Pan American World Airways – Images of a Great Airline Second Edition

8 February 2023 Leave a comment

During the month of February, a number of significant events during the life of Pan American World Airways took place, including the airline’s first flight to the Canal Zone (1929), the first DC-8 delivery (1960), the first Boeing 720B delivery (1963), the acquisition of Sociedad Colombo Alemana de Transportes Aéreos (SCADTA) (1930), the first delivery of the DC-6B (1952), and the first service to the People’s Republic of China (1981). Many of these are described in excellent detail, along with illustrations, in the book, Pan American World Airways – Images of a Great Airline Second Edition. The descriptions are written in a lively manner that will entertain – and educate – young and old alike.

Pan American World Airways – Images of a Great Airline Second Edition is a “must read” for anyone interested in the contributions made to international civil aviation by Pan American World Airways and belongs in every library of aviation literature. Included in this volume is a detailed timeline, covering the entire history of the airline, from the early beginnings to the sad end, along with many images of the airline’s aircraft and memorabilia, some of which is extremely rare.

This book is intended to tell the story of one of the greatest airlines of all time and be passed on so future generations will appreciate the important role Pan American World Airways played in developing international air transportation.

This book can be purchased on eBay, Etsy, or Amazon. Expedited and International Shipping is Available. Use the links below:

Etsy Link (paperback): https://www.etsy.com/listing/587190939/
Etsy Link (hardcover): https://www.etsy.com/listing/1118370286/

eBay Link (paperback): https://www.ebay.com/itm/184281953583
eBay Link (hardcover): https://www.ebay.com/itm/185761986314

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09K262GZY/

Filed under Airline History, Airlines, Pan Am Tagged with Airline History, Aviation, Boeing, Juan Trippe, PAA, Pan Am, Pan Am Clippers, Pan Am history, Pan American, Pan American World Airways

Pan American Crosses the Pacific!

22 November 2020 Leave a comment

Eighty-five years ago today, 22 November 1935, Pan American World Airways China Clipper departed San Francisco, inaugurating the first ever transpacific and transoceanic scheduled airline service.

The Martin M-130 flying boat flew from San Francisco to Manila with stops in Honolulu, Midway Island, Wake Island and Guam. The 8,210-mile trip took 59 hours and 48 minutes flying time.

Read about this amazing achievement in Pan American World Airways – Images of a Great Airline Second Edition. For info and to purchase, visit http://www.ebay.com/itm/184281953583

Filed under Uncategorized Tagged with Airline, Airline History, Aviation, aviation history, aviation pioneer, Pan Am, Pan Am history, Pan American World Airways

Pan Am Images 2nd Edition

22 June 2020 2 Comments

The 2nd Edition of Pan American World Airways – Images of a Great Airline is now available!

From the Preface:

In the first edition of this book, published in 2011, I set out to list the “firsts”, along with significant events, of the life of Pan American World Airways, and present them in chronological order divided into six sections representing key eras: (1) Beginnings (1927-1939); (2) The War Years (1940-1945); (3) The Piston Era (1946-1957); (4) The Jet Age (1958-1969); (5) Top of the World – Boeing 747 (1970-1979); and (6) End of an American Icon (1980-1991). The firsts and significant events were listed at the beginning of each section followed by illustrations from that era, including covers of annual reports, covers of time tables (along with a page of flight schedules and route map), baggage strap tags, safety information cards and pictures of aircraft.

This formula is largely preserved in this Second Edition, which features more images of aircraft and enhanced images of timetable pages and maps. Covers of annual reports are still included but the safety information cards have been removed.

A major addition to this edition, however, are narratives on certain pieces of Pan American’s history. These were originally published as posts in my blog, “The Pan Am Series”, in jpbtransconsulting.com. The narratives I selected to include in this book cover the development and launch of key aircraft operated by Pan American and key routes the airline operated from its beginnings to the end. The routes featured include Latin America, the first trans-Pacific flight, crossing the Atlantic and Pan American’s famous round-the-world service operated by flights 1 and 2. The narratives are populated with images illustrating the story being told.

As written in the preface to the first edition of this book, probably no airline in the history of aviation has attracted more attention and has been more written about than Pan American World Airways, for decades the symbol of airline superiority world-wide. This is the airline that pioneered air navigation and communications. It introduced international and over-ocean flights. It set the standard for in-flight service and brought air travel to the masses through the introduction of “Tourist” class. It brought the industry into the jet age and eventually the era of the wide-body jet. To thousands of Americans living and working overseas, Pan American meant home. Pan American served the United States and never failed to answer the call of the country. For many, Pan American was the symbol of the United States around the world.

Pan American shut down on 4 December 1991. However, the legacy lives on and the airline still has influence in the industry as recently exemplified by Emirates Airline’s highlighting Pan American’s in-flight meal service as the standard for theirs. And, as is pointed out in the narrative on the “Nautical Airline”, the pilot-in-command is still known as the “Captain”.

The people of Pan American World Airways and its friends and fans have a unique loyalty to their airline that has manifested itself through the social media as well as at numerous gatherings around the world. This loyalty continues even though the company has been gone for over twenty years. Recently, an additional group of “loyalists” have emerged, and they are the children and grandchildren of those who worked for the airline in the past decades. They, too, want to preserve the rich history of the once great airline.

Since the publication of the first edition of this book, numerous books have been published, many by former Pan Amers sharing their experiences with the rest of the world. One book, which I, along with Pan American’s former Vice President for Corporate Communications Jeff Kriendler put together, Pan Am – Personal Tributes to a Global Aviation Pioneer, can be considered the seminal book about the airline. Its purpose is to preserve the legacy of an aviation giant. This second edition is aimed to complement that book and fulfills my goal in keeping the Pan American story alive.

This book is available on eBay at https://www.ebay.com/itm/184281953583

Filed under Uncategorized Tagged with Airline History, aviation history, Pan Am, Pan Am Clippers, Pan Am history, Pan American World Airways

Pan Am Series – Part XLVI: The Last Clipper

4 December 2014 3 Comments

The Last Clipper

“Any pilot’s final flight is traumatic, but when it’s the last for an American Icon, it becomes a part of history.”

Pan American Boeing 727-235 - Same Aircraft type as Clipper Goodwill (Photo by Pedro Aragão)

Pan American Boeing 727-235 – same Aircraft type as “The Last Clipper”. (Photo by Pedro Aragão)

TWENTY-THREE years ago today, Pan American World Airways ceased all operations and thus ended a glorious existence that included pioneering events that shaped what international commercial aviation is today. Last year this Series featured the story of the last Pan Am 747 to South America piloted by John Marshall. This year will feature the story by Mark Pyle of the Last Clipper to carry revenue passengers from Barbados to Miami. He was also the pilot of that flight and his story is featured in the book Pan American World Airways – Aviation History Through the Words of its People. Here it is in its entirety:

“At one time, I subscribed to Aviation Quarterly, which was remarkable in its quality, its appreciation of aviation, and its unrelenting pursuit of excellence. It was hardbound and worthy of being perused in my favorite lounge chair as I enjoyed a snifter of choice brandy. I was a life-time charter member, but it is now defunct and belongs to history. Nothing is forever!

“My airline now belongs to the past as surely does my aging lot of forgotten magazines. Pan American World Airways is lost–lost to corporate ineptitude, governmental indifference, and an inability to change with the world it helped to bring together.

“’It looks like a beautiful day to go flying,’ First Officer Robert Knox of Greensboro, N.C., said as we began our ritual of checking the weather along our route of flight. Flight 219, bound for Bridgetowne, Barbados, was one hour from departure. We completed the paperwork that would ensure that the trip would meet all legal requirements for performance and weight and balance. We were more than businesslike, because CNN had reported the night before that Delta Air Lines had withdrawn its support for our newly proposed company.

“On most occasions, we would have made a comment or two about sports or hobbies at a predeparture briefing. Individuals who had not flown together before would use such small talk to break the ice of unfamiliarity. This morning was certainly different–an air of finality hung about everyone at our counter. The fact that it was 6 a.m. further depressed the atmosphere. The engineer, Chuck Foreman of Washington, D.C., was poring over the fuel figures. He had just returned to the Boeing 727 from its much larger cousin, the jumbo Boeing 747.

“We walked briskly to our aircraft, ship No. 368, one of the newest Boeing 727s in the fleet and quite a pleasure to fly with its more powerful engines and spirited performance. Pan Am had many Boeing 727s, but most were older. Their engines were always adequate but would not produce the kick in the seat of this newer model. I stowed my gear in the cockpit with a feeling of quiet pride, generated by command of such a machine. I then walked aft to greet the flight attendants who would complete our ship’s company on this beautiful New York morning.

“Immediately, the purser raised the question of Delta’s withdrawal, and my answer was the same as it would be to my cockpit crew members: ‘Whatever the day holds, we will make it a good trip.’ All agreed that it would be, whether as the first of many, as the promised ‘born again’ Pan Am with roots in Miami, or as the last of many.

“We acknowledged the push-back clearance from our ground team, or what had been our ground team. Now that they were attired in their Delta uniforms, we felt a sense of unreality as we left the gate. Our aircraft responded in its usual marvelous manner–the engines whined to life as though longing to push onward into the promise of this cloudless morning. The ground team gave us a salute, and we were off. The navigational computer engaged, and we took our place on the runway as the final checklist items, routine with years of repetition, were completed.”

Clipper Goodwill

“As we gathered speed, I marveled at what fine engines the wonderful folks at Pratt and Whitney had provided for us. Gently, I eased the nose of this beautiful airplane skyward. The sound of rushing wind and whirring instruments added to what is always a magic moment in every pilot’s life. The ground fell rapidly away, and the sky above beckoned. Both man and machine were happy to oblige. We turned away from the familiar Manhattan skyline and pointed the nose of Clipper Goodwill south–toward Barbados.

“After leveling at 31,000 feet, the routine of monitoring powerplant and navigational instruments settled in. The conversation once again turned to what we felt to be the abandonment of our airline by what we had all thought was a corporate good guy. Not a visionary by any means, I had detailed my fears along these same lines from the day the agreement was finalized. ‘The Delta promises were necessary to cement the agreement and nothing more,’ I had said, and all along I had hoped I was wrong! I, like many of my friends, was not fortunate enough to transfer, or more correctly, I was not on the right airplane–the Airbus A310. (Delta wanted only certain groups of pilots, based primarily on airplane qualification.)

“We flew over Bermuda, that incredible 21-square-mile piece of volcanic rock, where I had spent my last Christmas on layover. I have many happy memories of Bermuda and of other places–all associated with destinations on what had been a world carrier. Tokyo, Seoul, Bangkok, Manila, Beijing, Berlin, Frankfurt, London, Venice, Oslo, Istanbul, and many other cities–destinations previous Pan Am employees largely pioneered–all hold memories for many more Pan Am employees.

“Only a few puffy cumulus clouds–airborne cotton balls–blocked our way to Bridgetowne as we began our descent. The approach along the western coast of Barbados is surreal. The island is truly a multicolored jewel set in a background of turquoise sea. We landed to the east, as the trade winds nearly always dictate, touching down 4 hours 30 minutes after our departure from New York. We taxied to the gate and shut down our engines as we had done hundreds of times before. This time there would be a difference, a notable difference! In the four and one‑half hours of our flight, tragic history had been made.”

Pan Am Ceases Operations

“The station manager approached as he always did and greeted the inbound passengers. He then stepped into our office (the cockpit) and greeted us cordially, explaining he had some bad news. I quickly responded that I thought we could guess the nature of his grim tidings. He produced a message from New York operations in a very familiar format. This content, however, had never before in its 64-year history been inscribed on any Pan American document. Pan Am, as of 9 a.m. on Dec. 4, 1991, had ceased operations. None of our flight attendants could restrain their emotions, or their tears. All were at least 20-year veterans with Pan American or National Airlines. They vented their disbelief and their resentment of the Delta decision; consoling them prevented those of us in the cockpit from showing our own pent-up feelings.

“Our station manager asked us if we would operate the trip to Miami. He would find a way to buy fuel. Many passengers were stranded, and some Pan Am employees were packing to leave their stations and their jobs. We informed our station manager that we would delay as long as possible. This would ensure that all those wishing to return to Miami had time to board. We waited more than two hours in mostly silent thought while the passengers gathered from their hotels and employees packed their belongings.

“At one point, the local airport employees who had served Pan Am so well, and whom Pan Am had so well served, came to the aircraft. A tearful ceremony followed. Flowers and good wishes were exchanged. The local television news media requested interviews. Airport employees barraged the Clipper Goodwill for last pictures, which would adorn family scrapbooks.

“At 2 p.m. EST, the wheels came up on Clipper 436, hailing from Bridgetowne, Barbados, and bound for the city of Pan Am’s birth. We flew with silent thought, exchanging few words as time passed. San Juan Center cleared our flight direct to Miami, and I punched in the navigational coordinates for Miami International a final time. Little could be said in the face of a solemn reality–the certain knowledge of dead-end careers. What happened can best be described as a death in our immediate family. Pan American was my family in every sense. It was the corporate family to thousands.

“The engineer interrupted my thoughts as we began our descent into Miami: ‘Should I call in range?’

‘Yes,’ I said, ‘someone will surely still be there. The airplanes must be put to bed.’

The engineer spoke again in my direction very softly, so softly I could not understand.

‘Pardon me?’ I said.

This veteran engineer of more than 25 years choked back tears through clouded eyes. He said, ‘Mark, we’re the last flight–the final flight.’ That circumstance had not occurred to me. He continued, ‘They want us to make a low pass over the field.’

I said, ‘You’re kidding, right? They’re joking!’ Privately, I thought it might be a friend who had landed before me, now pulling my leg.

‘No joke,’ he said, ‘they are going to be there to meet us–some kind of ceremony.’

“Miami lay before us. A cold front had just passed, and fog followed the coastline, extending out to sea almost to the Bahamas. Miami sat on the other side of the fog bank, eerie and beautiful at the same time. Dinner Key lay nestled in the fog. My mind raced at the finality of what I was doing. This wasn’t just the end of my career! This airline’s fading into history far surpassed the end of any individual’s career. Franklin Roosevelt had left from that same Dinner Key aboard Dixie Clipper, bound for Casablanca in 1943, the first American President to fly while in office.

“Pan Am had not been just a part of history, it had made history for all of its 64 years. It was always there when the government needed it. Indeed, Pan American Clippers had many scars as mementos from encounters with enemies of the United States. From Japanese bullet holes a lumbering clipper received as it evacuated key military personnel from Wake Island during the early stages of World War II, to the terrorist bombing of “Clipper 103.” More recently Pan Am pilots and airplanes aided in Operation Desert Storm. A Pan American Clipper brought me home from Vietnam. Now Pan Am had only Clipper Goodwill and this last crew–this final flight.

“With the passengers briefed carefully as to our intentions, I called for flaps 15. We descended on the electronic glideslope that had so often guided me to Miami. We now executed the requested low pass–my first since I left the Navy many years ago. As we flew down the centerline of Runway 12, I noted the lineup of American Airlines aircraft that would soon take our place. As we completed the low pass, the tower issued a final statement: ‘Outstanding, Clipper!’

“Pulling up and turning downwind for our final approach and landing, I looked at the beautiful Miami Airport and the city it serves. We all realized this would be the last time. Again, the finality of the moment slammed my senses. Our wheels touched for the last time in a Pan American aircraft –the last time for a scheduled revenue flight of any kind for this historic airline.

“Approaching the taxiway, we began to see the reception that stretched before us. Airport vehicles of every description–police and security vehicles, port authority and fire equipment–lined the taxiway, and video cameras abounded. Lines of individuals in semi-military formation were everywhere.”

Salute to History

“As we taxied past the first formations, men and women came to brisk attention and saluted ‘the last of the Clippers.’ Tears welled up in my eyes then for the first time. Many rows of people and machines–all smartly formed–all saluted. I returned the salute just as crisply, fully knowing that their salutes were to this “machine” and to all the ‘machines’ that bore the title ‘Clipper’ for 64 years. Their salute was to the history that this ship represented and to all that had gone before.

“We passed the line of fire equipment, and the water cannon was fired over the aircraft. My emotions reeled under the weight of this tribute to Pan Am’s last flight. I engaged the windshield wiper to clear water that was on the windscreen, but that did little good for the water in my eyes. My first officer fought back his tears. He had worn Pan Am blue for 23 years.

“One final formation–all Pan American ground personnel–tendered their last salute. We approached the gate and set the brakes for the last time. We shut down systems for the last time and secured the faithful engines. Sadly gathering our belongings, we shook hands. Our final fight was over. No eyes in the cockpit were dry. Many of the departing passengers shared our moment of grief. The tears for Pan Am will continue.

“Upon returning to my home, our 13-year-old son presented me with a letter. Through his own tears, he named me Pan Am’s greatest pilot. For one brief moment, on one tearful occasion.”

For additional information about Pan American World Airways:

To learn more about the history of this pioneering airline, click on the title below for preview of

Pan American World Airways – Images of a Great Airline Second Edition.

This book is available on eBay .

Another excellent book is Pan Am – Personal Tributes to a Global Aviation Pioneer, which was published to commemorate the 90th Anniversary of Pan Am’s founding. It contains more than 80 stories written by former Pan Am employees and international media friends who had personal experience with many of Pan Am’s key events during its history. It is the perfect companion to Pan American World Airways – Images of a Great Airline Second Edition and can be purchased on Amazon.

Preview Pan American World Airways – Aviation History Through the Words of its People, which is available on Amazon.

For further information about the history of Pan American World Airways, visit: Pan Am Historical Foundation

Filed under Airline History, Airlines, Pan Am, Travel Tagged with 727, Airline, Airline History, Aviation, Boeing, Boeing 727, Flight Attendant, Juan Trippe, New York, PAA, Pan Am, Pan Am Clippers, Pan Am history, Pan American World Airways

Pan Am Series – Part XXXV: Saigon and R&R-2

4 May 2014 Leave a comment

Pan American in Vietnam – A Pilot’s Perspective

In the previous posts Pan American’s Vietnam involvement was presented from the perspective of a station manager, Al Topping and flight attendants, Anne Sweeney and Helen Davey. In this posting, the pilot’s perspective is chronicled through the words of former Pan American Captain John Marshall, who flew the DC-6B’s in the Rest and Recuperation airlift and also flew scheduled flights in and out of Tan Son Nhut Airport in Saigon. His story was first published in Airways Magazine and is set forth below in its entirety:

“The year was 1966. The war in Southeast Asia had been simmering, percolating just below the boil for more years than we cared to count. By 1966 enough troops and materiel had been amassed in that poor and backward corner of the Third World that it was time for the commanders to seriously look at relief for some of the longer serving units. It only made good sense that instead of rotating entire units back stateside they would be given a hiatus from the awful conditions under which they lived and fought, and the war-weary GIs would be afforded the opportunity to sample the cultural diversities of the cities of East Asia. The operation was to be called ‘R & R’, standing for Rest and Recuperation. It would require the use of enough commercial airliners to carry GIs out of Vietnam to the bright lights and flesh-pots of Asia, set them down for a week, and re turn them to the war zone to fight again. It was one of the only sensible decisions made by American commanders in that most unfortunate of wars.

“Pan American Airways at the time was in a transition of equipment from the venerable propeller-driven transports of the fifties and early sixties to the jets which would eventually take over the skies. The last hurrah for the DC-6 at Pan Am was the Internal German Service, based in Berlin, and even now that venerable airliner was rapidly being replaced in Germany by the sparkling new Boeing 727s. As the 6’s were replaced they would be headed for the backwaters of aviation; to South America and Africa, there to spend their dying years carrying livestock, heavy equipment for distant oil fields, or worse; ending up forgotten and decaying in the corner of some airplane boneyard. But wait! There was indeed one more mission, one more humanitarian task they could perform. Pan Am’s DC-6s were offered to the government under contract to carry GIs to R & R for cost plus a dollar. How could any sane government functionary refuse?

“And so it came to pass that the old Douglas’s made a slight detour on their way to pasture. They would rumble out to Hong Kong where they would form the backbone of Pan Am’s contribution to the war effort. Since the only DC-6-qualified airmen in Pan Am’s system were those in Berlin, flying out the days of the last pistons, it fell to us to man the new operation while newly-hired crews were trained and sent to Asia. We jumped at the chance to escape the dreary northern European weather and sample the exotica of Asia and the Pacific rim.

This DC-6B pictured here in Berlin was probably used initially in the Rest and Recuperation Airlift. These aircraft were brought over from the Internal German Service in Berlin. (Ralf Manteufel photo)

“After a flurry of government-mandated paperwork, mostly involving visas, inoculations and other tiresome functions , we departed in twos and threes, embarking for the long tortuous flight aboard Pan Am’s famous Flight Two, boarding at Frankfurt and finally coming to ground many sleepless hours later on another planet. We were in Hong Kong!

“After a suitable period of decompression and recovery from a first degree case of jet lag, we were ready and raring to go. The mission was deceptively simple. Battle-hardened and frazzled GIs were pulled from the war zones and sent to one of several embarkation points. Da Nang, Cam Ranh Bay, Nha Trang, and Tan Son Nhut Airport in Saigon were the most prominent. The men were loaded aboard and flown to any one of a number of Asian cities for a week’s R and R. Hong Kong, Tokyo, Taipei, and Singapore were the initial destinations; other cities were added as the program grew. Through a complex set of negotiations with the governments involved, immigration and customs formalities were kept to a minimum. Once the operation was up and running it was simply a matter of taking a load out of Vietnam, and bringing a load back. Needless to say the mood in the cabin peaked at wide extremes depending on whether the trip was headed out or back. The airline pulled out all the stops in the catering department. Kobe beef steaks, French fries, lots of cold milk and all the ice cream one could possibly eat made up the meal of choice. The flight crews dined on the same fare, but even for us such extravagant cuisine paled after a while. On about the third day of a six day trip we began to wish for chicken, or even fish — anything to break the monotony of such sumptuous gluttony.

