ianwoodward9I think that, earlier, I posted that clip of Wendell Willkie arriving by Clipper at Lisbon. One of the people accompanying him was John Cowles, the president of The Minnesota Star Journal, who posted a number of reports that were syndicated (that is, appeared in other newspapers, too). One of his reports concerned the difficulties of Americans in Britain who were unable to secure passage back to the U.S.A. Apparently, the terms of the American Neutrality Act hindered their efforts.
In this report, published in early March 1941, he commented on the KLM service from Britain to Lisbon:
ianwoodward9Thanks, longshot, for the various links, all new to me. The output of aero-philatelists is always impressive. I had a quick read-through of John Wilson’s introduction and an even quicker look at one of the chapters dealing with a specific Pan Am route. The Pan Am archive yielded a veritable treasure trove of information. Wilson restricted his researches to the war years which, for Pan Am, meant December 1941 to October 1945.
The newspaper information to which I referred was about transatlantic services in 1940. I have since located a newspaper report that the first publicly announced departure since December 1941 was an AEA flight to Foynes on 8 June 1945. I would therefore have thought that there would have been newspaper reports for most of 1941 similar to those for 1940. There probably are but I haven’t them yet.
By combining and cross-checking various contemporary newspaper reports, the output of John Wilson’s researches in Pan Am’s archives and the Foynes logs (perhaps other contemporary sources, too), it should be possible to produce a pretty definitive account of those transatlantic flying boat services.
Has anyone ever checked Irish newspapers of the WWII period for relevant information? Maybe they’ll also have something about the BOAC connecting services to the UK, too. Were Irish newspapers under censorship at that time, do we know?
ianwoodward9I forgot to mention that it is interesting to see, as just one example of the sort of detail contained in these reports, that ATLANTIC CLIPPER and DIXIE CLIPPER were due at La Guardia at the same time (1.45 pm) on on the same day (17 December 1940).
If you then look at the “In Transit” section, you can see that they left New York two days apart but were delayed at Bermuda, one for a longer period than the other. No reason is given for the delay but, since both were affected, presumably weather-related. They then both left Bermuda on the same day, after which their movements were identical, as to the days of travel. Given the same arrival time back in New York, is it possible that, from Bermuda onwards, they flew more or less together for the rest of the time?
It is also interesting that the newspaper must have been checking with the airline to get up-to-date information.
Well, I find these things interesting, anyway.
ianwoodward9There are numerous such reports as those above concerning transoceanic air services through virtually all of 1940. A researcher with the inclination and the motivation could probably reconstruct the movement details of individual Clippers that year without too much difficulty. It would just take time really.
So far, I have not located any such reports from 1941 on. They may be there but, if so, I haven’t found them.
There may, however, be similar reports in other sources, such as newspapers in Bermuda or in Lisbon. I’m not sure if there was an English language newspaper in Lisbon but, if there was, that would be the place to start.
These listings are often found in or near the business and financial pages, sometimes with details of linked services to other countries or overseas cities. The ones I’ve seen do not mention Pan Am specifically but it is worth remembering that some of their connecting services were flown under the Panagra banner.
Finally, I think it was in 1940 that a brand new “Airlines Terminal” building was opened in Manhattan (across the street from Grand Central Station) from which buses ran out to La Guardia. This was used by a number of U.S. airlines, not just the ones operating international services, perhaps providing more places to look for services connecting to the transatlantic services..
ianwoodward9Somewhere on this site, in another thread, I mentioned that some U.S. newspapers in WWII gave details of the air mail services, thus providing information about transoceanic flights in general and about flights into and out of Lisbon in particular.
Here is part of one such report from mid-December 1940. It’s in two images and gives details of Pan Am’s Clipper services. Clicking on the images should make them larger/more legible:
ianwoodward9Thanks for letting us know.
My final suggestion is to check the on-line back issues of FLIGHT magazine. Whitney Straight may have featured in its columns during the period in question.
Good luck with the book.
ianwoodward9The image below is also from Pan Am’s June 1941 timetable. It describes the onward connections in Europe, though no precise detail is given.
