the PBY Catalina... Man, how I would have loved a ride in either one.

Very nice.

I kind of recall but not really sure seeing one of these when I was a kid.

Style and class, oh dear, there's my rose-tinted glassed again looking at things. Shame these planes don't exist anymore.

It certainly set the bar for that type of aircraft: stylish, elegant and functional. Too bad there are no models around now--unless they raise and restore those two which sunk in Honolulu harbour (which I hope they do!).

Nice to hear this excellent English.

Glamour!

Very informative, thank you. As a regular “flyer” (Economy Class 😝) beyond my wildest dreams. I suppose something like a Rolls-Royce experience! Though, flying today...? ..... maybe still model T🤷🏼‍♀️

I believe the Boeing clippers help invoke a desire in the public to engage in flight.

I hope you can help me. I have been looking for a small amphibious airplane, a four seater that just dropped out of sight about 18months ago. It had a circular air pusher and I think a single engine. It included a parachute. And had specialty gold fleck wings paint from a designer of NISSAN. It may have been the "Air Challenger ". It was certified for fight but was working for instrumentation certification

My office in the port of Los Angeles was the terminal for Pan Am when they were using the flying boats. It is at berth 56 or 229 E 22nd st San Pedro. I would love to see what the interior of the building looked like back then. I read an article that said the passenger area was decorated with tikis and other south seas items. If anyone has any leads about this part of Pan Am's history please pass it on to me.

Its greatest contribution to aviation was style and class. and its fuselage mixing square and round and amazing windows just looks better than any of the sausages / cigar shaped airplane we have now.

Excellent video. One comment. BOAC isn't a word. It is normally said as four separate letters. If I have remembered this correctly it stands for British Overseas Aircraft Corporation

In many scenes that talk about the Boeing 314 they show the Martin M-130 (The 'China Clipper').

There should have been more emphasis on the gigantic flight deck above the passenger cabin. It was like a large office with spread out with separate desks for the navigator, radio man, engineer, and chief steward all behind the pilots. The engineer could crawl through the wingspan to do engine maintenance during flights!!

Terrific story. IS there information on their use out of Hamilton Harbor in the Bahamas at the start of World War Two?

If we have cruse ships surely one of these would make a cool alternative to crusing ...

“Back in the day”, a lot of people referred to BOAC as “Bo-Ack”. (I’m that old). It’s been a long time since I’ve heard that. It was a nickname and is not really appropriate in a documentary. I wonder if the author was aware of that nickname, or just didn’t know any better.

At 1:47s there is an image of the flying boat Capella, these were also used long haul, but did tourist flights landing on the 4-5-mile dead straight section of the Nile River at Luxor in Egypt., It was the golden age of flight; you just needed a lot of gold to buy the ticket.

Yes the 314 Clipper was a magnificent airplane with lots of luxury and first class service, wow! It was slow and took "years" to reach destination but could land almost everywhere, reach tiny islands provided there is water. Perhaps if Boeing could upgrade the airplane and install much more powerful engines it would have been more competitive...

I feel bad that most amazing aircraft have to leave us I'll miss most if not all of them

The 314 was best utilized in WW II. The cargo and mail delivery was much faster for high demand items needed in the war effort.

I find the Boeing 314 plane very fascinating

Beautiful aircraft. It's a pity none got stored at a museum.

For some reason, I'm enthralled with the Boeing 314 in pre war passenger service. That experience must have been the polar opposite from today.

I think the flying boat service would be popular again today, not having to go to an airport is an advantage once again.

(Circumstance: I was born in the 30s) Worked with a fellow who worked as a mechanic on these-favorite trick: to get one of their coworkers to fall into the bay. Met a woman once who told me she and her daughter flew back and forth on the clipper to New Zealand “all the time.”

There will never be any aircraft as cool as large piston engine & propeller driven aircraft, be it military or civilian.

The 314 was needed by the military at the outbreak of ww2. It had a good run, but during the war the United States began to build landing strips for regular wheeled aircraft, and by the end of the war in 1945, the flying boats were no longer needed. The 314 and other flying boats were a sight to behold, and they were very special for a number of years

Still (imho) the best looking aircraft ever made

How nice it would have been to have a Kermit Weeks around back then to rescue one of those gems. Maybe even re-engine it with R-2800s????

