(Story by Emil Kissel)

Anecdote "Jake the Snake" Pan American had many former marines as employees. Jake, if I dont have all the details right, please correct them. Jake was a fairly senior Flight Engineer based in New York, and he was excellent on the B314. When the B314 went on a trip far away from a spare engine, a newly overhauled engine was placed in the cargo compartment near the Navigators bubble. The whole crew was trained to change a failed engine withou help from ground personnel if necessary. The hoist was also aboard to lift the propellor and the engine and place them on the wing. The spareengine was then lifted out of the cargo hold without the cylinders and reassembled on top of the wing. This was necessary because the cargo hatch was too small to lift the engine with its cylinders attached. As far as I know, it was never necessary to do this. On one flight that Jake was on, an engine became "rough" due to a faulty magneto. Jake decided to change the magneto in flight! First he removed a good magneto from the spare ...

Willie Lincoln FE PAN AM:

 had many special and secret missions and this may be the first time this one is public. B314 N18605 was ordered to fly from San Francisco to Miami via Corpus Christi with a crew of 3 in WW2. Engineer Lincoln calculated they could do it nonstop with 2 hours fuel remaining at Miami. He persuaded the Capt and they completed the flight per Lincolns calculations. Much later Lincoln found out that this was the B314 that took Roosevelt to Yalta. Later in Lincolns career he overheard a 747 that was going to ditch in the North Pacific because they didnt know how to transfer fuel via the dump system from a full tank to an empty tank. Lincoln detailed the proceedure which the 747 accomplished successfully. The 747 engineer thanked him profusely but Lincoln never heard from the airline. This anonymous aiirline owes Lincoln a steak dinner for saving the $150 million dollar airplane. You know who you are. Just do it.

 Hal Penny FEO PAN AM:

Its been 61 years since I started flying on the Boeing 314. I hired on Pan Am Dec. 23rd 1935. Was chief mechanic Canton Island the winter of 1940-1941. Came back to SFO and went on flight on the B314. On the first flight, I had to go out to #4 engine and make a repair [obviously inside the wing]. It was so damn noisy, I dont remember much detail on those flights to HNL,WAKE, MIDWAY, GUAM and MANILA except we overnighted at each stop. The summer of 1941, I was assigned to the Sikorsky S-42. This was for the MNL,MACAU,HKG triangle. We picked up the plane in MIAMI. Our flight from SFO to HNL was almost a disaster due to poor navigation. We had about about 10 minutes of flight time remaining after we landed. Dec. 1941, it was my week off in MNL when the Japanese attacked the Phillipines. They sank the plane in Hong Kong harbor but the crew escaped into China. I spent the next 3 plus years in internment in Manila and Los Banos. Was liberated Feb 23, 1945. Los Banos was for military age males. A Marine General told me, we were to be executed 2 days later. I arrived in SFO May 1st, 1945.

(Story by Tom Kewin)

One of them told me a wild tale about a B314 flight during WWII. They did a special flight into Cairo with war material, and on the departure, down the Nile river -- just as they were nearing flying speed -- a Hippopotamus suddenly surfaced right in front of them! The pilot, Harvey Breaux, managed to get airborn and miss the Hippo!

The B-314 hull created such a vacuum that on glassy water it was necessary to do high speed runs 90 degrees to the takeoff path to break the suction. This would create waves. On actual takeoff the waves would break the suction on the hull. As an example this was frequent practice at Belem South America where there was absolutely no water movement. You could run for mile without getting airborne. The B-314 would build up a large amount of static electricity and about 2 feet off the water on landing there would be a bright flash of light from the discharge.

