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The adventurous nature of the first scheduled air service from the San Francisco Bay Area to Hong Kong is captured in our China Clipper exhibition. The daring flight crews of Pan American Airways pioneered international commercial aviation by surveying the routes and operating magnificent flying boats to Asia. They flew over thousands of miles of open water, from San Francisco to Hong Kong, finding the tiny island bases along the way needed for refueling and overnighting using traditional and newly invented navigational technology. This operational model became the world's first reliable over-ocean air service in fixed-wing aircraft. China Clipper is on display pre-security in the Aviation Museum and Library. The Aviation Museum and Library is open from 10:00am to 4:30pm Sunday to Friday.
This image was posted on September 30, 2015.
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