Pan American engineers believe the new. airliner, constructed at a cost of U.S4000000, will create several world records for speed with load during her flight to Manila.
Completely stream-lined, the Boeing Clipper belies its size. It is a high-wing monoplane of all-metal construction, with wings, sea wings and tail surfaces all internally braced. Wings have two main truss-type spars and have a stressed skin covering consisting of aluminum alloy corrugation on the inside and smooth Alclad aluminum alloy sheets on the outside.
Fuel tanks are. built integrally in the hydro-stabilizers, or sea-wings, the outside, skin of the hydro-stabilizers serving also as the outside wall of the fuel tanks. The plane is constructed chiefly of aluminum alloy, with the exception. of highly stressed parts near the centre of the ship, which are largely of steel.
Because of its enormous size, the Clipper was constructed by methods approaching ship-building technique. The hull was assembled inside the Boeing assembly building in a giant jig, much like a ship-building cradle, encircled by a maze of scaffolding allowing workmen to work at five different levels simultaneously. Wings were assembled in a separate build-
The first of the new fleet of five giant Clipper was eighteen months in construction at the Boeing factory at Seattle. It was first launched on Puget Sound early last summer. Results of tests far surpassed expectations and the stamp of approval has been affixed by the Boeing Aircraft Ca. the United States Government and Pan American Airways—
United Press.
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