Aviation History Snapshot: The Golden Age

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn) 09/19/2018 at 12:35 • Filed to: wingspan, Planelopnik

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The Pan American Airways China Clipper , a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , flies over San Francisco in 1936.

Martin built a total of three M-130s in 1935 for Pan Am, and the others were named Hawaii Clipper and Philippine Clipper . In 1935, China Clipper carried the first airmail across the Pacific and, starting in 1936, the Martin flying boats began service from San Francisco to Manilla, with stops at Hawaii, Midway Island, Wake Island, and Guam. However, all three Clippers were lost by 1945. Hawaii Clipper disappeared on a flight from Guam to Manilla in 1938 with the loss of 15 passengers and crew. Philippine Clipper arrived at Wake Island on December 8, 1941 while the island was under attack by the Japanese, but was unscathed. Two years later it crashed into a mountain in California killing 19, including Rear Admiral Robert English, commander of the US Pacific submarine fleet. And, in 1945, China Clipper broke apart and sank after a hard landing landing in the West Indies with the loss of 23 passengers and crew.

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For more stories about aviation history, aviators, and airplane oddities, visit !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

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Chariotoflove > ttyymmnn 09/19/2018 at 12:43

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Three crashes of the same type, all on regular commercial service, and each killing everybody.  That’s the Golden Age?

ttyymmnn > Chariotoflove 09/19/2018 at 12:45

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History tends to look backward with rose-colored glasses. This post evolved. I found the picture and wanted to post it. Then I started reading about the aircraft and found an interesting story. So the headline was written before the copy. For many positive reasons, the decade of the  30s is considered the Golden Age. But it was also a very dangerous time to be flying. Perhaps that danger is one of the reasons we look back on it fondly. It was certainly more exciting if you had a real chance of never making it to your destination.

Chariotoflove > ttyymmnn 09/19/2018 at 12:53

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When I first saw the pic, I was searing the same glasses. Then I read the story and the contradiction hit me in the face.

I think it’ s Golden in our eyes because it was a time when flying was romantic and still a grand adventure, instead of drudgery marked by long TSA lines, bagg ed pretzels, and stale coffee. When I was a child, it was still that grand adventure, a time when they still served you an in flight meal at dinner time , and it somehow seemed like a feast for a prince.

Wacko > ttyymmnn 09/19/2018 at 13:10

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love this one comment

No f’s were given that day

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Chariotoflove 09/19/2018 at 13:12

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Have I got a movie for you both:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Highway_in_the_Sky

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > ttyymmnn 09/19/2018 at 13:13

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Already recommended to CoL, watched this recently after having bought it a while back:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Highway_in_the_Sky

Nevil S hute’s off-the-cuff scientific idea of *how* an undetectable fracture would occur is dated, but the film in general holds up pretty well.

My X-type is too a real Jaguar > Chariotoflove 09/19/2018 at 13:14

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And the flight attendants handed out Cigarettes, first class had real china and silverware. It also cost today’s equivalent of $1000s to fly a family. I recently flew from Chicago to Atlanta for less than $100, that fair would have been 10 times that amount in the old days.

Chariotoflove > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 09/19/2018 at 13:16

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Cool.  I’ll check it out.

Chariotoflove > My X-type is too a real Jaguar 09/19/2018 at 13:18

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I remember flying back in the 70s.  It was super expensive before deregulation.  But boy did it feel special to an 8 year old kid.

ttyymmnn > Wacko 09/19/2018 at 13:24

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ttyymmnn > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 09/19/2018 at 13:25

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Sounds interesting. Thanks for the tip!

Wacko > ttyymmnn 09/19/2018 at 13:31

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https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/cathay-pacific-livery-typo/index.html

LongbowMkII > ttyymmnn 09/19/2018 at 13:33

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That’s some gnarly smog

ttyymmnn > LongbowMkII 09/19/2018 at 13:35

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In San Francisco, it’s probably fog.

ttyymmnn > Wacko 09/19/2018 at 13:36

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I’m still not buying it. No way could somebody screw up something like that. If the photos haven’t been doctored, then it’s a publicity stunt. Was this the first flight out of the paint shop?

Wacko > ttyymmnn 09/19/2018 at 13:38

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the airline seems to think it was done intentionally.

ttyymmnn > My X-type is too a real Jaguar 09/19/2018 at 13:38

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I can’t fly my family of 5 anywhere for much less than $1500.

My X-type is too a real Jaguar > Chariotoflove 09/19/2018 at 13:39

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Oh yeah it did we had to wear our Easter go to Church clothes. You dressed up to fly. My father still does, he is on a long trip to South Africa right now and was a little put off he didn’t room take a sport coat to wear on the plane.

I remember in the late 80s we were flying as a family somewhere and my brother who was now in college showed up to the airport in Shorts and a tank top he was appalled he thought that was appropriate clothing to fly in.

To this day I a lways wear Slacks and a collard shirt to fly.

My X-type is too a real Jaguar > ttyymmnn 09/19/2018 at 13:46

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While that is true, prior to deregulation in 78 it probably would have cost the same, which would be $6500 in today’s money.

Chariotoflove > My X-type is too a real Jaguar 09/19/2018 at 16:47

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I have only recently given up that custom, kind of . I now wear jeans if I’m not on a business trip many times because they protect my legs well during all the transfers and such. But I still wear dockers half the time. I don’t fly without a collar, but I did give up on the tie many years ago.

I still groan inwardly when I see people come on board dressed like beach bums.