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Harken Back to the Golden Age of Travel: A Pan American Retrospective

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Updated Mon, July 14, 2014 at 12:01 PM UTC

Juan Trippe (left) and Charles Lindbergh (right), 1929. — Pan Am’s founder, Juan Trippe and Charles Lindbergh stand with a Fokker F-10 at the dedication of Pan Am’s 36th Street Airport in Miami in 1929. As a boy growing up in Manhattan, Trippe saw pictures of a French pilot’s airplane that crashed while attempting to cross the English Channel in 1909. He built a wooden model of it, powered it with rubber bands, and flew it in Central Park. While studying engineering at Yale, he became a pilot and began racing planes. Trippe was standing in the crowd on May 20, 1927, when Charles Lindbergh left Roosevelt Field on Long Island to cross the Atlantic. After “Lucky Lindy” touched down in Paris, he became the hero of the century. Trippe, who had just founded Pan Am, invited Lindbergh to join him as a technological advisor. In 1927, Pan American Airways began flying the mail from Key West to Havana, Cuba. Together Trippe and Lindbergh opened up routes throughout South America, Asia, and Europe. Both men shared a global vision for aviation and remained friends for life.

Sikorsky, Pan Am’s flying boat, over Manhattan, 1931. — This Sikorsky S-40 American Clipper was photographed on October 12, 1931 as it flew north over Manhattan’s West Side, following the Hudson River. The aircraft was built by Count Igor Sikorsky, who had fled the Russian Revolution to set up shop in New England. Juan Trippe was planning flights to South America, so the flying boat was the perfect vehicle for a continent with few landing strips and plenty of water. Trippe and Charles Lindbergh made several long survey flights to South America in Trippe named Pan Am’s aircraft “clippers” to hark back to the great sailing ships of the early nineteenth century. He envisioned his aircraft as the merchant marine of the air, expanding American trade around the globe. By 1936, Pan Am was offering the first “Air Cruise”, a two-week trip from Miami to Rio de Janeiro—with stops in ten countries— for $865 in the more powerful Sikorsky S-42.

The Martin M-130 flying boat, a.k.a, the “China Clipper.” — n 1935 Pan Am became the first airline to offer commercial flights across the Pacific. The first leg from San Francisco to Hawaii was over 2,400 miles of open water—and it took twenty-one hours in a Martin M-130 flying boat. From there the plane would hopscotch—one island per day—to Midway, Wake, and Guam before landing in Hong Kong. With an average flying speed of just 130 miles per hour, the total journey was 8,000 miles. The China Clippers (as the planes serving the Pacific were generally known) were magnets for publicity. Juan Trippe authorized his PR man, Bill Van Dusen, to strike a deal with Warner Bros. for a movie— China Clipper—about the trans-Pacific flight. After battling a typhoon, the Clipper pilot played by Humphrey Bogart, grumbles about his boss saying, “I was just thinking about how swell it would have been if he’d said thanks.”

Cutaway view of the massive Boeing 314 — A cutaway view of the massive Boeing 314 shows air travel at its most civilized. Passengers were riding in style with sleeping compartments, a dining lounge, ladies powder room, and a deluxe stateroom at the tail of the plane. In the 1930’s it took an ocean liner five days to cross the Atlantic. On May 20, 1939, Captain Arthur Laporte flew the Boeing 314 Yankee Clipper from Long Island, New York to Lisbon, Portugal in just under 27 hours. By 1939, Pan Am aircraft served 55 countries around the world with 65,000 miles of skylanes. But when World War II exploded, Pan Am pivoted and began to serve the U.S. as a military transport system to supply its Allies not only in Europe and Asia, but also in Africa. In 1943, a Boeing 314 shuttled Franklin D. Roosevelt to Casablanca to meet with Winston Churchill and French General De Gaulle. After shaping the terms for unconditional surrender of the Axis nations, FDR flew home and celebrated his 61st birthday with caviar, champagne, roast turkey, and candlelit cake aboard Pan Am’s *Dixie Clipper.*

A Pan Am stewardess entertains passengers, 1944. — Amid much publicity, Pan American introduced its first stewardesses in 1944. Although women had already served with other airlines, Pan Am originally claimed that the long overseas flights were “a little too strenuous for a young woman.” The company hired women after the draft in World War II reduced the pool of men qualified to serve as flying boat stewards. “They hired take-charge people,” says Evelyn David, who started as a stewardess in 1949 and finished as a chief purser in 1991. “And they treated us like princesses.” In 1953, a Pan Am stewardess had to be physically fit, a good conversationalist, speak at least one foreign language, and preferably be a college graduate—with bonus points for training as a nurse. Flight service jobs offered women a chance to escape mundane lives and opened up a world of adventure. Before the Jet Age, crews enjoyed long layovers in exotic ports such as Buenos Aires or Hong Kong. As one stewardess described her job, “It was like getting paid to fly to Paris for lunch.”

