Customer Reviews

Escape of the Pacific Clipper

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Given the exploit of the crew/passengers, this could have been a great story, but it was related in a pedestrian manner with terrible editing: grammatik would have sorted out much of this. When the end of the story is foretold, one must build suspense and the author didn't do this for me. And for a story of a 30,000 mile flight the maps (no, not maps: THE map) was a disgrace.

wmcca10011@aol.com May 4,2000 Opportunity missed! A great plot idea spoiled by historical inaccuries, a poor knowledge of aviation and air navigation and a total lack of critical editing. Needs a couple of re-writes under the quidence of a tough knowledgable editor.

The book is poorly written, badly edited and an unfortunate mix of fact and fiction.

Escape of the Pacific Clipper is often found on the bookshelves of shops in air museums such as the Museum of Flight in Seattle along with aviation histories.. This is unfortunate because such placement lends credibility to a book that has none. True, it is a work of historical fiction, but even historical fiction should be accurate in its details. For example, it is December 1941 in Auckland, New Zealand and the commander of the Pacific Clipper "...wanted the two radio men ... to try to jerry-rig a radar system to help them the rest of the way." I doubt anyone had any airborne radar systems just laying around in New Zealand in 1941. Even better, a passenger on the flight, a woman Navy lieutenant speaks Japanese and is able to decipher high-level Japanese military messages without a deciphering machine. Quite a feat for a woman Navy lieutenant (if there was such a thing) in 1941 or at any other time. Then we have the incident with the Japanese submarine during the flight from Surabaja to Trincomalee. The Pacific Clipper overflies a surfaced Japanese submarine and suddenly we have the following dialogue: "Captain, men coming out from below, onto the deck, running to the deck gun. Looks like a five millimeter. What are your going to do?" Indeed, what can anyone do when the Japanese start shooting a deck gun whose caliber is smaller than a .22 caliber rifle? With such egregious inaccuracies, what can we expect of the rest of the detail in the book? Beyond that? The book's dialogue is down right sappy. Even the old time Saturday matinee serials had more dynamic dialogue that this book. Well, why go on. This book is a waste of time. Don't waste your money.

Didn't really get past the first 50 pages. I was expecting some new info about the first few weeks of the Pacific War. While there is the new info that the Pan Am clipper was caught in the South Pacific, and it did return home via the Atlantic, Mr. Flynn's book reads like a two bit melo-drama with his injection of a Japanese sub commander and U.S male and female naval intelligence operatives. From my observations of the first 50 pages, it would appear the book will gather dust and eventually be discarded.

HI,

This book is filled with typographical errors and bad grammer, which kept me from easily reading the story, as farcical as it was. Does the publisher not proof read a book before it is published? The book should state at the beginning that it is a fictional account of actual events; and that the author is using an actual event to create an imagined story line. The "Prologe" should state that this is a fictional account of actual events, and not mislead the reader by simply saying: "This is their story".

I am the daughter of John Henry Mack and was not pleased with the liberties the author has taken embelishing a silly story and putting words that my Father supposedly spoke and deeds that my Father supposedly did during their historical trip around the world in the Pan Am Clipper.

I am curious to know where he got permisson for using my Father as well as the rest of the Crew Members to write such a silly account of a true historical event and make money off their accomplishments!!!!

Sincerely,

Nancy Mack Ford

The Escape of the Pacific Clipper is poorly written. It is full of errors: grammatical, spelling, factual and historical.

Whoever edited this book prior to publication must be illiterate.

While this book must have been published without benefit of an editor or proofreader, and some of the author's prose is amateurish, it's a good story. I am about two-thirds of the way through the book as I write this, and would gladly recommend it, with a warning about the errors and typos. Apparently a few people in the film industry thought enough of it to schedule it for production as a motion picture for 2008, according to the Internet Movie Database. The story is based on real events, and a large flying boat did indeed make its escape as described. Of course, the Indiana Jones style characters and their adventures are the author's creation. I hope they do make the film. I think it could turn out to be a delight.

"Escape of the Pacific Clipper" could be a great movie--but George L. Flynn filled this book with anachronisms, factual errors, bad spelling and worse grammar. I could fill a book with these things, and they bother me--even if this is supposed to be historical fiction. For example, "Navy Lt. Elmes" didn't act like a code breaker--she was too free with classified information. Not that this character is remotely realistic for 1941--she does curse like a sailor, but the US Navy and Pan Am had some strict notions about profanity around outsiders. There is a difference between a flying boat and an amphibian--as a former Air Force officer, Flynn should know that a flying boat isn't an amphibian aircraft! During the flying boat era, long-range short-wave communications was by manual Morse Code--it had to do with readability over long distances. Oh, yes, when a flying boat hits a floating obstacle such as a log or boat, the airplane often is destroyed. I could go on, but I'd rather not waste your time. This book is seriously flawed--even as mere fiction.

There are some good things about this book. The illustrations are very nice. I like indexes--even this is more of a historic novel than a history. I thought it was the latter.

Be aware of what you are buying.

Mr Flynn has brought to light a fascinating story of aeronautic adventure that was overshadowed by the events of World War II. The amazing story of the crew circumnavigating the globe is great, but considering the circumstances of a world at war, it is all the more exciting. The editor should be fired for all the errors in the final print, but this should not be held against the author or take away from this thoroughly enjoyable book.