In search of an Icon

The Hunt for a B-314 - Loss of a Legend

Pan American NC18601 - The Honolulu Clipper

On Saturday, 3 Nov 1945, the Honolulu Clipper was enroute from Hawaii to San Francisco with 26 passengers on a routine military flight (all B-314s were acquired by the military after the beginning of WW II, but were still operated by Pan Am.) The Captain was S. E. "Robby" Robinson.

Five and a half hours after departure, Nbr 3 engine began back-firing and shooting flames. It was shut down and the prop feathered. Robbins, a pilot for 27 years, elected to return to Pearl Harbor. A short while later, Nbr 4 engine also began acting up. After nursing it along for about an hour and a half. It also was successfully shutdown.

Seven and a half hours after departure, at about 11 PM local time, the crew decided to land in the ocean (not a ditching, as some have referred to it - a ditching is the intentional landing of a landplane in water. This is one BIG advantage of a Flying Boat!) In total darkness, at 11:07 PM, the airplane was successfully landed, with no damage, about 650 miles east of Oahu.

The airplane maintained successful radio contact with shore stations in California and Hawaii, rescue aircraft, and rescue ships closest to their location. Ultimately, five ships made for the disabled airplane. The Englewood Hills, a merchant tanker, was the first to arrive, and by 8:00 AM, had taken all the passengers on board.

The crew, that had remained aboard, were joined by aviation mechanics from the escort carrier Manila Bay, now also on scene. They tried unsuccessfully to repair the aircraft's engines, and the ship ultimately took the airplane in tow. The weather turned bad, and after seven hours, the tow rope broke. The carrier maintained a loose formation with the airplane for two days until the arrival of the seaplane tender San Pablo. The San Pablo intended to take the Clipper in tow. However, on November 7, a big wave resulted in the airplane crashing into the ship, causing major damage to the Clipper. Based on the costly damage inflicted on the airplane, and the time and effort required to re-snag her, Navy command in Pearl Harbor ordered salvage efforts to be terminated and the airplane to be sunk. It took 30 minutes and 1200 rounds of 20 mm shells for the Honolulu Clipper to slip beneath the waves. The crew, that had departed for Pearl aboard the carrier, said they were glad they didn't have to watch her final moments.

She had flown 18,000 hours and had carried many famous passengers, including Clare Boothe Luce, Eddie Rickenbacker, Admiral Thomas Kinkaid, Chester Nimitz, and New Zealand Prime Minister Peter Fraser.

Twelve were built. Ten are Gone. The Honolulu Clipper is off Hawaii. Where's the Other Clipper?

The Honolulu Clipper was sunk by over 1200 rounds of gun fire. Landing without damage in the open ocean; surviving tows and collisions, and finally requiring serious firepower to sink her, the Clipper demonstrated her ruggedness. But, besides lying at the bottom of the ocean, that method of sinking is not exactly genteel in preserving her remains. Assuming the airplane can be located, and raised successfully, it could well be there is not enough to form the basis for a reconstruction and restoration. What then?

Well, there is another airplane. The Capetown Clipper NC 18612. The Honolulu Clipper was the first of the great Boeing 314 flying boats built - the Capetown Clipper was the twelfth and last.

After the War, this, and other Clippers passed from Pan Am or U.S. Government ownership to other owners. NC18612 was acquired in a bankruptcy auction by American International Airlines in New York. The airplane was renamed Bermuda Sky Queen and placed into passenger service on the North Atlantic in October 1947. After ferrying to the U.K., it departed Foynes, Ireland on October 13 bound for Gander, Newfoundland with 62 passengers.

Bermuda Sky Queen from USCGC Bibb

The airplane was under the command of 26 year old Capt. Charles Martin, who had a grand total of 2000 flying hours at the time, with 162 on the B-314 His co-pilot had 102 hours on the airplane. About the half-way point, the crew determined that adverse winds precluded them from reaching their destination, and elected to land in the mid-Atlantic near the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter George M. Bibb - operating as Ocean Station Charlie. The high headwinds had resulted in a groundspeed of only 59 kts!

The weather was far from ideal, with a big storm blowing, and 30 foot seas running. But the big Boeing was successfully landed without damage. The seas were so high, it was almost impossible to transfer the occupants to the Cutter. At one point, they collided, damaging the airplane substantially. Many attempts were made using rafts and small boats to make the transfer. The rescue in itself would make a thrilling book. It took several days and many heroic trips in high winds and heavy seas, but all 69 people aboard were saved.

While my criticism may be merited, or not, depending on one's point of view, in my old age has come a certain wisdom. While one or both flying boats may have been salvaged or saved, what then? Both were at the very end of their economic and serviceable lives. If the Honolulu Clipper HAD been successfully towed back to Pearl Harbor, had new engines installed, and returned to service - what then? Well, both airplanes would have soon joined the rest, parked, and then scrapped. Few airplanes of the era were saved for museums. Today, there would be none.

So, when viewed in this light, it's a good thing they were sunk, for now they remain, however fragmented, and however scattered, for us to search for, find, and hopefully recover. Alas, I DO wish they had been more gentle in their sinking methods. Ramming would have been more benign, and it was something they had experience with! Making these robust and beautiful airplanes into target practice was unforgivable.

The surviving crewmembers of the USS San Pablo from the ’01 rescue attempt. L to R: Ralph Mundia, Delio Perozzi, Gilbert Aguirre, Thomas Rodgers, Jerome Giles.

A 3 part 1968 Boeing magazine set of articles on the B-314
(7 MB pdf. file)

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