Samoan Clipper

*Samoan Clipper*
	NC16734 Samoan Clipper (foreground), moored at Auckland, New Zealand in 1937.
Accident
Date	January 11, 1938
Summary	In-flight explosion
Site	Pago Pago, American Samoa ; 14°8′20″S 170°51′0″W / 14.13889°S 170.85000°W
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Sikorsky S-42B
Aircraft name	Samoan Clipper; (formerly Pan American Clipper II)
Operator	Pan Am
Registration	NC16734
Flight origin	Honolulu, Hawaii
1st stopover	Kingman Reef
2nd stopover	Pago Pago, American Samoa
Destination	Auckland, New Zealand
Passengers	0
Crew	7
Fatalities	7
Survivors	0

Samoan Clipper was one of ten Pan American Airways Sikorsky S-42 flying boats. It exploded near Pago Pago, American Samoa, on January 11, 1938, while piloted by aviator Edwin Musick. Musick and his crew of six died in the crash. The aircraft was carrying only airmail and express freight; no passengers were aboard.

The aircraft developed an oil leak shortly after taking off from Pago Pago harbor, and the crew decided to return to port. However, the S-42, fully loaded with fuel, was too heavy to land safely in the limited space of the harbor, so the crew elected to dump fuel before landing. While fuel dumping was in progress, there was a fire and explosion which destroyed the aircraft, killing all aboard.^[1] The exact cause of ignition for the fire could not be determined.^[2]

References

^ Accident description for NC16734 at the Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved on 6 October 2013.
^ Aircraft accident report from Bureau of Air Commerce, 1 April 1938.

External links

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[1] Accident description for NC16734 at the Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved on 6 October 2013.

[2] Aircraft accident report from Bureau of Air Commerce, 1 April 1938.

[1]

[2]

v t e Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States and U.S. territories in the 1930s
1931	Transcontinental & Western Air Fokker F-10 crash (March 1931)
1933	USS Akron crash (April 1933) United Air Lines Flight 23 (October 1933)
1934	1934 United Air Lines Boeing 247 crash (February 1934)
1935	USS Macon (ZRS-5) crash (February 1935) TWA Flight 6 (May 1935) United Air Lines Flight 4 (October 1935)
1936	American Airlines Flight 1 (January 1936) TWA Flight 1 (April 1936) Chicago and Southern Flight 4 (August 1936) United Air Lines Flight 34 (December 1936)
1937	Western Air Express Flight 7 (January 1937) Hindenburg disaster (May 1937)
1938	Northwest Airlines Flight 2 (January 10 1938) Samoan Clipper (January 11 1938)* TWA Flight 8 (March 1938)
1939	Northwest Airlines Flight 1 (January 1939)
This list is incomplete. An asterisk (*) denotes an incident that took place in a U.S. territory.