There is no mention of connections from Foynes, because of the effect of America’s declared neutrality, as in the previous post.
There is a Pan Am route map in the timetable and it shows the Pan Am service to Foynes as one of the “Routes on which Operations are Suspended Due to War” – as is its onward route from Foynes to England, of course.
The connecting Pan Am service from Lisbon to England is also shown on the map as one of the “Routes on which Operations are Suspended Due to War”. In this case, however, Pan Am points to the availability of the connecting BOAC flights as shown below.
The other Clipper service that was suspended is the one from Lisbon to Marseilles. The line of the route, incidentally, heads north from Lisbon, then east across the Bay of Biscay and carries on across southern France. Though it does not cross Spanish territory. it does cross that part of south-west France that was occupied by the German forces from 1940.
As well as the BOAC flights connecting Lisbon to England, it notes Lufthansa’s connecting services to mainland Europe.
ianwoodward9This is the first of some images posted on another thread that seem to be equally relevant here. It is from Pan Am’s June 1941 timetable and shows the transatlantic Clipper flights to Lisbon and Foynes.
NOTES ON THE UPPER TIMETABLE (The Lisbon service)
Flight Nos. 120 and 121 were flown by “Boeing Flying Boats”, as the timetable describes them.
There is a note that says that the Sunday departure from New York (of Flight 120) and the Tuesday departure (of Flight 121) from Lisbon are expected to commence service in June 1941 but the start date had not been finalised.
The note “F” describes Horta as a “Flag Stop”, with the explanation that the stop “Will be made and traffic accepted only when operating conditions permit, and provided request to stop is made sufficiently in advance to enable arrangements to be made subject to such conditions“.
The black stars indicate that “Complimentary meals served aloft“.
Flights 160 and 161 were flown by “Sikorsky 42 Flying Boats”.
NOTE ON THE LOWER TIMETABLE (The Foynes service)
Check the vertical printing that says that the service was “Suspended during Period of President’s Neutrality Proclamation“. I’m not sure why that applied to the Foynes servcie and not the Lisbon service but perhaps someone cam enlighten me.
ianwoodward9It’s only been a week since Mr Kenny started this thread. Who knows what he’s been working on in the meantime, so I’ll give Mr Kenny the benefit of the doubt for the moment.
Meanwhile, I’ll put some of the images that I’ve posted above into the thread started by longshot, since they seem to fit as well there:
https://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?142170-WWII-flights-To-Lisbon
Please bear with me, it won’t be immediately but I’ll add one or two things along the way.
ianwoodward9American Export Airlines transatlantic service began around June 1942, I believe, and it was the first airline to employ air stewardesses (as opposed to stewards) on transatlantic flights, some time around the summer of 1942. I’ve never come across a WWII timetable for AEA but this is from the summer of 1945. Note the reference to the BOAC connecting flights to London.
ianwoodward9The American Export Airlines (AEA) operations across the Atlantic in 1942 were known as “Flying Ace” services, so this may a suitable name under which to search. The report below mentions both “flying ace” and the name of AEA but I’ve seen similar reports from the same period that mention only ‘flying ace’.
ianwoodward9Another source of information may be the columns of newspapers such as The New York Times; the NYT archive lies behind a ‘paywall’ but, if that is a barrier, you may be able to locate copies in one of the major reference libraries. Not all newspaper archives from this time are protected, so a general search may yeild something.
I know that the NYT also used to provide, almost daily, details of transatlantic mail services (by liner and by air) but whether this was done in WWII, I do not know. It may be worth checking. Meanwhile, here’s a sample news report from 1942:
ianwoodward9Mr Kenny,
I found this on-line. perhaps there is something in there to help you.
ianwoodward9There was a BOAC flying boat service from Foynes to Lisbon to Bathurst in Gambia, West Africa (now called Banjul) in WWII but I do not have the details.
ianwoodward9Below is the note about connections at Lisbon, from the same Pan Am timetable (these were published quarterly, in March, June, September and December each year):
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