The Boeing 314 was an enormous aeroplane for its time. It was designed for intercontinental air transport and began flying in 1939. By the end of World War II it had been rendered obsolete by land based long range airliners.

The Boeing 314 flying boat was designed to meet a 1936 Pan American specification for a large flying boat capable of flying across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

The first one flew on 7 June 1938 and a total of 12 were manufactured.

They began services across the Pacific in February 1939 (the flight took six days) and across the Atlantic for the first time in June 1939.

During World War II the Boeings were used almost exclusively on military duties but they were withdrawn from service in 1946, having been rendered obsolete by new land based long range aircraft such as the Douglas DC-4 and Lockheed Constellation.

This model represents the Pan American Boeing 314, ‘Yankee Clipper’, in 1939.

Minicraft 1/144 kit completed by Leigh Edmonds in December 2017.