Two Very Different Clippers

CLV

China Clipper

At the time she was built in October 1935, the China Clipper and her sisters were the largest aircraft built in the United States. Her statistics were truly impressive: 

Length: 90’ 10.5”

Wingspan: 130’ 0”

Height (from keel to aft stabilizer tip): 24’ 7”

Empty Weight:  52,252 pounds

Passengers: 46 (short-haul day); 18 (long-distance overnight)

Cruising Altitude: 17,000 feet

Optimal Range: 3,200 miles

Top Speed: 180 m.p.h.

Cruising Speed: 163 m.p.h.

Crew: 5-8 (including stewards)

Guns: 0

Bomb Load: 0

Engines: 4 x Pratt & Whitney R-1830-S2A5G Twin Wasp 14-cylinder radial, 830 hp each --- later upgraded to 950 hp

The Liberty Belle, a commemorative B-17, was lost in June 2011, due to a fire. The crew escaped safely

Just for comparison, the famous B-17 Flying Fortress, introduced in July 1935, the biggest warplane of her day measured out at:  

Length: 74’ 4”

  

Wingspan: 103’ 9” 

Height of fuselage: 19’ 1”

Empty weight: 36,135 pounds

   

Passengers: 0

Cruising Altitude: 19,000 feet*

Optimal Range: 2,000 miles

Top Speed: 287 m.p.h.

Cruising Speed: 180 m.p.h.

Crew: 10

Guns: 10

Bomb Load: 9,600 pounds (B-17G full overload capacity)

Engines:  4 x Wright R-1820-97 "Cyclone" turbosupercharged radial, 1,200 hp each

The cramped interior of a B-17, seen after a mission. B-17s were used in all combat theatres during World War II. Over 12,000 were built

The cockpit of the B-17

The Navigator’s station (left) and Bombardier’s stations (center) in the B-17

Allowing for engine power and cruising altitude, the China Clippers far outstripped the famous Flying Fortresses by most measures. Except firepower.

 

The China Clippers were certainly far more luxurious. The Flying Fortresses were utilitarian metal tubes with broad wings, their hydraulics and electrical wires clipped, exposed, to bare metal inner walls. There wasn't, as there wouldn’t be, anything that spoke of comfort aboard a warplane. 

There were one or two exceptions. General Douglas MacArthur converted a wartime B-17 into his Command Plane, named Bataan, complete with lounge, office, bar and berths, and after the war, TWA converted a B-17 to civilian airliner use, but neither experiment was very comfortable.  

The Bataan, General MacArthur’s converted B-17-E, designated XC-108 in 1943

The interior of the Bataan served as the model for TWA’s 1946 civilian 299AB, a B-17 conversion

Although the B-17 (299AB) never succeeded as a commercial passenger plane, the B-29 Superfortress made a very successful transition into the civilian Stratocruiser in the 1950s

 

The Boeing 377 was developed from the military’s C-49 variant of the famous B-29. These twin-deck four-engine turboprop planes began flying in 1949 and continued flying until after the Boeing 707 jetliner was introduced in 1958

With a nod to home, dreams, and Pan Am, the crew of this B-17 named her the Miami Clipper.

She belonged to the 91^st Bomb Group (H), 322^nd Squadron. The Miami Clipper’s Serial number was 42-29815 LG P

Back Row - Left to Right:

M/Sgt. Matthew D. Fronko, Engineer;  T/Sgt. W. Pridgon, Waist Gunner; S/Sgt. Stanley Cantrell, Radio Operator; S/Sgt. Ted Eicke, Waist Gunner; S/Sgt. William Schofield, Tail Gunner; S/Sgt. Walter Cyr, Ball Turret Gunner.

Front Row - Left to Right:

Capt.. Albert W. Burton, Pilot; Lt. Jim Buchanan, Navigator; Lt. A. A. Ballay, Bombardier

 

The nose art on Miami Clipper and many other 91^st Bomb Group planes was painted by Tony Starcer. Reproductions are available

Still, young men at war found ways to adapt to the bizarre and often terrifying conditions in which they found themselves.

*Boeing listed the service ceiling of the B-17 at an impressive 35,600 feet, but that was an “empty” altitude without payload and with minimal fuel; at that height, the ten machine guns would become inoperative, the hydraulics would become viscous, and the crew would quickly die of exposure in the 50 below zero thin atmosphere (the plane was not pressurized). Most B-17 crewmembers stated that the plane could hardly reach 20,000 feet with a full bomb and fuel load.