the china clipper [ 17:50 ] Play Now | Play in Popup

I’ve just returned from a short vacation to a distinctly un-San Francisco like location… Hawaii! It took me a little while to come up with a San Francisco connection, but on the flight home I recalled that San Francisco was once home to the “China Clipper”, the first trans-Pacific airline service to those gorgeous islands. These titanic yet graceful flying boats were the ultimate way to travel to the newly accessible paradise of the South Pacific. They take us back to a more gracious and elegant period in the history of travel, and I hope you enjoy the podcast, as well as the photos, videos, and websites listed below.

» flyingclippers.com is a wonderfully complete and nostalgic history of these lovely craft.
» this PBS website provides newsreel videos and some great photos.
» a newspaper account of the first flight over the pacific.

Thanks to Kevin Macleod for the use of the track “Modern Jazz Samba”. Check his royalty-free music site at Incompetech.com.