The Boeing 314 Clipper was an American long-range flying boat produced by Boeing from 1938 to 1941.
One of the largest aircraft of its time, it had the range to cross the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
For its wings, Boeing re-used the design from the earlier XB-15 bomber prototype.
Pan Am’s Clipper fleet was pressed into US military service during World War II, and the flying boats were used for ferrying personnel and equipment to the European and Pacific fronts.
The aircraft were purchased by the War and Navy Departments and leased back to Pan Am for a dollar, with the understanding that all would be operated by the Navy once four-engined replacements for the Army’s four Clippers were in service.
Only the markings on the aircraft changed.
The Clippers continued to be flown by their experienced Pan Am civilian crews.
American military cargo was carried via Natal, Brazil to Liberia, to supply the British forces at Cairo and even the Russians, via the Persian Corridor.
The Model 314 was then the only aircraft in the world that could make the 2,150-statute-mile (3,460 km) crossing over water.
The Army gave the aircraft the designation C-98, but the Navy, which used a different designation system at the time, disregarded this designation and operated the aircraft under the company designation B-314.
Variants
Model 314
Initial production version with 1,500 horsepower (1,100 kW) Twin Cyclone engines, six built for Pan Am.
Model 314A
Improved version with 1,600 horsepower (1,200 kW) Twin Cyclones with larger diameter propellers, additional 1,200 US gallons (4,500 l; 1,000 imp gal) fuel capacity, and revised interior.
Still air range approx 4,700 miles.
Six built, three for Pan Am and three sold to BOAC.
B-314
Five Model 314s pressed into military service with the U.S. Navy
C-98
Four Model 314s pressed into military service with the U.S. Army Air Forces
Specifications
Crew
11
Capacity
68 day passengers and / or 36 sleeping passengers / 5 short tons (4,536 kg) of mail and or cargo
Length
106 ft (32 m)
Wingspan
152 ft (46 m)
Height
20 ft 4.5 in (6.210 m)
Airfoil
Root
NACA 0018
Tip
NACA 0010
Empty weight
48,400 lb (21,954 kg)
Gross weight
84,000 lb (38,102 kg)
Fuel capacity
5,408 US gal (4,503 imp gal; 20,470 l) in wing and sponson tanks