Try this on FS2002! The weather at SFO is frequently foggy, and in those early days we didn't have much in the way of navigation aids. The most colorful pilot at PAA was Steve Bancroft --- former All American football player, married to the movie actress Mae Clark, and a hell raiser of great talent. He was also a sailor, and knew the waters around San Francisco bay very well. Arriving from Honolulu in early morning, Steve and his crew found the coast socked in with low fog. The nearest alternate landing site at Clear Lake was also closed. The dispatch office suggested Los Angeles, but as Steve started south he spotted a hole in the fog, and through it recognised Half Moon Bay. Down through the hole they went and leveled at about 100' above the water where they were just below the cloud deck. Steve turned north, following the coast. Groping along, he told the co-pilot to keep a sharp lookout for a buoy. After 20 or 30 minutes the co-pilot spotted a buoy, and reported it had the number "2" painted on it. Steve knew that buoy number "2" was the first marker for the inbound sealane into San Francisco bay, so he made a right turn and they watched for Buoy number "4", then number "6", and then "8". Spaced about a mile apart the buoys gave him a heading to fly that led under the Golden Gate bridge and a safe landing near Treasure Island. After the war Steve requested that I be his personal Flight Engineer, and for six months we flew every trip together, and he had a lot of stories to fill the long cockpit hours.

The first 88mm captured was picked up at Fisherman Lake in Liberia. It was just the barrel and it must have had high priority to get back to the USA. We made cradles at each bulkhead to distribute the load, and bolt it down. This was in the passageway in the fuselage but we walked around it. At Fish lake we had our local workers shoulder to shoulder on both sides of the barrel and simply walked it on. At LaGuardia it presented a major problem because they tried cranes etc. I never did find out how they finally got it off. As I said before, Pan Am was very strict on security and incidents like this were never talked about until after WW2.

Aluminum and salt water corrode rapidly. Boeings great engineering dept. minimized this by specifying-Alclad,anodized, zinc chromated sheet aluminum. We had special brushes and chemicals to remove the white powdery corrosion and then we coated the wetted areas with lanolin. We all realized the life of the airplane would be short. The bilge, or the bottom deck was especially affected, because they were a series of water tight unventilated compartments. One had fuel transfer pumps.

A significant of Pan Ams reputation came from our Flight Service. I capitalize on purpose. On the B314 they often chose the food,cooked it, served it in courses on linen tableclothes using specially designed silverware. We engineers were close to Flight Service because we fixed their galleys, controlled the temperature, fixed clogged toilets etc. They were males until the end of WW2. They were trained to help with engine changes. They were in charge of the ships papers and smoothed our entry through customs, immigration and public health in occasional unfriendly countries. Certain countries required bribes for short entry times, even today. Since they had many shore contacts, the pleasure of layovers in a mans city like Lisbon depended on how well you got along with the purser. They knew everybody. During long flights when we were using low powers, it was necessary to speed up #3 engine because thats where the galley got its heat. During the engineers periodic inspections inside the wing, we paid special attention to leakage from the glycol lines that carried the heat to the galley from #3. They also conducted 'Clipper Dice'. There were 3 dice and six bets. Whever pairs were rolled the odds favored the Purser and the passengers were HAPPY. Tips were normal in those days until the Captains found out that the Pursers were making more money than they were. No tipping continues since then. Whever a B314 had an engine failure and had to come back with its untouched foods, everybody was devising ways to get to the food before the beaching crew. These guys were gorillas. I had to train with them and I remember a wintry day when we raided the galley for steak and ice cream and after we filled up, the gorillas allowed the rest in. This 'custom' continues to this day. After WW2, women were hired and this bachelor was in heaven. I would have paid them to fly. They didnt have to pay me. Our stewardesses came from every country in the world. There is a great story about our Nisei. I salute Pan Ams great Flight Service.

My first training flight on the B314 was in April, 1943. When an airplane came out of overhaul it was sent on a 12 hour "slow time" flight before being put back into service. That was probably a good idea, with four newly overhauled engines. So I was assigned to the flight as a student engineer. There were so many students and observers on board that they put on two stewards to prepare our meals. It was an ideal first exposure, since we students had ample time to explore the wing tunnels and nacelles, sit at the engineers station for a few hours, and even take a nap. Captain Steve Bancroft had his own agenda. After flying over Mount Shasta, Lake Tahoe, and Yosemite he headed for Fresno, his home town. He put down partial wing flaps, descended to about 400', andwhile the copilot circled over a friends ranch, Steve took some rocks out of his briefcase and pelted the barn!

