Andrew Parton

Cradle of Aviation Museum

516-572-4038/aparton@cradleofaviation.org

 

Pan Am's contributions during World War II will be remembered in a special exhibit at Long Island's Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City. Clippers Go to War, will showcase the little-known history of Pan Am's critical wartime efforts. Created by The Pan Am Museum Foundation, the exhibit will open with a  fundraiser on Sunday, June 4, from 5 to 8 pm at the museum. The program will include the new exhibit, a buffet dinner with beer and wine, a raffle and the opening of the new Pan Am Boutique. Admission to the event is $75 per person and tickets can be booked online at www.thepanammuseum.org.

Proceeds will benefit the Pan Am Museum Foundation which has already raised $300,00 for this and three future exhibits that preserve Pan Am's history and contributions to global aviation.

Pan Am, its employees and the company's fleet of Boeing-314 Flying Boats, were an essential part of the US Military during World War II.

Clippers Go to War examines the role of the Boeing 314 Flying Boats, that carried supplies, troops, weapons and even President Franklin D. Roosevelt to Casablanca in 1943. Pan Am's global experience, skilled personnel and ground-breaking navigation systems were invaluable to the war effort.

The exhibit will display rarely seen photographs of Pan Am employees and the Flying Boats, stripped of their blue and white colors and painted in camouflage. Only 12 of these extraordinary aircraft were built and nine were operated by Pan American.With a payload of 21 tons, including 74 passengers and a maximum range of 5,200 statute miles, the Boeing 314 was the only long distance aircraft available for moving large quantities of men and material, and provided critical assistance to the war effort. 

Pan Am flew President Franklin Roosevelt to the Casablanca Conference in 1943. FDR celebrated his birthday in the dining room of the Boeing 314.  .

 

As part of the opening event, Pan Am Captain John Marshall will give a presentation on The Long Flight Home, the story of an epic journey by the crew of the Pacific Clipper. The Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, Guam and Wake Island had cut off all air routes back to the US west coast. The pilots flew the B-314 from Auckland, New Zealand back to the US in an odyssey that spanned 12 countries and 31,500 miles, landing at Laguardia Airport after almost a month of dangerous travel.

The show is an extension of the recently opened exhibit, The Boeing 314 - An Extraordinary Story, now on display on the museum's mezzanine level. The exhibit showcases the legendary "Flying Boats" that pioneered Trans Atlantic air travel in 1939, taking off from Long Island's Manhassett Bay.

The Pan Am Museum's next exhibit, The Boeing Stratocruiser, will be launched on November 11, 2017, at the Cradle of Aviation Museum. This will be the second in a series of four exhibits honoring iconic Boeing aircraft with the Boeing 707 and 747 scheduled to follow.

 

Winning the War from Long Island

During World War II, locally built aircraft clearly helped America win victory as many aspects of American fighter operations were dominated by Long Island-built aircraft. The demands of war brought tremendous growth in the aircraft industry on Long Island and by 1945 over 100,000 people worked in the industry there. Two large companies dominated the Long Island work force during the war, Grumman and Republic. Grumman, founded in 1930, produced primarily Naval biplane fighters before the war, and during World War II, their Wildcat, Hellcat and Avenger proved to be outstanding Navy fighters and bombers. In fact, most of the Japanese aircraft shot down in World War II were shot down by Grumman planes. Republic, founded in 1931, built over 15,000 P-47 Thunderbolts during World War II, the Army Air Corps' outstanding mainstay fighter in Europe. Other companies in Long Island contributing to the war effort were Sperry, Brewster, Ranger, and Columbia.

Long Island also played a role in a major counter intelligence operation. A local home in Wading River, the Benson House, was the site of a highly secret disinformation campaign during World War II, where agents worked to hide the Allies' D-Day plans from the Nazis. The home still stands, now occupied by a more peaceable organization, the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island.

 
Note to Editors: A veteran of Pan Am's war efforts is Long Island resident Lester Koppel, who is one of the last living mechanics to work on the B-314. He joined Pan Am out of high school and worked at the airline's Laguardia base until he was transferred to Casablanca and later Ankara, in Turkey where he worked on a range of aircraft crucial to Pan Am's war effort.  At 93, his memory of those days is sharp and clear. This fascinating and articulate gentleman would make an excellent interview subject. To arrange an interview, contact Anne Sweeney Public Relations at 732-329-6629/aspubrel@aol.com.