Peter, Jane, and Henry Fonda board a Boeing Stratocruiser. — Long before they starred in “Easy Rider” and “Barbarella,” Peter Fonda and his sister Jane paused for a snapshot with their actor-father, Henry, before boarding a Boeing Stratocruiser - last of Pan Am’s propeller-driven aircraft. After the B-29 bomber served its purpose in World War II, Boeing engineers retailored the warplane into a civilian aircraft, the Stratocruiser in 1949. It was a roomy double-decker cruiser with overhead sleeping berths for youngsters and a lower-level cocktail lounge for Martini-drinkers. In 1950, noting its global reach, the company changed its name from Pan American Airways to Pan American World Airways and introduced its trademark slogan: “World’s Most Experienced Airline.” Two years later, Pan Am was flying passengers to Europe for only $270, almost a third off the old fare of $375.

A Boeing 707 flying over the Golden Gate Bridge, 1958 — In 1955, Juan Trippe led Pan Am into the Jet Age when he ordered 23 Boeing 707 jets, and 25 Douglas DC-8 jets. The new swept-wing aircraft were powered by Pratt & Whitney’s experimental J-75 engine, originally developed for military use. With a cruising speed of 600 miles per hour, the jet was nearly twice as fast as the piston-engine planes, and the move stunned Pan Am’s competitors, who were all still operating propeller-driven fleets. In the summer of 1964, Pan Am flew 214 scheduled trans-Atlantic flights per week; the following year the number jumped to 258. Jet cargo service commenced in 1963, and the 707 was capable of hauling 76,000 pounds per payload, shipping everything from baby elephants to perishable food. Flights from San Francisco to Tokyo and Hong Kong increased the flow of business between the US and Asia, while tourists thought nothing of flying to Tahiti for a weeklong tropical getaway. The Pan Am blue-globe logo, created by New York architect Edward Larrabee Barnes in 1955, soon became one of the most famous symbols in the world.

Passengers board the first scheduled Pan American jet flight. — In 1958, Pan Am initiated the first jet service from New York to Paris with the 707. On October 28th, “Clipper America,” commanded by Captain Samuel H. Miller, took off from rain-soaked Idlewild International Airport (later known as JFK), and flew to Paris with 11 passengers aboard. It was the first scheduled jet flight by any United States airline. The Boeing jet flew at 575 miles per hour, reducing the Atlantic crossing time to just seven hours, compared to the 23 it took on a boat. The traveling public lined up for tickets, and during the first three months of 1959, the Pan Am 707’s carried 33,400 passengers around the world, racking up a 90.8 percent seat occupancy, an all-time record. “Mass travel by air may prove to be more significant to world destiny than the atom bomb,” said Juan Trippe in 1955. “For there can be no atom bomb potentially more powerful than the air tourist, charged with curiosity, enthusiasm and goodwill…”

A Pan Am advertisement, 1959. — Pan Am was the first to offer daily jet flights to Paris, London, and other European cities. Advertising giant J. Walter Thompson created this ad in 1959, and would handle Pan Am’s promotion for more than thirty years. The ad offers the thrill of a spontaneous get-away vacation to Europe with fares as low as $298 roundtrip using the Pan Am Pay-Later plan. In the days when credit cards were rare, this was an enticing deal. For millions of overseas travelers, Pan Am agencies and airport counters functioned as unofficial embassies where American travelers could get advice, make business contacts, and get help in medical or political emergencies.

A jumbo jet overtaking the propeller driven Stratocruiser. — By 1966, after four decades of operation, Pan Am had been responsible for nearly every aeronautical innovation in commercial airline, from the invention of radio navigation by air to the jump-starting of the jet age. Juan Trippe was nearing 70- years-old when he made one of the biggest gambles of his life - commissioning the magnificent Boeing 747. Working closely with William Allen of Boeing, the companies’ engineers pushed aeronautic design to the limit. In April of 1966, Pan Am placed an order for 25 giant 747s, at a staggering cost of $600 million. The jumbo jet was nearly as long as a football field, weighed 680,000 pounds, and its nose was as high as a three-story building. Paul Roitsch, who later served as Pan Am’s chief test pilot, took it up for a spin and said, ”It was as strong as an ox and a joy to fly.” The jet went into action in 1970. Over 40 years later, it is still in use around the world.

