WAR
CLOUDS
1940
A HARSH WAKE-UP
Many Americans were oblivious to European politics and the growing global threat of Axis powers
As the 1930s grew to a close, the anticipation of increased transatlantic air travel took root, but likelihood of war in Europe was on the horizon. Germany and Italy's leaders had been testing the waters, and regarded armed conflict as a risk worth taking. Hitler made his move on September 1, 1939 and invaded Poland. Shortly thereafter, Britain and France declared war on Germany.
On the other side of the Atlantic, the war in Europe seemed far away. America was still working out of the Depression, and was committed to a policy of neutrality and non-intervention in foreign affairs. But the US was not going to escape the growing global conflict. Japan had invaded China in 1937, and by September 1940, joined with Germany and Italy by treaty. As America's only international airline, Pan Am would inevitably be affected.
REALITY CHECK
Pan Am felt an immediate impact of the new war on its Atlantic routes. Flights were curtailed to Foynes, passenger and mail loads affected. Still the Clippers, like magic carpets above war-torn ocean, flew across the Atlantic to Lisbon in Portugal.
Pan Am B-314 flights to Foynes, Ireland were suspended when war broke out in Europe, but reinstated later. Photo: c. 1940 (Pan Am Historical Foundation collection).
Pan Am B-314 flights to Foynes, Ireland were suspended when war broke out in Europe, but reinstated later. Photo: c. 1940 (Pan Am Historical Foundation collection).
The change was immediate. Pan Am's flights to France and the UK, initiated just over one hundred days earlier, were stopped, along with those to Foynes, Ireland, a month later. Pan Am still flew to Lisbon in neutral Portugal, now the only point of connection by air from the US to Europe.
The war began to affect the nature of passenger and mail loads on the transatlantic Clipper flights.
Now, an atmosphere of cautious apprehension replaced the former excitement of Atlantic crossings. Newspapermen still stalked the Marine Air Terminal (MAT) at New York's La Guardia Airport to spot celebrities or glean a bit of news about the war in Europe. Those better informed might divine some insight into deeper workings of US policy from "Wild Bill" Donovan (future head of the OSS), or other clipper passengers with mysterious remits.
Detail from a Four Roses Whisky Ad showing a traveler arriving on the B-14 Dixie Clipper (John Falter, artist), c. 1940.
Detail from a Four Roses Whisky Ad showing a traveler arriving on the B-14 Dixie Clipper (John Falter, artist), c. 1940.
War was still a foreign affair. The clippers continued to come and go according to public schedule. But the significance of the passengers swelled along with public awareness of the war across - and on - the Atlantic. Americans' radios were filled with news about the Blitz in London, and news of Nazi U-boats indiscriminately sinking ships at sea. The clippers flew above the danger, akin to magic carpets, especially for those escaping the conflict on flights to the west.
An analysis of passenger figures shows some interesting trends. For instance, we've been running "refugees” pretty much exclusively for the past four months. Out of the 467 passengers we’ve brought from Europe since things began happening over there in May almost half of them have been women or children. Quite a contrast to the logs of last summer and winter when nearly 90% were important business men or men traveling on important missions of one kind or another. The westbound planes during this period have carried 149 women, some of them with as many as five children in tow! The youngsters-- under twelve--total up to 59. Eastbound? Zero. Our entire feminine list total is up to just 79 for the eastbound trek--only about a sixth of those coming this we.y. The ladies traveling to the other aide are either relief workers of one kind or another, or wives in sad search of husbands who had joined the military of one side or the other and hadn't been heard from for months. Four-fifths of those traveling to Europe these days are men. One out of every three passengers coming this way is a woman or child…
Waiting at the Marine Air Terminal
It was the 200th transatlantic crossing by Pan Am B-314s in 1940 that led to the realization that recent travel patterns at the Marine Air Terminal had changed dramatically.
Marine Terminal rotunda with passengers, 1943 (Pan Am Historical Foundation collection).
Marine Terminal rotunda with passengers, 1943 (Pan Am Historical Foundation collection).
CHANGES IN A PEACEFUL ROUTINE
Weather Information
Flying above the ocean, clippers faced unexpected troubles. Weather information was an immediate war casualty. What in 1937 had been freely-broadcast weather observations had vanished, leaving clipper captains often literally flying in the dark. This happened to Capt. Robert Ford, on a flight in September, 1939, a short time after the start of the war in Europe. Watch his story, "A Rough Trip Home."
