CRASH OF THE PHILIPPINE CLIPPER

Date / Time: Thursday, January 21, 1943 / Time: 7:30 a.m. Operator / Flight No.: Pan American Airways / Flight 62100 Location: Boonville, near Ukiah, Calif.

Details and Probable Cause: Preparing for their scheduled flight from Hawaii to San Francisco, the Pan American Airways flight crew in Oahu was advised before their departure that, upon reaching the San Francisco area of northern California, a low overcast and moderate rain and wind should be expected.

As a precaution, the four-engine Martin M-130 flying boat, christened the "Philippine Clipper" (NC14715), was fueled for an estimated 24.2 flying hours in the event of a delayed landing or even a possible diverting to San Diego, the closest alternative port capable of accommodating flying boats.

The clipper, with nine crew members and 10 passengers aboard, departed Hawaii at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, January 20, and arrived off the coast of San Francisco at approximately 6:50 a.m. the next morning, but was prevented from landing due to darkness and an unusually severe wind and rain storm that resulted in choppy sea conditions.

Earlier, at 6:22 a.m. as the plane was approaching the northern California coast, Pan Am's base at Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay had radioed the clipper to report on the poor weather conditions, stating, "We feel that San Diego is the only possibility unless it would be possible to hold until after daylight. Landing conditions are such that you could not land before daylight." The clipper acknowledged the message with, "Roger, we will let you know as soon as we decide. Standing by."

At about 7:15 a.m. the aircraft advised the Treasure Island base that the flight had "been over the area but -- now taking a course due west" (i.e., back out over the ocean) and also reported, "Flying conditions very poor, required change of altitude to 7,000 feet."

The last message received from the "Philippine Clipper" came about seven minutes later, at 7:22 a.m., when it radioed, "We would like to have a fix please, so would you arrange that? Go ahead." At 7:26 a.m. Treasure Island attempted to contact the clipper with the requested position information but received no answer, nor any additional radio messages.

Subsequent attempts to contact the plane were unsuccessful, and when it failed to land at Treasure Island or arrive at the alternative base at San Diego, ground and air parties launched an intensive search. The flight's disappearance remained a mystery for over a week, until late in the afternoon on Saturday, January 30.

On that day, W.M. Price, a Pan American captain searching by air in the Clear Lake area, advised authorities that he had located the wreckage of the "Philippine Clipper." Search parties on foot subsequently reached the site early Sunday morning, January 31.

The massive Martin M-130 flying boat had sheared off treetops just below a mountain ridge and crashed at an elevation of about 2,500 feet just north of Boonville, approximately seven miles south-southwest of Ukiah, 90 miles north of San Francisco and 22 miles inland from the Pacific coast. The aircraft, flying in a northerly direction, had descended into mountainous terrain at a 10-degree angle, clipped trees, struck the ground, broke up and burned, killing all 19 persons on board.

Among the passengers killed was United States Navy Rear Admiral Robert H. English, Jr., who had been in command of the cruiser U.S.S. Helena (CL-50) during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. He more recently had been assigned to command the submarine force of the Pacific Fleet.

In their subsequent accident report, Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) investigators wrote that the pilot, confused about his aircraft's exact position due to the weather conditions, believed he had taken a westerly course back out over the Pacific Ocean and, therefore, thought it was safe to descend to a lower altitude. However, due to poor visibility and unusually strong south-southwest winds, the flight, instead of being over the ocean, was "carried a considerable distance farther northward and eastward than the pilot anticipated or realized" -- and was still over land.

The CAB report concluded that the accident occurred due to "Failure of the captain to determine his position accurately before descending to a dangerously low altitude under extremely poor weather conditions during the hours of darkness."

Fatalities: 19 -- 10 passengers and a crew of 9, including George Willard Angus

The ill-fated "Philippine Clipper" was one of three famed Martin M-130 flying boats purchased by Pan American Airways and was delivered to the airline in November of 1935. Ironically, it, too, had survived a Japanese air attack on December 7, 1941, when it was strafed while riding at anchor in a lagoon at Pan Am's air base at Wake Island. Despite accumulating over 60 bullet holes during the raid, "Philippine Clipper" was deemed airworthy and later that same day safely evacuated 60 passengers from Wake Island to Hawaii.

Like the "Philippine Clipper," Pam Am's two other Martin M-130 flying boats -- the "Hawaii (later renamed Hawaiian) Clipper" and "China Clipper" -- also met with tragic fates.

Earlier, the "Hawaiian Clipper" (NC14714) had mysteriously vanished over the Pacific Ocean with 14 persons aboard while on a flight from Guam to Manila on July 29, 1938. The "China Clipper" (NC14716) crashed on January 8, 1945, while landing at Port of Spain, Trinidad, killing 23 of the 30 persons on board.

Pan American Airways, founded by Juan Terry Trippe in 1927 and truly one of the world's fabled, pioneering airlines, provided worldwide air service for 64 years.

Despite lengthening its name to Pan American World Airways in 1950, to its fans around the globe it was simply "Pan Am," and "The World's Most Experienced Airline" flew until 1991, when it was forced to end service on December 4 due to overwhelming financial woes; the airline also had never completely recovered from the disastrous terrorist bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, on December 21, 1988, a catastrophe that killed all 259 persons on board the Boeing 747 jumbo jet and 11 people on the ground.

A second, smaller airline wearing the Pan Am name and logo flew from 1995-1998; a third reincarnation, started up in 1998, continues to provide regional service today.