History Challenge & Journal

[dtaai-maai]

Okay... across the Pacific then... and now that I think of it, wasn't there an early Bogart movie about such a service - can't think of the name, but it would have gone to US territories in the Pacific, which would have included the Philippines in the 1930s?

[Jimbob]

Original Facsimiles were not very successful and expensive which saw the advent of Teletext which were eventually replaced by Facsimiles now largely replaced by ....Scan and transmit emails. Yes, Facsimiles go back along way. Selenium is such a wonderful material.

[PeteC]

Okay... across the Pacific then... and now that I think of it, wasn't there an early Bogart movie about such a service - can't think of the name, but it would have gone to US territories in the Pacific, which would have included the Philippines in the 1930s?

Yes indeed. Today's (early) trophy goes to DTM.

It's the China Clipper and the beginning of Pan American Airways (Pan Am). See below short story:


Did you know that the first trans-Pacific airmail service followed in the wake of 19th century sailing pilots by hop-scotching the islands across the Pacific?

By the mid-1930s, the Great Depression was losing steam. Americans found new hope as major projects like the Golden Gate Bridge, Bay Bridge, and Hoover Dam came into fruition. Among them was the first trans-Pacific airmail service from San Francisco to Manila. Following the wake of maritime pioneers, young and dynamic Juan T. Trippe, president of Pan American Airways studied American clipper ships' logs and charts to find passage through the Pacific. To cover great distances between refueling, his scheme like 19th century sailing pilots was to depend on hop-scotching the islands across the Pacific. Trippe found the seaplanes with some modifications could go the distance between San Francisco, Hawaii and Midway, but he needed a stopover between Midway and Guam. Through de-classified government records he found uninhabited Wake Island; so tiny it didn’t appear on any maps, but it had a large lagoon on which to land seaplanes. Trippe chartered a 15,000 ton merchant ship, North Haven, and loaded it with young, adventure-seeking men and aviation equipment to provision the islands and make ready commercial landing strips. In 1935, impatient to start and with the Wake Island lagoon landing partially completed, Trippe sent a huge Martin 130 with much fanfare on its inaugural flight from Alameda to Manila and back. He named the seaplane, China Clipper, a nod to his affinity with ancient mariners and their dogged pursuit of innovation and mutual vision of circumnavigating the world.

Image: The China Clipper flies past the unfinished Golden Gate Bridge and heads toward Hawaii, November 22, 1935. Photo from Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Multimedia Gallery (https://airandspace.si.edu/

[Big Boy]

Image: The China Clipper flies past the unfinished Golden Gate Bridge and heads toward Hawaii, November 22, 1935. Photo from Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Multimedia Gallery (https://airandspace.si.edu/

Can't find it, what do I need to click from the link?

[PeteC]

The photo is at the beginning of the quiz. I didn't get it from that link, it was in a separate story on FB. Here is what you get at that link if you look for "China Clipper"...... https://airandspace.si.edu/exhibitions/ ... tion17.cfm. (The photo is on there on the left and enlarges if you click it)

[PeteC]

On this day in 1945 something huge happened. What???

I don't think I need to give a clue for this one.

[pharvey]

The end of World War II

[PeteC]

Yes, close enough...the date of the Japanese signed their surrender.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/date ... 582545.stm

[dtaai-maai]

While we're in the 1940s, what happened on 21 January 1942?

[PeteC]

Japanese or European?......war related?

[dtaai-maai]

Definitely war related, partially Japanese, but indirectly.

[pharvey]

The fall of Singapore?

[EDIT] I'm sure it was '42, but the date????

[dtaai-maai]

Nope

[pharvey]

Nope

Bitch....

[PeteC]

I think I know what it is but I'll let Pharvey have a go. He has little to do anyway.

Edit: Scratch that, not the event I was thinking off. (The Doolittle raid on Tokyo)