The Long Way Home (Revised Ed) Read online

  THE LONG WAY HOME

  REVISED EDITION

  A Journey Into History With Captain Robert Ford

  By

  Ed Dover

  Copyright 2008

  By Ed Dover

  All rights reserved

  Third Edition

  Library of Congress Catalog Registration Number: TXu 1-577-228

  Dated May 27, 2008.

  Cataloged as:

  Ed Dover

  The Long Way Home – Revised Edition

  All black and white photos of B314 aircraft and crew members courtesy of Pan Am Historical Foundation and obtained from the Pan Am Historical Foundation CD “Pan Am 1927-1991 The Story in Pictures”. For more information go to www.panam.org.

  ISBN 978-0-615-21472-6

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  FOREWORD

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  AUTHOR’S PREFACE

  CHAPTER I - FOR CAPTAIN'S EYES ONLY

  CHAPTER II - HONOLULU BOUND

  CHAPTER III - A LONG NIGHT TO HONOLULU

  CHAPTER IV - TO CANTON AND FIJI

  CHAPTER V - NOUMEA, AUCKLAND, AND INFAMY

  CHAPTER VI - WESTWARD HO!

  CHAPTER VII - RETURN TO NOUMEA

  CHAPTER VIII - THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON

  CHAPTER IX - A VERY CLOSE CALL

  CHAPTER X - EDGE OF THE WAR ZONE

  CHAPTER XI - ACROSS AN UNKNOWN SEA

  CHAPTER XII - A SPECIAL INVITATION

  CHAPTER XIII - TOURISTS IN A STRANGE LAND

  CHAPTER XIV - ACROSS THE ATLANTIC

  CHAPTER XV - THE HOME STRETCH

  POSTSCRIPT

  APPENDIX - THE DELAY IN KHARTOUM

  BIBLIOGRAPHY AND SOURCE MATERIALS

  DEDICATION

  This work is dedicated to Captain Robert Ford, a true Master of Ocean Flying Boats and a legend in his own time.

  FOREWORD

  Robert Ford was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1906. The son of a renowned Harvard University scholar, he went to public schools, attended Harvard, studied for a year at the Sorbonne, and returned to Harvard in 1926. After graduating in his father’s field, Romance Languages, he returned to Harvard and attended engineering school, intending to become an aviator.

  Ford went to Navy flight school at Pensacola, Florida, obtained his wings, and joined the Fleet as an aviator. He was assigned to the Scouting Force, Atlantic Fleet, on the old Arkansas. This was in the biplane days, and the scout planes were seaplanes. They were flung off the ship by a gunpowder-driven catapult atop the after main gun mount. On return from scouting, assuming they could locate the ship, they landed alongside it on the water. Finally, they were hoisted aboard with a crane. Ford enjoyed his hitch as an Ensign, put in a lot of flight time, and made many friends. He realized, however, that there was no future in the U. S. Navy for a non-Academy man, and left the Navy after one tour.

  The Great Depression was well under way when Ford left the Navy. He went home to Cambridge, and began working relentlessly at the task of finding a flying job with an airline. Andre Priester, who was establishing Pan American World Airways, agreed to take him on in 1934. Priester was convinced that a strong safety record was essential to operating a successful airline, and that training was the way to be safe. In addition to flying, potential Pan American pilots became specialists in airframe and engine mechanics, radio operation, navigation, and weather forecasting.

  Ford progressed through the Pan American training, and flew Curtis Commodores and Sikorsky S-40s down the Atlantic seaboard into South America. By the start of World War II, Ford was a Captain in the larger and longer-ranged Boeing B-314 flying boats. In 1940 he was transferred to the Pacific Division flying from San Francisco to Hawaii and the South Pacific.

  In 1934, as soon as he started the Pan American job, Ford married Elizabeth Evans, daughter of a successful New York businessman. Together they had an affectionate marriage that spanned almost sixty years. They had four children between 1939 and 1949, three boys and a girl, two of whom were born before his transfer to the Pacific.

  Michael Ford

  February, 1998

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  I would like to express my grateful thanks to all those who contributed to the completion of this work; especially to the late Captain Robert Ford and his wife Betty, for their warmth and hospitality in allowing me to invade their lives, while they were still with us, in pursuit of this story. I thank also, their son Michael Ford, for contributing the biographical foreword describing his father’s early years, and for his pilot’s expertise in clarifying some of the technical aspects of operating high-powered aircraft; and the late Flight Radio Officer Eugene Leach, for his valuable help in the final months of the project.

  Although we did not have a chance to meet, I would like to thank the late John D. Steers, Fourth Officer, whose written log, passed along to me by both Captain Ford and Eugene Leach, provided a wealth of detail that helped fan the fires of creative imagination as I participated vicariously in the amazing adventure that was the flight of Clipper NC18602.

  My thanks also to the late Betty Ford, Mary Steers, and Marian Rothe for their help and cooperation in providing me with some of the personal details of their husbands’ lives following the completion of the flight.