I think “the informed” here have done a substantial job of correcting your English pronunciation and pointing out your inclusion of Martin and Sikorski’s in this clip about the 314. I turn to another and in my view, more interesting subject : What Juan and these pilots and pioneers achieved in a few short years between the first Pan Am flight ( Key West - Havana in 1927) and the first Tran Atlantic flight in ‘39 was nothing short of remarkable. It’s equally remarkable that 30 years later, aviation produced the 747 and Concorde. Fast forward another 50 years and what a we got? The 747-800 (whoppee, it as has more powerful engines and larger upper deck) I suppose the 380, but otherwise, we have the same planes minus two engines (777 and 350s )with admirable power and fuel burn. Big deal. Not the stuff of legends and awe. Surely the exciting times in aviation were from the late 20s to the early 70s. Let’s see what the next 30 years brings……

BIG THUMBS DOWN! Most of the footage of flying boats in this video, is not footage of the Boeing 314. Even when the narration is specifically talking about the Boeing flying boat.

There are still a few Grumman flying boats flying..... There used to be a company in Miami that used the Goose, but I believe they have since gone out of business.

Landbased airports were expensive to build.... Not exactly cheap nowadays either...

would be great if the Boeing 314 is revived in present day & time!!! only if a Boeing 314 could be restored, assuming that there are a few examples of the Boeing 314 Flying Boat that still exists today!!! speaking of revival the 314 would surely need couple of new engines, either new ones built by the same engine manufacturer who built the 4 original radial / piston engines for the Boeing 314 Flying Boat in the 1930s or a complete rebuild of existing engines (if any)!!! every element of the Boeing 314 Flying Boat will have to be restored to exact specifications of 1932!!! except for the pilot's cockpit which will feature a mix of 1930s analogue instruments & avionics etc. with a mild touch of fly-by-wire & present day glass cockpits without compromising the original classic vintage ethos!!! the original paxs cabin product in the Boeing 314 will also be restored to spec & will accommodate 60 - 66 paxs in opulent luxury!!! be it the paxs seats or the separate dining section or the full size lavatories!!! a restored Boeing 314 Flying Boat built to exact original OEM specifications with a blend of present day technology!!! estimated cost of restoring a Boeing 314 Flying Boat to flyable airworthy specifications, around €5.0 Mn - €6.0 Mn!!!

Although a substantial tail wind might give a 644mph ground speed for a Boeing 777, the nominal airspeed at Mach 0.84 would be about 557mph at 35000ft altitude on a standard day. The speed of sound is proportional to the square root of ambient temperature and therefore tends to decrease with altitude.

The biggest contribution is that they were symbols of the era. The sight of one immediately tells a person, "Oh! The Early War Years!" Also, they are really fucking cool.

Good morning from SE Louisiana 29 Sep 21.

I’d love to have half of that comfort on todays sardine flights. Aussie Bob

It's a shame that 2 or 3 of these did not survive. They could have been used for novelty flights, say from NYC to Washington, or NYC to Miami, LA to San Francisco, and on to Seattle. You could keep the berths for overnight flights. What fun that could be.

Great video! But, Berwick is pronounced 'Berrick' in British English, which BOAC would have used.

One of the three Sikorsky models is inside the New England Air Museum in Connecticut

Martin Mars flying boats are still in use in containing forest fires.

Many of the in flight, takeoff and landing views in this video are not of the 314 but of the Martin M-130's that Pan Am operated before getting the 314's.

There are probably more clips shown of the Martin M-130 (only 3 were built) than of the Boeing 314.

Footage from 7:22 to 7:30 is a Consolidated PB2Y Coronado U.S. Navy patrol bomber, not a Boeing 314. And the segment from 8:08 to 8:14 shows a Martin 130 flying boat, only 3 of which were built for Pan Am, also implying incorrectly that it's a Boeing 314. Another minor error in the narration: at 7:49 you refer to "American International Airways" which should read "American Overseas Airlines" as shown on the photo of the AOA Boeing 377 Stratocruiser used to illustrate that comment. AOA was the brief (1945-50) transatlantic subsidiary of American Airlines, acquired by Pan American in 1950.

Ken Follett has a good novel about a UK to NYC Clipper flight.

Its greatest c0ntribution was its inspiration for the great Tim Foller novel about it: Night over water.