M. D. Klaas

Quibble: Poor editing, Poor translating? description of crew training and procedures is quite unrealistic and overly emphasized. Notwithstanding this however, the book is a definitive work on the subject .

Finally, over 50 years after her last flight with Pan American Airways, the complete story of the famed, Boeing-built, B-314 flying Clipper ship has been written. Author M.D. Klaas, historian and writer of Pan Am's early flying boat era during the 1930s and 1940s, has put together historical accounts of America's greatest - and the world's largest - commercial airplane of the 1930s and early 1940s. It covers the multiple reasons for the plane's conception, stages of construction, testing, delivery flights, christenings, inaugural operations, established records, World War II special missions' histories, post-war services and the individual demise accounts surrounding each of the twelve models built specifically for Pan Am. The history of sales to and operations with British Overseas Airways (B.O.A.C.) - now British Airways - is also included in in-depth coverage.
From the original concept for the aircraft, the actions by Pan-Am to fund construction, the headaches of international diplomacy to negotiate landing rights overseas, and so on and so forth. An entire chapter is devoted to a walk-through of the aircraft, while another details the training and career progression of the Clipper crews. The book covers the pre-war flights by Pan-Am and then in even more detail relates the wartime activities of the aircraft when they were operated by Pan-Am for the military and also by the British government. Finally the short post war lives of the various aircraft are followed, till they were either lost in accidents or broken up for scrap. And in the middle of all this there are the odd chapters just describing what it was like to fly across the ocean on a clipper.… (mehr)

This is another entry in the Schiffer Library of big, glossy but fairly high priced books. In this case the price is well justified. The author, who native language is apparently not English, tells the complete story of the Boeing B-314 Flying Clipper. There is just a marvelous amount of detail about the original concept for the aircraft, the actions by Pan-Am to fund construction, the headaches of international diplomacy to negotiate landing rights overseas, and so on and so forth. An entire chapter is devoted to a walk-through of the aircraft, while another details the training and career progression of the Clipper crews. The book covers the pre-war flights by Pan-Am and then in even more detail relates the wartime activities of the aircraft when they were operated by Pan-Am for the military and also by the British government. Finally the short post war lives of the various aircraft are followed, till they were either lost in accidents or broken up for scrap. And in the middle of all this there are the odd chapters just describing what it was like to fly across the ocean on a clipper. Most definitely recommended. And one bit of trivia for you. The Boeing B-314 Flying Clipper was the only aircraft known to have included a stand up urinal!… (mehr)