"Showering in Bolama, Portuguese Guinea" Pan Ams facilities were relatively primative in Bolama. It was so hot and humid that the first priority was a shower. The shuttle launch could only carry a few people. One time a rain shower occured while we were waiting at anchor. We took our bags, removed our civilian clothes, towel and soap. Then out on top of the wing for our shower. Then inside to dry off and put on our shorts. when we arrived on shore, our passengers were amazed. They were still in line for their showers. More frequently however were the occasions when the cockpit got visitors without advance notice. The B314 was so hot that the crew took off their uniforms and performed their preflight checs in underwear. On hearing visitors coming up the stairway from the passenger deck, the only place for the crew to go was the crawlway in the wing. It was even hotter here. There was a small window in the entry door to watch our visitors to finally resume their duties. There are rumors that this was also done during flight with the B314 on autopilot. I rather doubt this story because Pan AM would have fired the whole crew.

Whenever a B314 overnighted anywhere an anchor "watch" was used to save the airplane in case a strong wind came up and the anchor started dragging. At Shediac, New Brunswick, Canada a junior pilot and myself were assigned this duty, as there were not enough station personnel. So the 2 of us rowed out in rowboat and tied up to the B314. Soon it became cold and we had to rummage around to find some blankets because there was no source of heat. Then we became hungry and the nearest source of food was a lobster fish shop where we bought some lobster that had just been cooked. After rowing back to the B314 we found the shell to be so hard that we had to get the engineers tools to open them up. At dawn we rowed ashore thoroughly chilled to find out that the rest of the crew had attended the Saturday night dance in town. That was the first and last time that I volunteered to perform the anchor "watch".

The B314 wingspar was made from a round tube of aluminum that was rolled into an almost square shape. During this process, some undetected cracks occured. After the aircraft was built, they were detected,analyzed for strength and stop drilled to prevent propagation. There was also an ink line at each end of the crack to locate the drilled holes and to confirm that the crack did not propagate. During flight, flight engineers were required to inspect all of the B314 that was accessable, every 2 hours. This included these cracks. The wings were large enough to accomodate a 'crawlway' out to #1 & #4 engines. We carried wrenches and a flashlight so we could repair any defects on the spot. As I remember it, one of the cracks was between #3 and #4 engine. None of these cracks ever spread. At times we carried a spare engine and hoist in our cargo area so we would not be stranded with a failed engine in the boondocks. The whole crew was trained to do this engine change without help. Since the engine was larger than the hatch, the cylinders had to be installed after the crankcase was placed on top of the wing. I dont believe this was ever done. However, one of our intrepid engineers did change a defective magneto during flight using a good magneto from the spare engine. If he is still alive, he could give us the details of this extraordinary event. This 'can do' attitude was typical of Pan Am in those days.

In Pan Am's training of graduate engineers to become flight engineers, we were assigned to all the various maintenance departments for practical experience and make a formal report each time. The B314 toilets [3] dumped overboard through a fault prone system of levers, pumps etc. We had a test stand in our hangar at LaGuardia to overhaul them. The required hours spent to maintain them approached that required to maintain an engine. In my report, I suggested a redesign and was immediately assigned to do this. I managed to weasel out of this. All Flight Engineers knew the size of the box wrench to free it up during flight. The problem exists to this day. I once had a brand new 747 making its first revenue flight San Francisco to London. It had a full load of 400 passengers with 3 meals to be served. Over Reno, the purser informed me that NONE of the 12 toilets were flushing. We were able to solve the problem during flight. If you ask, I can give you the details. Our current airplanes still are subject to this problem. FEO Emil Kissel ret.1979

One of the tricky operations were at Horta, a harbor on the island of Fayal in the Azores. It is a small harbor surrounded by mountains. Landings could be made toward the mountains, but the longer takeoffs and small rate of climb meant takeoffs were made toward the open ocean. The design limited the waves to three feet in height because of the high stresses as the B314 hit the tops of the waves. The engineers job was to read the Captains accelerometer to warn him of the 8G ? limit. During night takeoffs this was especially hard because we couldnt let our hooded flashlight spoil the darkened cockpit. This duty was normally performed by the second flight engineer kneeling between the pilots. There are photos of many B314s waiting in Horta harbor, for the waves to subside. I clearly remember the skill of our Horta employees in handling the thin skinned B314. They are a seafaring people.

