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It Took Time By William Weer (Last Article in a Series) The commercial passenger airplane service which Pan American Airways yesterday catapulted across the Atlantic was no sudden inspiration sprung full-blown from the brow of a gifted inventor crying "Eureka!"-and there he had it. An air voyage to Europe is, of course, the last thing in modern up-to-the-minute travel, and it is the product of modern scientific development, which is strong on systematic detail rather than inspiration. Long, detailed planning lay behind the takeoff at Port Washington yesterday, and years of close and careful work in the hangar and the laboratory. The idea-as an idea-of planes carrying passengers between North America and Europe is as old, probably as the first box kite-and-gas engine of the Wright Brothers. But it was not until Lindbergh hopped precisely from Roosevelt Field to Le Bourget, as he had planned, that the idea moved into the field of possibility. By that time Europe, which had seen the wartime flying of a decade before, was operating extensive international air transport systems, largely but not exclusively over land. Their routes extended across the Mediterranean into Africa and across Asia toward the Far East. It was five months after the Lindbergh flight in October, 1927, that an American commercial line pushed beyond the boundaries of continental United States. At that time a 90-mile over-water line was established from Key West to Havana, Cuba. It carried airmail and passengers. It wasn't much but it was a beginning. [[large text block]] Passenger Flights Over Atlantic Are Result of Years Of Planning in Laboratory, Hangar [[/large block text]] The European lines were quicker than this country's in catching on to the possibilities of air travel over the Atlantic, and the French, German and British companies obtained exclusive rights to various routes. Germany's Lufthansa was even beginning a survey of the Far Northern route by way of Greenland and Iceland. But early in 1929 Pan American Airways began to plan for American participation in the coming Atlantic Air Derby. Here is how the long-range program was pursued: 1929 - First complete survey of field authorized. Specifications adopted for aircraft, weather and radio services. Requirements laid down for transocean flight personnel. [[new strip]] [[image]] [[image subtitle]] The navigator's station on clipper ships of Pan American Airways, including the one which today starts Atlantic passenger service. At [[/image subtitle]] [[end strip]] [[new strip]] [[continuation of main article]] 1930 - Pan American Airways Company of Delaware formed to conduct "transatlantic activities." Research launched in meteorology and personnel training. 1931-"Laboratory line" set up along Northern Great Circle route between Boston and Halifax, from which weather and other flying data on that section of the Atlantic was gathered and collated. Classes of future transatlantic pilots started. First "multiple crew" for ocean transport flying organized and trained. Greenland Survey in '32 1932-Pan American's first East Greenland expedition dispatched to obtain more information on meteorology and flying conditions in the North. Construction of first Sikorskey flying boats for ocean service ordered. A transoceanic type of mail and passenger service instituted across the Caribbean Sea, using four-engine Sikorskey flying boats and multiple crew. 1933 - Second mission dispatched to the North to study West Greenland. Flying weather research extended to Iceland for the study of the sources of Atlantic storms-important in forecasting weather along transatlantic routes much farther south. A third survey made by expedition headed by Colonel Lindbergh along coasts of Newfoundland, Labrador, Baffin Land, Greenland, Iceland and along the coast of Europe to Portuga[[l]] then the Azores and Cape Verde Islands. [[end strip]] [[image]] [[image subtitle]] Right: Looking down the 152-foot catwalk in the wing, from which all fuel and electrical lines can be inspected and reached for repairs. [[/image subtitle]]
