Pan Am named its first M-130 the China Clipper.
Costing around $400,000 each, the aerodynamic, all-metal aircraft featured four 830 horsepower engines and a fuel capacity of over 4,000 gallons. Martin Company accepted Trippe’s challenge, and in 1935 built three Martin M-130 flying boats. So the president of Pan Am, Juan Trippe, appealed to the aircraft industry to create a flying boat capable of the feat. However, the long-distance transpacific route remained out of the airline’s reach – a commercial seaplane capable of carrying mail and passengers across the Pacific simply didn’t exist.
Pan Am bought out smaller airlines in Central and South America and received landing rights and mail contracts to many countries in the area (including the US Airmail contract to Cuba).īy 1930, the company was flying along both coasts of South America as far north as Buenos Aires. The company began to create a fleet of seaplanes, capable of landing anywhere with a sheltered harbor. Pan American Airways had a novel solution to bring airmail and travelers to destinations without an airfield. It was a huge undertaking – not many countries had airfields large enough for a commercial aircraft to land, or access to the supplies and parts needed to maintain those planes. Realizing the huge economic potential, airlines began developing the infrastructure necessary to make worldwide scheduled flight routes possible. International air travel was becoming a reality for the first time. A year later, the famous Graf Zeppelin airship began transatlantic passenger and mail flights. Louis made the first nonstop flight across the Atlantic. In 1927, Charles Lindbergh and his Spirit of St.
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