VIDEO
VIDEO: In 1940, Pan Am Captain Bob Ford had a challenging flight home from Europe. (Interview courtesy Pelican Films).
BERMUDA CENSORSHIP
On the ground, other changes were reshaping peaceful routine. Capt. Charles Lorber got a rude awakening when he landed his Europe-bound B-314 in Bermuda in January 1940. The greeting party included a British official with a demand that all the mail be removed from the plane. Lorber refused, the official blew a whistle, and a boatload of armed British Marines headed towards the dock to back up the demand with the threat of force.
With an ignored protest, Capt. Lorber relented, and the mail was hauled off to be examined by British censors, looking for suspect enemy communications. The ensuing political blowback from the US Congress was strenuous. For a time, Pan Am flights bypassed Bermuda, and did direct runs from Horta to New York. The furor eventually died down, flights were resumed, and British censorship continued and ballooned into a major activity for the duration of the war, not only in Bermuda but in Trinidad and Jamaica as well.
Link to "A Genteel Sort of War" on PanAm.org
SPRING 1940
In the Spring of 1940, German armies swept across Western Europe, culminating in the capitulation of France in June. Now Nazi armies stood on the shore of the English Channel across from England, and Britain's situation went from dire to critical. To Winston Churchill, newly-made Prime Minister, Britain's survival would almost certainly depend on the US.
From the BDA Album (Pan Am Historical Foundation Collection).
From the BDA Album (Pan Am Historical Foundation Collection).
America was still neutral, but President Roosevelt (FDR) was pushing for solutions to bolster Britain's tenuous defense. In March, 1941, Congress, at FDR's urging, passed the Lend-Lease Act which opened the floodgates of American industrial production to help nations, principally Britain, fight the Nazis. At the same time, other plans involving Pan Am were coalescing.
THE UNFOLDING FUTURE
The Professionals: Pan Am's Airport Development Program
In November 1940, Juan Trippe agreed to a contract to be signed with the US government to facilitate the construction of a string of airports along the shoulder of South America. This Airport Development Program (ADP) was funded secretly by the US government, but to outward appearances, it was a Pan Am enterprise. The initial impulse was that of defending the Western Hemisphere, in particular the Panama Canal, but the new airports would soon become a key resource for attacking the Axis. The ADP was put into motion immediately, and by August 18, 1941 FDR publicly revealed the details.
These new airports were built for the new generation of land planes now rolling out of America's war plants. Military flying boats were still being built, but new airports with long paved runways were cropping up everywhere. For now, new aircraft were meant for war, but the day was coming when new planes would be for civilian use.
Pan Am takes on a crucial role to help build the "Springboard to Victory"
In June 1941, Brazil agreed to allow Panair do Brazil (Pan Am's subsidiary) to construct airfields in northeastern Brazil. The US War Department financed Pan Am to build those bases extending through the West Indies, down to Natal on Brazil's northeastern tip. The Natal airbase was built in 1942, and due to its strategic location became known as the "Springboard to Victory." It was one of the busiest and most important supply routes for troops, aircraft and equipment to reach the battlefronts of North Africa, and from Natal Pan Am B-314's would make their way to the coast of Africa in support of the Allied efforts. Eventually Pan Am would construct a new seaplane base at Fisherman's Lake, Liberia.
Map of Fisherman's Lake, from the "Handbook for Pan American Employees going to Fisherman's Lake, Liberia (University of Miami Special Collections).
Map of Fisherman's Lake, from the "Handbook for Pan American Employees going to Fisherman's Lake, Liberia (University of Miami Special Collections).
New airfield in progress (Courtesy Aeroart International).
New airfield in progress (Courtesy Aeroart International).
The days of the flying boat were numbered
No one was more aware of this than Juan Trippe, who never lost sight of the future. Years earlier, in 1933 Pan Am's aviation seer, Charles Lindbergh, had forecast that transoceanic aviation would forgo flying boats, expressing to Trippe during the 5-month expedition around the Atlantic (Arctic to Amazon), the need for planes that could fly non-stop and above bad weather in the Atlantic. With more powerful and dependable engines, and longer ranges, aircraft would not need the implied security of the ability to float. Flying boats were costly to operate and maintain, and they mostly had to stop at the water's edge. It was a formula for technological obsolescence.
