The Greatest Airliner of All Time?

Pan American World Airways Boeing 707-321 – Clipper Stargazer – at Los Angeles International Airport sometime in 1969

Boeing 707’s of Two Iconic Airlines at Los Angeles International Airport sometime in 1969.
It has been suggested that the Boeing 707 could be regarded as one of the greatest airliners of all time. It was the aircraft that launched daily scheduled passenger jet operations across the Atlantic and eventually around the world. Sadly, it was instrumental in the demise of trans-Atlantic ocean liner crossings and passenger rail services in the United States. However, the aircraft and its successors, aided by the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 and the liberalization of economic regulation in the rest of the world, have made air travel available to the masses. Interestingly, the availablity of air travel to the masses was not that recent a phenomenon. Back in the post World War II and 1950’s era, Pan American World Airways pioneered “Tourist” travel with the DC-6B. Affordable fares were offered to points in Pan Am’s worldwide system. I was one of the beneficiaries when my family traveled through Central and South America in the late 1950s. Below is a picture of the iconic DC-6B:

Pan American World Airways DC-6B, the “Super 6”, Clipper Midnight Sun.
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Filed under Airlines, Pan Am
Tagged with Airline, Airline Deregulation Act, Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, Boeing, Boeing 707, Boeing Aircraft, DC-6, DC-6B, Douglas Aircraft, Pan American World Airways, Technology, United States, World War II
About James Patrick ("Jamie") Baldwin
James Patrick ("Jamie") Baldwin is an author, blogger, lecturer and consultant in air transportation, an Adjunct Professor at the University of Maryland University College (UMUC), a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Westminster (London) and a Visiting Lecturer at Emirates Aviation University (Dubai). He is also a Contributing Editor to Airways Magazine.
Previously at ERAU’s College of Business he taught Business Law, Business Law for Airline Managers, and Airline Management. He was also faculty advisor to Sigma Alpha Epsilon.
As a lecturer he coordinates Aviation Law workshops for Aeropodium, a UK-based aviation-related events company and organizes Aviation Law Conferences at his law school, American University Washington College of Law (AUWCL).
As a consultant he specializes in start-up airline strategies, airline marketing, regulatory compliance, licensing, aircraft sourcing, strategic planning, contracts, agency agreements and preparing business plans.
An avid golfer, Mr Baldwin periodically writes a golf column for the Dorchester Banner.
Previously Mr Baldwin served as Deputy General Manager for Legal and Regulatory Affairs of Star Airways, a small Turkish cargo airline of which he was a founder, and prior to that, the US Representative of Tajik Air, the international airline of the Republic of Tajikistan. In the latter capacity, he represented the airline’s interests before the US government, multilateral development banks and private US and international business interests. He also coordinated and prepared on behalf of the government of Tajikistan a request for a grant from the US Trade and Development Agency for a feasibility study on its air transport sector.
Mr Baldwin also served as an officer in the US Navy (1974-1978) and the active US Naval Reserve (1978-1994). His latest assignments included service as a Naval Liaison Officer on tanker convoys during the Iran/Iraq War, Officer in Charge of military officers boarding, inspecting and briefing masters of merchant ships delivering military cargo during the first Gulf War and Commanding Officer of a US Naval Reserve unit. He is now retired with the rank of Commander.
Mr Baldwin is the author of Pan American World Airways – Images of a Great Airline (BluewaterPress, 2011). He also co-edited, with Jeff Kriendler, former Vice President, Corporate Communications at Pan Am, Pan American World Airways – Aviation History through the Words of its People (BluewaterPress, 2011). He, along with Mr Kriendler, recently published Pan Am - Personal Tributes to a Global Aviation Pioneer.
Mr Baldwin obtained an A.B. (Bachelor’s) Degree in International Relations from the University of Southern California (Los Angeles) and a J.D. (Juris Doctor) Degree from the AUWCL (Washington DC).
He is a member of the U.S. Naval Institute, the U. S. Golf Association, Cambridge Multi Sport (CMS) and Sigma Alpha Epsilon. He has traveled widely and includes among his interests distance running, golf, hill walking, sailing, model railroading, spectator sports, classical music and writing.
He is married and resides in Maryland.
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