MovieChat Forums > Sherlock Holmes in Washington (1943) Discussion > A different question about airplanes

A different question about airplanes


In the flight to the USA.

The plane first flew from England to Lisbon, I think. It was a land-based plane.

The next scene shows a seaplane* (perhaps a PanAm "Clipper") landing in the USA.

Whose plane was this? Why a seaplane? Did they need to refuel in the Azores or something, making the use of a seaplane necessary?

If it landed in NY or DC, I forget, approximately WHERE did such planes taxi to after they landed -- if anyone has read or remembers (!)

Thanks.

* By seaplane, I mean one with a flat bottom and no visible wheels or landing gear. Of course some such planes, especially smaller ones, even today, have a smaller wheelset which fold into the landing surface so that the plane can land either on the water or on a land airstrip. The scene in the film was dark on my screen and I could not see any wheels.

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The plane in the film looked like a Pan Am Boeing 314 Clipper:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_314_Clipper

They could take off and land only on water, not land.

They typically came here from Lisbon and could land at either NYC's LaGuardia Airport Marine Air Terminal or the Potomac River in Wash., D.C. In the film, the plane flew over NYC and did not land, instead flying on to Wash., D.C.

Here's some info on the LaGuardia Marine Air Terminal:
http://www.scoutingny.com/how-to-leave-new-york-via-1940-scouting-lagu ardias-marine-air-terminal/

Re: Wash., D.C., Winston Churchill once took a 27-hour flight across the Atlantic in a flying boat that landed in the Potomac River so that he could meet with President Roosevelt.


It is better to be kind than to be clever or good looking. -- Derek

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Thanks for your reply.

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Before World War Two Trans-Atlantic and Trans-Pacific flights were by seaplane because there were very few airports that could handle large aircraft and because aircraft were not as dependable as they are today they could make emergency ocean landings. During the war the United States military constructed many air fields within the US and overseas to handle large bombers and transports. After the war many of these airfields became civilian airports and because of wartime innovations aircraft became more reliable and could land in-land where the seaplanes could not and eventually they were decommissioned. Some seaplanes have survived to this day as water tankers for fighting forest fires.

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Thanks for your reply.

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I too thought that was strange. Certainly had airports then.

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