In the morning of 2 December, 1941, the Pacific Clipper, Pan American's newest flying boat, left Los Angeles on its maiden flight. The Clipper was the most sophisticated and technologically advanced plane flying anywhere in the world. She would island hop across the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean to Auckland, New Zealand, then return.

On December 8, 1941, one half hour after a 7AM take off from Noumea, French New Caledonia on the way to Auckland, the world of the Pacific Clipper as well as most of humanity turned upside down. The Empire of Japan, in a sneak attack, bombed Pearl Harbor. The United States went to war and few if any cared about the fate of an American commercial plane stuck in New Zealand. With the Imperial Japanese Navy having destroyed all its bases in the Pacific, and without maps, charts or any navigational aids, as well as being under strict radio silence, the men of the Pacific Clipper decided to try to return home.

This is their story.

Excerpted from Escape of the Pacific Clipper. Copyright © 1997 by George L. Flynn. Excerpted by permission of Branden Publishing Co. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

Retail Price: $19.95 FlyingClippers.com Price: $16.95 You Save: $3.00 (15%) Availability: Ships in 24 hours Format: Paperback,  414pp ISBN: 0828320268 Publisher: Branden Publishing Co. Pub. Date: 1997 Item No: 2026-8

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