[2] The Boeing 314 with civil registration NC18602 was delivered to Pan American; it made its shakedown flight from San Francisco, United States to Hong Kong from February 23 to March 3, 1939.

[3] On December 2, 1941, the Clipper departed from the Pan American base on Treasure Island, San Francisco for its scheduled passenger service to Auckland, New Zealand.

[4][5] It landed at Pan American's LaGuardia Field seaplane base in New York City five weeks later, at 7:12 on the morning of January 6, 1942.

[8] On 30/31 January 1942, the Pacific Clipper transported Under Secretary of State Sumner Welles from the Pan-American emergency defense conference at Rio de Janeiro to Miami, covering the 4,350 miles in a record 33 hours.

NC18611 was inbound to Pearl Harbor with about an hour of flight time remaining; it diverted to Hilo, Hawaii and returned to California after dark.