"The photographs and artwork will enable readers to grasp the magnificence of the transoceanic flying boats...The accurate, authoritative text will provide information that is new to all but the exceptionally well-informed aviation buff and nonspecialist historian."
--Choice

For a world recovering from the Great Depression, the Pan American Airways Clipper symbolized luxury, adventure and a brighter future. Illustrated with rare period photographs, vintage travel posters, magazine ads and colorful company brochures, Pan American Clippers covers all aspects of the Golden Age of Pan American's graceful "flying boats."

This edition has an additional 16 pages to add more historical and current information and provide additional detail and context to the historical importance of the flying boats, including:

• Pan Am's Art Deco terminals
• the fate of the last Pan Am Clippers and where to see the survivors
• the Foynes Flying Boat Terminal, Ireland
• Trippe and Lindbergh's groundbreaking flight to Asia by way of the Great Circle Route (Canada-Alaska-Siberia-Japan-China)
• Shediac, New Brunswick, landing site of 24 Savoia Manchetti S-55 flying boats from Rome en route to Chicago's Century of Progress International Exposition
• Pan Am enters politics when Frank Roosevelt uses it in Latin America to sidestep the World War II Neutrality Act
• Trippe's long-held dream of flying mail and passengers across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe, and the opening of LaGuardia Airport.

Visionary Pan Am founder Juan Trippe knew the importance of international travel to the 20th century, and his pioneering airline played a central role in the advancement of transoceanic flight, setting overseas time and distance records, providing airmail delivery and eventually as troop and cargo transports for the Allies during World War II. By dramatically reducing travel time and opening up international air travel to the general public, Pan Am Clippers forever changed the world.

This captivating, informative and richly illustrated book takes readers back to a time of glamor, romance and progress, when dreams once thought impossible were suddenly a reality.

James Trautman is a regular contributor to North American magazines and newspapers, including Antique Week, and has been featured on CBC TV shows on the history of sports cards, games and other collectibles. He is now working on a project to uncover the wreckage of one of the Pan Am Clippers lost in World War II. A native New Yorker, he lives in southern Ontario.

James Trautman's profile page

What will be obvious to anyone who picks up Pan American Clippers is the far-reaching search that Trautman has conducted to assemble the 300 illustrations, photos, drawings and posters that complement the text. It is sad that none of Pan Am's original seagoing Clippers survived, but Trautman's fascinating factual review should be the book everyone reaches for whenever questions about them arise.

HistoryNet

It is a large format book of 280 pages, fabulously illustrated in black and white and colour... This book is highly recommended.

Catalina News

[Review of previous edition:] A history of the romantic, elegant, and adventurous flying boat era of the 1930s and '40s.

MTH Railroaders Club magazine

[Review of previous edition:] A feast for the eyes and information for the mind... The photographs and art work will enable readers to grasp the magnificence of the transoceanic flying boats... The accurate, authoritative text will provide information that is new to all but the exceptionally well-informed aviation buff and nonspecialist historian....

Choice

[Review of previous edition:] Author and aviation historian Trautman provides an interesting and nostalgic look back at the era of the Pan American Clipper "flying boats."

SciTech Book News

[Review of previous edition:] This book is a feast of archival photographs of the development and maturation of the Pan Am "flying boats."

The Guelph Mercury

[Review of previous edition:] [The book's] major appeal is the 200 color images and 100 historical black-and-white photographs.

Booklist

[Review of previous edition:] Exhaustive research and gifted writing allow Trautman to take you on a fascinating journey through this unique era of aircraft and aviation.... From the vintage Art Deco advertising, recollections of former passengers and inclusions of items such as the daily log of an engineer, the many facets of this 15 year reign of the skies is laid out before you in an inviting and absorbing format. For anyone with a passion for aviation, it is a delightful assemblage of data and a welcome addition to their library. But with his skillful arrangement and beautiful presentation, Trautman has created a book that anyone will enjoy reading. It will take a place of honour on your coffee table as you pour over the pages time and again. Chances are you'll be wishing that you could have experienced travel on the Pam American clippers first hand back in the '30s and '40s. Trautman offers you a vicarious alternative that you can enjoy in the comfort of your favourite chair.

The Wayback Times

Very Highly Recommended... The author has combined comprehensive text with a great many first class illustrations. There are photographs from the time, together with reproductions of the posters, magazine advertisements and travel posters. The Sikorski, Martin and Boeing flying boats used as Clippers are covered, together with a wealth of facts and clear record of the history of the planes and the flights, including the accidents. There is everything that the reader could want to know about this exciting period of passenger flying, through the military service in WWII. This is a now largely forgotten golden age of flight, brought to life in the images and the engaging text.

FIRE Project Online Review Database