The flying boat exhibit in Hangar 2 is a tribute to a key form of aerial transportation in the 1930s, especially across the Pacific Ocean.

The Pan American (Pan Am) flying boat airliners are featured. The exhibit contains videos, scale models (such as the Martin M-130 Clipper), photos and more. Pan Am was famous for flying the China Clipper. Besides the Martin M-130, two other U.S. 4-engine flying boats are featured: the Boeing B-314, and the Sikorsky S-42. During the 1930s, Pan Am frequently flew between San Francisco/Oakland and Honolulu. The last Pan Am B-314 flight to Honolulu was in April 1946. Other Pan Am routes extended all the way to Manila in the Philippine islands. In addition, routes across the Atlantic Ocean were flown by Pan Am, including New York to London and New York to Lisbon (in the B-314). Pan Am had additional routes across the Caribbean Ocean down to South America.

The exhibit video mentions other flying boat travel in the 1930s by the UK’s Imperial Airways, utilizing Short Brothers 4-engine aircraft with routes to India and Australia, among others.