Excerpts from Lindbergh's letter to Juan Trippe, 1933
"In establishing a transatlantic air route it is fully as important to decide which route will be most advantageous in the future as it is to decide which is the best to operate over today... It has always been my belief that with every advance in aviation the air route will tend to follow more closely the great circle course between the localities they serve. I believe that in the future aircraft will detour bad weather areas by flying above them rather than around them..." "Planes used on a northern transatlantic route must have reliability plenty of range and high speed. It is essential to eliminate the possibility of forced landings due to engine failure. A great deal of flying would have to be done over low fog covering rough ice and probably over storm areas... I believe that a northern transatlantic regular service should not be contemplated with planes which are not capable of flying nonstop from the western side of the Greenland ice cap to Iceland if necessary... " (CharlesLindbergh)
ATTENTION TURNS TO LAND PLANES
Pan Am had always used small land planes, but well into the 1930s, over-ocean routes were reserved for four-engine flying boats. As early as 1935, Pan Am began exploring the potential of large land planes, such as the Douglas DC-4E. That project was shelved in 1938, but Pan Am was one of two launch customers for the Boeing B-307 in 1940. Although not a great success for the airline, it was a harbinger of the future. it would be followed by other large land planes for Pan Am. The demands of war would constrain the possible, but even before the US was actually in World War II, Juan Trippe was freely sharing his vision of Pan Am's future, where flying boats would be absent.
Pan Am's B-307 first flight to Bogota, Colombia.
Pan Am's B-307 first flight to Bogota, Colombia.
IN THE THICK OF IT
Well into the war, flying boats provided the sole aerial link to Europe, and events at LaGuardia reflected that. For example, British scientist Sir Henry Tizard flew to the US in August 1940, to open negotiations for transatlantic scientific cooperation, including the practical development of radar, as well as top-secret British atomic weapons research. And on the same day in October Sir Henry flew back home by Clipper, the British Empire-class flying boat "Clyde," arrived. It was the first aircraft to arrive in the US under the newly formed BOAC company.
By 1940, the fleet of the first six B-314s, two of which were plying the Pacific, were proving insufficient. And Pan Am placed an order for six more. This second set featured upgraded Wright engines, increased payload capacity, and longer range, and the other B-314s would be upgraded to the new specifications. By the time the new B-314s were coming out of the Boeing plant, Pan American agreed to sell three of them to BOAC, which was struggling to maintain its own Atlantic operations between Lisbon and Africa, as well as transatlantic links. Winston Churchill would fly the Atlantic on BOAC's B-314s.
Boeing Model 314A 'Clipper', G-AGCA "Berwick," of BOAC, lands on Lagos Lagoon, Nigeria, for moorings at the West African flying boat terminal at Iquoi . Clark N S (F/O), Royal Air Force official photographer (Imperial War Museum, via Wikimedia)
Boeing Model 314A 'Clipper', G-AGCA "Berwick," of BOAC, lands on Lagos Lagoon, Nigeria, for moorings at the West African flying boat terminal at Iquoi . Clark N S (F/O), Royal Air Force official photographer (Imperial War Museum, via Wikimedia)
DEFENSE OF THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE
When a new subsidiary of Pan Am signed a contract with the US government to form the Airport Development Program (ADP), Pan Am began the construction of a string of new airports along the coast of Brazil. The program was part of a strategy by US military planners to help guard against Axis forces that might invade South America. The idea was not so far-fetched. The airlines of several Latin American countries were already infused with German personnel and influence, such as Condor in Brazil and LAB in Bolivia.
Pan Am Atlantic Routes during WW2, existing and proposed (Courtesy Aeroart International).
Pan Am Atlantic Routes during WW2, existing and proposed (Courtesy Aeroart International).
War planners in Washington acted to protect the Western Hemisphere, and above all else, the Panama Canal. Control of South Atlantic airways meant having accessible infrastructure available for US aviation to counter Axis threats.The ADP, although supposedly a secret program, in practice was not. It was a risk for Pan Am given the important relationships the airline had with Latin America, where US influence was often unwelcome. But in the balance, Juan Trippe put patriotic responsibilities above any other considerations.
AFRICA
In February, 1941 a big change in Atlantic operations was put into place. Flights from Europe during the winter months would now return home via Africa. The new routing went from Lisbon, to Portuguese Bolama, across the South Atlantic to Trinidad or Brazil, and then on to Puerto Rico and back to the US. It was much longer, but the overall efficiency was worth it, with many fewer flights impacted by harsh winter conditions in the North Atlantic. Trippe himself was on the first survey flight, which picked up Wendell Wilkie in Lisbon on the homeward leg.
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