Long Voyage Home

Pacific Clipper, inbound from Auckland, New Zealand. Captain Ford reporting, due to arrive Pan American Marine Terminal seven minutes.

This radio message made the control-tower officer at New York's LaGuardia Airport jump. He was not expecting an Atlantic Clipper, to say nothing of a Pacific Clipper. But he cleared the big ship into a landing and stood by to hear how come. What he heard was not just a flight report: it was an epic.

On Dec. 7, the Pacific Clipper was outward bound from San Francisco, flying from New Caledonia to Auckland,...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!