Pearl Harbor and the Pan Am Clipper

PEARL HARBOR

AND THE SAGA OF THE PAN AM CLIPPER

by Daniel A, Martinez, National Park Service Historian

Photos Courtesy Pan Am Historical Foundation

Captain Bob Ford arrived early to work on December 1, 1941. He was an employee at the Pan Am base located on Treasure Island, San Francisco. Ford was a veteran pilot and was considered one of the company’s best aviators. Within a week his skills would truly be tested. Like most Americans he and his crew were aware of the deterioration of relations with Japan. It was in the newspapers and on the radio. The Pan Am Clipper had recently carried Special Envoy Saburo Kurusu from Japan to San Francisco in early November of 1941. From there he flew on to Washington DC via American Airlines to assist in negotiations with the United States.

The aircraft that Pan Am flew in 1941 was an incredible aeronautical achievement. The California Clipper was a 100 ft long and with a wingspan of over 150 ft, the Boeing 314 was one of the largest seaplanes ever to fly. It carried up to 74 passengers and was sustained by a crew of 11. The aircraft had enough range to fly all of the long legs required to island hop from San Francisco to Auckland New Zealand or the Orient. The Clipper piloted by Ford was airborne and headed for Los Angeles on its first leg of its journey to Auckland. Pan American had built a huge network across the Pacific of refueling stations and bases located on islands and atolls.

The California Clipper Pan Am flight 18602 on December 2, 1941 took to the sky that afternoon and headed towards Pearl Harbor. At that same time, the Japanese carrier force known as “Kido Butai” was refueling at sea and now less than 900 miles away and turning toward Hawaii.

The California Clipper arrived and landed on the morning of December 3 near the Pearl City peninsula at Pearl Harbor. It had completed the longest leg of its outbound across the Pacific. It was said that Oahu was a popular stopover spot with the Clipper crew and passengers. The island was alive with a variety of activities and relaxation. The afternoon of December 4, those going across the Pacific boarded the plane that would take them to New Zealand.

It was now December 7, the California Clipper left Pearl Harbor three days before. The plane was now on the final leg of its journey to Auckland, having stopped off as planned at Canton Island, Fiji, and New Caledonia.

Radioman Leach was listening for local signals coming out of Auckland when he’d picked up the news. His reaction was explosive “The Japs have attacked Pearl Harbor!” an expression of dismay swept across his face. In the attempt to confirm it a new message was received…

PEARL HARBOR ATTACKED. IMPLEMENT PLAN A.

Leach was already attempting to do exactly that and soon he had managed to lock onto the long-range signal from the Pan Am ground station at Noumea, New Caledonia, from whence they had just departed.

The station was broadcasting morse code on a constant loop, itself a bad sign, and the translation left no room for doubt.

PEARL HARBOR ATTACKED. IMPLEMENT PLAN A.

“For a moment there was silence on the flight deck. Then Ford reached into his jacket pocket, pulling out a sealed brown envelope, breaking the spell. He was the only member of the crew to whom the last part of the coded message made any sense. It meant it was time to break open the envelopes that he, and every other Clipper Captain, had been secretly issued on every flight for a number of weeks now — since Pan Am decided to prepare for a war.” John

Bull, author.

Captain Ford paused for a moment and read his secret orders.

To: Captain, PAA Flight 6039 — SFO-LAXHNL-CIS-SUV-NOU-AUK and return flight 6040. From: Division Manager, Pacific Division Subject: Special instructions to avoid hostile military activity. Pan American Airways, in cooperation with the Chief of Staff, United States Army, Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Fleet Operations, the Secretary of War and the Secretary of State, has agreed to place its fleet of flying boats at the disposal of the military for whatever logistical or tactical purpose they may deem necessary at such time as hostilities break out between the United States forces and the military forces of the Imperial Japanese government. In the event that you are required to open and read these instructions, you may assume that hostilities have already occurred and that the aircraft under your command represents a strategic military resource which must be protected and secured from falling into enemy hands For Ford, a former Navy pilot sensed the danger out there and decided to fly on to Auckland and avoid the Japanese at all costs. To achieve that, he took these measures…

1 - Shut down the radio, maintain radio silence.

2 - All lights extinguished

3 - Chart a new course to Auckland

For the California Clipper, it was a matter of surviving in an environment that had gone from peace to war. Now they were cut off and a long way from the USA. Undeterred the California Clipper refitted and refueled in New Zealand began the long journey home. Winging their way west they flew on to Indonesia, India, Bahrain, Africa (Khartoum, Leopoldville), South America, Trinidad, San Juan Puerto Rico, New York and finally San Francisco. They had flown around the world to get home to the United States.

It had taken 31 days to get back to the States. They had flown over 31,500 miles with a flight time of 209 hours. The California Clipper touched down on January 6, 1942 at 7:12 am and landed in the waters adjacent to the Marine Terminal at LaGuardia, just in the shadow of New York City. The nearly completed first commercial flight around the world was etched into the annals of Aviation History.