“After a quick course in long-range operation of the airplane, we were thrown into the fray, and embarked on our first trips. None of us flight engineers had flown the airplane on a leg longer than two hours; in Europe the fuel requirements and the short flights in the ‘6 were simplicity itself. Some gas in the mains, off you go, and Bob’s your uncle. But hidden perils lurked behind the innocent conduct of a flight from Hong Kong to anywhere. Any reader who has ever had a passing acquaintance with Mr. Douglas’ piston airplanes knows what a labyrinthian maze their fuel systems could be. I learned the hard way early on.

“On a flight from Saigon to Taipei we carried fuel not only in the mains, but in the auxiliaries and reserves as well. (Ancient piston drivers, bear with me. Memory may not serve with total accuracy the nomenclature of the tanks, but you get the idea.) After top of climb we settled into the cruise routine for the long flight across the South China Sea and the Western Pacific. Mixtures were carefully leaned and spark advance set. After a bit it was time to reset the fuel panel. This was located in front of the center pedestal, behind the throttles and propeller controls. There were long levers which controlled the shutoff valves in each tank, and depending on the fuel load, there were a stupefying number of combinations with which to set the tank feed. The flight engineer (me) had to lean way over the pedestal in order to reach the controls. The captain on this trip was a laid-back old-timer who smoked a pipe (still acceptable in those days) and he leaned back in his seat and watched my efforts carefully. Tendrils of blue smoke curled gently from the smoldering briar and wafted over my shoulder. Finally satisfied, I sat back smugly.

Cockpit of DC-6B

“It wasn’t long before the skipper disengaged himself from his seat and disappeared aft. I clamored up onto his throne and settled in to enjoy the view from the best seat in the house. The sea below was a shimmering slate, and the sky ahead was dotted with puffy cumulus. How could life get any better than this? I was soon to find out.

“Half an hour passed, and the flight deck settled comfortably into the ennui of a lengthy overwater trip. The first officer was absorbed in a manual of some sort, and I gazed out the window at my side. The captain was a garrulous sort, and had not returned from the passenger cabin. Suddenly our reverie was rudely shattered by the barking cough of the number 1 engine, followed by a series of backfires in quick succession. We shot bolt upright in our seats as the number 4 quickly followed suit. I reached down and slammed the mixtures to full rich, while staring at the panel of engine instruments. The fuel pressure gauges caught my eye, primarily because the needles on the outboard engines were wildly careening around the dials. The first officer grabbed the wheel and disconnected the autopilot, at the same time exclaiming, ‘Fuel panel! Check the fuel panel!’ Startled, I reached over and slammed all the fuel valve levers to the forward position, opening all of them. After an eternity, while we gently massaged the throttles and mixtures, the outboards finally caught and resumed their healthy roar. My heart settled down to a trip-hammer rate, and I wiped beads of sweat from my brow. In a moment I was composed enough to get out the book and carefully reset the fuel feed.

“Suddenly I realized that the captain had not reappeared. I looked aft through the open cockpit door and saw him slowly sauntering forward. He stopped in the entrance and shifted the pipe from one side of his mouth to the other. He gazed at me without saying anything. ‘Little screw-up in the fuel sequencing,’ I stammered, shame-faced. I unfolded myself from his seat to let him back in.

“‘Well,’ he drawled, after he had settled himself. ‘I didn’t think it looked exactly right, but I figured you probably knew what you were doing, so I didn’t say anything.’ It was an abrupt and exciting initiation into the oceanic operation.

“I took a healthy ribbing from the flight attendant crew on our way to the hotel in Taipei. They were a venerable, uninhibited bunch, not above exploiting the chinks in the veneer of cockpit crew perfection with mirth and enjoyment. The following night the wet-behind-the-ears flight engineer was to have another adventure, although nowhere near as heart-stopping as starving two of the airplane’s four engines of fuel.

“We were the same crew, departing Taipei just at dusk for the five-hour flight to Yokota Air Base outside Tokyo. By the time we levelled off in cruise full darkness had fallen. We flew in an ocean of black, the sky above dimpled with stars that shed just enough light to outline the occasional cloud formation. After dinner the skipper again went back into the cabin to socialize, and once again I occupied the left seat. This time I had made double sure of the fuel feed sequence, and the four big Pratts rumbled along contentedly. I gazed below into the blackness, and then sat abruptly upright in the seat, heart pounding. Now I am pretty good at world geography, and I knew without really thinking that if one flew straight from Taipei to Tokyo the trip was all over water. But here we were over land, and there was a major city below us, or at least a good-sized town. Good God, we had strayed over mainland China! A curious tingling sensation began between my shoulder blades, in immediate anticipation of a barrage of .50-caliber bullets that I was sure any second would slam into the defenseless Douglas. We would fall victim to the Red Guards and the Cultural Revolution!

“I looked over at the first officer. His eyes were closed and his head nodded on his chest. “‘Clyde!’ I fairly shouted. ‘Get your charts out! Where in the hell are we?’

“Eyes opened wide in startled surprise, Clyde looked around hurriedly, straining to get his bearings. I pointed frantically downward at the thousands of lights that stretched to the horizon. Before I could say anything more, he looked over the side for a long moment, then settled wearily back in his seat. A long sigh escaped his lips. ‘Fishing fleet, John. Just fishing boats. They’re all over the ocean around here.’ In a moment his head nodded chest-ward and silence once again engulfed the cockpit.

Tan Son Nhut Airport

“Operating in and out of Saigon’s Tan Son Nhut Airport was an experience unto itself. It was like no other airport in the world. While the other strips that we flew out of were primarily military bases, the airport at Saigon wore many faces. It bravely attempted to be a commercial airport like any other, with everyday airline operations trying valiantly to pretend that things were normal, coexisting with the maelstrom of military hardware fighting a war swirling around them. Even Pan American sent its 707 round-the-world flights One and Two into Tan Son Nhut on a weekly basis. Most of the time the airport made O’Hare look like a sleepy country strip. The ramp was an overwhelming place. 707s and DC-8s under military charter carried troops and materiel in and out; military C-130s from countless different squadrons and with just as many esoteric missions kept up a steady stream as they taxied to and fro, their unique rumble trembling the gut as they passed. Helicopters of every description, led by the workhorse Hueys, buzzed like malevolent insects. There were Vietnamese Air Force fighter units based there as well, flying ancient hardware that has a habit of trickling down to the Third World. Venerable C-47s and C-46s completed the mix, along with the occasional B-26.

“The airport had intersecting runways, which proved to be a mere annoyance, as operations were conducted simultaneously on both. Controllers took great pride in threading the needle at the intersection, seeing just how close they could cut it. Occasionally a flight of fighters would return with one or more of their number shot up, requiring the controllers to break out all the existing traffic until the wounded had safely landed. This resulted in a fur-ball of major proportions orbiting near the field, each pilot jockeying for position when the field re-opened. The controllers were native Vietnamese, some with limited language and/or controller skills. The sheer volume of traffic would have been daunting to an experienced journeyman, and at times the local controllers were simply overwhelmed. It was then that the down-home drawl of a GI controller would come on the mike, and laconically unravel the havoc. When things had returned to some semblance of normal (a relative term), back came the Asian controller to begin the process all over again.

“The normal entry into Tan Son Nhut used by the big transports was called a ‘Canyon Approach’. It called for the initial approach to be made at 5,000 feet above the field, an altitude safely out of range of snipers perched off the end of the runway. Once the runway had nearly disappeared under the nose, gear and full flaps went down, and the props into fine pitch. Over went the nose, pointing straight at the touchdown zone. It was a maneuver that demanded great skill and the courage to wait until the very last minute to complete. It was exciting to sit through, particularly the last few feet before the flare.

“Once safely on the ground and disembarked, Tan Son Nhut assaulted all the senses. The heat and humidity were unlike any other in Southeast Asia, and the noise and clamor and hubbub were nearly disorienting in their sheer intensity. Quickly in and quickly out was the name of the game; not only was ramp space at a precious premium, but the longer on the ground the greater exposure to dangers unknown.

“The operation lasted the better part of three years with the venerable DC-6. Eventually the new Boeing 727s and 707s took over the job, and the old Douglas finally flew into the sunset as part of Pan American’s fleet. Many ended up in Latin America and Africa, and not a few simply expired in the boneyards of the world. Their last hurrah was a stirring and exciting one, a fitting climax to the old girls’ career.”

DC-6B and Boeing 707 at Hong Kong (Jon Proctor)

Pan Am Captain John Marshall attended Deerfield Academy, Stanford University and served in the US Air Force in preparation for his distinguished career with Pan Am. He was based in Hong Kong, Sydney, Berlin, San Francisco and served as Chief Pilot of the Honolulu base a.k.a. “the Royal Hawaiian Flying Club”. He received the civilian Desert Shield and Desert Storm medal for flying military troops and materiel in support of Operation Desert Storm, and finished his Pan Am career commanding the last 747 revenue flight from South America-Sao Paolo to JFK. John retired as a 747 Captain with Korean Airlines. He was recently presented with the prestigious Wright Brothers “Master Pilot” Award, and is enjoying his membership with fellow Quiet Birdmen. John’s writings and columns have been published and featured for a number of years in Smithsonian Magazine and Airways Magazine, and he keeps in shape flying a WWII B-25 Bomber, “Show Me”. John presently works for the FAA as an Aviation Safety Inspector in St. Louis, MO, where he resides with his wife, Carla.

For additional information about Pan American World Airways:

To learn more about the history of this pioneering airline, click on the title below for preview of

Pan American World Airways – Images of a Great Airline Second Edition.

This book is available on eBay .

Preview Pan American World Airways – Aviation History Through the Words of its People, which is available on Amazon.

For further information about the history of Pan American World Airways, visit: Pan Am Historical Foundation

Filed under Airline History, Airlines, Travel Tagged with Airline, Airline History, Aviation, Boeing 707, DC-6B, Douglas Aircraft, Hong Kong, PAA, Pan Am, Pan Am Captain John Marshall, Pan Am Clippers, Pan Am history, Pan Am in Vietnam, Pan American, Pan American Captain John Marshall, Pan American World Airways, R&R Vietnam, Rest and Recuperation Airlift, Saigon, Saigon Airport, Tan Son Nhut, Tan Son Nhut Airport, the Pan Am Historical Foundation, US troops in Vietnam, Vietnam

Pan Am Series – Part XXXIV: R&R in Vietnam War

3 May 2014 12 Comments

Pan American’s Rest and Recuperation Airlift – Vietnam War

The DC-6B was used initially in the Rest and Recuperation Airlift. These aircraft were brought over from the Internal German Service in Berlin. (Ralf Manteufel photo)

It is well known that over the years Pan American World Airways’ Chief Executive Juan T. Trippe might have held differing views with respect to United States government policy toward his airline. However, notwithstanding his personal feelings, he always made his airline available for service to the country. This went back to the earliest days of the airline and carried on throughout its existence.

One of the biggest operations in support of the country was during the Vietnam War, when Pan American Clippers carried troops and cargo between home and the war. As noted in the 1965 Annual Report, Pan American was providing approximately “40 flights every week between California and Saigon for the support of the military”. In March 1966 Pan American helped boost morale when it began a massive airlift of troops between Vietnam and rest and recuperation areas initially in Southeast Asia and Japan, and later the addition of Australia and Hawaii. Pan American was, according to the 1967 Annual Report, “the only airline providing this service. . . .[and in] two years more than 500,000 round-trip passengers used the Rest and Recuperation Airlift. Each has enjoyed full First Class amenities on these flights”.

As government needs for airlift increased as the war progressed, the 1968 Annual Report highlighted the fact that operations in support of the military increased dramatically:

“Pan Am provided a larger portion than any other airline of civil airlift of medical supplies, matériel and personnel across the Pacific in support of the armed forces in Southeast Asia. As of March 1, 1969, approximately 12 percent of Pan Am’s long range jet fleet was assigned to military support services. [The airline’s] transpacific airlift provides up to six flights a day to Vietnam.

“Pan Am conducts the airlift of troops between Vietnam and rest-and-recuperation sites. Since the start of this program in March, 1966, Pan Am has carried more than 800,000 round-trip passengers on the Rest and Recuperation Airlift.

During the Tet offensive beginning February, 1968, Pan Am responded to the urgent request of the Department of Defense and assigned a total of 18 Boeing 707-321’s to the emergency airlift. Additional cargo and passenger expansion capability was also provided on regularly scheduled services.

“On July 1, in response to a Government request, Pan Am opened seven Sales/Service offices in Vietnam.”

Two former Pan American Flight Attendants (then Stewardess) worked on the R&R flights during 1967 – 1968 and generously share their experiences in the following two stories. The first, by Anne Sweeney, originally appeared in the Pan American Historical Foundation’s newsletter, Clipper:

“The tropical sun shone through the window of the DC-6 and on to the baby face of the young blond soldier sleeping off five days of R&R in the bars and brothels of Bangkok. His stubble was sparse and soft in the morning light.

“I moved to the next row- two brothers with Darth Vader shades and a shy, slight Puerto Rican kid. Their meals were always the same on the R&R flights – steak, home fries, green beans, fresh milk, ice cream – and ketchup. On everything but the ice cream.

“They were typical R&R passengers – young kids, from the ghettos, barrios and backwaters of America – LeRoy, Manuel, Billy Bob.

“Our Pan Am crews were based in Hong Kong and we worked these R&R flights, exclusively, flying troops from Saigon, Cam Rahn Bay and Da Nang to for five days of “Rest & Recuperation” in places like Bangkok, Singapore, Taipei and Hong Kong. In support of the war effort and to gain government favor, Pan Am organized and operated these flights for $1 a year plus costs. The aircraft were old DC-6s; propeller planes phased out from the company’s Berlin operation by new 727s.

“We did our best to make them comfortable on the flights – to chat, smile and bring extra milk or ice cream. The soldiers were polite and deferential. ‘Where are you from in the world, ma’am?’ The world was anywhere outside Vietnam; a country few of them knew existed until their draft boards set them straight.

“The plane started its approach into Cam Rahn Bay. Miles of blue and green water and beaches were covered from end to end with military equipment. Scrap metal, artillery, jeeps and tires rotted and rusted in the tropical heat. Cahn Rahn Bay was an Air Force Base. We unloaded one group of soldiers, the aircraft was cleaned and provisioned, another group quickly boarded and we were aloft, headed home to Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Airport. Landing at Kai Tak was actually more perilous than landing in Vietnam

“My Christmas was waiting to begin across the harbor in a modern flat overlooking the South China Sea. It would be like no other Christmas for this small town girl from Rhode Island.

“When I got there, a Japanese Spruce tree would be hung with handmade ornaments, and Ah Nee, my houseboy, would be busy with preparations for Christmas Dinner. Ten people were coming – friends from Pan Am, my next-door neighbor, an Englishman I’d been seeing, plus friends of his from the British Navy whose ship was in port. There was room for more. I invited two young GI’s, Mike and Ted, from the flight.

“As soon as we were off-duty I headed for the Star Ferry and home. I loved the ferry at sunset. Violet dusk settled over the harbor and the lights came up on both sides of the port. Behind me, in Kowloon, the white Colonial façade of the Peninsula Hotel glowed in the last light and the deck lamps of the luxury liner SS Rotterdam were lit. Junks, sampans, pleasure craft, tankers, and freighters, military ships from aircraft carriers to supply boats, plied the harbor or rested at its piers. Up ahead on the Hong Kong side, a portrait of Chairman Mao stared from the towers of the Bank of China..

“On the Peak, lights glimmered in the great houses of the Tai Pans and along the Tramway that slowly climbed the steep hills.

“The Hong Kong Hilton yacht, Wan Fu, in full sail, glided by. A cocktail party was in progress; the well-heeled passengers, flying their colors of bright silks and navy blazers, sipping Tanqueray martinis and Tattinger Champagne.

“We docked, and within minutes, a taxi was speeding me up and over the hills and home for Christmas.

“The next morning was overcast, its chill mitigated by some of Ah Nee’s homemade and hot rice wine. Guest arrived at 2 – pilots, stewardess, naval officers and the two young soldiers from the plane. The Brits brought some very fine Scotch and Roger’s mother has sent a plum pudding from Fortnum’s. The festivities were interrupted briefly at 3 when Roger insisted we listen to the Queen’s Speech, broadcast at 3 o’clock on Christmas Day throughout the Commonwealth. Her Majesty’s high, clipped voice wished us all a Happy Christmas just before Ah Nee, who could cook in several languages, presented a perfect turkey with all the trimmings.

“In the midst of the meal, the phone rang. It was my father, calling me from Rhode Island. How was I, he asked. Had it been a lonely day? No, no, I assured him. We had made our own Christmas.

“‘You know what I always told you,’ he said, his voice cracking over the time zones and tears. ‘That there would always be cake and ale and Christmas.’

“Gathered around the table, strangers and friends, we found a glad holiday, however far from home. Thankfully, we didn’t know what the future held. Those at the table would scatter and lose touch. The war would be lost. Pan Am would one day fold its proud wings. The Queen would send her son to preside at the return of Hong Kong to China. One of the young soldiers would die on another holiday a few weeks later in what became known as the Tet Offensive, the Vietnamese Lunar New Year.

“But on that Christmas Day, all seemed merry and bright. Carols rang out. Toasts were raised to the season. The plum pudding flamed in a brandied glow. There was indeed, cake and ale and Christmas, and I knew then there always would be.”

A former Pan Am flight attendant, Anne Sweeney also worked in the corporate communications department at Pan American World Airways. She was based in Hong Kong from 1967-68, flying the company’s R&R flights for US troops, taking soldiers from Vietnam to cities throughout Asia. She is president of Anne Sweeney Public Relations in South Brunswick, NJ

The second story, by Dr. Helen Davey, is featured in the book Pan American World Airways – Aviation History Through the Words of its People:

“I’ll never forget my first glimpse of Vietnam. It was the spring of 1968, after the disastrous Tet Offensive had resulted in an escalation of the war. I was flying my first volunteer flight as a Pan Am stewardess into Saigon to pick up American soldiers and deliver them to their R & R’ (rest and recreation) destination. Glued to the airplane window as we approached Tan Son Nhut airport, I was astonished to see actual bomb craters and smoke rising from scattered skirmishes on the ground. I had to give myself a reality check: was this really me, and was I really seeing this, and were American men really being killed right below me? I thought I had seen it all on the nightly newscasts at home, but somehow I was shocked to see this vision of hell first hand.

“As we had been briefed, the pilots made the steepest descent I had ever experienced in an airplane. I remember thinking about all the stories of bullets being found in the fuselage of Pan Am airplanes, and the jokes about Pan Am pilots sitting on their manuals for a little extra protection while flying in and out of Vietnam. In my purse, I carried the paper that awarded Pan Am stewardesses Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force status, which meant that under Geneva Convention rules we would be treated as officers in the event of capture. Used to providing elegant in-flight service to our passengers in a rather formal atmosphere, I was about to experience the most surreal flight I had encountered to date. We had been told that ‘almost nothing was by the book,’ but only the male purser on our flight and the pilots who had flown many flights to Vietnam knew what that meant.

“As we taxied around the airport, I felt overwhelmed to see the sheer numbers of war machines of all types buzzing around seemingly everywhere. As we swung the door open, the noise was deafening, and the hot humid air enveloped me, taking my breath away. Our stewardess uniforms were made of fabric that was supposed to be ‘all weather, which really meant that it was too hot in summer and too thin in winter. Add to that the fact that we were still required to wear stockings and girdles, and I think you can imagine our discomfort. As I stared out of the open door, I became aware of the pallets of aluminum coffins lined up on the tarmac – each one containing somebody’s precious husband or son or father or boyfriend or uncle or friend.

“I don’t think anything could have prepared me for the sight of the soldiers that boarded our airplane. I was expecting to see excited young men ready for a new adventure, laughing and joking with each other, and relieved to get away from the war. But as the men quietly filed aboard the airplane, I clearly saw the faces of trauma. Many were strangely quiet, with expressionless ‘masks’, and most of them stared at our ’round eyes’ as if trying to take in a bit of home. I had no idea how young these men would be, but I wasn’t expecting them to look like they should be in high school! Twenty-five at the time, I wasn’t used to being called ‘Ma’am,’ and I felt strangely old. I’m convinced that my experiences with these traumatized men helped fuel my later professional interest in the study of trauma.

“The Pan Am pilots, mostly ex-military men, felt deep empathy for these soldiers, and their announcements reflected it. And here’s where our very talented male purser came in. As funny as any stand-up comedian, he knew exactly how to handle these traumatized men. Totally throwing aside our traditional announcements, he used colorful language that I had never heard uttered on a Pan Am intercom. He spoke right to the men, as if he were waking them up from their nightmare. And he loved to tease the stewardesses! As we were doing our regular emergency demonstrations, we were supposed to point overhead to the forward, center, and aft life rafts in the ceiling. During the part where he was supposed to say ‘forward, center, and aft life rafts,’ he mixed it up and said, ‘aft, center, and forward.’ By rote, all of us stewardesses pointed out the rafts in their normal sequence. He said, ‘So you see, guys, our young ladies don’t seem to know their ‘forward’ from their ‘aft!’ The soldiers exploded in laughter, and the tone was set for helping to relieve these young men’s burdens for a short time. By the end of the flight, some of the soldiers seemed less robotic, and their eyes were coming alive.

“Nothing about this flight felt familiar. Several of the men got up and helped with the serving of meals, leaving us stewardesses with more time to talk to the homesick men. Some of them wanted to ask about what was happening at home, especially about the escalation of protests. One of them asked me to call his mother when I got home, which I did. They showed us pictures of family, children, girlfriends, and wives. They wanted to know all about our crew, where everybody was from ‘in the world.’ One Vietnam vet wrote about Pan Am stewardesses that we were ‘some of the sweetest, caring women I’ve ever known and need to be recognized for their contribution. Nurse, psychiatrist, mother, sister, daughter, girlfriend, confessor, sex object – they wore all the hats.’

“So hungry for a touch of home, their eyes pleaded for just a little conversation. I learned on that first flight that if anybody had gone to sleep due to exhaustion, we had to be very careful in waking them up; they would awaken in an extremely startled state, arms flailing, reaching for their imaginary guns. I didn’t realize at the time that I was witnessing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which might stay with them for the rest of their lives. I picked out one particularly vulnerable looking soldier who was very shy, and as we talked, I decided to become his pen pal. I knew that having a Pan Am stewardess as a pen pal would qualify any soldier to be regarded as a ‘rock star.’

