John Delach

Denise Duffy Meehan

Edited by John Delach

November 2024

(In 1937,) Pan American World Airways proved that commercial aircraft crossing the Atlantic on a scheduled basis was now feasible. That understanding encompassed Port Washington and fifteen hundred watched the return of Clipper III from Southampton, England to Port. 

Still, those that would make money on the routes had a long way to go. Aircraft capable of making the crossing was a priority. The Sikorsky S-42B, used to pioneer the northern and then the southern Atlantic was inadequate for the task. It had required 2,300 gallons of fuel, 160 gallons of oil  and 1,995 pounds of spare equipment to make the first survey. While nothing was spared operationally, little in the way of amenities was provided for the crew. Their meals consisted of celery, olives, soup, salad and strawberries. And, while the high cruising altitude with open windows to aid in celestial navigation (at times 11,000 feet) required heavy outer garments, the flight suits were not fur-lined as reported.

After proving that it could be done, Pan American set out to get aircraft to make it all feasible. In 1938, Europeans did fly surveys over the Atlantic, and boats representing Air France and Lufthansa utilized the Port Washington facility. Finally, on March 3, 1939 technology caught up to reality  when Mrs. Roosevelt christened the “Yankee Clipper,” a Boeing B-314. She was taken on a shakedown flight from Baltimore, over the southern route to Marseilles arriving on March 3 and along the northern route between Baltimore and Southampton on March 28.

The first transatlantic airmail departed from Port Washington on May 20 returning on May 27. The first revenue passengers departed from Port Washington for Marseilles June 28, 1939. Thereafter, weekly service over northern and southern routes was routine from April through November. Eventually, four B-314 flying boats served on the routes.

The airship had come a long way in comfort. Constructed at a time when industrial designers had come into their own the interior of the Boeing was a crossbreed between a gentlemen’s parlor and a chrome environment. There was room for a crew of 12 and about 34 passengers. The bulk of these being the well-to-do with enough to do the daring. A large lounge and sleeping bunks were some of the finer features, features that ironically still turn up in the first-class sections of aircraft today.

While the boats, as they were floated into the landing docks were impressive, the spit and polish of the crew taking over their craft at the first bell, then boarding passengers at two bells, was dramatic. However, the reality of the Port Washington base was disappointing. What would resemble a third world airport today housed facilities such as Customs, Immigration and Public Health, along with the operation division of the airline.

The “terminal” was modest with few amenities. But, this, after all was just a temporary headquarters. Condos would soon be all that stands where aviation once was grand.

 (This planned development never saw fruition. World War II and the cold war prolonged Port Washington’s role in aviation. Grumman had a plant there during World War II as did Republic during the Korean War. Post war utilization by Thypin Steel, an importer, followed and by the time they left the property in the early 1980s, the site was deemed thoroughly polluted and uninhabitable and too poisonous to ever support condominiums.)

The writing had been on the wall, or more correctly on the lease, for a permanent home even before the first transatlantic passengers ever departed Port Washington. On May 20^th  Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia and Pan American chairman, C.V. Whitney had signed a lease for an airport at North Beach. Today, we know it as the Marine Air Terminal at LaGuardia Airport. Ironically, after more than 40 years, Pan American returned to that terminal basing its northeastern shuttle operation there.

Port Washington’s place in aviation history did not end in March of 1940 when the boats left town. Grumman operated Plant 15 there from April 1942 until the end of the war ) making parts for the navy’s TPF Avengers, that carry a torpedo or bombs.) The company even provided a 12-inch reinforced concrete road, now called Sintsink Drive, which was bombproof, making it possible to move materials after an enemy attack. Republic Aviation took over the facilities during the Korean War, manufacturing wings for F-84 jet fighters there.

Soon enough, perhaps only the concrete road and a commemorative plaque at the Town Dock will be all that is left of Port Washington’s aviation claim to fame.

Editor’s note:

MS Denise Duffy Meehan ended her piece by thanking William M. Masland then living in nearby Manhasset for all of insight he gave to her in writing her piece. Masland was the navigator on the first transatlantic survey in 1937. He eventually became a Captain of the Flying Boats himself and, when the US Navy requisitioned all of Pan American’s Flying Boats after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Masland went on to become a Commander in the Naval Reserve, a position he would hold until he retired in 1962.

He wrote a book about his history and experience with Pan American Flying Boats called “Through the Back Doors of the World in a Ship That Had Wings,” a title, only an engineer would love. His book originally sold for $14.95. Today, if you can find a volume, expect to pay  the market value. for example, it cost me $94.00 plus shipping and handling. (I asked my family to buy it for their eighty-year-old father for Christmas.)