Stewardesses on the wing of a 747, 1970. — The Boeing 747 went into commercial service in 1970, and the 231 foot-long wide-bodied jet held up to 350 passengers—each with their own needs. Stewardess Betsey Beeker remembers turning down a job at the CIA in 1967 to fly for Pan Am. She flew 747’s all over the world for two decades and says she loved every minute of it. Of course, it wasn’t all fun, but stewardesses were well-trained to meet every calamity. Candidates spent six weeks of intensive training in Miami, where they learned to scramble eggs at 20,00 feet, evacuate a water-ditched airplane, handle an unruly passenger, or assist a mother giving birth prematurely. Hijackings also became an issue and a flight attendant’s first priority was to ensure the safety of the passengers and crew. The job of a flight attendant lost some of its cachet in the 1970s when the women’s movement opened up more professional fields that had been exclusively male. Whether they were dealing with difficult passengers or turbulent flights, Pan Am stewardesses maintained cool heads. They will always be remembered for their professionalism, upbeat style, and grace under pressure.

A Pan Am helicopter soars over New York City. — In 1963, Pan Am’s headquarters in Manhattan was the largest corporate structure in the world. Designed by uber-modernist Walter Gropius, it loomed over Grand Central Station and Park Avenue. From the rooftop, a minute-minded traveler could catch a helicopter to bypass freeway traffic and land ten minutes later at Pan Am’s Worldport terminal at JFK Airport. In the 1980’s, the heliport was moved to a more sheltered location on the east side of Mahattan, after a helicopter crashed in high winds, killing several people In the days before Net Jets, celebrities often flew Pan Am, including presidents, ambassadors, and crowned heads of state. On my way to San Francisco in 1984 I was standing at the East River terminal waiting for the helicopter from JFK to land. The small door popped open and out stepped a familiar figure—and what a figure it was—the young Brook Shields, dressed in tight blue jeans.

Pan Am’s Worldport at JFK. — In 1973, Juan Trippe opened Pan Am’s futuristic terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. The Worldport was the largest air terminal created by any individual carrier, and distinctive for its giant disk-shaped roof made of reinforced concrete. Pan Am was now a worldwide corporation with 44,000 employees and 114,000 stockholders. The airline flew to over 160 countries and owned a chain of hotels. The stats were impressive, but behind the scenes, all was not well. Juan Trippe stepped aside to bring in new blood to run the company. In 1985, Pan Am employees went on strike, and later that year, the company sold all its routes to Asia and Australia for a whopping $750 million. Then, in 1988, a Libyan terrorist’s bomb exploded inside a Pan Am 747 as it flew over the rural Scottish town of Lockerbie. Passengers simply stopped flying Pan Am, and by 1991, the company ceased operations and went bankrupt. The rest is the stuff of history and legend.

Juan Trippe (left) and Charles Lindbergh (right), 1929.

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Pan Am’s founder, Juan Trippe and Charles Lindbergh stand with a Fokker F-10 at the dedication of Pan Am’s 36th Street Airport in Miami in 1929. As a boy growing up in Manhattan, Trippe saw pictures of a French pilot’s airplane that crashed while attempting to cross the English Channel in 1909. He built a wooden model of it, powered it with rubber bands, and flew it in Central Park. While studying engineering at Yale, he became a pilot and began racing planes. Trippe was standing in the crowd on May 20, 1927, when Charles Lindbergh left Roosevelt Field on Long Island to cross the Atlantic. After “Lucky Lindy” touched down in Paris, he became the hero of the century. Trippe, who had just founded Pan Am, invited Lindbergh to join him as a technological advisor. In 1927, Pan American Airways began flying the mail from Key West to Havana, Cuba. Together Trippe and Lindbergh opened up routes throughout South America, Asia, and Europe. Both men shared a global vision for aviation and remained friends for life.

Pan American World Airways wasn’t merely a successful airline, it was THE aviation company that helped create what Time publisher Henry Luce called, “The American Century”. The life of this company encompasses not just the story of twentieth century commercial aviation, but America’s rise to world dominance.

Great as it was, Pan Am fell prey to unfair international tariffs, government interference, internal corporate blunders, and a 1988 terrorist bombing. The airline filed for bankruptcy in 1991. Today, we think of Pan Am’s trademark blue globe as a bold American symbol of traveling in style—the way we remember the legendary trans-Atlantic ocean liners, or the fabled railcars of the Orient Express.

We take a look at some of Pan Am’s most memorable moments. (Photos provided by- Pan Am: An Aviation Legend by Barnaby Conrad)

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Harken Back to the Golden Age of Travel: A Pan American Retrospective

Juan Trippe (left) and Charles Lindbergh (right), 1929.

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