“This was the first of four soldiers that I eventually agreed to have as pen pals. When I began to receive notices, one by one, that each one had been killed, I started to regard myself as a jinx and stopped writing letters. Now I regret this, but at the time it just became too painful for me to be able to put a face to the names of dying men.

“Music is where my memory of Vietnam lives, and this time of my life comes with its own special sound track; Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Doors, Buffalo Springfield, Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane, Marvin Gaye, Ike and Tina Turner, Bob Dylan, Crosby Stills & Nash, Otis Redding, the Animals, Aretha Franklin, and Edwin Star who sang ‘War’ (‘War! Huh! Good God, y’all! What’s it good for? Absolutely nothing!’) The music describes wartime — especially the ambivalence about this particular war — better than words can convey. When I hear it, I feel as if I were back there. I think that any of us Pan Am employees who flew into Vietnam feel that we, too, were a part of that war. At the time, many of our regular destination cities in Asia were teeming with American soldiers, and wherever there were American soldiers, there was the music, blaring and insistent.

“In a bizarre conclusion to my first flight to Vietnam, I asked the Captain if I could sit in the cockpit for landing. He said, ‘Of course.’ Again, since all rules were mostly suspended, the Captain decided to generously allow the engineer, who never really got to fly the airplane, to help with the landing. On final approach, just before touchdown, the left wing of the airplane dipped way too close to the runway. At the last moment, the Captain grabbed the controls back, and I think that every person in that airplane knew that we probably narrowly escaped disaster. Nobody in the cockpit spoke. I could tell that the blood had drained from the pilots’ faces, and the engineer was shaking

Trembling from what had just happened, I stumbled out of the cockpit. The purser was up to his old tricks, and was just waiting for me to step through the door. He had signaled to the men, and when I appeared, a soldier yelled, ‘Nice landing, Ma’am!’ Again, everyone exploded in laughter. After all, what was a little ‘near crash’ to them? These brave men were facing death every day anyway. I sat down by the purser on the jumpseat and said, ‘We were just in the middle of a battle, and we almost crashed!’ He replied with a phrase that I was to hear often:

“’Well, welcome to war!‘”

Dr. Helen Davey is a psychoanalyst and psychotherapist in private practice in West Los Angeles and a former Pan Am Stewardess. Her doctoral dissertation, A Psychoanalytic Exploration of the Fall of Pan American World Airways, is a study of the trauma experienced by Pan Am employees when the airline collapsed. She published an article entitled “The Effects of the Trauma of 9/11” for airline employees following the terrorist attack. She is a regular contributor to the Huffington Post.

Below is a YouTube Video of Pan American’s Rest and Recuperation Airlift:

For additional information about Pan American World Airways:

To learn more about the history of this pioneering airline, click on the title below for preview of

Pan American World Airways – Images of a Great Airline Second Edition.

This book is available on eBay .

Preview Pan American World Airways – Aviation History Through the Words of its People, which is available on Amazon.

For further information about the history of Pan American World Airways, visit: Pan Am Historical Foundation

Filed under Airline History, Airlines, Travel Tagged with aviation history, Boeing 707, Cam Ranh Bay, Da Nang, DC-6B, Juan Trippe, Pan Am, Pan Am Clippers, Pan Am Historical Foundation, Pan Am history, Pan Am R&R Airlift, Pan Am R&R flights, Pan Am support of US government, Pan American World Airways, R&R, Saigon, Tet Offensive, US troops in Vietnam, Vietnam, Vietnam War

Pan Am Series – Part XXXII: Technical Assistance Like No Other – 2

16 April 2014 1 Comment

Technical Assistance for Tajik Air – 1993

Part Two

Pan Am’s spirit is alive in a unique Technical Assistance Project

Acceptance and Inaugural Flights of Tajik Air’s Boeing 747SP

The acceptance flight is a critical part of the delivery process of an aircraft to an airline. Once the aircraft is accepted and delivered, anything that is discovered wrong with the aircraft becomes the responsibility of the airline. Inspections and the acceptance flight should ensure that this does not happen. The Boeing 747SP was flown to London by a United Airlines supervisory pilot and crew. Upon arrival, Captain Carr and his crew met the aircraft and began the task of inspecting the aircraft and its logs and maintenance records and carrying out the acceptance flight. The aircraft looked great with a fresh paint job with Tajik Air livery. Once everything was signed off, and the walk-around inspection complete, the aircraft was pronounced airworthy and Captain Carr and his crew boarded the aircraft to begin the flight.

However, once on board, there was a surprise awaiting them: The aircraft was full of people! Normally such a flight involves the necessary minimum crew members. Not this one. The press was on board, as were Tajik Air officials, the Minister of Aviation of Tajikistan and management staff. In fact station personnel and baggage handlers were also on board!

From Captain Carr:

“[I had] a quiet conversation with the [Minister of Aviation] to make sure that carrying all these people on a test flight was okay. I learned that wonderful Russian phrase: ‘kharasho’ (‘no problem’). Since he was the law for our Tajikistan operating certificate, it was like getting the word directly from God.

“I climbed into my seat in the cockpit. The United pilot looked really nervous and seemed a few shades deeper red than normal. He indicated his concern about all these people on board, and I said ‘kharasho’, took the clip board from him and signed as Pilot in Command. He looked relieved. I reminded him that United was still responsible for any maintenance items until I signed the aircraft acceptance form. The flight went smoothly, the aircraft was perfect and everyone enjoyed the tour of the English countryside as we put the airplane through its paces. We returned to Heathrow and I made my first landing in a real 747 in about a year and a half. As we came in on final approach, I realized that we had almost all the top brass aboard, the new crew-members and a whole planeload of people who had never been on a 747 before.

“If you’re are flying a 747 correctly, on speed and according to ‘the book’, it normally makes a very nice landing. Once in a while, when conditions are just right and you are very lucky, the touch down is so smooth that you don’t realize you are on the ground until the speed-brake handle comes up as it automatically reacts to a micro-switch on the landing gear as the wheels touch ground. This was one of those landings.

“It is a Russian custom to applaud after a landing. But I didn’t think this applause was for landing, rather giving thanks to be alive. However, during the flight we kept the door open for the bigwigs to view the cockpit and after landing I heard the cheers and applause from behind. Winning an Oscar for an actor couldn’t feel any better than how that landing and applause felt to me. As we all left the aircraft my new bosses kept congratulating me as though I was the greatest pilot in the world. What could I say? I just smiled and secretly thanked Boeing.”

Gunilla Crawford, having arrived in London to handle flight service, also had a look at the 747SP prior to delivery:

“The day came when we were to see the plane for the first time. It was a rainy overcast day, but there she was as beautiful as ever, sitting on the wet tarmac. We inspected the galleys, the equipment and planned the last details, now that a few months of training and planning had come together and the real adventure was to begin. ‘Starving’ for flying since the demise of Pan Am . . .we were all raring to go, as this would be the ‘real’ thing………..or so we thought.”

It was now time to get ready for operations. Ticket sales and crew scheduling were at the top of the agenda.

With the acceptance flight completed and the aircraft ready to start operations, management and staff got into full gear. Tickets were sold, crews scheduled and plans were made for launch activities. At the London Headquarters on Kensington High Street, tickets sales in both the Delhi, India and Karachi, Pakistan markets was brisk and flights sold out very quickly. However, ticket sales in the Dushanbe market was slow due to very little western business activity in the country, and what little passenger traffic there was, was largely government in nature. Thus, selling seats in the beyond markets was necessary. As described in Part One, this “Sixth Freedom” operation enabled a profit on what would have been money losing flights. In fact, over 90-95% of the booked passengers were booked on flights to Delhi or Karachi. Deeply discounted advance purchase excursion tickets offered through local travel agents in the ethnic neighborhoods of London resulted in a huge response.

The Kensington High Street Headquarters served as both a ticket office and operations base with constant activity, day and night. This was punctuated with welcome and frequent visits by the Pan Am and Tajik flight crews.

While ticket sales and preparations for the inaugural flight were progressing, Gunilla Crawford and her team of flight attendants set about to organize crew scheduling and rotations. This was no easy task!

Cabin crew scheduling was a challenge for Gunilla. With no computers available, some creativity was required:

From Gunilla Crawford:

“We went across the street from the hotel to a gas station and bought four dinosaur-shaped erasers in four different colors. Each dinosaur represented a crew. And each crew consisted of two ex-Pan Am flight attendants and the rest Tajik. On a large poster board we plotted the four destinations, London, Dushanbe, Karachi and New Delhi. By moving the dinosaurs between the destinations we made sure nobody was scheduled from London, when in fact the crew member was in New Delhi!”

When Gunilla arrived in London, she was in for a surprise. In addition to heading up the cabin crew, there was another responsibility as well: Catering. She handled that in pure Pan Am fashion.

“We made appointments with Catering at Heathrow airport, we picked china for the First Class Service, silver ware, serving dishes, baskets and linens. The ‘old’ Pan Am training came back in force and we would do the service in the name of that classic carrier.”

The food service to be offered was superb.

In First Class departing London, “Royal Doulton Service” included during the drinks service a choice of Hot Canapes including Chicken Kebab, Mushroom Cream Vol-au-Vent, Spring Roll, Basil Cashew Parmesan Tartlets and Asian Canapes of mixed pakoras and samosas. The Hors d’oeuvres offered a choice of Poached Salmon Medallion on Oakleaf lettuce with Diced Pepper and Cucumber Salad, or a Tomato Cup filled with Mayonnaise Lemon garnish or a Smoked Chicked Breast on Radicchio with Mandarin Orange and Cucumber or a Radish and Mixed Peppers Julienne, all with a Mixed Leaf Salad with Vinaigrette. For the entree, the choices were Curry Prawn Jalfrezi with fresh chopped Coriander, Rack of Lamb with Herbs and Fresh Rosemary Sprigs or Chicken Shirin Polo accompanied by Basmati Rice with Zereshk or Potato Sesame Croquettes and a choice of vegetables including Broccoli au Gratin Mornay or Steamed Mixed Vegetables with Baby Sweetcorn, Turned Carrots and Mange Tout.

For desert Gateau Chocolate Roulade with Orange Zest was followed by a cheese plate that included Camembert, Port Salut, Feta, Stilton, Brie with black grapes, black and green olives and celery batons. Ending the meal was a fresh fruit basket.

Prior to landing in Dushanbe the pre-arrival “hot breakfast was just as posh…It was like working the Pan Am Clippers again”, according to Vince Rossi one of the ex-Pan Am flight attendants.

As the day approached for the first revenue flight from London to Dushanbe and onwards to Karachi, the crews began assembling in London to prepare. For Gunilla, it was a happy reunion with the Tajik flight attendants who greeted their ex-Pan Am counterparts with “squeals and shouts of joy”. For the inaugural flight four ex-Pan Am were to work the flight, Robert Stewart, Tania Anderson, Linda Morehouse and Linda Oja. In the flight deck were Captain Ed Olasz, First Officer Jim Donahue and Flight Engineer Carl Meixal. In addition, two qualified captains were assigned to the flight.

Preparations for departure went into high gear. Nothing was overlooked. Everything was covered, from the accuracy of the manuals to training to CRM (crew resources management) with the Tajik flight attendants. Anything that could possibly happen, even the unpredictable, was discussed and thoroughly prepared for.

The excitement of flying again did not escape the ex-Pan Amers who were taking part in the operation. The 747SP’s first flight coincided almost to the date of the demise of their beloved Pan Am, some two years prior.

From Tania Anderson:

“I happily scribbled away in my diary, gushing about the thrill of flying with my cosmopolitan colleagues again. A few fondly remembered having flown with this particular 747SP before. Some of my co-workers had not flown since Pan Am’s demise. It had been nearly two years to the day that I had been on my last flight, a White House Press Charter, when we learned that we were bankrupt for good. Now as we gathered in the lobby of our London hotel for the first flight to Dushanbe, we all noted the sad anniversary coupled with the excitement of exploring a new airline together.”

At 2215 hrs on the date of the inaugural flight, Tajik Air’s Boeing 747SP, designated flight 7J801, departed London Heathrow for Dushanbe. The spirit on board was one of joy and happiness.

From Tania Anderson:

“During the flight, I quickly noted that many of the passengers, who were going onto Karachi, were much less frenetic than the ones we used to fly on Pan Am. They were elated to be going home, either for a visit or permanently, for a reasonably priced airline ticket. One passenger actually asked if he could kiss me, and I reluctantly replied, “Well, Ok, but on my cheek!” I also noted in my diary that we were flying across Russian airspace which may not sound like a big deal but to someone who grew up during the Cold War when the former USSR was our mortal enemy, it was intriguing to me.

“The multi-national crew also bonded quickly. The Tajik flight attendants loved the fact that my name was Tania. Naturally assuming that I was Russian with a name like Tania, one actually commented that I spoke good fluent English for a Russian. Some of the Tajiks were dark with olive skin and Middle Eastern looks. Most were Muslim. Others were the opposite end of the spectrum with white skin and light eyes. They were usually Russian Orthodox.

“Among the Tajik flight attendants, there were three Irenas on the flight. Any time I said ‘Irena’, all three would whirl around simultaneously to see what I wanted. The Tajik flight attendants were absolutely delightful and so easy to get along with. They were also thrilled to have secured a job such as this with the opportunity to explore a bit of the world, especially London. Many of them had no transportation from their homes, so they simply walked miles to the airport to work these extraordinarily long flights. They went out of their way to tell us how their country was still in a lot of upheaval economically. In addition, Afghani insurgents were coming over the border to make trouble, and they wanted none of it. ‘Tania, we just all want peace and to be able to live our lives’, one told me.”

After a long flight into the night, the 747SP landed in Dushanbe.

From Tania Anderson:

“It was a cold, wintry, snowy day when we landed in Dushanbe to a zealous reception on the tarmac. After all, we were the first western aircraft to ever land in somewhat remote Tajikistan. I distinctly remember applause in the cabin upon our touchdown, but the local hoopla outside just about had me abandoning my jump-seat.

“With a dramatic back drop of steep snow-encrusted mountains, dozens of well-wishers had gathered on the tarmac in their traditional brightly-colored clothes. There was a band playing Russian instruments complete with long-nosed horns and big drums. Tajik national TV was there with their ancient equipment to record every single minute of the ceremonies and our arrival.”

From Tania Anderson:

“Once on the blocks, the ground people enthusiastically boarded the plane, not only to welcome us, but to ask for a quick tour of the 747SP. Descending the spiral staircase, our pilots were given handsome home-made colorful robes to wear over their uniforms. Now that the door was open, I could observe the entire scene. Our pilots were quickly ushered down the stairs and off to the terminal for a reception including some local culinary treats whose identity was left to the imagination. Later one of them told me that the Tajiks had insisted that they shoot some vodka—maybe local moonshine—to celebrate the day. A bit horrified, our pilots made certain that the officials knew we still had another leg to fly to Karachi, but the general response was like, ‘So what?’

“Linda Oja and I stayed on the plane watching everything from L-1. Then something happened I shall never forget. As Linda squealed, ‘Oh, No!’ I saw some Tajiks dragging a sheep across the tarmac towards the Snow Leopard. It struggled the entire way, right up to the staircase, just as if it knew something lousy was about to occur. As they do in many countries, they sacrificed the sheep at the bottom of our stairs, directing the blood from his neck into a bowl. In the west we christen ships and airplanes with champagne, but now we were half way around the world in a land with customs very different than our own.

“Not long afterwards, the entire crew along with the ground people gathered in front of the aircraft for a memorable photo. Each of us was festooned with garlands of deep red-colored roses. They were velvet to the touch and their fragrance was heavenly, even against the cold blast of mid-winter.

“Standing there on that frosty winter day, I felt a true sense of pride about our latest “operation.” In true Pan Am fashion, we had pulled ourselves up after the bankruptcy and were on the other side of the planet helping the struggling Tajiks with their burgeoning airline, begun with one beautiful 747SP.

“Flying on [Tajik Air’s 747SP] was another wonderful Pan Amigo adventure to add to my memoirs.”

When the flight arrived at Dushanbe that morning, Tajikistan was in the midst of an economic crisis along with a civil war. Bread was being rationed but at the same time the country was trying to turn the page into a new chapter of their existence, emerging from the era of Soviet rule to an independent and free nation. The arrival of this beautiful 747SP representing their national airline stoked both great pride and happiness among its citizens.

This unique “Technical Assistance”, from the beginning, was the story of a revolutionary idea that should have been hugely successful. Who would have thought that a remote country in the former Soviet Union would have a Boeing 747 operation linking it with the West? It actually happened – and it could have continued. Unfortunately the fates would not allow that and countless hours of devotion to a noble project went to waste. If there is blame, it is not worth dwelling on. Everyone wanted the right outcome. Unfortunately, it was not to be.

The timing was just not perfect for starting such an operation. The infrastructure within Tajikistan’s Civil Aviation Authority had not matured enough to take on the financial and political burden of a complex Sixth Freedom operation, requiring bilateral agreements not only with the United Kingdom, but with India and Pakistan as well. Thanks to the London management, the UK agreement and slots at Heathrow were secured. Unfortunately, the negotiations to secure the agreements with India were still incomplete when the operation started and that presented barriers and resultant revenue losses. Had the start of the operation been delayed until the negotiations were completed there might have been a different result. That will never be known. However, the Boeing 747SP operation proved that it could be done, and for four short months, Tajik Air’s Boeing 747SP proudly flew the skies between London, Dushanbe and Delhi/Karachi.

Tajik Air’s Boeing 747SP, Manufacturer’s Serial Number 21649, Serial 373 was first delivered to Pan American World Airways on May 11, 1979 registered as N540PA and named Clipper White Falcon. It was renamed Clipper Flying Arrow on August 1, 1979 and later renamed Clipper Star of the Union on January 1, 1980. One year later, on January 1, 1981, the aircraft became China Clipper.

On February 12, 1986, as part of Pan Am’s sale of its Pacific Routes, N540PA was acquired by United Airlines. The registration was changed to N149UA on June 1, 1986. It was under this registration that the aircraft operated for Tajik Air. After the aircraft was repossessed by United Airlines, it was bought by the Brunei Government and re-registered as V8-JBB. It was then bought by the Government of Bahrain on December 24, 1998 and registered as A9C-HMH. Today the aircraft is owned by the Las Vegas Sands Corporation, registered as VQ-BMS. She is still in operation.

EVENT REMINDERS:

Aircraft Accident Workshop, 31 May 2014 in San Francisco.

Click here for info or registration.

Pan Am’s Worldwide Family Reunion

31 July – 3 August 2014

New York/Long Island City

Click here for info and registration.

For additional information about Pan American World Airways:

To learn more about the history of this pioneering airline, click on the title below for preview of

Pan American World Airways – Images of a Great Airline Second Edition.

This book is available on eBay .

Preview Pan American World Airways – Aviation History Through the Words of its People, which is available on Amazon.

For further information about the history of Pan American World Airways, visit: Pan Am Historical Foundation

Filed under Airline History, Airlines, Aviation Law, Pan Am, Tajikistan, Travel Tagged with 747SP, aircraft accident investigation, Aircraft accidents, Airline, Airline History, Aviation, aviation law, Boeing, Boeing 747, Boeing 747SP, dushanbe, Flight Attendant, Karachi, London, PAA, Pan Am, Pan Am Clippers, pan am flight attendants, Pan Am history, pan am pilots, pan am pursers, Pan Am Reunion, pan am stewardess, Pan Am technical assistance, Pan American World Airways, Tajik Air, tajikistan, Tajikistan civil aviation, transportation

Pan Am Series – Part XXX: Hawaii Reunion

29 March 2014 1 Comment

PanAmers Gather in Hawaii for an “Aloha” Celebration

The name Pan American World Airways brings to mind many destinations around the world, some exotic, some glamorous, some politically important and some world centers of commerce:

However, one destination, not shown above but should be, played an extremely important role in Pan American’s early accomplishments in commercial aviation and could very well be regarded as one of the most important in Pan American’s history:

HNL-2

Honolulu represented one of Pan American’s greatest achievements, the historic crossing of the Pacific Ocean by the China Clipper, detailed in a previous post. The challenge of being able to complete the initial leg between California and Honolulu meant the remainder of the voyage to the Orient was possible. The challenge was met and the rest is history. Pan American went on to establish routes all over the Pacific and become the dominant airline in the region for decades. This lasted until 1985, when the routes it pioneered were sold to United Airlines. For many PanAmers, this was a bitter pill to swallow.

During its heyday, however, Honolulu was one of Pan American’s most popular and important destinations.

Fittingly, this year, former Pan American employees are joining together in one of many of their favorite destinations, Honolulu, Hawaii for the “Pan Am Aloha Celebration”. Organized by former Pan American Captain Don Cooper who was the drive behind this celebration, Pan Amers from all over will have the opportunity to meet old friends (and make new ones) and reminisce about their times working for “The World’s Most Experienced Airline”. They will also visit sites in Honolulu where Pan American history was made.

Captain Don Cooper

377 honolulu

Helen Davey, a former Pan American Purser, has written an eloquent and moving description about this event, and what Pan American means to its former staff, in the Huffington Post. The article in its entirety appears below:

“On April 2-5, 2014, former Pan Am employees from all over the world are converging on Honolulu, Hawaii, to enjoy the Pan Am Aloha Celebration. It will be a week of seeing old friends and making new ones, sharing memories and stories, and interestingly, celebrating our experience, while at the same time mourning our loss of Pan Am together.

“The day that Pan American World Airways ceased operations, December 4, 1991,Newsweek ran an article about the airline’s history, beginning with the statement, ‘This is not a story about planes. It’s about romance….It may be hard for today’s all-too-frequent flyers to remember that once, air travel was an adventure; that airlines once had a soul. Pan Am certainly did.’

“As a veteran Pan Am flight attendant for 20 years (1965 – 1986), and now as a psychoanalyst and psychotherapist for 27 years, I have studied and written about the unique relationship between Pan Am and its employees, and about the airline’s triumphs and traumas, in order to help those people who were still suffering from the loss of their beloved company.

Helen Davey

“Pan Am. No other airline in history ever evoked such images of glamour and adventure, because it was the airline that practically invented aviation. Known as the “Queen of the Skies,” it was the benchmark by which all other airlines were judged.

