While thousands of Boston residents scanned the sky in vain, 12 members of a new Freshman Seminar enjoyed "one of the greatest spectacles we've ever seen" early yesterday morning.

Although heavy clouds spoiled the sight for most people, seminar members and astronomers from the University Observatory flew above the clouds to observe the widely publicized total eclipse of the sun.

Ten other planes, likewise loaded with scientists, students, and photographers, left Logan Airport around 6 a.m. The University group flew in a DC-6 provided by Northeast Airlines; Dean Bundy, Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, head of the Department of Astronomy and Donald H. Menzel, Director of the University Observatory, headed the Harvard contingent in its expedition upward.

Menzel presented a brief talk about the eclipse until the plane broke though into sunlight. When the moon started the fifty-six-second period of totality, the airliner became a scene of controlled confusion. Nearly everyone on the plane hurriedly snapped pictures, since the next eclipse in this area will not come for 300 years.

But for observers on the ground, elaborate preparations went to naught. Crowds that gathered on North Shore beaches saw only a dramatic blackening of the clouded sky. The heavy mist and cloud cover effectively blocked the view of the moon's transit, making smoked glasses and exposed x-ray film completely useless.

From the top of Quincy House, the only visible object was the John Hancock weather light, prophetically flashing "cloudy weather." Only the fortunate few above the clouds glimpsed the eclipse; one hundred times as many people wished they had remained in bed.