While the DC-3’s were cutting to an overnight hop the air journey from coast to coast, Captain Eddie Rickenbacker had pushed his Eastern Air Lines from New York to Miami, Florida. Here it connected with Juan Trippe’s Pan American Airways. By this time Trippe’s Pan American _Clipper_ planes regularly were covering a route from Miami down through the West Indies to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and to Buenos Aires in the Argentine. At Buenos Aires Pan American Airways connected with Harold R. Harris’ Pan American-Grace Airways to complete a route over the Andes and back up the west coast of South America. The story of Harold Harris and his airway is a book in itself. Harris, a veteran flier of World War I, had been an Army test pilot. In 1922 he became the first member of the “Caterpillar Club” when he used a parachute to escape from a plane which had failed. Later, as a crop-dusting pilot in Peru, he visualized and founded the Pan American-Grace air route. By the time Juan Trippe’s Pan American Clippers were flying over every country in Central and South America, his active mind was busy planning another “survey.” Though his company at that time was operating the world’s largest airline, Trippe was planning new worlds to conquer. Pan American had been using Igor Sikorsky’s four-engined flying boats on his route to Rio and Buenos Aires, and Trippe sent one of them, with veteran Edwin Misick in command, on a “survey” flight westward across the Pacific. [Illustration: 1935 WINGSPAN 130 FEET LENGTH 90 FEET THE GIANT MARTIN 130 WAS DESIGNED AND BUILT FOR THE LONG-RANGE FLIGHTS THAT WERE NECESSARY ON PAN AMERICAN’S TRANS-PACIFIC ROUTES. POWER FOUR 14-CYLINDER 750-HP. RADIAL ENGINES IT WAS POWERED WITH PRATT & WHITNEY TWIN-ROW, WASP RADIAL ENGINES AND HAD A TOP SPEED OF 180 MILES PER HOUR. SPEED ONE HOUR 130 MILES RANGE 3,200 MILES CEILING 10,000 FEET PAYLOAD 46 DAY PASSENGERS OR 26 SLEEPING BERTHS, A CREW OF SIX, AND A TON OF MAIL OR CARGO. THE MARTIN 130, CALLED THE _CHINA CLIPPER_, WAS THE FIRST OF A GROUP OF MARTIN FLYING BOATS THAT PIONEERED PAN AMERICAN’S TRANS-PACIFIC MAIL, PASSENGER, AND CARGO SERVICE FROM AMERICA TO HAWAII, THE PHILIPPINES, CHINA, AND AUSTRALIA. THE GIANT, ROOMY PLANE WAS EQUIPPED WITH EVERY LUXURY FOR AIR TRAVELERS. IT COULD CLIMB TO AN ALTITUDE OF OVER 17,000 FEET, BUT CRUISED MORE ECONOMICALLY AND COMFORTABLY AT 10,000 FEET. THE MARTIN 130 WAS THE LARGEST FLYING BOAT OF ITS TIME. IT WAS OF VERY RUGGED CONSTRUCTION AND WAS EQUIPPED WITH TWO-WAY RADIO AND OTHER SAFETY DEVICES. THE ORIGINAL _CHINA CLIPPER_ BUILT UP A RECORD OF 12,000,000 MILES OF OCEAN FLYING FROM 1935 TO 1945.] [Illustration]