Reputed to be the first passenger flight between Manila and Hong Kong. Pan American initially used S-42s for the final two stages of its trans-Pacific passenger services. Martin M-130s flew the stages from San Francisco to Manila. Hong Kong's water airport was a jetty at Kai Tak aerodrome. NC16724, later renamed Samoan Clipper, exploded on January 11, 1938 while attempting to dump fuel so it could return to Samoa. Killed was famed Pan Am pilot Ed Musick. Photo from: National Library of Australia

The New York - Bermuda service inaugurated by Pan Am and Imperial Airways in 1937 was aimed at tourists, but Bermuda was planned to become an important stop in the upcoming transatlantic flying boat traffic, hence the large new building in the background, not yet marked 'Bermuda Airport - Imperial Airways' here. Darrell's Island is a small islet so onward boat transport was necessary - no effort was spared to make passengers seasick as well as airsick, it seems! Photo from: University of Miami

NC16735 Bermuda Clipper made a series of survey flights from New York to Bermuda in May and June 1937 before a regular service was started by Pan Am and Imperial Airways. Photo from: University of Miami

'First Atlantic survey flight to Lisbon.' Another shot confirms the registration. NC16736 wore the name Pan American Clipper III just a month earlier. Photo probably taken off Alverca which handled seaplanes until 1938 when the Aeroporto Marítimo de Cabo Ruivo was established near the new landplane airport at Portela. Photo from: University of Miami

Highly symbolic of the end of the era of exploration in aviation: an American and a British flying boat on route surveying flights meet up in far-flung New Zealand. The Short S.23 Empire of Imperial Airways is G-ADUT Centaurus. Pan Am's Samoan Clipper arrived back in Honolulu on 3 January 1938. Unfortunately, during her next flight to New Zealand she exploded south of Pago Pago, American Samoa, on 11 January, kiling her seven crew including the famous Captain Ed Musick. Photo from: Whites Aviation Collection/Alexander Turnbull Library

Later renamed Bermuda Clipper. The S-42 was used mainly on Pan Am's Miami - Rio route. Pending the completion of the Marine Air Terminal at New York - LGA, the modest Port Washington facility on Long Island was used for Atlantic flights, although revenue services only reached as far as Bermuda until the Boeing 314 became available just before WWII. Photo by: Rudy Arnold / Smithsonian Institution