  Thanks to Barbara Beery and her sister Katherine “Kitty” Tilleman for providing post-flight information about their father, Flight Radio Officer Oscar Hendrickson regarding his assignments and career following the flight.

  I am indebted to both the old Pan American Airways and the Boeing Aircraft Company for providing photographs and technical data which I used in a 1968 article about the Boeing Clippers and which served as a valuable reference during the writing of this book.

  Special thanks to Mr. Douglas Miller, of Pelican Films, for his timely contribution of the copy of the Cairo letter which he provided in time to be included in the book. The contents and significance of the letter are discussed in the Appendix.

  A big thank-you to Mr. Derek R. Hughey of Tacoma, Washington for his contribution of copies of First Officer John Mack’s pilot flight log and an article from the Vacaville Reporter VISTA Magazine of January 1972 featuring an interview with First Officer Mack on the occasion of his retirement from Pan American.

  To Mrs. Merry Herd Barton, who, as a five year old child, was one of the evacuees from Noumea to Gladstone, grateful thanks for her information about her father, Folger Athearn, the Pan American station manager at Noumea at that time.

  AUTHOR’S PREFACE

  Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, a giant four-engine Pan American Airways Boeing flying boat, registered as NC18602, under the command of Captain Robert Ford, embarked on a remarkable journey. Caught en route over the South Pacific at the time of the Japanese attack, Captain Ford and his crew were forced into a flight plan than none of them had anticipated when they left San Francisco on December 1st for what was to have been a routine round trip commercial flight to Auckland, New Zealand. Faced with the threat of interception by Japanese forces, they were ordered to take their strategically valuable aircraft on a globe-girdling, 31,500 mile, six-week odyssey, heading westward mostly across territory that had never been flown over before by such a large commercial aircraft. With no suitable navigation charts, no certainty of obtaining fuel or servicing, and under a total veil of secrecy and radio blackout, they threaded their way across the war zones of the Far East, the Middle East, Africa, the South Atlantic, Brazil, and the Caribbean, to bring their aircraft home safely to New York. This is the story of that historic flight as related to me in person by Captain Robert Ford.

  In January, 1992, I visited Captain Ford at his ranch in Northern Cal
ifornia. I spent two days as his guest and obtained almost three hours of taped interviews. He also gave me a copy of the flight log kept by Fourth Officer John D. Steers.

  In August, 1993, I visited with Eugene Leach, the radio operator who came on board at Noumea. He also gave me additional photo-copies of John Steers’ flight log.

  During the early phases of my research one unresolved question remained: was there one aircraft or two involved in the flight? Later research has confirmed that Ford used another B-314 for the flight legs from San Francisco to San Pedro to Honolulu. According to Fourth Officer John Steers’ flight log the other aircraft was NC18606. They picked up NC18602 at Honolulu for the flight south.

  Another interesting fact is that First Officer John Mack was not with Ford on the flight legs from San Francisco to San Pedro to Honolulu. Mack had called in to say that he could not make the flight in time to depart with Ford. Pan Am operations hurriedly enlisted the services of another First Officer – Thomas N. White, Sr – to take Mack’s place. This situation is described more fully in Chapter One. The quoted dialogue is my best attempt to reflect what might have been said at any given time during the flight. Some of it is based on the personal statements of Bob Ford, much of it on my own experience as a Pan American Flight Radio Officer on board other B-314 flying boats. To the best of my knowledge no verbatim record was ever kept of the exact conversations that took place during the course of the flight. In some cases, where it was not possible to obtain exact details, I have used fictional names for some of the ground personnel they met along the way.

  The quoted contents of the Plan A letter and the telegrams that Ford received at Auckland are also my own interpretations of what they contained based upon my interviews with Captain Ford. Most of these records have been lost after the passage of more than 66 years. But the details of the flight, the identities of the flight crew and the events which occurred: all these are true.

  Ed Dover

  Albuquerque, New Mexico

  May, 2007

  Captain Robert Ford

  Figure NC18602 on its docking cradle at Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay (Boeing Aircraft Photo).

  Figure

  CHAPTER I

  FOR CAPTAIN’S EYES ONLY

  Captain Robert Ford scanned the sky over San Francisco Bay on December 1, 1941 as he walked – almost marched – in Pan American style military formation with his flight crew down the Treasure Island ramp toward the big flying boat. He pulled his jacket tighter against the chill of the breeze coming across the water. As he approached the gangway leading from the dock to the sea wing entrance of the flying boat he scanned the underside of the engine nacelles looking for any tell-tale sign of oil seepage that might require investigation. He also inspected the trailing edges of the wing and stabilizer looking for anything that might be amiss with the control surfaces.

