2nd Quarter Customer Edition 2006

THE PHILIPPINES has a rich and colorful aviation history. This was due largely to its status as a colony of the United States of America right after the conclusion of the Spanish-American War of 1898. The Philippines benefited greatly from transfer of technology of which the US was the emerging prime mover.

One of the most interesting highlights of Philippine aviation history is the coming of the Pan American Clippers during the late 1930s. The voyage of the Clippers is not only significant to the country but most importantly to world aviation history as it marked the start of transpacific flight.

The flight of the Clippers started with the vision of Pan Am’s then president, Juan Terry Trippe, to offer air services across the Pacific. Being the undisputed pioneer in over-theocean flying, Pan American Airways offered the first commercial service across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, having developed their planes and techniques on air service to South America. Since large airports didn’t exist at the time and airplane engines were not as reliable as they are today, it made sense for the first large airliners to be seaplanes - flying boats, large aircraft with boat-hull bottoms.

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