Status: Active
Description: Introduction In December, 1941 at the outbreak of World War II, A Boeing 314 “Clipper”, registration NC18609A, was inadvertently diverted from its original planned route from Treasure Island San Francisco to Auckland, NZ with stops in between along its Pacific route. On December 2nd, 1941, The Pacific Clipper departed from Treasure Island San Francisco to Auckland, New Zealand and a return leg back to San Francisco. Stops along the way would be Los Angeles, Honolulu, Canton Is, Suva, Fiji, Noumea, and Auckland. As they progressed on their route over the next few days, Pearl Harbor was attacked on Dec 7, 1941, resulting in the aircrew being notified that after unloading passengers they were required to return to the US immediately so that the aircraft could be repurposed for the war effort. In order for this to occur, they would need to seek an alternate route away from the Pacific. This would result in a flight of over 20,000 miles! 20000 miles-Flight left Dec 2 and Landed at destination Jan 6th For this MEC route, I have substituted land airports situated at the same locations- as the B-314 was a large floatplane and would have arrived at waterstrips. Also, some of the original names of countries and cities have changed in some instances, so I have matched those up as well. Historical Info If you’re interested in reading a detailed account of the flight, click the link below: https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2018/12/21/at-this-time-in-1941-a-clipper-plane-was-trying-to-get-home-the-hard-way-flying-around-the-world/