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“Honolulu
Clipper - 1939” by Paul McGehee. She flies above Waikiki Beach on her
approach to landing in the waters of Honolulu Harbor. The famous Royal
Hawaiian Hotel and Moana Hotel can be seen below, with the majestic
Diamond Head visible in the distance. In the early days of commercial
air travel, the Boeing 314 Clipper rose above the competition for
speed, innovative design and luxury. Known as "the plane that shrank
the world" in the 1930's, the flying boats had a long range between
refuelings, at the time unequaled. Of the 12 such clippers built, 9 of
them formed the famous Pan Am fleet which serviced not only the Pacific
islands but destinations across the Atlantic as well. West Coast
travelers who could afford the ticket price were in for a luxurious,
state of the art journey to Hawaii, the Philippines and more tropical
points west, island hopping all the way to Hong Kong. The journey from
San Francisco to Hawaii was 19 hours one way at the time, and everyone
was treated as "first class". The huge flying boats could accommodate
up to 74 passengers, along with a crew of 10. During the journey, hot
meals created by the top chefs of the day were cooked in the galley and
served at the tables of the dining area by white-coated stewards,
serving the gourmet fare on silver service. Card games were played in
the lounge, and one could hear gentle conversation from travelers as
the clouds rolled by outside the window. At night, the seats folded
into 36 bunk beds as weary passengers were lulled to sleep by the drone
of the 4 engines mounted on the single wing above. Dreams of Hawaii
filled the heads of those on Pan Am's "Honolulu Clipper", the first
such flying boat in the fleet. The "Honolulu Clipper" entered service
in early 1939 and ran the regular Pacific route from San Francisco to
Hawaii and back. Her happy career was cut short, however, with the
December 7, 1941 bombing of the US Naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
by Japan which drew us into World War II. The US Navy commandeered all
of the flying boats in 1942, and in the case of "Honolulu Clipper" kept
her commercial pilots and navigators on to fly dangerous runs to
Australia and New Zealand, under the watchful eyes of the Japanese. She
survived the years of war, but during a November, 1945 run carrying
officers home to peacetime America, she had to make an ocean landing
650 miles from Oahu in the middle of the night because of a double
engine failure. A nearby tanker picked up the plane's passengers. The
Naval escort carrier "Manila Bay" sent some mechanics over to service
the crippled plane, but they could not make the repairs needed for her
to take flight again. A Naval tender ship, the "San Pablo", was sent to
give "Honolulu Clipper" a tow, but during the journey a freak wave
lifted the "Honolulu Clipper" up and down...and her nose and wingtip
smashed into the side of the Naval ship, incurring considerable damage
to the plane. Salvage was deemed impractical, and "Honolulu Clipper"
was scuttled by shells from the Naval ship...and the once proud
original plane of Pan Am's clipper fleet sank to the bottom of the
ocean. In recent years, groups have tried to locate her remains with
the hopes of recovery, but so far that hasn't happened. The Boeing 314
Clippers are all gone now; there is no surviving example left of one of
the most beautiful and historically important planes ever built.
“Honolulu Clipper - 1939”
is faithfully reproduced as an archival-quality print from McGehee's
original color pencil and acrylic artwork, in a limited edition of only
2,000 pieces each hand-signed by the artist.
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