Any waterborne aircraft has problems in a crosswind. The wind is trying to put the downwind wing into the water and if this happens to a B314 the outboard propeller hits the water and bends. Pan Am developed a system where it used the extra crewmembers to go out a ''catwalk" inside the wing to the outboard engine on the high wing to help move the wing to a horizontal position. This location was very noisy even at low power, but the engine on the high wing had to use lots of power to overcome the weathervane effect of the 3 fins. The sponsons on the 314 was not very effective and sailing knowledge was valuable in these conditions.

The B314 departure from a small floating dock at Garden Bay Marine Terminal at LaGuardia Field, New York was complicated by the hazard of an fire during engine start with passengers aboard and only 1 exit door to walk out of. The 2 flight engineers are already aboard doing their check lists. The rest of the 12 member now formally marched aboard. There was a hawser from the bow to an underwater pulley and then ashore to a tractor. The tail had a special fitting hat accomodated a quick release fitting that would be released by a beaching crew member who tied his rowboat to the same fitting awaiting the signal to release the taut stern line. After the 4 engines were started, the passengers walked aboard. The entry door was shut. The Captain signalled to be released. The tractor started pulling on the bow rope and when it was taut, the man in the rowboat released the tail rope and the B314 cleared the dock expeditiously. When the bow rope was loose the pilot threw the rope off the bow post, retracted them and closed the hatch. On one cold windy day, the man in the rowboat could not untie his rope and because the Captain did not know this, he started taxying out of Garden Bay in the usual crosswind. This was always tricky in this narrow bay. The alarmed man in the rowboat started beating on the fuselage above him. A passenger looking out saw this and informed the Purser who relayed this to the Captain on the deck above. They apparently solved the problem because there was never a report of a B314 arriving at Botwood, Newfoundland. Imagine the amazement there if this actually happened, This happened 60 years ago and this account is not history.

During the war, we planned our flights to Foynes to arrive at sunrise to avoid the long range German reconnaiscense planes. We slept during the day in a little town called Adare Adair? and made our take off at sunset going back to Botwood or Lisbon. The Lisbon flights were especially dangerous and we flew in the clouds as much as possible. I dont remember any confrontations. Pan Am was very strict with us on security so even if there were incidents, we wouldnt know about them. Many years later, I was flying gliders in Saint Johann in Tyrol about 1976 and the tow pilot was a German about my age. He used to tell his Austian friends about his wartime reconnascence flights from Spain to Norway. After 3 nights of this in the Bierstube, I finally said "Well Fritz you have finally found me!" He had no knowledge of a commercial scheduled 314 crossing his patrol route. I often wondered if this was our safety insurance because German agents could be our passengers to neutral Ireland and Portugal?? Auf Wiedersehen.

Guten Tag, 3 of us Pan Am crew members meet every Monday here in Carmel, California to remember our experiences flying in the 314. I will ask them if they are willing to summarize their experiences and mail them to you. We can focus on whatever aspect of flying you wish. An example is the zero-zero [ceiling and visibility] landings Pan Am 314 made in Fishermans Lake in Liberia during the war years. Mine occurred in 1942 or 1943. On arrival from Natal, Brazil we were told of the zero-zero condition. I assume the pilots were prepared because it seemed routine to me as a young inexperienced Flight Engineer. There was a radio station near the shore of this large lake.[20km diameter estimated] We flew a pattern around this ground station to locate ourselves at a specific altitude and heading. We then set a specific airspeed and specific engine power so we made a slow descent to a specific area in the lake. We flew the 314 until it hit the water [unseen] , reduced the engine power to idle, and finished the landing. [at night!] We then stopped our engines and radioded our boat to find us and tow us to our mooring. I wonder if anybody wrote about this because the memory is not reliable 49 years later. Looking back, our direction finder was manual.our altimeter, airspeed, rate of climb, directional gyro and horizon were from the 1930 era. The big advantage we had was this large lake and no boat traffic. I dont remember if we had an alternate landing area. The nearby ocean was a possibility. Auf Wiedersehen!