“And for good reason. Pan Am was the first airline to fly to Latin America, the carrier whose famed Clipper flights to Europe and the Pacific were the stuff of romance. It was also the first airline to circle the globe. Its round-the-world Flight 1 (westbound) and Flight 2 (eastbound) were inaugurated just after World War II. Then, at the dawn of the jet age, Pan Am flew the first Boeing 707 in 1958. Then came the 747. Pan Am was the airline of the ‘stars,’ and to the moon (2001: A Space Odyssey).

“But none of these innovations, as impressive as they were, was what made Pan Am different from other companies. It was the feeling of “family” and adventure and loyalty that Pan Am inspired from its very beginning. Its rich history, almost unbelievable events, and stories of our legendary “characters” were passed down through the generations, filtering – as family legends do – into each new-hire group.

“Indeed, no other airline had more intensely loyal employees, who continue even now to keep alive the spirit of a company that went out of business so many years ago. From the beginning, we were introduced into Pan Am as “family,” strongly bonded and loyal to each other. We became deeply interested in helping our company be the best, and while some people outside our ‘family’ saw that as arrogance, we saw it as striving for excellence.

“But what did that mean? It wasn’t just about the glamour of far-off places, 7-course meals served on fine china, or how proud we were wearing the Pan Am uniform. It’s about something called ‘the Pan Am World.’

“One of our company’s jingles was, “Pan Am has a place of its own. You call it ‘the world.’ We call it ‘home.'” In my view, there are two very different meanings of the word ‘world.’ One pertains to geography, and, of course, this was very significant to our peripatetic lives. Globetrotting was our lifestyle, but very few of us ever got over the thrill of taking off on a brand-new adventure.

“However, ‘world’ has another very important meaning, and that has to do with the way in which people make sense of their lives. Many Pan Am employees have described their relationship to the company as ‘a love story.’ Pan Am felt to us as if it had a living, breathing soul (as Newsweek described), and so the company’s essence was much more than a merely practical world.

“Indeed, it was a very emotional world, and Pan Am was much more than a mere company. A job with Pan Am was a passport to the world with unlimited horizons, and its employees shaped their lives around the framework of the Pan Am culture. In other words, every trip was a meaningful event, which makes the upcoming Aloha Celebration an even more meaningful event.

“On a personal level, I’ll have the opportunity to share with other Pan Am family members about our relationship to the company. I’d like to extend the invitation to my fellow attendees who’d be interested in being interviewed about their Pan Am experience.

“And we’ll have plenty of opportunities to chat. Several cocktail receptions and dinner at the Pacific Aviation Museum, as well as a special tour of the historic sights used by Pan Am during Pan Am’s China Clipper era, have been planned. And a ‘Clipper Club’ (Captain’s room) will be available each day for us to find our friends and circulate.

“On Thursday, April 3, from 9:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M., the public is invited free of charge to share in an exciting day of legendary “family” memories. This forum will be held in the Prince Hotel in the Mauna Kea Ballroom. One of the featured speakers will be Ed Dover (author of The Long Way Home), who was on the crew that flew a B-314 flying boat all the way around the world the other way, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. It was an unanticipated first circumnavigation of the globe by a commercial airline. They flew in total secrecy and radio blackout for six weeks. It’s a great story.

“Author Jon Krupnick, author of Pan Am Pacific Pioneers, will be discussing his wildly successful book about Pan Am’s “boat days.” Our own Captain Don Cooper (the man largely responsible for organizing many of our most spectacular reunions) will set the historical and political scene in the Pacific before 1935, which led to Pan Am’s subsequent hegemony in the area. There will be other speakers as well, all passing along our Pan Am family stories.

“Fittingly, the world ‘aloha’ means both hello and goodbye, and it is with a tinge of sadness that we know that Captain Don Cooper will no longer be doing this. At 82, Captain Cooper feels that this reunion will be his swan song, reminding all of us that many of our ‘Skygods’ are now in their 80’s and 90’s. Our ‘hellos’ are joyous, but as is reflected in the closeness of our Pan Am family, we don’t like saying ‘goodbye.’

“But just as I was thinking this might be the last big all-inclusive Pan Am reunion, up pops the news of a Pan Am Worldwide Family Reunion on Long Island, New York on July 31 – August 3, 2014. It is being sponsored by Pan Amigo News (Miami), a newsletter for former employees for the purpose of keeping in touch, and sharing news of reunions, travel discounts, and finding friends we’ve lost track of.

“But it doesn’t stop there. We also have philanthropic organizations with their own newsletters, such as World Wings International (retired flight attendants), Clipper Pioneers (retired pilots), The Retirees Club (retired ground staff), and the Pan Am Historical Foundation (open to all including non employees). Many Pan Am websites can be found on the Internet, such as everythingpanam.com, and various closed groups just for Panamers. Meanwhile, the Pan Am AWARE store in Miami is busily supplying Pan Am memorabilia to those people who are nostalgic for ‘the Queen of the Skies.’

“Pan Am, as the slogan goes, is ‘Gone But Not Forgotten.’ The company as parent has died, but the family endures; the siblings continue to forge meaningful connections with each other all over the world – finding creative ways, as families do, to project themselves unendingly into the future. As long as the airline’s employees and their children (known affectionately as Pan Am ‘brats’, who grew up flying around the world with us) are still alive, the deep affection for Pan Am will endure.

“And like all families, we’ve had our share of tragedy. Most former Pan Am employees can tell you where we were when we heard about the sale of the Pacific routes to United, the Lockerbie tragedy, and the demise of Pan Am. We share common trauma, as well as phenomenal experiences: the high life and slow death of Pan Am is seared into our collective memory, but nobody can take away our love for our company.

“For those who are interested, I am including a link to a video about our Pan Am world, put together by Captain Tommy Carroll for the last big reunion, which was held in Monaco in 2012. It provides a glimpse of just some of our layovers in 86 countries and every continent, except Antarctica. Click on the following link, (747skygod.com) , and then click on the video ‘Pan Am Gone But Not Forgotten.’

“Then, sit back, relax, and prepare yourself for a nostalgic journey back to the ‘good old days’ – a time when America itself was at its zenith, and working for Pan Am felt like the best job in the world.

“Postscript: This article is also respectfully dedicated to all aviation employees who have lost their companies – our ‘Kissin’ Cousins’ at TWA, the former employees of Eastern, Braniff, Western, PSA, Piedmont, and Republic Airlines – just to mention a few.”

For additional information about Pan American World Airways:

To learn more about the history of this pioneering airline, click on the title below for preview of

Pan American World Airways – Images of a Great Airline Second Edition.

This book is available on eBay .

Preview Pan American World Airways – Aviation History Through the Words of its People, which is available on Amazon.

For further information about the history of Pan American World Airways, visit: Pan Am Historical Foundation

Filed under Airline History, Airlines, Pan Am, Travel Tagged with Airline, China Clipper, Don Cooper, Hawaii, Helen Davey, Honolulu, Huffington Post, Pan Am, Pan Am Clippers, Pan Am destinations, Pan Am Gone But Not Forgotten, Pan Am history, Pan Am Reunion, Pan American, Pan American World Airways, the Pan Am Historical Foundation, the Pan Am World., the Pan Am Aloha Celebration

The Pan Am Series – Part XVII: Death of a Grand Lady

4 December 2013 9 Comments

Clipper Witch of the Wave at Sao Paolo, taken in 1991 (photo by Normando Carvalho, Jr)

Clipper Witch of the Wave at Sao Paulo in 1991 (photo by Normando Carvalho, Jr)

Memories of a Last Flight

On 4 December 1991, Pan American World Airways ceased all operations. The night before, Captain John Marshall flew the last flight from New York Kennedy Airport to Sao Paulo, Brazil, flight 211, a Boeing 747, departing at 8:30 p.m. Arriving in Sao Paulo the next day, he was awakened from his post-flight sleep by a phone call advising him that the airline had ceased to exist and that all aircraft needed to be out of South America that afternoon. In “Death of a Grand Lady”, he writes about his experiences. The story first appeared in the February 2001 issue of Airways Magazine.

Below is his story in its entirety:

“It was a miserable early December night. The ride to the airport seemed to take forever; riding in the last row of the airport bus I sat and brooded as the rain pounded against the windows and the wind howled. I was in uniform, overnight bag on the seat beside me, attracting glances from the few other passengers as we boarded, but then I always did when in uniform. Was it my imagination or was this night different?

“I was scheduled to take the airline’s last flight of the night from Kennedy to Sao Paulo, Brazil, an eleven hour undertaking that would arrive in time for the unbelievable Sao Paulo rush hour. We would snatch what sleep we could during the day, and then operate the return flight that evening, landing back in New York just as the sun was coming up. Two all-nighters back to back, but only away a day and a half. Tough, but productive.

Pan Am’s last timetable with map, schedule page showing Captain Marshall’s flight and 747 configuration.

“I disembarked from the bus at our “new” terminal, dingy and uninviting. Our venerable and traditional Worldport, once the most modern and innovative structure of its kind in the country, had been usurped by our successor on the North Atlantic, Delta Airlines. We had been displaced into the aging facility next door that had been hastily vacated by Delta. Rumor and conjecture had been running rampant throughout the airline for weeks. Delta had appeared during the summer, a White Knight making all the right noises, trading for our fabled Atlantic routes along with airplanes and crews, in return for a promise to support the New Pan Am, an emaciated airline returning to its Latin American roots. Now as Pan Am was poised to exit from the ignominious bankruptcy that had plagued and embarrassed us, we would survive and fly on, albeit in a bit of a different form.

Post 1991 overhead view of Terminal 2 (left), Pan Am’s terminal after Delta took over the Worldport (Terminal 3, right)(photo from Airchive)

: Worldport under Delta Air Lines

: Waiting area in Terminal 2, used by Delta after Pan Am ceased operations.

“I stopped at the desk in the tiny make-shift Operations Office and met the rest of the crew. Due to the length of the flight there would be five of us, three pilots and two engineers. The two first officers and I went over the paperwork while the plumbers went to the aircraft. Then I climbed the stairs to the flight attendant’s briefing room, and walked into a buzzsaw. I heard the latest, and nastiest, rumor for the first time. I walked in and twelve voices all clamored at once, ‘Is it true, captain? Is Delta really pulling out of the deal? What would happen then?’ It was a cacophony of shrill anxiety, with questions that I could not answer.

“This was new to me, but if even a bit of it were true it wasn’t good. Voices swirled around me as I tried to make sense of what I was hearing. A tiny sick feeling niggled in the pit of my stomach as I quickly finished the briefing and hurried out to the aircraft

“A late-night ennui seemed to have settled over the terminal, and the unending drizzle outside did nothing to dispel the gloomy atmosphere. I strolled quickly through the boarding area, alone with my thoughts. The milling throng of waiting, restless passengers may as well not have existed.

“Once aboard, I settled into the long-familiar pre-departure routine, losing myself in the comfortable ritual. For awhile it seemed like just another flight. Passenger boarding and cargo loading was seamless, and without a glitch. It was almost as though we were being hurried away. We pushed back exactly on schedule, more the result of the late hour than anything else, and for once the lousy weather did not hold us up. Only fifteen minutes from push-back to takeoff. They should all be this efficient!

“At top of climb we settled into the task of tuning the big Boeing to the knife-edge efficiency of cruise flight, a delicate exercise designed to extract the maximum benefit from each pound of fuel. Hurrying south into the night, the familiar checkpoints passed quickly, and soon we picked up the call sign of Clipper 441, the nightly service from Miami to Rio. Captained by an old friend, we chatted into the shank of the morning about the chain of ominous developments that threatened to overwhelm the airline.

“We crossed the Amazon at Santarem, with the eastern sky beginning to gray on the horizon. Down across the endless green rain forest, we touched down at the sprawling Sao Paulo Airport almost exactly on schedule. It was a beautiful early summer morning, and I was very much looking forward to a breakfast beer and a long nap. Little did I know that for Pan American World Airways, this was a day that would live in infamy.

Baggage tag for Sao Paulo from 1950s era.

Recent views of Sao Paulo Guarulhos International Airport

“The telephone rang, rudely, just past noon. I came swimming up out of a deep sleep, confused and disoriented, groping for the insistent instrument. The Pan Am Manager for South America was on the line, and his first words erased all traces of sleep from my brain. In essence, it was over. The airline had ceased to exist, just like that. Decades of colorful history, of pioneering routes and opening oceans and continents to air commerce, all of it gone, in a stroke. ‘All of the airplanes must be out of South America by this afternoon, Captain,’ he said. ‘Your aircraft is turning around in Montevideo immediately, and will be back in Sao Paulo by three. You must contact your crew and any others who may be at the hotel. I suggest you contact the local station manager to make the arrangements. The airplane must be away by dark.’ He rang off, and left me pacing the room with my jumbled thoughts.

“The next couple of hours passed in a blur. By some miracle I managed to contact everyone in the crew and pass on the sad news. I talked to the Sao Paulo station manager, the cheery Brazilian who had met me at my airplane just a few hours earlier. ‘We must have some sort of catering,’ I said to him. ‘I’m sure no one has eaten anything since early this morning, and it’s going to be a long night.’ I tried to think of all the little details, to cover all the bases.

“Our crowded crew bus left the hotel at three. It was a somber trip. Tears flowed as questions and endless speculation filled the air. The bus hurried through the mysteriously light traffic and sped toward the outskirts of the sprawling city. It was as though our departure was being hastened by some dark and sinister force. At the airport the transformation was nothing less than appalling. The orderly infrastructure that we had left just hours before was now chaos. All of the signs bearing the airline’s name had mysteriously disappeared, counters were deserted, computers unplugged and stacked haphazardly wherever there was space. The few passengers we met stared at us as though we had some terrible contagious disease. I left the cabin crew in a forlorn little knot in front of the now anonymous ticket counter and went backstage looking for the operations office. By mistake I opened a door into a room full of employees — it was a meeting of some kind, and not a happy one. I could make a good guess at the subject. The only sounds were muffled sobs; I hastily closed the door and moved on. The operations office was manned by a harried clerk manning the one lone working computer. He glared at us as he tossed the paperwork on the counter, as though all of this was our fault. He explained that we were to ferry the airplane to New York; the crew that had brought it in from Uruguay would remain on board. He was hurrying us along just like everyone else, anxious to be rid of this dreadful contagion.

“Finally there was nothing more to do. The station manager appeared and covered the details of the departure. The airplane was parked in a deserted corner of the massive airport, and he had managed to have it catered, thank God. My stomach was reminding me that I hadn’t eaten since breakfast on the inbound flight, eons ago. Our unhappy little brood gathered around and we headed for the bus that would carry us to the last departure, the last airplane we would ever call Clipper. There was a hurried consultation between the station manager and an assistant, and then a quick question: ‘Captain, we have a favor to ask. The mother of one of our agents here has been visiting her from New York. Now she will have no way to return without paying full fare. Do you think you could take her?’

“I almost laughed aloud. What could they do, fire me? ‘Of course, señor. That should be no problem.’ They could have gone out front and sold tickets on the sidewalk, for all I cared.

“In less than half an hour we were airborne. We were a miserable band of about fifty crewmembers plus one somber Brazilian lady who spoke little English. As we took the runway I keyed the mike. ‘Sao Paulo Tower, this is Clipper One Zero Two Two. Request permission to make a low pass over the airport on departure.’

“’Negative, Clipper. Permission denied due to traffic.’ Short, terse, and to the point. There was to be no sentimental farewell here. To them it was just another departure. I thought briefly about doing it anyway, then said to hell with it.

“We took off into the lowering sun and set the nose of the big Clipper northward toward the northern hemisphere winter. I thought briefly about what we would do if we had any sort of problem and had to divert. What would happen then? What would we do for support, for maintenance if we needed it? Would there be money for hotels for my oversized crew if we had to overnight? All questions with no answers. I thought about the airplane that was carrying us home on our last ever journey. She was a 747-122, one of several we flew that had once belonged to United Airlines. What would happen to her now? Would she be bound for an ignominious grave in some southwestern desert?

“We had two full crews aboard, and the pilots offered to share in the duties, an offer that normally I would have gratefully accepted. Tonight, however, I was reluctant to give up my seat to anyone; this was a flight that none of us wanted to end. In ordinary times this takeoff and landing would have been the first officer’s, but not tonight. He had accepted the inevitable with grace and a smile. Finally I relinquished my seat and wandered back into the darkened cabin. Little knots of people gathered in the galleys, pools of light amidst the great cabins now dark and empty, almost sinister in the silence. I sat in one of the luxurious first class seats, seats that by all rights should have been filled with happy, chattering passengers who would pay my salary. Tonight there was no one. I tried to doze and could not, and finally gave up and went back to the flight deck. As I opened the door I had a sudden feeling that this was all a cruel hoax, that everything was just as it was. The airplane roared into the night, the three crew-members watching the performance with studied indifference, it was like a thousand other nights, quiet and comforting.

“I got back into the left seat, savoring the sounds and the night; the benign drone of the engines, the majesty of the December sky. I wondered when I would ever experience them again. For lack of anything better to do, I decided to see if I could raise the company. I dialed up Houston Radio and asked for a phone patch. To my surprise, Pan Am dispatch answered almost immediately. We chatted for a moment about routine things; I dragged out the brief conversation. We were both reluctant to sign off, each of us recognizing the finality of the contact. ‘You’re the last one, Clipper,’ he said. Suddenly tears welled in my eyes, for the first time the reality of this unspeakable scenario hit home.

“Then finally it was time to go, to close this unhappy chapter. We started down into the early morning glitter of New York City; it was cold and windy, the air crisp and sparkly. At two a.m. we were the only traffic, and we cut the corners onto the runway 31 Left ILS. None of the controllers knew what to say, and we didn’t either. We taxied to a far corner of the sprawling ramp in front of the International Arrivals Building where we were greeted by one lone maintenance type whose sole contribution to the proceedings was to install the gear pins and wheel a maintenance ladder up to the left forward door. He wore a Delta Airlines uniform; I had never seen him before. He was gone almost as soon as he arrived. The descent from the airplane was almost worse than the flight itself, the flight attendants teetering down the rickety ladder with tote bags and flight kits, following slowly one by one. There was a Volkswagen van of undetermined vintage poised to take us into the customs hall, where the one lone inspector sympathetically waved us through.

“And so it was over. What the future would hold for all of us none could foresee, only that this chapter was closed. We had had a grand run, dancing with one of the grand ladies of the industry. Growing gracefully beautiful in her middle age when we met, she had moved with stately grace even as she grew older. We waltzed happily together into her sunset years, and it was only later that she showed the lines and ravages of age and neglect. None of us will ever forget her.”

Captain John Marshall served as a pilot for Pan Am from July 1964 until 4 December 1991.

For additional information about Pan American World Airways:

To learn more about the history of this pioneering airline, click on the title below for preview of

Pan American World Airways – Images of a Great Airline Second Edition.

This book is available on eBay .

Preview Pan American World Airways – Aviation History Through the Words of its People, which is available on Amazon.

For further information about the history of Pan American World Airways, visit: Pan Am Historical Foundation

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The Pan Am Series – Part XVI: What is Pan Am

27 November 2013 6 Comments

What is Pan Am and Why Should We Care?

Every Thanksgiving millions of Americans take to the air to visit loved ones for what has become a four-day weekend. The Wednesday before Thanksgiving is traditionally the busiest day of the year for airline travel. And the nation’s airlines gear up for the onslaught of passengers at the nation’s airports. For the past twenty-two years one airline has been missing: Pan American World Airways.

For the past 15 weeks this “Pan Am Series” has been written and shared with the purpose of keeping the Pan Am story alive. Many born in the 1980s and later probably don’t remember Pan Am and maybe never ever heard of it. For those who do not know, or know very little, about Pan Am, the words and illustrations below will be an introduction to one of the greatest airlines ever.

Below are two articles: The first from the Pan Am Historical Foundation explaining who is Pan Am and why it is important; and the second, a “from the heart” retrospective on Pan Am logos, symbols and slogans, from a former Pan Am Captain who flew one of the airline’s last flights.

From the Pan Am Historical Foundation:

“For those who flew internationally for business or pleasure before 1991, the words Pan Am will provoke memories that range from a peripheral awareness of an airline that is no more to vivid recollections of an American company that achieved archetypal status as an icon of the 20th century.

“For those in the commercial aviation and air transport industries, Pan Am resonates as the prototypical intercontinental carrier that drew the blueprints and set the foundation for the global air transport system of today. Driven, dominant, fiercely competitive—loved, hated, or envied—the company’s long list of trailblazing firsts is an indelible record of operational achievement. All the while, its corporate identity exuded a sense of style and élan that remains legendary. The Pan Am identity projects a highest standard and its mark stood worldwide above all others.

“For those whose fate depended on a desperate flight to freedom, and to the many more who never boarded an airplane, Pan Am brought the ideals of the nation and the support of a caring world community to the teeming shores of five continents.

“The safety and affordability of air travel today enjoyed by many millions of the world’s mobile society can be traced directly back to Pan Am. The ability of the company leadership in the formative years of air travel to structure such an industry and open its markets, and to move so quickly on multiple fronts of technology, finance, diplomacy, and human resources remains a model of entrepreneurship. The same can be said for its brand of patriotism and service to the national interest in both peacetime and in war.

“Air travel is a complex experience today. Nevertheless, in the industrialized world it has become an entitlement, an expectation that we can be in London one day and in Hong Kong the next. Something only a Jules Verne could imagine a few generations ago. The ancient dream of flight was passed from the grasp of a few intrepid experimenters into the hands of a globe-trotting public via Pan Am in just a few decades.

“A complete corporate history of Pan American World Airways from 1927 to 1991 could fill ten volumes. The following points and milestones, however, are some of the broad brush strokes in the colorful history of this unique company and its lasting significance.

“Pan Am was not “another airline.” In transport by fixed wing aircraft Pan Am had no equal in either domestic or foreign rivalry. First across the Pacific, the Atlantic, and round-the-world with regular scheduled and sustained service.

