# Found - An Old Pan Am Terminal Building



## NS VIA Fan (Sep 25, 2019)

On a trip to Newfoundland last week….I ventured out to the coast and the small town of Botwood that played a major role in the development of transatlantic commercial air service.

https://goo.gl/maps/na14L4AKztjC11Hj9

Here’s the original Terminal Building used by Pan Am in the late 1930’s through the mid ‘40s during the Flying Boat Era.









There’s an interesting Museum there depicting that heritage:


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## NS VIA Fan (Sep 25, 2019)

This is a floating kerosene Flare Pot that marked the landing area out in the Bay of Exploits 













Here’s the schedule at Botwood in 1945. By the following year the Flying Boat era was over and Pan Am had relocated 40 miles away to Gander and the TATL service was now on a DC-4.


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## jiml (Sep 25, 2019)

Now that is a cool find.


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## Asher (Sep 25, 2019)

Bit of history, interesting.


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## Qapla (Sep 25, 2019)

That is a nice find ... too bad the train doesn't go there

You might also enjoy this:






https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002J05H0W/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Over_Water


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## Dakota 400 (Sep 25, 2019)

I remember the Pam Am Clipper era and helped to interest me in the wonderful world of travel!

Thanks for posting this; very interesting and the book suggested sounds interesting!


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## railiner (Sep 25, 2019)

Great finds, thanks for posting!

American Export 101-American Overseas 101-Pan Am Clipper 101-American Airlines 101.....that venerable number is still used for a daily London to New York flight...


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## Willbridge (Sep 25, 2019)

My father flew on a Pan Am Clipper on a 15-minute demonstration flight over San Francisco Bay from Treasure Island in 1939 or 40 and remembers the impressive take=off. They must have still been using the flying boats in Trans-Pacific service after the Trans-Atlantic service was converted to conventional planes. I checked the June 1941 _Official Guide _reprint and while it has the schedules they did not show the equipment. The service via Newfoundland, of course, was suspended in that edition.

Portland International Airport was located where it is now in order to have a ramp like that shown in the Newfoundland photo, expecting to soon have service to the Orient from the Columbia River.


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## railiner (Sep 25, 2019)

Qapla said:


> That is a nice find ... too bad the train doesn't go there
> 
> You might also enjoy this:
> 
> ...



I have that great thriller in my collection...as usual, Follett really does his research, and describes in fantastic detail the nuances of the B-314...worth almost the price of the book is the description of making up the berth's by the stewards, in flight....


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## railiner (Sep 25, 2019)

The first New York port for those clipper's, was located in Port Washington, L.I., until the completion of the Marine Air Terminal at New York Municipal (LGA)...


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## Dakota 400 (Sep 25, 2019)

railiner said:


> Great finds, thanks for posting!
> 
> American Export 101-American Overseas 101-Pan Am Clipper 101-American Airlines 101.....that venerable number is still used for a daily London to New York flight...



American Export 101, American Overseas 101: these were airlines/flights that I have never read about. 

Was American Export a subsidiary of American Export Lines which sailed the S. S. Constitution and the S. S. Independence?


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## railiner (Sep 25, 2019)

Dakota 400 said:


> American Export 101, American Overseas 101: these were airlines/flights that I have never read about.
> 
> Was American Export a subsidiary of American Export Lines which sailed the S. S. Constitution and the S. S. Independence?


Absolutely!
There is a very brief capsule history in the photo...AA bought it for a few years, before selling the division to Pan Am...


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## railiner (Sep 25, 2019)

Ironically, AA came full circle in 1990, flying NY/London again, although they did not get the routes from PanAm, who they sold to, but rather, from TWA....(United got PanAms NY/ London route.


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## gswager (Sep 25, 2019)

Are those Clippers were used flying between Port of Miami and Bahamas by Chalk's Airlines? I've seen that type of airplane, either in Miami or Bimini Island. It was pretty cool to watch the plane landing and take off.


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## Qapla (Sep 25, 2019)

railiner said:


> worth almost the price of the book is the description of making up the berth's by the stewards, in flight....



The audiobook is read by Tom Casaletto - and he captures that procedure perfectly


https://www.amazon.com/Night-Over-W.../ref=tmm_abk_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=


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## BuffaloBoy (Sep 25, 2019)

gswager said:


> Are those Clippers were used flying between Port of Miami and Bahamas by Chalk's Airlines? I've seen that type of airplane, either in Miami or Bimini Island. It was pretty cool to watch the plane landing and take off.


The flying boats that Chalk's used were Grumman Abatrosses and Mallards.


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## NS VIA Fan (Sep 26, 2019)

Thanks all......I'll have to get the book. Looks like an interesting read!


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## railiner (Sep 26, 2019)

NS VIA Fan said:


> Thanks all......I'll have to get the book. Looks like an interesting read!


It certainly is...and if you have not read Ken Follett before, you may become a fan...his epic historic novel's are an 'education', as well as entertaining...


