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Pan Am Sikorsky S-42 Clipper Flying Boat
Photo 8x10 Pan American Airways
Aitken Collection 1979 MDC Reprint | 4-Engine ClipperDESCRIPTIONA four-engine Pan American flying boat on the water, caught in a soft, motion-blurred frame. The high wing braced to the hull, the sponsons at the waterline, the flight deck set just behind a rounded bow and the small insignia on the bow all fit the Sikorsky S-42, a type built only for Pan American Airways. The print carries no caption and no legible registration, so the individual aircraft is not named here.The S-42 first flew in March 1934 and entered Pan Am service that August on its Latin American routes. In April 1935 an S-42 flown by Captain Ed Musick made the first survey flight from Alameda, California to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, with Fred Noonan, later Amelia Earhart's navigator, aboard as navigator. That crossing helped prove the route that led to Pan Am's transpacific Clipper service. In early July 1937 an S-42B, Pan American Clipper III, flew the North Atlantic via Newfoundland and Ireland to Southampton while Imperial Airways' Caledonia flew the reverse, part of the first reciprocal transatlantic survey flights. The type spanned 114 feet 2 inches and carried more than 30 passengers by day.Ten S-42s were built, and the story ends hard. Ed Musick and six crew died when the Samoan Clipper exploded near Pago Pago on January 11, 1938, and Hong Kong Clipper II was destroyed at Kai Tak during the Japanese attack of December 8, 1941. Every S-42 was eventually scrapped or lost, and none are known to survive. The first one built was sold in 1947 for $750 and converted into a houseboat in Miami.This print is a 1979 company reprint made by McDonnell Douglas (MDC) at St. Louis, not an original period print, and it is offered and priced as such. The reverse is stamped MDC ST. LOUIS, NOV 29 1979, NEGATIVES NOT FILED, and carries an owner's ink stamp for Donald and Barbara Aitken of Irvine, California. It comes from the Aitken Collection. Scanned at 600dpi.Donald Aitken was a Navy-trained aviator who flew helicopters and then spent his airline career as a United Airlines captain on the 747, 727, 757, 767 and DC-10, retiring in 1996. He grew up watching planes overhead in rural North Dakota and flew radio-controlled airplanes well into his later years.Every effort is made toward fact checking and provenance, including background research through news and historical archives. If any listing is incorrect in any way and you're unsatisfied with the item, please connect with me and I'll make it right. Orders placed before Noon CDT ship same day via Ground Advantage with tracking so you know exactly when it will arrive. Returns accepted on all items exceeding $25 in cost. All shipments receive rigid, professional packaging, sealed and protected in acid free protectors. Shipping is free and already built into the price, so the BIN price is exactly what you pay, no surprise shipping costs at checkout.CONDITIONBlack and white 8x10 print on cream-toned paper. The image is soft with pronounced motion blur across the propellers, bow and hull, so fine detail such as markings and registration is not legible. That is how the photograph is, not a printing fault, and it gives the frame a sense of the boat moving on the water. Fine light scratch marks and a few tiny specks show in the sky area. No tears, creases or stains are visible in the scans. The reverse carries the blue MDC St. Louis stamp and the Aitken owner's stamp, both as shown. Please review all photos closely, as they are part of the description.
