China Clipper

International Terminal

Aviation Museum & Library

Sep 29, 2010 - Jul 12, 2020

The challenges and triumphs of pioneering ocean air transport by Pan American Airways' flying clipper ships is presented with more than one hundred and twenty artifacts, models, documents, and photographs dating from the inauguration of service in 1935 to the end of the flying boat era in 1946. The China Clipper is featured as an individual aircraft that typified the accomplishments of the legendary Pan Am and the flagship of a fleet that inspired a cultural phenomenon as it captured the world's imagination.

Learn more! Download the China Clipper education program here.

Pan American Airways Pacific route system map 1936

Martin M-130 at passenger dock, Wake Island c. 1937

Pan American Airways souvenir certificate 1936

Pan American Airways in-flight menu 1939

Flight crew marching to the China Clipper to depart Alameda for the first scheduled flight 1935

Pan American Airways China Clipper flight officer briefcase

Pan American Airways Martin M-130 China Clipper model aircraft

Crew of the first Sikorsky S-42 survey flight in Hawai’i

Gallery Map