“It all began in South Florida. While domestic, overland airline development evolved coast-to-coast, the state of aeronautics and geography dictated that of all the world’s continental configurations the ninety-five-mile gap from the extreme tip of the Sunshine State across the Florida Straits to Cuba was just right for attempting a first foray of over water international air service. Furthermore, this location was a natural gateway for linking the Americas and to begin building an aerial network to unify the Western Hemisphere.

“The first principals of Pan Am, its holding company, and subsidiaries were leading experts and visionaries in aeronautics, finance, business, governmental affairs, and international diplomacy. These executives were able to identify and gain access to like minded individuals and foster a culture of competence. The same caliber of recruitment was carried out at the engineering and operational levels. While standard business practices of the day were employed organizationally, close coordination and many cross-over skills kept the pyramid from being overly hierarchical in the early years. Professionalism, from the boardroom to the flight crews and maintenance departments changed the face of the airline business. As things progressed, an esprit de corps evolved best summed up by the catchphrase “Clipper Glory.”

“With European nations leading in aeronautics after WWI and pressing their efforts in scheduled ocean air transport, it was Pan Am that achieved the breakthrough with China Clipper service to Asia propelling the US to the forefront of the air age. Its proprietary radio direction finding technology and long-range, multi-engine aircraft, which it had demanded of manufacturers, set it apart from all other of the world’s fleets.

“This is Pan Am. A unique American enterprise that did so much to define the twentieth century and an entrepreneurial success story that continues to inspire and point the way to what is possible. The story is multi-layered, and while its complexities draw on many disciplines in science, technology, human factors, international relations, and more, they are all connected by a simple idea—the desire to strive for excellence. Such is the legacy.”

From Captain Don Cooper:

Pan Am Logos and Slogans

“Over six decades, Pan American’s magnitude of operation extended to six continents, and included numerous nations and cities and thus established the company as an international icon, second only to Coco Cola. Pan American’s pioneering and technological achievements, along with its passenger innovations projected the company’s image to the forefront of the international travel. As its route system expanded, the quality of service and safety improved, generating public confidence in the company and commercial aviation. Because of these outstanding achievements, Pan American became the premier airline of the world insuring its corporate name, clipper call sign, nautical aircraft themes, logo and slogans to be recognized internationally.

“International maritime law requires all aircraft and ships to display the flag of the country of registry. Pan Am prominently and proudly displayed the American flag, sometimes on the fuselage near the nose and at other times on the tail of the aircraft, which symbolized that Pan Am aircraft, at anytime, anywhere in the world, were the sovereign territory of the United States of America.

“Pan American’s first logo was an arrow piercing a bracketed shield with the letters ‘PAA’ enclosed. From the top of the shield, lines flowed towards the tail giving an impression of an arrow in express flight. In October 1930, [Chief Engineer] Andre Priester ordered a standard theme for all Pan American aircraft, a logo designed with a hemispheric globe underneath a half wing. This logo eventually evolved into a series of three symbols, which were painted on the nose and near the tail of all its aircraft. The first in the series showed the continents of North and South Americas in the center of the globe. In 1944, several changes were made by placing the letters “PAA” on the wing, incorporating grid lines, and rotating the globe to show portions of the western hemisphere. Later, the grid lines were removed. Navy blue became the official color for aircraft livery. In the same period, the slogan “The System of the Flying Clippers” was introduced.

“In 1949, with the introduction of the Boeing 377, called the ‘Stratocruiser’, the airline’s most enduring slogan, ‘World’s Most Experienced Airline,’ was adopted.

“Pan Am’s corporate name changed several times. In 1950, the company’s original name ‘Pan American Airways’ was changed to ‘Pan American World Airways.’ Then on November 1, 1972 the corporate name was changed again to the company’s popular nickname ‘Pan Am.’

“Juan Trippe had an affinity for nautical aspects of mid-nineteenth century clipper ships that were developed in the U.S. These ships were sleek and fast sailing vessels and acquired the name ‘Clipper’ from the way they ‘clipped-off’ their miles, dramatically reducing sailing times between distant ports of call. Sailing to Australia in 1854, Donald McKay’s ‘Sovereign of the Seas’ reported the highest rate of speed, 22 knots, ever achieved by a sailing ship. Clipper ships were built for seasonal trade, where early cargo delivery was paramount. These sleek vessels were ideally suited for low-volume, high profit goods, such as tea, spices, gold, opium from China and wool from Australia. Their cargoes could be spectacular in value.

Donald McKay’s Sovereign of the Seas

“In 1930, Trippe made a corporate decision that all Pan American aircraft would adopt a nautical theme. Airspeed would be calculated in knots, time in bells, aircraft interiors would be nautical and a crew’s tour of duty would be referred to as a watch. All company aircraft would be christened ‘Clippers.’ This tradition continued for the life of the company, with the brand name registered to ensure its exclusive use. On Columbus Day 1931, a Sikorsky S 40, was the first aircraft to bear the name ‘Clipper’. It was christened ‘American Clipper’ by Mrs. Herbert Hoover, the President’s wife. Since the law of Prohibition (18^th Amendment, later repealed) was in effect, a bottle of Caribbean Sea water was used for the christening instead of a bottle of champagne. Pan American Clippers, the ultimate in aviation technology, were the proud symbols of America’s ability to lead the world in the advancements of commercial aviation.

Sikorsky S-40 – “Southern Clipper”

“During this same era, André Priester ordered that cockpit crew members’ uniforms be changed from white trousers and dark blue coats to navy-blue serge uniforms, standard black neck ties and gold wings pinned on the breast of their jackets. These uniforms changes were for all divisions and for certain ground personnel and included the subsidiary companies of Pan American.

” In the summer of 1932, a new uniform insignia was introduced along with standardized pay for all pilots and other employees. Captains received a flat salary of $600 dollar a month. Chief pilots received wings with three stars on a blue bar. Senior pilots wore wings with two stars, co-pilots had one star and junior pilots had none. The title of captain was adopted and implied master of the ship. Originally, crew rank was not indicated on uniforms, but after WW II, four gold braided stripes were added to the sleeves of captain’s uniforms and ‘scrambled eggs’ were placed on hat bills. All other cockpit crew members wore three gold stripes and plain black billed hats.

Stratocruiser painting of interior scene

“Pan American cabin crews were traditionally male stewards or pursers, modeled in function and appearance after stewards of luxury ocean liners. Their uniforms were white shirts, black neck ties, white waist-length jackets and black trousers. Their work was considered to be too arduous for women, but in 1944, this tradition changed. Pan American hired its first seven stewardesses to fly in their Latin America Division from Miami. The following December, the Alaska Division hired one lady, Marcia Black. On September 15, 1945, the Atlantic Division hired a class of stewardesses to be trained for the Boeing 314 Atlantic service. In March 1946, the Pacific Division hired their first stewardesses.

“After World War II, Pan American Airways hired four unique and very special ladies: Marjory Foster-Munn, Ruth Glaser-Wright-Guhse, Barbara Hart-Kennedy and Elizabeth ‘Betty’ Haas-Pfister. During the War, these ladies became members of an elite group called WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots). Twenty-five thousand ladies applied, 1830 were accepted and took the oath, but only 1074 completed flight training, freeing a male pilot for combat service and duties. Thirty-eight WASP lost their lives in accidents, 11 in training and 27 fulfilling flight duties. As a group, they flew every aircraft in the military inventory, including fighters and bombers and did a myriad of flying jobs. After serving their country as pilots, Pan American denied these four WASPs employment as pilots because of discriminatory polices at the time. So, they hired on as stewardesses.

“In October 1955, Juan Trippe in his typical covert manner, without telling Pan Am employees or other airline executives about what he was up to, started secret talks with aircraft manufactures. He pitted one aircraft manufacture against another for competitive purposes, and brow beat Pratt Whitney, the aircraft engine maker, for more powerful and fuel efficient jet engines. After clandestine negotiations with Douglas and Boeing for new jet aircraft, Trippe decided to have a cocktail party in his Manhattan apartment over looking the East River to celebrate and announce Pan American future plans. His guests, members of IATA executive committee, were having enjoyable time and praising themselves for ordering new turbo-prop Lockheed Electras to replace their outdated propeller aircraft fleets. When someone ask Trippe what Pan Am’s plans were, he announced that Pan Am was going all jet with an order of 24 Douglas DC-8s and 21 Boeing 707s. That announcement had a chilling effect on his guest and ended the party’s upbeat note. Trippe had just forced the jet age upon his competitors and in the process, they would be forced to dump their propeller aircraft at loss. In the following days, airline executives were headed west to the Boeing and Douglas plants to get in line behind Pan American for their new jets.

“What followed was a complete revamp of the Pan Am’s image in preparation for the jet age. In 1955, New York architect Edward Larrabee Barnes was hired as Pan Am’s consultant designer. He and his associate Charles Forberg revamped the image of the company. The most notable changes were the new 1960 terminal building at JFK fashioned after Berlin’s Tempelhof with an overhanging canopy roof and by replacing the traditional half-wing and hemispheric globe logo with a large clean blue globe over-laid with curved parabolic lines to give an impression of an airline without geographic demarcations.

DC-4 at Berlin

“The jet age arrived on October 26, 1958, with Pan Am’s first Boeing 707 inaugural flight from New York to Paris. The jets were an immediate financial success for Pan Am, along with the blue ball, which became one of the world’s most recognized corporate symbols.

John T. McCoy watercolor of the takeoff of Flight 114.

“Because Pan Am was a recognized world icon, which represented America’s greatest; Islam terrorist on December 21, 1988 bombed Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie Scotland shortly after departing London, killing 269 people. This terrorist action eventually led Pan Am to its demise. On December 4, 1991 Pan Am declared bankruptcy and closed down after sixty-four years of service and the blue ball, along with its patent rights, was sold by court ordered auction for 1.3 million dollars. In order to circumvent the patent issues of the blue ball logo, a new symbol was created for the 2006 Pan Am/Victoria BC reunion by combining the blue ball and the half wing/hemispheric globe logos into one symbol as seen below. The combined logo truly represents Pan Am’s legendary sixty-four year history, which no other airline can match and all Pan am employees should be proud to have been a part of this extraordinary legacy.”

For additional information about Pan American World Airways:

To learn more about the history of this pioneering airline, click on the title below for preview of

Pan American World Airways – Images of a Great Airline Second Edition.

This book is available on eBay .

Preview Pan American World Airways – Aviation History Through the Words of its People, which is available on Amazon.

For further information about the history of Pan American World Airways, visit: Pan Am Historical Foundation

Filed under Airline History, Airlines, Pan Am, Travel Tagged with Airline History, Airlines, Aviation, Boeing 377, Boeing 707, Clipper ships, Clippers, DC-8, jets, PAA, Pan Am, Pan Am history, pan am logos, pan am pilots, pan am stewardess, pan american airways, Pan American World Airways, stratocruisers

The Pan Am Series – Part XV: President Kennedy

22 November 2013 2 Comments

President Kennedy and Pan Am

This November 22 Americans born in the 1950s and before will recall that day in 1963, fifty years ago, when the 35th U.S. President, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Like their parents and grandparents who remember where they were on December 7, 1941 and their children and grandchildren who remember where they were on September 11, 2001, these baby-boomers will remember where they were and what they were doing when they heard the words of Walter Cronkite announcing that the President had died at 1 p.m. Central Standard Time.

CBS newscaster Walter Cronkite announces the death of President John F. Kennedy. (CBS/Landov)

But for everyone, the significance of that event, and the history that followed, will be a memory forever. Pan American World Airways, in service to the White House that day, was there.

Pan Am on November 22, 1963

For most of this month, television networks have been broadcasting specials and documentaries about the assassination of President Kennedy. Often are shown old newsreels of the President and his party leaving Dallas Love Field in his limousine, and in many, one can see in the background a Pan Am 707 and members of its crew. That 707 was a “White house Press Charter”. The aircraft carried the news media and other White House staff and went everywhere the Presidential Aircraft, Air Force One, also a 707, went. Pan Am’s 707 was specially configured with all First Class seating and was stocked with “gourmet” food and drink. The operation involved an interchange during the trip to allow the media to cover both the departure and arrival of the President. At departure, Air Force One would depart first, allowing the media to cover it. En-route, the Pan Am aircraft would overtake Air Force One and land at the destination first to enable the media to cover the President’s arrival. On the morning of November 22, 1963, Air Force One and Pan Am traveled from Fort Worth to Dallas.

Air Force One departing Carswell Air Force Base for Dallas, Nov. 22, 1963 (Cecil Stoughton photo)

Air Force One departing Carswell Air Force Base for Dallas, Nov. 22, 1963 (Rob Hinnant photo from The Kennedy Gallery)

On board the Pan Am Press Charter that day was Kari-Mette Pigmans, a young Flight Attendant (then called “Stewardess”) from Norway who was in her first year of employment with Pan Am. She wrote of her memories from that day in a story featured in Pan American World Airways – Aviation History Through the Words of its People. Below is an excerpt:

“During my first year of employment, I was chosen to fly the White House Press Charters. The year was 1963 and John F. Kennedy was the President. I was amongst the select few chosen to fly the press that tailed Air Force One wherever President Kennedy went. * * *

“I would not say that we were special, but we were the 11 chosen and led by Captain Doug Moody. There were 4 in the cockpit and 7 in the cabin and that rounded out the crew for that year. * * *

“I am writing about a particular day, however, and as I sit down to write this, tears fill my eyes and drip down my cheek to my notes that I have scribbled down. The day was Friday, November 22nd 1963. We flew . . . to Dallas (Love Field) where the President was fulfilling an invitation from Vice President Lyndon Johnson to visit his home state of Texas. I remember the day vividly; it was a beautiful fall Texas day probably in the 70s. * * *

“The press had left the plane in the same quick fashion that they normally would so that they could get positioned to cover the Presidential events. With our plane parked right next to Air Force One, the other 6 girls and I walked down to the tarmac to catch what was to be our last glimpse of the President that we had all become so fond of. Jackie Kennedy joined him for this day in Dallas. We saw the motorcade leave the airport with Gov. John Connally and his wife in the front of the open-air limo and JFK and Jackie in the back seats. * * *

President and Mrs. Kennedy walking away from Air Force One (courtesy of Kari-Mette Pigmans)

President and Mrs. Kennedy greeting well-wishers. Note the Pan Am 707 in background. (Cecil Stoughton photo)

The motorcade leaving Dallas Love Field. Note the Pan Am 707 in background. (Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza)

“The crew was set to have a short layover in Dallas so we headed to the terminal for a quick meal. It was not long before we were called back to our plane. The news we received back on the plane hit us like a rock. After what seemed like an eternity, a very solemn row of cars appeared. Jackie Kennedy stepped out of the car. She was still wearing that iconic, beautiful pink and navy Chanel suit, but now stained with blood. * * *

“Vice President Lyndon Johnson and his wife Lady Bird arrived right behind Jackie and they all quickly entered Air Force One. We had the misfortune of seeing the coffin which was later lifted into Air Force One. There was not one dry eye around us and we stood there in complete silence as there was nothing really to say – conversation was just out of the question. * * *

John F. Kennedy's casket being loaded on board Air Force One (The Kennedy Gallery)

John F. Kennedy’s casket being loaded on Air Force One (The Kennedy Gallery)

“As we soon found out later, Lyndon Johnson was quickly sworn in as the 36th President on Air Force One. A few minutes later the President’s plane took off and we headed behind in tow for Andrews Air Force Base. Everyone remembers where they were that tragic afternoon. We had truly witnessed history. American History….World History….[and]….Pan American was there.”

Here is a video of Kari Mette-Pigman’s interview with the Sixth Floor Museum:

Two Days Later

In New York, another young Flight Attendant, Carla Levesque Marshall, was assigned to work Pan Am’s flight 110 to Rome. It was a very emotional trip for her, as recalled in her story, “Indelible Impressions”, also featured in Pan American World Airways – Aviation history Through the Words of its People. Below are some excerpts from her story:

“I tore myself away on Sunday, November 24^th to report to New York’s Idlewild Airport for Pan American Flight #110 to Rome. I didn’t want to go, feeling as though it was some sort of treasonous act to leave my country during this terrible crisis.

“Our 707 was filled to capacity with anxious passengers. It turned out that most of them felt just as I did – they were leaving home and preferred instead to stay to support America. Throughout the long hushed night across the Atlantic, no one slept, whispering to us and to each other, communicating sadness, homesickness and despair, crying and comforting each other until we all arrived exhausted in the morning mist at Fumicino Airport in Rome.

“As soon as we stepped into the terminal, members of our Pan Am ground staff came up to greet us, first to offer their sympathy, [and also tell us about] a proxy memorial service for President Kennedy to be held . . . at the Basilica St. John Lateran, the Pope’s own cathedral.

“Upon arrival at [our] hotel, everyone from the concierge to the porters to the housekeeping staff expressed their condolences to us. President Kennedy’s photo was on the wall in the lobby draped in black. We changed clothes as quickly as we could and jumped into a taxi to take us to the cathedral. We didn’t realize that thousands of Romans [had] the same idea. When our driver stopped the taxi, he pointed to a huge throng of people all dressed in black, which we suddenly recognized as the end of an impossibly long line of fellow mourners. * * *

“We were talking about how worried we were that we would never even see the church, let alone get inside to participate in the service, because the line was well over a mile long. Someone near us asked in heavily accented English, ‘Are you Americans?’ We nodded, and then the miracle began to happen. In Italian, I heard them say to the people in front of them that we were Americans, and with that, a few people stood aside to let us move up in the line. This incredible courtesy repeated itself over and over, until we found ourselves being gently pushed inside the cathedral. There was San Giovanni in Laterano in all of its palatial glory.

“The courtesy extended to us did not stop there. Unbelievably, the Italians continued to open a path for us until we were actually standing directly in front of the High Altar encased in its brilliant gold. Television klieg lights were above us and shown down upon the most stunning scene: On the High Altar was a coffin draped in the flag of the United States. Stationed at each corner of the altar were Honor Guards in full dress uniforms from each of the United States armed services, and also from each of the Italian armed services. Behind the High Altar was the entire assemblage of the College of Cardinals and the Ecumenical Council dressed in their scarlet robes. Pope Paul VI, dressed in white robes, began the high mass for President Kennedy, and we joined in the prayers with hearts filled with love for our President and gratitude for the wonderful people who had allowed us to witness this astonishing event. Tears were streaming down my cheeks when a very small elderly lady at my side reached up and began patting my arm, saying, ‘Mi dispicere tanto’ – I’m so very sorry.

Facade, Basilica of St. John, Lareran (Marie-Lan Nguyen photo)

Interior, Basilica of St. John, Lateran (rome.com)

High Altar, Basilica of St. John, Lateran (Source unknown)

“The following day, my crew and I flew on to Tehran. The sentiment, ‘I’m so very sorry’ was repeated by almost every passenger during our flight, and by every Iranian with whom we came into contact on the ground – the airport staff, our crew bus driver, the hotel staff and even strangers on the street who saw us in our Pan Am uniforms. Again, President Kennedy’s photograph was on the Hilton Hotel lobby wall, and there were other photos of him on the walls of our individual rooms, all draped in black.

“This global outpouring of grief and sympathy took place early in my career, and it was the first time that I comprehended how completely the rest of the world identified Pan American Airways and those of us who worked for the Pan Am family, as extensions of America, and extensions of what America stood for: freedom and hope of freedom. The rest of the world had recognized that the death of young President Kennedy was a blow to those hopes of freedom. The expressions of sympathy were not really directed at me, but to the symbol I had the privilege to represent.”

While preparing this installment of The Pan Am Series, it was discovered that Father John Schultz, of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, then a seminary student in Rome, was also present at the Mass on 25 November at the Basilica St. John Lateran.

*****

To learn more about the history of this pioneering airline, click on the title below for preview of

Pan American World Airways – Images of a Great Airline Second Edition.

This book is available on eBay .

Preview Pan American World Airways – Aviation History Through the Words of its People, which is available on Amazon.

For further information about the history of Pan American World Airways, visit: Pan Am Historical Foundation

Filed under Airline History, Airlines, Pan Am Tagged with Air Force One, Assassination of John F. Kennedy, Basilica San Giovanni Lateran, Basilica St John Lateran, Dallas, Dallas Love Field, Dealey Plaza, JFK, John F Kennedy, Kennedy, Lyndon B Johnson, Nov 22, Nov 22 1963, PAA, Pan Am, Pan Am history, Pan Am Press Charters, Pan Am White House Charters, Pan American World Airways, School Book Depository, Texas

Kindle Edition Now Available!

27 October 2013 Leave a comment

Now Available in Kindle!

A Kindle Edition of Pan American World Airways – Aviation History Through the Words of its People is now available!

Click here for more information.

Filed under Uncategorized Tagged with Airline History, aviation history, Pan Am, Pan Am history, Pan American World Airways

The Pan Am Series – Part VI: Latin America and Flight 201

21 September 2013 3 Comments

The S-38 pioneered Pan Am’s expansion in the Caribbean and Central America.

A Boeing 747 at Rio de Janeiro – the mainstay of Pan Am’s South American operations until the end.

Pan Am, from the beginning has been identified with Latin America. Perhaps it is the name, “Pan American Airways”, which founder Juan Trippe finally settled on when told that “pan” meant all and that is what the airline was: it served all the Americas.

The airline’s first scheduled mail (28 October 1927) and passenger (16 January 1928) flights were from Key West to Havana, and on 29 October 1928, Miami was added to the route system. During the late 1920’s and early 1930’s Pan Am’s network extended through all of Central and South America. Pan Am also purchased a number of ailing or defunct airlines in Central and South America and negotiated with postal officials to win most of the US government’s airmail contracts to the region. In September 1929 Trippe toured Latin America with Charles Lindbergh to negotiate landing rights in a number of countries, including SCADTA’s home turf in Colombia, and Venezuela. By the end of the year, Pan Am offered flights along the west coast of South America to Peru. The following year, Pan Am purchased the New York, Rio and Buenos Aires Line (NYRBA), giving it a seaplane route along the east coast of South America to Buenos Aires, Argentina, and westbound to Santiago, Chile. Pan Am also partnered with W. R. Grace & Company in 1929 to form Pan American-Grace Airways (Panagra).

Front and back cover of Pan Am’s first timetable. Reproduction of the original eight page folder.

