Pacific Passage

For its ocean flying service, Pan American Airways specified long-range, four-engine flying boats from the manufacturers Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation, Glen L. Martin Company, and the Boeing Company. This choice eliminated the need for building costly and time-consuming runways at remote air bases, but it did necessitate specialized beaching equipment and ground crew training programs.

Passenger counts on the San Francisco–Honolulu leg rarely exceeded six or seven. With any more, luggage had to be sent by ship. Twelve passengers were the maximum and the length of the flight, eighteen to twenty-two hours depending on winds, required sleeping berths. Cabin interiors included dining rooms and passenger lounges that converted into changing quarters.

The coral atoll formations of Midway and Wake islands created the still-water lagoons needed for flying boat operations. Pan Am expeditions built docking, fueling, and maintenance facilities at these remote bases, and erected hotels for passengers who were all required to overnight while their airplane was readied for the next early morning departure. The “inns” provided private rooms with showerbaths, a fully staffed dining room, and a cocktail lounge.

Pan American Airways Inn, Midway Island c. 1937 

photograph 
SFO Museum 
Gift of Richard McLean 
2009.175.062

Handling Pan American Airways flying boats on the mid-Pacific island bases at Midway and Wake required small fleets of launches, tenders, lighters, and barges. Expert boat crews patrolled the lagoons to clear debris from the taxiways, takeoff, and landing areas.