  Ford was a veteran pilot for Pan American; spare and wiry with what could only be described as “pilot’s eyes” – keen and bright with just a touch of crow’s feet at the corners. Years of squinting into distant horizons, as he flew the early flying boats over Pan American’s oceanic air routes, had left their mark on his deeply tanned face. Whenever he came aboard one of the big Clippers he brought a commanding presence onto the flight deck. From his earliest days as a Navy pilot Ford had been a natural airman. Every long-time Pan American pilot of his era could attest to the rigid drill required to advance from Fourth Officer through Third, Second and First Officer ranks. Then, if he survived that long, he faced the final challenge of qualifying as a “Master of Ocean Flying Boats”; a majestically sonorous title that was all the more impressive considering the technical stature and performance of the flying machine that had to be mastered to achieve that rank.

  In the late 1930s and early 1940s a Pan American Airways Model 314 Boeing Clipper was awesome to watch as it sat on the water, rocking placidly at its mooring at Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay: a huge streamlined hull, 106 feet long; the great tapered wing spanning 152 feet from tip to tip. Even though it weighed 82,500 pounds it seemed to float lightly on the water.

  Figure B314 Main Lounge and Dining Salon (Boeing Aircraft photo).

  Figure

  Figure B314 plush, comfortable seating for all passengers (Pan American Airways photo).

  The compartmented passenger section had a daytime seating capacity of 74 and a nighttime sleeping capacity of 34 to 40. The spacious dining salon could seat 14 people at a time, as white-coated stewards served formal meals, complete with fine table linen, china and silverware. A spiral staircase led to the flight deck “upstairs” where the Captain commanded and directed his crew in all aspects of the ship’s operations. From this deck each crew member exercised his particular specialized talents in the process of carrying well-pampered passengers across the oceans to destinations that most ordinary people could only dream about. Since the Sikorsky S-40 of 1931 all Pan American flying boats, including the famous Martin M-130 China Clipper, had been named like the famous sailing ships of the previous century, But the Boeing was the biggest and best of them all.

  The Captain and First Officer did the primary piloting. The Captain was always at the controls for landings and takeoffs. The Second Officer was primarily responsible for navigation. The Third Officer acted as relief pilot for the Second Officer and, while on the water, was responsible for handling and mooring. The Fourth Officer acted as general pilot relief for the other four pilots in both ground and flight duties.

  Engineer’s Station on the B-314

  Two engineering officers managed the four Wright GR-2600-A2 power plants. Each engine was capable of generating 1,600 horsepower for takeoff. The aircraft’s wing was so thick along the leading edge that internal catwalks were installed there, allowing the crew access to each engine compartment during flight.

  Two radio officers took shifts in manning the radio desk from which they kept in touch with Pan Am’s bases while over the oceans. Morse Code was the over-ocean communications medium of choice at a time when voice communications was limited to within a few miles of each landing terminal.

  Below, in the passenger cabin, two white-coated stewards managed the galley and saw to the passengers’ creature comforts.

  Ford walked down the gangway followed by his crew. Also accompanying him was Jack Poindexter, Chief Flight Radio Officer for Pan Am’s Pacific Division. Poindexter looked up at the radio antenna wires strung between the vertical stabilizers and the fuselage. As with all of Pan Am’s Flight Radio Officers, he knew the importance of checking all parts of the aircraft’s radio equipment to ensure that they were in good working order before any flight; and this included a thorough pre-flight inspection of the antennas. He was especially aware of that concern now because he was checking out new radio equipment that had recently been installed aboard the B-314s. This short flight, from San Francisco to the Los Angeles flying boat station at San Pedro, would give him a chance to put that equipment through its paces before the Clipper set out on its scheduled run to Honolulu.

  They crossed the sea wing and entered the cabin. Ground service personnel were busy moving through the passenger area loading provisions and getting ready to receive passengers. Ford, his crew and Poindexter moved forward to the spiral stairway that led up to the flight deck. As they emerged from the stairwell each crew member went to his assigned station to begin pre-flight checks. Oscar Hendrickson, First Radio Officer, went to the radio desk and began checking the receivers. Poindexter stood beside him to observe his procedures. “How do the new receivers look to you, Oscar?”

  Figure B314 Flight Deck (Boeing Aircraft photo).

  Figure B314 Cockpit and Instrument Panel (Boeing Aircraft photo).

  “So far, so good. Just checking the DF function right now. That new A and N homing receiver looks pretty good. Anything special we need to know about it before we go?”

  “No, just what we covered in the class briefing. Main thing is the sharpness of the on-course signal, but we won
’t be able to check that until we’re airborne. Where’s your assistant?”

  “That would be Harry Strickland. He’s waiting for us at San Pedro. We’ll be picking him up down there. You coming to Honolulu with us?”

  “No. Just as far as San Pedro. The front office asked me to ride shotgun on these new receivers and transmitters just far enough to make sure they’re okay for the long haul. I don’t imagine we’ll have any problems with ‘em but they wanted me to check ‘em out, just to be sure. But I wish they’d given me notice on it sooner. Looks like I’ll have to take a late flight back from L.A. I’ve already phoned my wife to hold supper for me.”

  “That’s what you get for being the Chief and not one of the Indians!” Hendrickson quipped, grinning at his boss.

  “Is that the new equipment they showed us in the demo meeting yesterday?” Bob Ford asked Poindexter.

  “Yeah...just installed this morning.”