The Sikorsky S-38 was the workhorse of the period and was used in survey flights and scheduled service as Pan Am extended its route system in the Caribbean. On 6 February 1929, this aircraft made the first airmail flight to the Canal Zone with Charles Lindbergh in command and John A. Hambleton, one of the airline’s co-founders, as co-pilot.

Timetable cover circa early 1930s.

Captain John Marshall piloted Pan Am’s Latin America routes for years on many of the airline’s aircraft. He wrote about Pan Am in Latin America along with memories about his first flight to Rio in a piece that appeared in Airways Magazine. Here are excerpts from his article, “Flying to Rio”:

“Pan American Airways (the ’World’ did not come until after the war, when the airline really did fly all over the world) from the beginning had a Latin flavor. Its very first flight was from Key West to Havana, and the early days were marked by exploration and new service to the Caribbean, Central America, and down to the huge southern half of the hemisphere. One of founder Juan Trippe’s early moves was the purchase of the New York, Rio, and Buenos Aires Line (NYRBA). The routes from this purchase formed the backbone of the South American route system that would be a mainstay of the company until its very last days. Included in the deal was a fleet of Consolidated Commodores.”

: Consolidated Commodore

“Much of the early route exploration done during 1929 was accomplished with the Sikorsky S-38 seaplane with Charles Lindbergh at the controls, along with wife Anne and the Trippes, Juan and his wife Betty. Together they pioneered these first routes that connected Miami with Cuba and Central America. Later on that year they explored another air mail route that took them through Puerto Rico and as far south as Paramaribo in Dutch Guiana (now Surinam).

“The fledgling airline’s fleet of Consolidated Commodore and the venerable S-38 formed the backbone of Pan Am’s South American operation until the arrival of the four-engine Sikorsky S-42.

“The Commodore could cover the journey from Miami to Rio in an astounding five days. It could fly nearly 900 miles without refueling, and carry a load of 32 passengers, plus cargo – a truly staggering achievement! Crossing the equator vested one with a rare and unique badge of honor, and properly engraved certificates were solemnly presented to each passenger. When the ‘Line’ was crossed, the captain pulled back on the yoke and then pushed abruptly forward, performing a swooping, stomach-dropping maneuver that was proof that the flight had indeed crossed the Equator and entered the southern hemisphere.

“It was about this time that Pan Am began building a series of guest houses along the long route to South America in order to provide suitable accommodations for over-night passengers. These guest houses would remain in use until well after the war.

Flight 201

Pan Am’s flight 201 could be considered a Pan Am “signature” flight that operated on its prestige routes. It originally operated between Miami and Buenos Aires and eventually between New York and Buenos Aires. The flight also included a stop in Rio de Janeiro. Just when the flight was designated “201” is difficult to determine. The flight number appears in the December 1939 timetable but does not in the April 1939 timetable. Timetables from earlier years had no flight numbers.

In 1939, flight 201 operated six days a week with an S-42, and the journey took 6 days. Below is the schedule of flight 201 from the December 1939 timetable. Note the overnight stops.

The Sikorsky S-42

In 1940 the flight was operated with a Boeing 307 “Strato Clipper” and in 1943, a DC-3 was operated on the route. Presumably this continued during the war wartime restrictions prevented publication of public timetables.

Douglas DC-3

As the war was winding down, Pan Am began transition from wartime to peacetime operations and the focus was on Latin America. The October 1945 time table advertised a 21 hour trip between New York and Buenos Aires with “huge new 100 and 200-passenger Clippers”. However, until the these new Clippers were available, the route to Buenos Aires continued to be operated with a DC-3 from Miami with overnight stops in Port of Spain, Belem and Rio de Janeiro.

From Captain Marshall:

“In July, 1948, just three years after the end of the war, Pan Am advertised daily single plane service between New York and Rio. The flight number was 201, as it would remain until the last day of the airline, and it left every night for Brazil. The aircraft was a Douglas DC-4 the unpressurized successor to the C-54, the military workhorse whose fame extended to the Berlin Airlift in the same year. Flight 201 left New York La Guardia (New York Idlewild, later JFK, would not come into general use until years later) at 2315 hours, according to the timetable, which was 11:15 p.m. to the civilian populace. Ten hours later it landed at San Juan, where it spent an hour’s layover before departing on the next leg, to Port-of-Spain, the capital of Trinidad, touching down three and a half hours later. Passengers had the option of breaking their journey at Pan Am’s Piarco Guest House in Port of Spain and continuing on the same flight the next day or waiting to take flight 203, another DC-4 that operated on Wednesdays and Saturdays to Georgetown, British Guinea, Paramaribo, Surinam, and Cayenne, French Guinea. That flight departed Port of Spain at 2:00 a.m. and passengers spent the rest of the long night boring through the South American skies to those exotic ports of call. Those continuing on flight 201 departed for Belem, Brazil at 1415 hours, 2:15 p.m.

Douglas DC-4

“Belem is Brazil’s northeastern-most seaport, on the bulge of the continent just north of the mouth of the Amazon, where the continent juts out into the Atlantic. It is eight gut-throbbing hours before we land in Belem; nearly midnight. Never despair, however, because the end is finally in sight. On the ground a scarce sixty minutes, at 22315 hours, 11:15 p.m., flight 201 lifts off for the final time. Next stop Rio! The DC-4 flies through the endless night until finally the sun pushes its way into the windows on the port side of the aircraft. For sightseeing, the passengers missed nothing; the flight from Belem is over nothing but solid, endless, green; the never-ending Brazilian rain forest. Villages and settlements are mere specks of light in the endless darkness, there is nothing to see. The new capital city of Brasilia is not yet a gleam of an idea in a politician‘s mind. Finally the airplane begins its descent, and right on schedule, at 0715 hours, 7:15 a.m., the DC-4 touches down at Rio’s Galeao Airport. What a journey!”

The June 1948 timetable below shows the journey of flight 201 on the “Latin America Services” page. A map illustrating Pan Am’s route system is also shown. Note the extent of services in Latin America.

Pan Am’s large presence in Latin America continued after the war and into the 50s and 60s but with the sale of Panagra to Braniff in 1967 and the sales of its subsidiaries, its presence, particularly in South America, became gradually less dominant. Timetable maps illustrate the changes.

Map from 1945 timetable.

Map from 1952 timetable.

Map from 1956 timetable.

Map from 1959 timetable.

Map from 1969 timetable, after sale of Panagra.

Map from 1978 timetable.

Flight 201, however, continued operation as illustrated in the selected timetable pages below. In 1952, a Boeing 377 Strato Clipper was used and offered “El Presidente Especial” service that included a lower deck club lounge and extra food and bar service. In 1956, a DC-6B (Super 6 Clipper) was employed in an all-First Class service, featuring the “President Special” twice a week. This service, according to the timetable “provides the ultimate in luxury service including Sleeperette chairs for bed length sleeping comfort. Special food service and extra cabin attendants.” The flight stopped in Caracas, Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires, terminating in Montevideo. In 1959, the service was operated with a DC-7B, with “President Special” offerings on Tuesday and Friday. The flight also stopped in Sao Paulo. In 1969, the flight operated with a Boeing 707 and added Brasilia, the new capital of Brazil, as an intermediate point. And in 1978, the flight was operated nonstop between New York and Rio de Janeiro with Boeing 747 on Friday and Saturday and a 707 the rest of the week.

Douglas DC-7B

Captain Marshall’s first trip on flight 201 was in the late 1970s when he piloted a Boeing 707 from New York to Rio. Below are his memories from the trip.

From Captain Marshall:

“Came the jets, and not much had really changed, except the guest houses were left for the flight crews. The first time I flew flight 201 was in the late ‘70s, and my chariot was a 707. Departure from Kennedy Airport was at 2200, and it was the nightly non-stop to Rio. The airplane was at nearly maximum gross weight for the long flight; it was a common occurrence to “ring the bell” at a noise monitoring site near the airport, and we did just that.

“The first hours were spent flying south down the familiar airways into the Caribbean — dozens of flights to San Juan and Jamaica and yes, Piarco, had made these airways like old friends. South of Port-of-Spain, however, the airways and place names became decidedly more exotic. Georgetown and Paramaribo passed silently beneath in the darkness, and then we crossed the border into Brazil. The immensity of the country struck me when I realized that we were barely half way — all the rest of the way would be through Brazilian airspace, but it would consume mere hours, instead of days just a few years before.

“A three-quarter moon had risen over my left shoulder, providing just enough illumination to enable me to pick out rivers below. I craned my neck to peer forward into the night, searching for the mighty Amazon, which we would cross just east of Santarem. Suddenly there it was, stretched out before us in the moonlight, that most immense of rivers. As we lined it up with the moon, I could see far to the east, where it opened up to a vast oceanic estuary, a hundred miles across at its mouth. In a moment we would cross the equator, and I felt myself anxiously waiting for the bump. In later years I always thought it would be an amusing exercise to have someone flush the lav just as we crossed the Line, and see if the swirl stopped going clockwise and began rotating in the other direction. (Or is it the other way around?)

“Communications are a little different down here. Routine position reports are passed to Belem on HF (high frequency) radio, which was proving to be a difficult exercise. Both Belem and Brazilia radio seem to be at the bottom of a deep echoing well, and require patient persistence to make ourselves heard. I was reminded of my first flights to India and South Asia. One of the caveats concerning flight into South America niggled at my brain. “They’ll give you anything you ask for, so you are essentially your own air traffic control.” I tested this a moment later when, after finally reaching Belem, we asked for the next higher flight level. The answer came instantly winging back, without a pause. “Roger, Clipper, cleared to climb to flight level three five zero.” Now is when the do-it-yourself kicks in. We dialed up the air-to-air VHF frequency, 126.9, and made the required broadcast in the blind. “Clipper 201, on one twenty-six nine, in the blind, southbound on Amber 4, fifty south of Santarem, climbing out of three three zero for three fife zero.” I reached up and flipped on the landing lights, two stabbing beams of light piercing the night. Silence. Not a lot of traffic abroad in northern Brazil at two in the morning.

“Above, the night was punctuated by a dazzling display of stars, uncompromised by any lights on the ground; below an endless stretch of black, broken only every hundred miles or so by the lights of a tiny village on the banks of a river. The air was smooth; we were suspended in the night. I wandered aft to stretch my legs in the darkened cabin, virtually the entire airplane was asleep. A lone flight attendant sat on a plastic crate in the galley, reading a book. She smiled at me as I reentered the cockpit.

“Finally the eastern sky grays, then pinks and blues, and the sun burst upon us. In three hours we will begin our descent into Rio’s Galaeo Airport, but we couldn’t relax our vigilance even for a moment. Hot air balloons and hang gliders drift blithely across the long descent path from Pirai, unseen and unheeded by Rio Approach Control, who at this point have yet to see their first radar scope. All hands were on the flight deck, eyes searching the haze ahead. (Later on in my career, taking off from Galaeo for New York on a miserable rainy midnight in a fully loaded 747, we had a very near miss with a brightly lit hot air balloon drifting among the broken clouds, right smack in the middle of the departure path. It appeared suddenly in the glare of the landing lights, startling us all nearly out of our wits, and was quickly gone. We missed it by less than a hundred feet, by my estimate, and I wondered later if its occupants were as surprised and frightened as we were, and whether they were caught in our jet wash.)

“Finally the airport appeared in the windscreen, and on the horizon we could see Corcovado Mountain, with the giant figure of Christ, arms outstretched, the symbol of Rio. With a healthy crunch the wheels bit the concrete, and we arrived.”

Pan Am’s flight 201 continued serving Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires and Montevideo with a Boeing 747 throughout the 1980’s and until the airline ceased operations in 1991. The aircraft was configured in a “Latin America” seating arrangement that provided additional First Class space for a market that historically demanded it. The flight operated four days a week non-stop to Rio de Janeiro and continued twice weekly to Buenos Aires and Montevideo. This is illustrated in Pan Am’s last timetable, below, issued about six weeks before Pan Am ceased operations. Note the very few cities served in South America compared to the early days. There was, however, an extensive presence in the Caribbean and Central America, the original area of operation for the fledgling airline in the 1920’s and 30’s.

In 1927 Pan Am came into being as an airline that served the Americas. Sixty years later, after serving the globe, Pan Am returned to its roots. It was from there that Pan American World Airways became a fond memory to all those who kept the once mighty airline in the skies.

There has been a wealth of literature written about Pan Am. John Marshall, a long-time Pan Am captain, featured in this story, wrote a number of articles that appeared in Airways Magazine. They will be featured in future editions of this series. His stories are also excerpted in Pan American World Airways – Images of a Great Airline Second Edition.

To learn more about the history of this pioneering airline, click on the title below for preview of

Pan American World Airways – Images of a Great Airline Second Edition.

This book is available on eBay .

Preview Pan American World Airways – Aviation History Through the Words of its People, which is available on Amazon.

For further information about the history of Pan American World Airways, visit: Pan Am Historical Foundation

Filed under Airline History, Airlines, Pan Am, Travel Tagged with Airline History, Aviation, Buenos Aires, buenos aires argentina, Consolidated Commodore, Juan Trippe, Latin America, New York, Pan Am history, Pan American World Airways, Port-of-Spain, South America, south american operations, transportation

The Pan Am Series – IV: The Karachi Hijacking

18 September 2013 Leave a comment

Recollections of Bill Lange who ran the Pan Am Emergency Command Center during the incident have been added. Very interesting and compelling.

JPB TRANS CONSULTING, LLC

Pan Am Flight 73, a Boeing 747-121, N656PA, Clipper Empress of the Seas, was hijacked on 5 September 1986 while on the ground at Karachi, Pakistan (“KHI”) by four armed men of the Abu Nidal Organization. The aircraft, with 360 passengers on board, had just arrived from Mumbai, India, and was preparing to depart for Frankfurt and continuing on to New York.

The incident began as passengers boarded the aircraft. The four hijackers were dressed as Karachi airport security guards and were armed with assault rifles, pistols, grenades and plastic explosive belts. At about 6:00 a.m., the hijackers drove a van that had been modified to look like an airport security vehicle through a security checkpoint up to one of the boarding stairways to aircraft. The hijackers stormed up the stairways into the plane, fired shots from an automatic weapon, and seized control of the aircraft. Flight attendants were able to alert…

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Filed under Airline History, Airlines, Aviation Law, Pan Am, Travel Tagged with 747, 747 hijacking, Airline History, B-747, Bill Lange, Boeing, Boeing 747, boeing 747 hijacking, FBI, Hijacking, Karachi, PA73, Pan Am, Pan Am 73, Pan Am Emergency Operations Center, Pan Am history, Pan Am Karachi Hijacking, Pan American World Airways, United States

The Pan Am Series – Part V: The “Nautical Airline”

13 September 2013 3 Comments

An American Clipper Ship circa 1870

Pan American World Airways has always been associated with the sea and things nautical. Its aircraft were called “Clippers” and many of the Clipper names had references to the sea, particularly with the Boeing 747 aircraft, which were given names such as Pride of the Sea, Champion of the Seas, Spark of the Ocean, Belle of the Sea, Crest of the Wave and Sovereign of the Seas, to name a few.

How Pan Am became the “Nautical Airline” is centered on Pan Am’s founder, Juan Trippe who dreamed of this idea from the beginning of his venture in establishing an airline. How Pan Am was formed is a story of wheeling and dealing, mergers and acquisitions and financial and political maneuvering that is well documented in the Pan Am literature, including Robert Daley’s An American Saga – Juan Trippe and His Pan Am Empire, Marylin Bender and Selig Alyschul’s The Chosen Instrument and R.E.G. Davies’ Pan Am, An Airline and Its Aircraft.

Suffice to say, however, it is useful to have a little background. In the beginning there were four interested groups, as identified by R.E.G. Davies in Pan Am, An Airline and Its Aircraft. The first group, the Montgomery Group, formed Pan American Airways, Inc. (PAA). It was founded on 14 March 1927 by Air Force Majors “Hap” Arnold, Carl Spaatz and John H. Jouett, later joined by John K. Montgomery and Richard B. Bevier, as a counterbalance to German-owned carrier “SCADTA” (Colombo-German Aerial Transport Co) that had been operating in Colombia since 1920. SCADTA was viewed as a possible German aerial threat to the Panama Canal. Eventually Montgomery petitioned the US government to call for bids on an U.S. airmail contract between Key West and Havana (FAM 4) and won the contract. However, PAA lacked any aircraft to perform the job and did not have landing rights in Cuba. Under the terms of the contract, PAA had to be flying by 19 October 1927.

On 2 June 1927, Juan Trippe formed the Aviation Corporation of America (ACA) (the Trippe Group) with financially powerful and politically well-connected backing, and raised $300,000. On 1 July Reed Chambers and financier Richard Hoyt (the Chambers-Hoyt Group) formed Southeastern Airlines. On 8 July Trippe formed Southern Airlines and on 11 October Southeastern was reincorporated as Atlantic, Gulf and Caribbean Airways. Trippe then proposed a merger between these three groups and in doing so played a trump card: He and John A. Hambleton, one of his backers, traveled to Cuba and persuaded the Cuban president to grant landing rights to the Aviation Corporation, making Montgomery’s mail contract useless as a bargaining chip. After much wrangling between the groups, including a meeting on Hoyt’s yacht during which Assistant Postmaster General Irving Grover threatened that if there was no deal he would not be awarding any contract to anyone, the Aviation Corporation of the Americas was formed, operating as Pan American Airways, headed by Juan Trippe. Later the corporation’s name was changed to Pan American Airways.

The deadline of 19 October still loomed, however. A Fokker F-VII aircraft was selected for the operation, but could not be used because Meacham’s Field in Key West was not completed and could not accommodate the aircraft. What transpired was an eleventh hour miracle. Pan American’s representative in Miami learned that a Fairchild FC-2 monoplane was in Key West, sitting out a hurricane threat. The aircraft was owned by West Indian Aerial Express (the Fairchild Group) and a deal was made to charter the aircraft. The pilot was offered $145.50 to carry mail to Havana that had just arrived on the Florida East Coast-Atlantic Coast Line railroads. The hurricane threat disappeared and the trip was made. The rest is history.

On 28 October 1927, the Fokker left Key West on Pan American’s inaugural international flight, carrying 772 lb of mail. On 16 January 1928, the first passenger flight was completed on the same route. And on 28 October 1928, Pan American established its Miami base at Dinner Key.

The First Clipper

In 1931, Pan Am acquired the Sikorsky S-40, the first aircraft that would be designated “Clipper”. This designation came about as a result of Trippe’s fascination with ships and the sea. As a child he had traveled to Europe on Cunard Line ships and this fascination transcended to the idea that Pan Am should be a kind of nautical airline.

RMS Mauretania, a Cunard ship that Juan Trippe might have traveled on to Europe

RMS Mauretania, a Cunard liner that Juan Trippe might have traveled on to Europe.

Along these lines, a maritime culture emerged. Andre Priester, who Trippe had previously hired as chief engineer, dressed the pilots as naval officers with gold wings pinned to their breast pockets. Gold stripes were on the jacket sleeves to show rank. The pilots also wore peaked hats with white covers and a gold strap. And, according to Robert Daley in An American Saga, Priester “forbade [the pilots] to stuff or twist these caps into the dashing, high-peaked shapes so dear to most aviators’ hearts.” These naval trappings according to Marylin Bender and Selig Altschul in The Chosen Instrument “served to set distance between the airline and aviation’s all too proximate history symbolized by the khaki breeches, leather puttees, jacket and helmet of the daredevil flyer. [Pan Am’s] pilots were invested as engineers to whom flying was a scientific business rather than a thrilling escapade.” Pilots underwent a stringent and comprehensive training program and, according to former flying boat and retired captain Bill Nash, were required to have college degrees prior to hiring and to demonstrate proven proficiency prior to promotion in the flight deck. Nash started as a Fourth Officer before rising to Captain.

Sikorsky S-40 – Pictured is the Southern Clipper

When the S-40 made its debut, it was the largest airplane built in the United States. Its maiden voyage on 19 November 1931 was from Miami to the Canal Zone carrying 32 passengers with Charles Lindbergh at the controls and Basil Rowe (formerly with the West Indian Aerial Express) as co-pilot. Igor Sikorsky, who Trippe had earlier brought on board to design an aircraft to Pan Am’s own specifications (the predecessor to the S-40, the S-38) also had some time at the controls.

Trippe named the aircraft the American Clipper. Perhaps inspired by prints of American clipper ships hanging in his home or reaching back to his Maryland ancestry from where these swift sailing ships originated in the shipyards of Baltimore, it was, according to Bender and Altschul “appropriate then, to call the first transport ship designed for international air commerce after those magnificent vessels.” Thereafter, all Pan Am aircraft were to be designated Clippers.

Clipper Pride of the Ocean at London Heathrow Airport

Clipper Dashing Wave at Buenos Aires Ezeiza Airport

The operation would be in keeping with maritime lore and custom. The pilot was called “captain” and the co-pilot “first officer”. The title “captain” implied master of the ship or chief executive of the flying boat. Speed was calculated in knots (nautical miles per hour), time in bells, and a crew’s tour of duty was a “watch”. In the cabin, according to Daley, “walls and ceilings would be finished in walnut painted in a dark stain, and the fifty passengers would sit in Queen Anne chairs upholstered in blue and orange. The carpet would be blue, and the windows equipped with rope blinds. As aboard any ship, life rings would hang from the walls of the lounge.” The stewards, according to Bender and Altschul, “were modeled in function and appearance after the personnel of luxury ocean liners. Their uniforms were black trousers and white waist-length jackets over white shirts and black neckties. Stewards distributed remedies for airsickness, served refreshments (and in the S-40, prepared hot meals in the galley of the aircraft), pointed out scenic attractions from the windows of the plane and assisted with the red tape of Customs and landing procedures.”

This nautical approach seemed to carry on through the entire existence of Pan Am. The flight deck – bridge – was always on the top deck, as on an ocean liner. This was evident in the flying boats, including the Martin M-130, the China Clipper, the Boeing 314, the Boeing 377 Stratocruiser and the Boeing 747, with its flight deck on the upper deck of the aircraft.

