Seen from the USS Omaha, late March, 1939: the Yankee Clipper, the gigantic Boeing 314 flying boat that was the world's first ocean-crossing airliner. It's a seaplane, it has to land in the water. That's because there were not very many airports in 1939. New York City's first major airport, La Guardia, was originally half for seaplanes and half for "landplanes" (the original seaplane terminal, now called the Marine Air Terminal, still stands and functions but only because it is a protected landmark). Dad claims this is the Clipper's maiden voyage; I don't think so, but it might be the first transatlantic one.