Sample World Maps

I got a little bored one Sunday morning and I decided to upload maps for some out-of-the way places from the MapSource WorldMap CD into my GPS III Plus. I used the "Most" resolution mode along with auto settings for all data types. This means that railroads do not appear on the maps as I have not zoomed in tight enough. However, small roads should be visible on all of the maps, as I did make an effort to look for those.

I'll probably add maps now and again, so keep checking back. If you have an interesting place and would like to see a map for it, let me know and I'll try to add it to the gallery.

Ports of the Flying Clipper Ships

If you've visited other pages on my site, you know that I'm interested in aviation and in particular Pan Am's flying boats. These maps are of some of the destinations called on en-route to Hong Kong & New Zealand.

Flying boat trips began at Treasure Island, a man-made island located between San Francisco & Oakland. San Francisco was chosen over Los Angeles because it's slightly closer to Hawaii. I'm cheating here and I'm using the U. S. Roads & Recreation CD for this shot.

After as long as twenty hours in flight, the Clipper would arrive in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii. Passengers stayed at the Pan Am Inn, located in Pearl City, just north of Pearl Harbor, the center of this shot. I'm also using U. S. Roads & Recreation CD and you can see the diamonds marking the sites of the U. S. S. Utah & Arizona.

The traditional China Clipper route went west to Hong Kong. First stop after civilization was Midway, an almost uninhabited pair of islands that played host to a huge Gooney Bird (Leysan Albatross) nesting area. Pan Am created a town here to service the Clippers and had a hotel to provide overnight accommodation for the passengers. Midway became a military base after it was recovered from the Japanese in World War II and it was recently closed. Now, it's a wildlife sanctuary and is once again open for tourism.

Wake Island is an isolated atoll that was outfitted similarly to Midway. Wake was attacked by the Japanese at the same time as Hawaii and it eventually fell, cutting off Clippers at the far end of the route and causing them to return home the long way around the world.

Arriving in Guam, passengers were once again in civilization.

Cavite, outside of Manila was the final stop for the big Clippers.

Pan Am operated continuing service to the Portuguese colony of Macao. Pan Am had difficulty negotiating landing rights to Hong Kong as it was a British colony. The United States & Great Britain had difficulty in negotiating an aviation treaty and this closed this destination along with Atlantic Ocean service until much later than it was technically possible.

The airline paid a huge price in lives and dollars to open a route to New Zealand (and hopefully on to Australia), but the service operated for only a short time in 1941 before the war ended the passenger service. First stop after Hawaii was meant to be Kingman Reef, an atoll that is awash most of the day. Basically this is a hazard to navigation that's slightly underwater, and it wound up not being a good spot even for refueling.

Kingman Reef was eventually given up for Canton Island, part of the Phoenix Islands chain in Kiribati. Canton was not originally chosen as there was some doubt that it was a U. S. possession. Ultimately the U. S. Government sent a small war ship to the island to take possession. The British had the same idea and sent an Australian ship to the island to make a claim. Ultimately, the military people were not able to come to agreement, but Pan Am was able to build a hotel similar to the ones at Midway & Wake. The British, for their part built a hut and installed an Australian postmaster at the other end of the island to protect their claim.

Noumea in New Caledonia was not Pan Am's first choice for the next stop either. Original plans called for a stop in Pago Pago, American Samoa, but the approach into the harbor was very difficult and it wasn't protected from the elements. Pan Am lost Ed Musick, their senior pilot and his crew on a survey flight leaving Pago Pago. Noumea, on the other hand, had a good harbor and good accomodations for passengers.

Auckland was end of the line for the Southern route. Pan Am's flights were designed to connect with British Export Airways flights from Sydney, Australia, which hypothetically created a round-the-world service via the "Kangaroo Route".

Howland Island was never on Pan Am's expansion plans because it did not have a protected harbor. However, a runway was built there for Amelia Earhart's attempted flight around the world. Fred Noonan, a Pan Am navigator accompanied her on this trip. Noonan was experienced with navigation in the Pacific and finding this island should not have been a problem for him. The fact that they didn't make it to Howland makes for many fascinating stories, the most likely of which was that they found Baker Island, the sister island to Howland, ditched there and died while waiting to be rescued.

Some Other Pacific Destinations

Original home to the Bounty Mutineers. I think there are only fifty or so living there now.

The Australian Government moved most of the families from Pitcairn to Norfolk, which is much more centrally located, has room for an airport and is quite a tourist destination.

Australia

This is the Western suburbs of Brisbane, Australia, centered at Leesa's parents' house.

Asia

Nepal is probably the furthest off the beaten path that I've gone on my own dime. Shame the map doesn't show more roads.

Laos is probably the most out of the way place I've not been to that I would really like to visit. Why, I don't really know.

Africa

This is the closest to the middle of nowhere that I've been to on other people's money. My employer sent me there to audit a food service operation at the base there. The audit took a few hours, but there was only one flight a week.

Walvis Bay is the only deep water port in Namibia and it's part of South Africa. Or at least it used to be until 1989. I don't know what happened after Namibia got independence.