M-130 – China Clipper

Boeing 314

Boeing 377

The flight deck of the Boeing 314 had the appearance of the bridge of a merchant ship:

The “Bridge” of the Boeing 314

Note the Clipper ship on the forward bulkhead of the Boeing 707:

Interior of Boeing 707 in All-Economy Charter Configuration.

Below, the SS United States and the bridge of a large merchant ship:

SS United States
(photo credit Charles Anderson)

Bridge of a Roll On/Roll Off merchant ship.

The “nautical” feel was also prevalent at Clipper departures, particularly from Dinner Key in Miami during the early years and Pan Am’s Worldport at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport in the later years. There was an atmosphere similar to the departure of an ocean liner, with festivity, sense of adventure and anticipation of a voyage to a distant place. The setting at the Worldport, particularly with the evening departures to distant destinations, included passengers and well-wishers gathered at the gate in sight of the Clipper being readied for the long voyage ahead. There was a sense of drama; the type of drama that Juan Trippe probably envisaged for each Clipper departure. The romance of traveling to faraway places was part and parcel of the Pan Am experience.

The nautical element was also featured in many of Pan Am’s printed brochures and posters, as well as on the cover of an annual report.

1958 Annual Report

However, as the years passed, the romance of the “nautical airline” began to wear out. Perhaps Pan Am tried to preserve it with the Boeing 747, but times had changed. The grand ocean liners were soon replaced by cruise ships where passengers were more interested in the on-board entertainment rather than the peaceful environment of the sea (although that can still be experienced on cargo ships). Airline passengers became more interested in getting from A to B at the lowest fare, rather than experiencing the ambiance of a flying ocean liner. Airplanes became more like buses, with the exception of the premium cabins, rather than airships commanding the airways. And the bridge, both on many cruise ships and on the largest passenger aircraft in the world, would no longer be on the topmost deck. The sense of command of the airways and the sea has seemed to disappear, and the bridge, “formerly sacrosanct navigational preserves”, as eloquently described by John Maxtone-Graham in Liners to the Sun, is now simply a functionary in the process of getting passengers from A to B, or in the case of a cruise ship, from A to A via port visits.

On the A-380, the flight deck is located between the main and upper decks:

A-380 - Note location flight deck compared to Boeing 747

A-380 – Note location of the flight deck compared to Boeing 747, pictured above.

And on the newer cruise liners, the bridge is not on the highest deck, as shown here on the Holland America Line’s Eurodam.

MS Eurodam – Note the location of the bridge four decks below the top deck.

Perhaps Pan Am the Nautical Airline was overcome by its own success. One cannot, however, deny that the idea of a nautical airline was a necessary step in the process of shrinking the globe. Now, with today’s technology, it probably is no longer needed. Happily, one tradition of the nautical airline continues: the Pilot-in-Command of an airliner is still the “Captain”.

To learn more about the history of this pioneering airline, click on the title below for preview of

Pan American World Airways – Images of a Great Airline Second Edition.

This book is available on eBay .

Preview Pan American World Airways – Aviation History Through the Words of its People, which is available on Amazon.

For further information about the history of Pan American World Airways, visit: Pan Am Historical Foundation

Filed under Airline History, Airlines, Cruise Ships, Merchant Marine, Merchant Ships, Ocean Liners, Pan Am, Travel Tagged with Airline, Airline History, Aviation, carl spaatz, Clipper ships, Clippers, hap arnold, Juan Trippe, Nautical, Nautical Airline, Pan Am, Pan Am Clippers, Pan Am history, pan american airways, Pan American World Airways, transportation

The Story of Snow Leopard – Part Three: The Inaugural Flight

11 September 2013 Leave a comment

Part Three: The Inaugural Flight

Selling Tickets

With the Acceptance Flight completed and the aircraft ready to start operations, management and staff got into full gear. Tickets were sold, crews scheduled and plans were made for launch activities. At the London Headquarters on Kensington High Street, tickets sales in both the Delhi, India and Karachi, Pakistan markets was brisk and flights sold out very quickly. However, ticket sales in the Dushanbe market was slow due to very little western business activity in the country, and what little passenger traffic there was, was largely government in nature. Thus, selling seats in the beyond markets was necessary. As described in Part One, this “Sixth Freedom” operation enabled a profit on what would have been money losing flights. In fact, over 90-95% of the booked passengers were booked on flights to Delhi or Karachi. Deeply discounted advance purchase excursion tickets offered through local travel agents in the ethnic neighborhoods of London resulted in a huge response.

Ticket Sales at Kensington High Street Office

Tajik Staff

Pan Am Flight Crews visiting Kensington High Street Headquarters

Cabin Crew Scheduling

Cabin crew scheduling was a challenge for Gunilla. With no computers available, some creativity was required:

From Gunilla Crawford:

“We went across the street from the hotel to a gas station and bought four dinosaur-shaped erasers in four different colors. Each dinosaur represented a crew. And each crew consisted of two ex-Pan Am flight attendants and the rest Tajik. On a large poster board we plotted the four destinations, London, Dushanbe, Karachi and New Delhi. By moving the dinosaurs between the destinations we made sure nobody was scheduled from London, when in fact the crew member was in New Delhi!”

Cabin Crew Scheduling. In the left picture are Gunilla Crawford, Vince Rossi and Debbie Thornburg. In the right are Gunilla, Linda Morehouse and Vince. Note the colored dinosaurs!

From Vince Rossi, who worked on crew scheduling:

“Gunilla was responsible for the entire inflight programme. To that end, building and scheduling crews was an important component of her job. Four crews were required to staff the operation, with one or two crews on rotation back home. Each flight would be staffed with two Pan Am Pursers joined in the SP cabin by flight attendants from India for Hindi language as well as the wonderful Tajiks. Some Brazilian and French flight attendants who lived in London also joined.

“For aircraft plotting, crew staffing, scheduling and rest requirements, in the days before laptop computers with Excel spreadsheets, improvisation was needed. A long sheet of plotting paper was procured, along with 4 small rubber toy dinosaurs. Each dinosaur was numbered in pencil: crew/dinosaur 1, crew/dinosaur 2, etc…. An interpretation of a full week of aircraft movements and stations visited was marked on the plotting paper, with lines drawn as the days progressed marking the track of the aircraft from Heathrow through Dushanbe and on to Delhi or Karachi. When Gunilla said it was time to “run the dinosaurs”, we placed the numbered dinosaurs on the plotting paper, each one numbered and representing a crew at their respective locations across the system and ensured that legal rest requirements were met and staffing matched the projected aircraft movements. This method was used for the entire time of the operation.

“Often the dinosaurs were “run” on a coffee table in a dedicated crew lounge provided at our hotel on Bath Road near Heathrow, and crews from other carriers in the lounge would be amused watching the “run of dinosaurs. This system worked exceptionally well. No aircraft movement was impeded due to cabin staffing or crew rest issues for the entire operation. It is also important to note that the initial “pairings” were established in meetings with the Tajik crewmembers, who also had an idea of how they wanted their work patterns and layover times and points. I may be mistaken but India and Pakistan were potential visa issues for the Tajiks even for layovers.”

and . . . Catering

When Gunilla arrived in London, she was in for a surprise. In addition to heading up the cabin crew, there was another responsibility as well: Catering. She handled that in pure Pan Am fashion.

“We made appointments with Catering at Heathrow airport, we picked china for the First Class Service, silver ware, serving dishes, baskets and linens. The “old” Pan Am training came back in force and we would do the service in the name of that classic carrier.”

The food service to be offered was superb.

Prior to landing in Dushanbe the pre-arrival “hot breakfast was just as posh…It was like working the Pan Am Clippers again”, according to Vince Rossi one of the ex-Pan Am flight attendants.

The Inaugural Flight

As the day approached for Snow Leopard’s first revenue flight from London to Dushanbe and onwards to Karachi, the crews began assembling in London to prepare. For Gunilla, it was a happy reunion with the Tajik flight attendants who greeted their ex-Pan Am counterparts with “squeals and shouts of joy”. For the inaugural flight four ex-Pan Am were to work the flight, Robert Stewart, Tania Anderson, Linda Morehouse and Linda Oja. On the flight deck were Captain Ed Olasz, First Officer Jim Donahue and Flight Engineer Carl Meixal. In addition, two qualified captains were assigned to the flight.

The excitement of flying again did not escape the ex-Pan Amers who were taking part in the operation. Snow Leopard’s first flight coincided almost to the date of the demise of their beloved Pan Am, some two years prior.

From Tania Anderson:

“I happily scribbled away in my diary, gushing about the thrill of flying with my cosmopolitan colleagues again. A few fondly remembered having flown with this particular 747SP before. Some of my co-workers had not flown since Pan Am’s demise. It had been nearly two years to the day that I had been on my last flight, a White House Press Charter, when we learned that we were bankrupt for good. Now as we gathered in the lobby of our London hotel for the first flight to Dushanbe, we all noted the sad anniversary coupled with the excitement of exploring a new airline together.”

At 2215 hrs on the date of the inaugural flight, Snow Leopard, designated 7J801, departed London Heathrow for Dushanbe. The spirit on board was one of joy and happiness.

From Tania Anderson:

“During the flight, I quickly noted that many of the passengers, who were going onto Karachi, were much less frenetic than the ones we used to fly on Pan Am. They were elated to be going home, either for a visit or permanently, for a reasonably priced airline ticket. One passenger actually asked if he could kiss me, and I reluctantly replied, “Well, Ok, but on my cheek!” I also noted in my diary that we were flying across Russian airspace which may not sound like a big deal but to someone who grew up during the Cold War when the former USSR was our mortal enemy, it was intriguing to me.

“The multi-national crew also bonded quickly. The Tajik flight attendants loved the fact that my name was Tania. Naturally assuming that I was Russian with a name like Tania, one actually commented that I spoke good fluent English for a Russian. Some of the Tajiks were dark with olive skin and Middle Eastern looks. Most were Muslim. Others were the opposite end of the spectrum with white skin and light eyes. They were usually Russian Orthodox.

“Among the Tajik flight attendants, there were three Irenas on the flight. Any time I said ‘Irena’, all three would whirl around simultaneously to see what I wanted. The Tajik flight attendants were absolutely delightful and so easy to get along with. They were also thrilled to have secured a job such as this with the opportunity to explore a bit of the world, especially London. Many of them had no transportation from their homes, so they simply walked miles to the airport to work these extraordinarily long flights. They went out of their way to tell us how their country was still in a lot of upheaval economically. In addition, Afghani insurgents were coming over the border to make trouble, and they wanted none of it. ‘Tania, we just all want peace and to be able to live our lives’, one told me.”

The Pan Am and Tajik Flight Crews

After a long flight into the night, Snow Leopard landed in Dushanbe.

From Tania Anderson:

“It was a cold, wintry, snowy day when we landed in Dushanbe to a zealous reception on the tarmac. After all, we were the first western aircraft to ever land in somewhat remote Tajikistan. I distinctly remember applause in the cabin upon our touchdown, but the local hoopla outside just about had me abandoning my jump-seat.

“With a dramatic back drop of steep snow-encrusted mountains, dozens of well-wishers had gathered on the tarmac in their traditional brightly-colored clothes. There was a band playing Russian instruments complete with long-nosed horns and big drums. Tajik national TV was there with their ancient equipment to record every single minute of the ceremonies and our arrival.”

The Reception at Dushanbe Airport

From Tania Anderson:

“Once on the blocks, the ground people enthusiastically boarded the plane, not only to welcome us, but to ask for a quick tour of the 747SP. Descending the spiral staircase, our pilots were given handsome home-made colorful robes to wear over their uniforms. Now that the door was open, I could observe the entire scene. Our pilots were quickly ushered down the stairs and off to the terminal for a reception including some local culinary treats whose identity was left to the imagination. Later one of them told me that the Tajiks had insisted that they shoot some vodka—maybe local moonshine—to celebrate the day. A bit horrified, our pilots made certain that the officials knew we still had another leg to fly to Karachi, but the general response was like, ‘So what?’

“Linda Oja and I stayed on the plane watching everything from L-1. Then something happened I shall never forget. As Linda squealed, ‘Oh, No!’ I saw some Tajiks dragging a sheep across the tarmac towards the Snow Leopard. It struggled the entire way, right up to the staircase, just as if it knew something lousy was about to occur. As they do in many countries, they sacrificed the sheep at the bottom of our stairs, directing the blood from his neck into a bowl. In the west we christen ships and airplanes with champagne, but now we were half way around the world in a land with customs very different than our own.

“Not long afterwards, the entire crew along with the ground people gathered in front of the aircraft for a memorable photo. Each of us was festooned with garlands of deep red-colored roses. They were velvet to the touch and their fragrance was heavenly, even against the cold blast of mid-winter.”

Crew and Ground Staff in front of Snow Leopard after arrival.

From Tania Anderson:

“Standing there on that frosty winter day, I felt a true sense of pride about our latest “operation.” In true Pan Am fashion, we had pulled ourselves up after the bankruptcy and were on the other side of the planet helping the struggling Tajiks with their burgeoning airline, begun with one beautiful 747SP.

“Flying on the Snow Leopard was another wonderful Pan Amigo adventure to add to my memoirs.”

When Snow Leopard arrived at Dushanbe that wintery morning, Tajikistan was in the midst of an economic crisis along with a civil war. Bread was being rationed but at the same time the country was trying to turn the page into a new chapter of their existence, emerging from the era of Soviet rule to an independent and free nation. The arrival of this beautiful 747SP representing their national airline stoked both great pride and happiness among its citizens.

The story of Snow Leopard continues In the next and final part of this story, with exciting adventures for the Pan Am and Tajik crews and the sad end of the operation.

Filed under Airline History, Airlines, Pan Am, Tajikistan, Travel Tagged with 747, 747SP, 7J, Airline History, Boeing, Boeing 747SP, crew scheduling, Delhi, dushanbe, Dushanbe Airport, Flight Attendant, inaugural flight, Karachi, kensington high street, Pakistan, Pan Am, Pan Am history, Pan American World Airways, Snow Leopard, Soviet Republic, Tajik Air, tajikistan, United States, USSR

The Pan Am Series – Part IV: The Karachi Hijacking

6 September 2013 5 Comments

During the following 16 hours, Zayd Hassan Safarini, the Jordanian leader of the hijackers, demanded the return of the flight crew to fly the aircraft to Larnaca, Cyprus, where he wanted to secure the release of Palestinian prisoners being detained in Cyprus. During negotiations between Safarini and Pakistani authorities, Safarini threatened to kill all passengers. Four hours into the hijacking, one of the passengers was shot and pushed out the door onto the tarmac below. As nightfall arrived, the hijackers herded the passengers and crew members into the center section of the aircraft. The four hijackers opened fire on the passengers and crew, and threw grenades among them, killing almost 20. Most of the survivors escaped through two doors of the plane which were forced open when the firing began.

Pan Am Captain Hart Langer was in Hamburg at the time of the hijacking and received word that the hijackers were demanding a crew to fly them anywhere they wanted to go. Below are his recollections of what happened in excerpts from his essay “Karachi Hijacking – Rescuing a 747” in the book Pan American World Airways – Aviation History Through the Words of its People, published by BlueWaterPress.

” * * * A 747 without a crew was useless to the hijackers, and they demanded that Pan Am provide an Arabic-speaking crew to fly them where they wanted to go. Captain Jim Duncan (System Chief Pilot), through his contacts in IATA, called Captain Jazza Ghanem, the Vice-President of Flight Operations at Saudia (Saudi Arabian Airlines) to see if they could help out. Captain Ghanem was willing, but unfortunately was overruled by top management at Saudia.

“As a result, the consensus at System Operations Control at JFK (New York), was that if Pan Am could find a volunteer crew, negotiations with the hijackers would hopefully get them to release all of the passengers in return for flying them to some other location. Captain Duncan wanted to know if Captain Ed Cywinski and I could head to Karachi and fly the 747 to wherever the hijackers wanted to go, in return for releasing all 390 passengers. We agreed. Bob Huettl, a check Flight Engineer who was laying over in LHR (London), also volunteered. * * *

“As it turned out, the APU (Auxiliary Propulsion Unit) that was supplying electrical power to the 747 in KHI had a small oil leak, and the Tech Center at JFK had predicted exactly when it would shut itself down and stop providing power to the 747. When it finally happened, the airplane went dark, and the hijackers thought that they were under attack. They herded all the passengers into the overwing area, began shooting people at random, and set off numerous explosive devices. At that point, the Pakistani army did indeed attack the airplane and finally overpowered the hijackers.

“All of this happened while we were en route to KHI. Captain Duncan was able to get in touch with the Swissair DC-10 using a phone patch and HF radio, and informed us that the hijackers had been arrested. When we arrived, we had a chance to inspect the airplane. The carnage was unbelievable * * * Pan Am dispatched a crack team of mechanics from LHR to KHI, and in five days they had the airplane in a flyable condition – which is remarkable considering that there were fifty-seven bullet holes in the fuselage. Ed, Bob, and I flew the airplane back to JFK with a fuel stop in Frankfurt. * * * “

In a related story, former Pan Am flight attendant Liz Morris tells about her volunteer work on Pan Am’s Care Team after the Karachi hijacking to assist families from that flight. In her story, excerpted below, also from Pan American World Airways – Aviation History Through the Words of its People, she tells about a special passenger she cared for who was on the Clipper when it was hijacked:

“At that time – before Federal law required airlines to establish Care Teams to assist families and survivors of crashes and other disasters — Pan American used a one-on-one process to assist such survivors. I was selected as one of 50-100 volunteers to meet the Boeing 747-121 upon its arrival with some 300 survivors at John F. Kennedy Airport, New York. We were instructed to stay with our designated passenger or family and do everything possible to assist them with ground transportation, telephone communications, re-bookings, etc. (All immigration formalities had been attended to, via passenger listings, before the aircraft’s arrival, we learned.)

“I was first in the line to receive my special passenger or family – perhaps because of my 20-year seniority and/or because I worked in Special Services, which dealt with such situations. I assumed I would be assigned the first passenger out of First Class – a celebrity or VIP of some kind. Imagine my surprise when, as we lined up in the large and spacious JFK arrival hall to greet the traumatized passengers of Flight 73, I suddenly saw a skinny young Pakistani teenager break from the oncoming crowd and run toward me shouting “Mrs. Morris, Mrs. Morris…” * * *

“As he approached me, I recognized him. Through several preceding years he had come to my office as the unaccompanied minor VIP son of an influential Pakistani family. The first time he was brought to me he was a sad little boy weeping profusely. * * *

“Now, on that fateful September day 25 years ago, as the young man ran up to me – still small and slender – I immediately recognized him as my young friend but couldn’t comprehend that he had been on Pan Am Flight 73.”

Bill Lange, then General Manager of Pan Am System Control, was also involved in this event from the Emergency Command Center in New York. Here are his recollections:

“At the time, I was Gen Mgr of Pan Am System Control and thus ran the Emergency Command Center (NYCOZPA) dealing with this flight. I well remember Hart Langer and Ed Cywinski agreeing to go to Karachi to fly the aircraft out with the hijackers if that became necessary, a decision on their part that cements them in my mind as the bravest people I’ve ever personally known. They were, in fact, both in New York and I believe we got them last minute seats on as Swissair flight to Zurich with a connection from there to Karachi, although my memory on the particular flights involved may be fuzzy.

“With the Command Center up and running, we were tied into the US Government Emergency Operations Center in Washington and also with Pan Am stations throughout the region. We also had a direct link to Karachi via an open phone link into the Lufthansa (I think) station manager’s office because that office had windows overlooking the aircraft on the tarmac. We were in direct connection through that office though the entire event and got the word first hand when the APU died and the aircraft went dark, leading to the explosions and shooting onboard. During the hours of stand-off, Pan Am station and operating management were dispatched to each of a large number of airports around the region that we thought the hijackers, if they ever got airborne, might choose as a destination. We also were back and forth with the US State Department and Military at the US Government Emergency Operations Center, providing information that was to be used to prepare a Delta Force team if the decision was made to try and free the hostages.

“It was a long night and next day at JFK and many pieces of it remain in my head in only fuzzy fashion, but one part that I do remember was after the aircraft was retaken and as the passengers were being given treatment and otherwise helped, we arranged the flight of two Pan Am 747 aircraft into Karachi to bring the passengers and crew members back to the US via Frankfurt. During the Frankfurt stop, the badly injured passengers and crew were brought to the US military hospital there for treatment. As these flights were being prepared and boarding priorities were being established, I took a call over the US government connection from the head of the FBI team that was just starting to investigate the who, what, why and how of the hijacking. The first words out of his mouth were about how the FBI was commandeering the upper deck lounges on both aircraft and how their teams planned to board both aircraft in Frankfurt and use the lounge to conduct interviews of all of the passengers and PA 73 crewmembers on both flights during their passage back to the US. He wanted names and details and directed that Pan Am set up interview schedules for everyone interviews and, essentially, provide staff service to the FBI throughout the flights. I quickly said no, that the passengers had been through serious trauma and anguish and we were not going to add to that as we brought them home. Further, the well-being of those passengers was the first and only priority of the Pan Am staff on those aircraft. The conversation then through several stages of increasing noise and argument leading to my final phone statement that Pan Am would prevent the FBI agents from even getting either of the flights to pester our passengers and that they (the FBI) could meet with the passengers after we had brought them safely to the US – upon saying which, I hung up the phone. In the end, no FBI interviews took place onboard, although we did tell passengers of the FBI interest in speaking to them and helped some volunteering passengers to meet with the FAA at a JFK hotel after their arrival. I must admit to worrying for some time after PA73 whether I had that night put myself on an FBI list somewhere for special treatment should I ever happen to stumble in their direction.

“In the aftermath, there was great concern about the ongoing state of mind of Pan Am crews throughout the system on the new risks of hijacking. Karachi was possibly the first time that a hijacking raised the possibility of crews and passengers finding themselves on a death flight – something that became all too real on 9/11. Pan Am thus developed a campaign presenting all Pam Am crews with a detailed story of what the company had done to support the crews taken at Karachi. A centerpiece of that was a 30-minute video-taped reenactment of the actions taken at NYCOZ at JFK during the event, narrated various by me, Jim Duncan and Hart Langer. I still have that tape on a shelf in what my wife calls my personal Pan Am Memorial Shrine, aka my basement office.