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## Barb Stout (Sep 26, 2019)

There was also a movie made from the Ken Follett book. I enjoyed it. I saw it on Youtube.


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## railiner (Sep 26, 2019)

Barb Stout said:


> There was also a movie made from the Ken Follett book. I enjoyed it. I saw it on Youtube.


Unfortunately, “Night Over Water” was not one of them....


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## Qapla (Sep 26, 2019)

> Follett has had a number of novels made into films and television mini series: Eye of the Needle was made into an acclaimed film, starring Donald Sutherland, and six novels have been made into television mini-series: The Key to Rebecca, Lie Down with Lions, On Wings of Eagles (1986), The Third Twin – the rights for which were sold to CBS for $US1,400,000, a record price at the time – and The Pillars of the Earth (2010) and World Without End (2012). These last two have been screened in several languages in many countries. Follett also had a cameo role as the valet in The Third Twin and later as a merchant in The Pillars of the Earth. In 2016, A Dangerous Fortune was also adapted



*Night Over Water* would make an excellent movie - although the beginning of the book follows several of the different people who come together on the plane, most of the story takes place "over the water".

It's a shame that so many bad movies are made while books like this one seem to be passed by.


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## railiner (Sep 26, 2019)

Agreed...would love it if some producer with deep pockets did this as a movie, and spent money to build an accurate replica B-314...something comparable to Cameron's "Titanic"....

The closest thing was the old film "China Clipper", but I believe that was about the Martin M-130 and the building of Pan Am's transpacific route...


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## Qapla (Sep 27, 2019)

Just think - if they did make such a movie they could possibly film on location where the above pictures were taken.

Also, if they did make the movie - *STICK TO THE BOOK!* - don't rewrite the story to make it modern/politically correct/more action filled/or any of the other "reasons" they use to ruin a story they "adapt".


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## Devil's Advocate (Sep 27, 2019)

railiner said:


> Agreed...would love it if some producer with deep pockets did this as a movie, and spent money to build an accurate replica B-314...something comparable to Cameron's "Titanic".


It has been reported that James Cameron was homeless and living out of his car when he wrote the story for the original Terminator. The screenplay resonated with Hollywood executives but they had little interest in allowing an unproven resource to participate in the making of the movie itself. So he eventually agreed to sell the story for a single dollar in exchange for being hired as a new director.



Qapla said:


> Just think - if they did make such a movie they could possibly film on location where the above pictures were taken. Also, if they did make the movie - *STICK TO THE BOOK!* - don't rewrite the story to make it modern/politically correct/more action filled/or any of the other "reasons" they use to ruin a story they "adapt".


Other than a few absurdly long movies and some extremely short stories, the most practical method to "stick to the book" is to make a long form television program that spans several movies' worth of content. If you really and truly want to "watch the book" then you probably don't want a movie at all.


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## Barb Stout (Sep 27, 2019)

railiner said:


> Unfortunately, “Night Over Water” was not one of them....


The plot described in the book description and the characters all matched what I saw in the movie, although I will admit I was puzzled by the 1991(?) publish date of the book because the movie I saw was in black and white.


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## railiner (Sep 27, 2019)

If there was a movie version of the book, I sure would like to see it...but I can't find anything about it online...do you recall any more details? Cast?
Perhaps you saw a movie with a similar plot?


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## Qapla (Sep 28, 2019)

I did a YouTube search and could not find it ... perhaps you could provide a link




*Hornet Flight* by Follett would also make a good movie


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## Barb Stout (Sep 28, 2019)

Qapla said:


> I did a YouTube search and could not find it ... perhaps you could provide a link
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I tried looking for it too now and couldn't find it. Maybe I did read the book (even though it is not in my possession) and KF is such a good author that I could visualize it quite well. Or perhaps there really are parallel universes, one of which I somehow visited where there was an old movie with this plot instead of the book. It's really bothering me because I have an fairly specific images in my mind of several of the characters including Luther, Deakin, Margaret, Hartmann, and Ollis Field.


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## Qapla (Sep 28, 2019)

Someone like Ron Howard or Clint Eastwood might be good to direct such a movie.


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## Asher (Oct 4, 2019)

Willbridge said:


> My father flew on a Pan Am Clipper on a 15-minute demonstration flight over San Francisco Bay from Treasure Island in 1939 or 40 and remembers the impressive take=off. They must have still been using the flying boats in Trans-Pacific service after the Trans-Atlantic service was converted to conventional planes. I checked the June 1941 _Official Guide _reprint and while it has the schedules they did not show the equipment. The service via Newfoundland, of course, was suspended in that edition.
> 
> Portland International Airport was located where it is now in order to have a ramp like that shown in the Newfoundland photo, expecting to soon have service to the Orient from the Columbia River.


Pan Am was using Wake Island in the South Pacific before WW 2 almost up until the time Japan invaded it.


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