DALLAS — Today, in 1938, The first Boeing Clipper, Model 314 (NX18601), took off on its maiden flight.
Piloted by famed test aviation Edmund T. “Eddie” Allen, the four-engined flying boat, later christened ‘Honolulu Clipper,’ lifted off from Elliott Bay, Seattle. The flight, which took the aircraft over Puget Sound, lasted 38 minutes.
Boeing would build 12 Model 314s from 1938 to 1941. The colossal airliner was constructed at American Platemakers’ Plant 1 on Seattle’s Duwamish River. It would then be tugged to Elliott Bay for taxiing and flight testing.
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The Model 314 was developed following a request from Pan American Airlines. The airline wanted a long-range aircraft to fly across the oceans. Boeing created the “Clippers” after the “great oceangoing sailing ships.”…