“I’m sure that everyone involved in aviation has a host of stories that they could tell about their experiences, but I will always take particular pride in my 19 years at Pan Am and the stories that members of the Pan Am family relate when they get together. To me, Pan Am was a truly special place and time populated by special people doing amazing things.”

To learn more about the history of this pioneering airline, click on the title below for preview of

Pan American World Airways – Images of a Great Airline Second Edition.

This book is available on eBay .

Preview Pan American World Airways – Aviation History Through the Words of its People, which is available on Amazon.

For further information about the history of Pan American World Airways, visit: Pan Am Historical Foundation

Filed under Airline History, Airlines, Pan Am, Travel Tagged with Airline History, Boeing 747, boeing 747 hijacking, empress of the seas, John F. Kennedy International Airport, Karachi, karachi hijacking, New York, Pan Am, Pan Am Clippers, pan am flight 73, Pan Am flight 73 hijacking, Pan Am hijacking, Pan Am history, Pan American World Airways

The Pan Am Series – Part III: The Cairo Hijacking

31 August 2013 10 Comments

Remains of hijacked Pan Am Flight 93, N752PA “Clipper Fortune” a Boeing 747 after being blown up at Cairo.

On 6 September 1970, Pan Am’s flight 93, a Boeing 747, departed Brussels for New York via Amsterdam. The flight never made it to New York.

During the flight’s stopover in Amsterdam, four members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (“PFLP”) attempted to board an El Al flight, a Boeing 707 bound for New York. Two got through but the other two were denied by Israeli security. These two then purchased First Class tickets on flight 93.

On the same day in Frankfurt, another group of PFLP members boarded TWA Flight 741, a Boeing 707 bound for New York; and in Zurich, members also boarded a Swissair DC-8 bound to New York as well. The Pan Am, TWA and Swissair flights were hijacked. An attempt to hijack the El Al flight was foiled by the crew and a sky marshal. The TWA and Swissair flights were flown to and eventually landed at the PFLP’s “Revolutionary Airport” at Dawson’s Field, a remote desert airstrip in Jordan, formerly a British Royal Air Force base. The Pan Am flight was flown to Beirut, where it refueled and took on board additional PFLP members. The aircraft then flew on to Cairo instead of Dawson’s Field, because the Jordan airfield was considered too small to accommodate a 747.

On 9 September, a BOAC (now British Airways) VC-10 bound for London was hijacked after it departed from Bahrain and was taken to Dawson’s Field.

This became known as the “Dawson’s Field Hijacking”.

The “Revolutionary Airport” at Dawson’s Field

The BOAC, TWA and Swissair aircraft were blown up on September 12, 1970 (below).

The Pan Am aircraft, upon arrival in Cairo, was blown up almost immediately. The late John Ferruggio was the In-Flight Director, and having been told the 747 would be blown up within eight minutes after landing, led his cabin crew team in the evacuation of 136 passengers and 17 crew-members. Everyone survived.

Nellie Beckhans was a flight attendant on that trip, her first in Europe after years working Pan Am’s Central and South America routes. Below are excerpts from her story about this event that appears in the book Pan American World Airways – Aviation History Through the Words of its People, published by BlueWaterPress.

From Nellie Beckhans:

“* * * We picked up passengers in Amsterdam. Now it was time to go home. On taxiing to the runway the plane stopped. A few minutes later I heard a commotion in the First Class section. From my assigned position at R3 door, facing the aft of the airplane, I turned around to see Captain John Priddy talking to the purser and some passengers.* * * After a short period of time the Captain made an announcement stating that he had to check some passengers and we were now ready for departure. * * *

“The airplane took off, headed for New York. About 20 minutes later when we thought we were going to start our service, the In-flight Director made an announcement that we were to remain seated. We were going to a different destination. * * * The flight attendant working First Class told me that there were two hijackers and they had a gun and grenades. They did not want anybody in First Class. She said that the Purser was taken to the cockpit with a gun at her head. * * * Thankfully the passenger load was light and everyone remained calm. * * *

“Much later I heard we were going to Beirut. * * * The hijackers wanted to go to Amman to blow up the plane. I remember flying and flying. Meanwhile a hijacker was stringing the dynamite fuses between the seats. * * * When the hijackers finally agreed to land in Cairo the In-flight Director called the crew together and informed us of the plan. * * * As soon as the plane stopped I opened R4 door and the passengers evacuated. When I was going down the chute the airplane moved and I went off the slide. * * * It was a happy moment when we heard everyone got off the airplane. We lost our possessions and our shoes but we were alive and safe.

Nelida (Perez) Beckhans was based in New York from 1967 to 1970 as a Special Services Representative and from 1970 to 1982 as a Flight Attendant. She transferred to Miami in 1982 and was stationed there through 1991. Her length of service with Pan Am was 24 years and 8 months.

To learn more about the history of this pioneering airline, click on the title below for preview of

Pan American World Airways – Images of a Great Airline Second Edition.

This book is available on eBay .

Preview Pan American World Airways – Aviation History Through the Words of its People, which is available on Amazon.

For further information about the history of Pan American World Airways, visit: Pan Am Historical Foundation

Filed under Airline History, Airlines, Aviation Law, Egypt, Pan Am, Travel Tagged with 747 Clipper, 747 hijacking, Airline History, Amsterdam, Beirut, Boeing Clipper, Brussels, Clipper hijacking Cairo, Flight Attendant, New York, PAA, Pan Am, Pan Am 747 hijacking, Pan Am 93, Pan Am Clippers, Pan Am hijacking, Pan Am hijacking Cairo, Pan Am hijacking September 1970, Pan Am history, Pan American World Airways, United States

The Pan Am Series – Part II: The Boeing 314 Flying Boat

25 August 2013 6 Comments

Boeing 314 – Flying Boat

The Boeing 314 was a long-range flying boat produced by the Boeing Airplane Company between 1938 and 1941. One of the largest aircraft of the time, its massive wingspan enabled it to achieve the range necessary for flights across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Twelve ships, designated Clippers, were built for Pan Am.

Pan Am’s Clippers were built for “one-class” luxury air travel, a necessity given the long duration of transoceanic flights. With a cruise speed of 188 miles per hour (303 km/h) Pan Am’s scheduled flight between San Francisco and Honolulu was 19 hours. The passenger seats were convertible into 36 bunks for overnight accommodation. In addition there was a lounge and dining area with galleys crewed by top chefs. White-coated stewards served multi-course meals during the trip.

Flight Deck

Passengers Dining

The Boeing 314 inaugurated Pan Am’s trans-Atlantic service and on 20 May 1939, was first to operate mail service with the Yankee Clipper from New York to Marseilles, France via Horta, Azores and Lisbon, Portugal. The Yankee Clipper also inaugurated mail service between New York and Southampton, England about a month later. Trans-Atlantic passenger service was inaugurated on 29 June 1939 with the Dixie Clipper between New York and Marseilles, via Horta and Lisbon.

The aircraft played an important role in World War II and completed two history-making f;lights:

In January, 1942, the Pacific Clipper, commanded by Captain Robert Ford, completed the first flight around the world. Originating in San Francisco, the flight was required to return to the United States on a westward course due to military action after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. From Honolulu, the flight eventually arrived in New York after stopping in Canton, Suva (Fiji), Noumea, Auckland, Gladstone, Port Darwin, Surabaya, Trincomalee (Ceylon), Karachi, Bahrain, Leopoldville, Natal and Port of Spain.

On 11 January 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt flew on the Dixie Clipper to the Casablanca Conference, becoming the first American president to fly on a commercial airliner while in office. The route was Miami-Trinidad-Belem, Brazil-Bathurst, Gambia and then by army transport to Casablanca. The return trip by the Clipper originated in Bathurst and stopped in Natal, Brazil and Trinidad, arriving in Miami 30 January 1943.

At Anchor in San Francisco

Captain Bill Nash, a retired Pan Am pilot, joined the airline in 1942 and spent his first years in the flight deck of the Boeing 314. Below is a story he wrote about his experiences flying this aircraft. It appears in the book Pan American World Airways – Aviation History Through the Words of its People, published by BlueWaterPress.

The words of Captain Nash:

“When I joined Pan Am in 1942, one of the first phrases that I learned was “flying by the seat of your pants” – an old adage used to describe proper flying techniques. Before high-altitude jets flew commercially, we had to fly through wide storms rather than over them. To do so, we developed a seat of the pants technique – literally- whereby our bottoms were being bumped, rather than slipping or sliding.

“Today, we have the sophistication and luxury of jetliners to fly over many of those boiling storm masses, cabin pressurization for oxygen supply, and radar to show us the dangerous storm cells, enabling us to fly around the violent depictions shown on the weather radar screen.

“When crossing an ocean in a Pan Am flying boat such as the Boeing-314, we navigated celestially using an octant. Every Pan Am pilot was required to learn two methods of star computations to lay a position on the chart. On a Boeing-314 we had a glass hatch atop the cabin through which we could “shoot stars”. When the sky was partly cloud-covered, we plotted whatever navigational stars we could see. If the sky was overcast we could not use our octants.

“In the daylight we could see wind streaks on the surface of the sea, shiny lines running 90 degrees to the waves. If we had cloud cover below as well as above, we would navigate by dead-reckoning, using the wind we thought we had. If clear below and we passed a ship we could see, we could compare our position with theirs.

“Approaching a coast, such as much of the Atlantic shoreline, which could be a mass jungle, while receiving poor or no radio signals, we aimed at the shore off-coast 30 degrees left or right – wherever we considered the destination most likely to be. When we arrived at the coast we then followed the shore to our destination. If we had flown straight at the destination and saw nothing, we would not have known which way to follow the coast.

“During a typical 11-12 hour flight, we usually took turns resting every 4 hours in our crew bunks. The props turned at 1,600 RPM’s and they vibrated violently. Consequently, it took some time to fall asleep.

“During World War II on trans-oceanic flights, Pan Am crews had to learn how to decipher coded messages. At departure we received an envelope which was not to be opened until we were aloft containing the keys to the codes which were valid for only a certain number of hours and then changed.

“The Boeing-314 crew consisted of a captain, first officer, second officer, third officer, fourth officer, first and second flight engineers and one Morse Code radio-operator plus varying number of flight personnel. Four or more male stewards were aboard, depending on the aircraft’s configuration. The work on board was considered too strenuous for stewardesses. Hefty, large-capacity life rafts had to be handled and there were ponderous bunks to be prepared for sleeping.

“The entire aircraft was First Class, and our flying boats often carried kings, queens, presidents and potentates. We were instructed to be pleasant with them if they addressed us, but not to seek out conversation. President Juan Trippe wanted us to be able to converse intelligently by keeping up with current events, and having a good knowledge of history and sensitive political issues.

“Passengers enjoyed delicious meals that were prepared onboard and served in a 14-place dining room with black walnut tables in a silver and blue décor. The food was elegantly served in courses by stewards in white jackets, on pale blue table cloths with matching monogrammed napkins and china. Wine was always served and dinner was topped off with fancy desserts, fruits and cheeses, and a cordial of crème de menthe. Sometimes there was a captain’s table. After dinner, the dining room was converted into a lounge where some passengers chose to relax while others went to their cabins to sleep.

“The Boeing-314’s were retired from Pan Am’s service in 1946, after World War II. Not one survived, and only a few parts exist in museums which to me, is very sad. Clare Booth Luce, a playwright, United States Congresswoman and Ambassador to Italy, returned to the US aboard a flight on the Boeing-314 and said “Years from now, we will look back upon Pan American’s flying boats as the most glamorous, romantic air travel in the world”.

“To me, experiencing this phase of early commercial aviation was one of the best times of my life. Having had the opportunity to be part of a Boeing 314 crew was an outstanding adventure for a young man, and I still recall it well at age 94, and thrill to the memories of that great aircraft and the exciting era of world history, all made possible by my years with Pan Am.”

Bill Brenton Nash was a Pilot with Pan American from 17 August 1942 to 1 June 1977. He lived with his wife Eva in Southwest Florida for many years, and passed away on 13 March 2019 at the age of 101.

To learn more about the history of this pioneering airline, click on the title below for preview of

Pan American World Airways – Images of a Great Airline Second Edition.

This book is available on eBay .

Preview Pan American World Airways – Aviation History Through the Words of its People, which is available on Amazon.

For further information about the history of Pan American World Airways, visit: Pan Am Historical Foundation

Filed under Airline History, Airlines, Pan Am, Travel Tagged with Airline History, Aviation, Boeing, Boeing 314, boeing airplane company, dixie clipper, flying boats, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Lockerbie, PAA, Pan Am, Pan Am 103, Pan Am history, Pan Am in Atlantic, Pan Am in Pacific, Pan Am in World War Two, Pan American World Airways, Tenerife, transportation, United States, World War II, yankee clipper

The Pan Am Series – Part I: The Book

21 August 2013 5 Comments

Boeing 747-121 at Los Angeles International Airport circa 1969

I am launching a new series of postings about Pan American World Airways to be called “The Pan Am Series”. My aim is to share the memories of this iconic airline that played such an important role in the development of civil aviation. Pan Am’s first revenue flight was a Fokker F-VII between Key West and Havana on 28 October 1927. The last revenue flights were a 747 from New York Kennedy to São Paulo, Brazil on 3 December 1991 and a 727 from New York to Barbados on 4 December 1991. Pan Am officially ceased operations at 9:00 a.m., 4 December 1991. The 747 crew was resting in São Paulo awaiting their return flight that evening when the news broke. The captain of the 727 received the news upon arrival in Barbados. Both their stories will be published in future postings.

I have been a fan of Pan Am all my life, starting as a boy when I watched a Boeing 377 Stratocruiser arrive at its gate at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) after a flight from the Far East with my grandfather on board.

Pan Am’s Boeing 377 – the Stratocruiser

My father did a lot of international travel as well and we would meet him at LAX when he arrived on DC-6Bs of Pan Am from South America.

Pan American World Airways DC-6B, the “Super 6”, Clipper Midnight Sun.

During our childhoods growing up in Los Angeles, our parents often took my sisters and me to LAX to visit the terminals and watch airplanes land over Sepulveda Boulevard. During that time I developed an interest in collecting airline brochures, timetables and baggage tags. For some reason, I developed a keen interest in the baggage tags and amassed a large collection over the years. I leaned heavily in Pan Am’s favor because I thought it was the “best airline” and because the baggage tags were more colorful than other airlines. I also liked the Pan Am timetables because the route map seemingly covered every corner of the globe!

Eventually, our family went on a trip to South America, and we flew on Pan Am! I remember that day in 1957. We flew from Los Angeles to Guatemala on a DC-6B, Flight 515. That was the beginning of my traveling on many more Pan Am flights over the next decades, including on some its most prestigious routes.

As I grew up, I studied the history of Pan Am, and learned a lot of geography from the route maps and flight schedules in its timetables. I even learned about time zones and the 24-hour clock! As a college student, I managed to work Pan Am into my studies as an International Relations major, focusing on the international airline system and international politics. Later, I went to law school to become an airline lawyer.

I continued collecting and over a period of 50 years, managed to keep much of the material, supplemented by purchases from similar collectors on eBay.

Recently, while teaching in the College of Business at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, I often mentioned Pan Am, but to my surprise most of my students were not familiar with the aviation pioneer. At the same time, I was in the process of preserving my Pan Am collection by scanning the brochures, timetables and tags and putting them into a digital “scrapbook”. It dawned on me that it would be a nice idea to use the digital scrapbook to create a book about Pan Am’s history through images of the material I had scanned and use it to tell the Pan Am story to students and those who were not around during Pan Am’s glory years. Thus was born my book, Pan American World Airways – Images of a Great Airline, now in its Second Edition.

front-and-back

From the Preface to the Second Edition:

In the first edition of this book, published in 2011, I set out to list the “firsts”, along with significant events, of the life of Pan American World Airways, and present them in chronological order divided into six sections representing key eras: (1) Beginnings (1927-1939); (2) The War Years (1940-1945); (3) The Piston Era (1946-1957); (4) The Jet Age (1958-1969); (5) Top of the World – Boeing 747 (1970-1979); and (6) End of an American Icon (1980-1991). The firsts and significant events were listed at the beginning of each section followed by illustrations from that era, including covers of annual reports, covers of timetables (along with a page of flight schedules and route map), baggage strap tags, safety information cards and pictures of aircraft.

This formula is largely preserved in this Second Edition, which features more images of aircraft and enhanced images of timetable pages and maps. Covers of annual reports are still included but the safety information cards have been removed.

A major addition to this edition, however, are narratives on certain pieces of Pan American’s history. These were originally published as posts in my blog, “The Pan Am Series”, in jpbtransconsulting.com. The narratives I selected to include in this book cover the development and launch of key aircraft operated by Pan American and key routes the airline operated from its beginnings to the end. The routes featured include Latin America, the first trans-Pacific flight, crossing the Atlantic and Pan American’s famous round-the-world service operated by flights 1 and 2. The narratives are populated with images illustrating the story being told.

As written in the preface to the first edition of this book, probably no airline in the history of aviation has attracted more attention and has been more written about than Pan American World Airways, for decades the symbol of airline superiority world-wide. This is the airline that pioneered air navigation and communications. It introduced international and over-ocean flights. It set the standard for in-flight service and brought air travel to the masses through the introduction of “Tourist” class. It brought the industry into the jet age and eventually the era of the wide-body jet. To thousands of Americans living and working overseas, Pan American meant home. Pan American served the United States and never failed to answer the call of the country. For many, Pan American was the symbol of the United States around the world.

Pan American shut down on 4 December 1991. However, the legacy lives on and the airline still has influence in the industry as recently exemplified by Emirates Airline’s highlighting Pan American’s in-flight meal service as the standard for theirs. And, as is pointed out in the narrative on the “Nautical Airline”, the pilot-in-command is still known as the “Captain”.

The people of Pan American World Airways and its friends and fans have a unique loyalty to their airline that has manifested itself through the social media as well as at numerous gatherings around the world. This loyalty continues even though the company has been gone for over twenty years. Recently, an additional group of “loyalists” have emerged, and they are the children and grandchildren of those who worked for the airline in the past decades. They, too, want to preserve the rich history of the once great airline.

Since the publication of the first edition of this book, numerous books have been published, many by former Pan Amers sharing their experiences with the rest of the world. One book, which I, along with Pan American’s former Vice President for Corporate Communications Jeff Kriendler put together, Pan Am – Personal Tributes to a Global Aviation Pioneer, can be considered the seminal book about the airline. Its purpose is to preserve the legacy of an aviation giant. This second edition is aimed to complement that book and fulfills my goal in keeping the Pan American story alive.

Comments about the first edition of the book:

From Captain Bill Nash, who flew for Pan Am August 1942 – June 1977

“As a Pan Am pilot for 35 years (34 yrs as Captain) I thoroughly enjoyed your presentation and the way you did it with items familiar to me, such as varied baggage strap tags, articles, routes, schedules, annual reports, progressive aircraft photos (external and internal), lists of Pan Am “firsts”, and operation advances.”

From Captain Bob Gandt, who flew for Pan Am 1965-1991 and author, Skygods: The Fall of Pan Am

“Jamie Baldwin has given us a treasure trove of Pan Am lore. Here is something for everyone — a concise history of the pioneering airline, a rich potpourri of Pan Am memorabilia, and, best of all, a nostalgic journey back to an age when the mighty Pan American ruled the skies.”

From Susanne (Strickland) Malm, Flight Attendant, 1968-1978

“…a carefully constructed timeline of Pan Am’s incredible record of firsts and aviation achievements… chock full of rare and nostalgic collector’s memorabilia… a veritable time capsule into which any reader may be gently transported…back to a time when flying was gracious, glamorous and eagerly anticipated by passengers and crew alike!”

From Pete Runnette, President, Pan Am Historical Foundation

“…a fine chronology of Pan Am’s pioneering history, with wonderful pictures to match – valuable to student or aviation aficionado alike, and browsing will bring back fond memories for employees or passengers, of air travel Pan Am style…”

From Carol and Fred Tomlinson, Pan Am Staff

“We would like to thank you for doing a marvelous job on the book, and for portraying Pan Am as the great airline that it was! We are all extremely proud of its history and professionalism, and your book brought back many happy memories!”

From Barry Humphreys, Chairman, British Air Transport Association and former Director, Virgin Atlantic Airways

“No history of international aviation can be complete without including the amazing story of Pan American Airways. Pan Am was without doubt the industry’s leader for several decades; more than just another airline. Jamie Baldwin’s fascinating collection of photographs and chronology captures the story of Pan Am brilliantly, from the early days, thru the glory years to the sad end. It is a story well worth telling.”

To learn more about this book and the history of this pioneering airline, click on the title below for preview of

Pan American World Airways – Images of a Great Airline Second Edition.

This book is available on eBay .

For further information about the history of Pan American World Airways, visit: Pan Am Historical Foundation

Filed under Airline History, Airlines, Pan Am, Travel Tagged with A-300, A-310, Airline History, aviation pioneer, Boeing, Boeing 314, Boeing 377, Boeing 707, Boeing 747, Charles Lindbergh, China Clipper, DC-3, DC-4, DC-6B, DC-7C, DC-8, flying boats, Fokker F-VII, Ford TriMotor, Juan Trippe, Martin M-130, Pan Am, Pan Am Clippers, Pan Am history, Pan Am last flight, Pan American, Pan American World Airways, President Special, Round the world flights, S-38, S-42, Sikorsky, Tourist Class, United States

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The Last Clipper

Clipper Goodwill

Pan Am Ceases Operations

Salute to History

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Pan American in Vietnam – A Pilot’s Perspective

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Pan American’s Rest and Recuperation Airlift – Vietnam War

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Technical Assistance for Tajik Air – 1993

Part Two

Pan Am’s spirit is alive in a unique Technical Assistance Project

EVENT REMINDERS:

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PanAmers Gather in Hawaii for an “Aloha” Celebration

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Memories of a Last Flight

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What is Pan Am and Why Should We Care?

From the Pan Am Historical Foundation:

From Captain Don Cooper:

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President Kennedy and Pan Am

Pan Am on November 22, 1963

Two Days Later

Now Available in Kindle!

A Kindle Edition of Pan American World Airways – Aviation History Through the Words of its People is now available!

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