New York’s early transatlantic air service began on the water. Pan Am’s Boeing 314 Clippers used a boat-shaped hull to take off and land on sheltered waterways. They also changed the way travelers imagined the city. A harbor that already linked New York to the Atlantic by ship could now serve as the starting point for an ocean crossing by air.
The Pan Am Clipper routes of 1939
Pan Am opened regular transatlantic flying-boat service in 1939. The Smithsonian traces one early milestone to the Yankee Clipper’s scheduled airmail run between Port Washington on Long Island and Marseille. Mail was an important part of the business as airlines developed long-distance routes. The same aircraft that could carry a load of letters also carried passengers in an interior with space for meals and sleep.
Why LaGuardia built a Marine Air Terminal
At what is now LaGuardia Airport, architect William Delano designed a dedicated terminal for passengers boarding flying boats. The Art Deco building was dedicated in March 1940. On March 31, a Clipper left the terminal for Lisbon with nine passengers and more than 5,000 pounds of mail, according to the National Park Service. Inside, James Brooks’s mural Flight gave this new mode of travel a place in a much longer story of aviation.
An aircraft suited to a particular moment
The flying boat made long-range travel possible at a time when suitable land airports were still scarce. Wartime changes in aircraft design and the expansion of land-based air travel soon shortened the commercial life of the big Clippers. The terminal and the period’s aviation imagery still preserve the idea of a New York departure that began at the water’s edge.
The place in the poster
Manhattan New York Clipper imagines a flying boat above the skyline. The city is the subject of the illustration, while the historical departure points were in Port Washington and Queens.
See the Manhattan New York Clipper poster or browse the Pacific Moderne Travel Posters collection.
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