Attempt to salvage Boeing Clipper flying boat, page 1

privacy

Pages:
ATS Members have flagged this thread 4 times

Topic started on 26-9-2011 @ 08:29 PM by Aloysius the Gaul

Again from the FSF email service so I cant' link to an online source sorry -

Funds sought to retrieve submerged Boeing Flying Clippers
A Kirkland-based nonprofit wants to recover the Honolulu Clipper, Pan American World Airways' "flying boat" which sank in the South Pacific in 1945.

Deep in the Pacific Ocean lies an estimated 18 tons of history - a "flying boat" credited with being among the first aircraft to bring the people of the world closer by reducing overseas travel time.

The flying boat is one of only 12 Boeing 314 Flying Clippers made, although there were some Clippers made by other companies. The Clippers flew for little more than a decade before planes with extended flying range and more destinations with runways made the water-landing aircraft obsolete.

The company planning to do this is Underwater Admiralty Sciences - there's some older info on their website - but nothing after about 2008 by the look & I haven't found anything else about this on the web, but there's a nice Clipper page here

I'm old enough to remember the Sunderland flying boats that operated in the Sth Pacific until the mid 1960's......except I didn't actually live anywhere enar the bases they use - I have some colleagues who actually worked or crewed on them tho - a bygone age....probably for the best but it's still fascinating!

Edit - silly me - there 's a link to a Seattle Times article in hte email I have!! sheesh - seattletimes.nwsource.com...

edit on 26-9-2011 by Aloysius the Gaul because: (no reason given)

reply posted on 27-9-2011 @ 06:07 AM by thebozeian

reply to post by Aloysius the Gaul

Very nice find Aloysius,

Im just that little bit too young to remember the flying boats that ran out of Rose Bay Sydney and serviced parts of the Pacific. Originally they were Empire class and later Catalina's, then the Sunderland and finally the last to operate until the mid 70's were the Ansett airlines Sandringham's to Lord Howe Island. A great age in aviation that passed surprisingly quickly. It would be nice to see one of these Boeing Clippers recovered as along with the Empire's they truly represented the epitome of late 1930's transcontinental aviation, and they were beautiful looking machines.

LEE.

reply posted on 27-9-2011 @ 06:25 AM by redoubt

reply to post by Aloysius the Gaul

Attempt to salvage Boeing Clipper flying boat

For a very brief period, the (flying) clipper ships were there to bridge the span between the ocean-going passenger liners and the long legs of the jet age. The melding of the boat and the airplane was the perfect marriage of need and service. Before there were airports and technologies available to provide safety for such long journeys, these graceful machines offered an airplane ride that was as romantic as a sea cruise but mercifully less time consuming for anyone who needed to get to the other side a little faster.

The Boeing 314 was the finest of type; offering luxury, comfort and attention to detail. Unfortunately, she was also the last of her kind.

S&F - I am a hopeless romantic when it comes to the old Pan Am clippers.

reply posted on 27-9-2011 @ 07:06 AM by thebozeian

reply to post by redoubt

redoubt,

Whilst I agree that along with the Short S-23 Empire the Boeing Clipper 314's were the finest if not the finest of there type, and offered a level of luxury that even today cannot be matched (even by the now defunct Concorde), they were thankfully certainly not the last of there kind. As I said the Sandringham's operated into the mid 70's and Saunders-Roe came up with the equally impressive Princess in the early 1950's although none were eventually sold. In addition BOAC actually continued operations of it's three 314's after Pan Am discontinued operations, albeit for only a year or so. Numerous other operators either re-instated or started up operations with surplus models such as Sunderland's post war with some continuing into the 1950's and a small number into the 60's. Even the USN continued using its small number of Martin flying boats into the late 60's or early 70's I recall.

Either way, you are right they were at the pinnacle of there type and sadly the world wont see there kind again. Sometimes progress really is a backwards step.

LEE.

edit on 27-9-2011 by thebozeian because: (no reason given)

reply posted on 28-9-2011 @ 08:47 PM by allenidaho

I emailed them through their website a few days ago explaining that it would be much faster and cheaper to attempt to salvage the "Yankee Clipper" (NC-18603) which crashed in the Tagus River near Lisbon, Portugal in 1943.

But so far, no reply. They've been trying to find and salvage one of these beasts since 2005. The aircraft have no salvage value so finding investors will be tricky if not impossible, unless they can get Boeing to foot the bill for the nostalgia.

It would be so much easier to retrieve one from a relatively shallow river bottom than 18,000 feet down in the Pacific.

reply posted on 28-9-2011 @ 09:02 PM by Aloysius the Gaul

Originally posted by thebozeian
reply to post by redoubt

redoubt,
Even the USN continued using its small number of Martin flying boats into the late 60's or early 70's I recall.

Japan and the USSR continued to use flying boat amphibians for naval patrol and S&R, and China built a hadful of Harbin SH-5's in the mid 1980's.

Either way, you are right they were at the pinnacle of there type and sadly the world wont see there kind again. Sometimes progress really is a backwards step.

Nah - I don't see a step backwards here at all - "the good old days" involved long noisy flights, prices that were only affordable to the filthy rich, and engine failure and accident rates that would be scandalous today!

The sort of people who could afford to fly in luxury 60 years ago still do so today in Citations or Falcons or Boeing BBJ's or hte like, and slightly lesser lights still get 1st class at a relatively lesser price.

reply posted on 30-9-2011 @ 09:12 AM by DrizzyBoss