Pan American Airways

8/12/2019 Pan American Airways

1/19

Pan Am: Miami's Wings to the WorldAuthor(s): William E. Brown, Jr.Reviewed work(s):Source: The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts, Vol. 23, Florida Theme Issue (1998),pp. 144-161Published by: Florida International University Board of Trustees on behalf of The Wolfsonian-FIUStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1504167.Accessed: 06/01/2012 11:31

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at.http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of

content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms

of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Florida International University Board of Trustees on behalf of The Wolfsonian-FIUis collaborating with

JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts.

http://www.jstor.org
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=fiuhttp://www.jstor.org/stable/1504167?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/stable/1504167?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=fiu


2/19

P a n A m M i a m i s W in g s t t h o r l dBy WilliamE. Brown Jr

WilliamE. BrownJr. is thedirectorof Archives andSpecialCollectionsandanassociate professorat the OttoG. RichterLibrary, niversityof Miami,CoralGables,Florida.He has published nseveral fields and has receivedfellowshipsandgrants rom heSmithsonian nstitution,Mellon

Foundation,BritishCouncil,and NationalEndowment orthe Humanities.

Imagesfrom PanAmericanWorldAirways,Inc.Records,Archives andSpecialCollections,OttoG. RichterLibrary, niversityof Miami,

1.2.

CoralGables,Florida.

n 1925the public heardAlJolson croon the lyrics:MyMiami, you belong to meMyflowers, my land, my birdies, too;Miami, take your sonny toyour sunny climeMiami, tell me honey, I'll be there on time.Onlya few years later,PanAmwould help take the world to Miami,and woulddo so on time. Peoplewere to set their watches by PanAmplanes.1Indeed, PanAmericanWorldAirways, nc.-"Pan Am" o generations of employees and trav-ellers worldwide- helped change the nature of international air travelandcommerce. PanAmand Miamiarebound in a historic, economic, and emotion-al relationship. To view Miami and South Floridathrough the words and im-ages of PanAm is to see a city and a region in a unique light. From its Floridabase PanAm introduced commercial aviationto virtuallyevery corner of theglobe, and in so doing, changed the way people viewed themselves and theworld (figs.1 and 2).PanAm inauguratedofficial mail service between KeyWest,Florida andHavana, Cuba, on 28 October 1927.PanAm delivered mail, shipped agricul-turalproductsand manufacturedgoods, and transportedbusiness commuters,tourists, and other travellers. PanAm did everythingwith enormous style,whether it was designing its memorable advertisements, creatingits famedClipper ships, or developing airportterminals.Its innovationsin aircraftdesignand equipment revolutionized commercial airservice. PanAm's architecturalcommissions in Florida included its 36th StreetAirport,which evolved intothe vast MiamiInternationalAirport,and its seaplane terminalcomplex atDinner Keyin Coconut Grove. The Pan AmericanSeaplane Base and TerminalBuildingis considered to be one of the finest buildings of its kind.Florida s the birthplacenot just of PanAmbut also of the nation's airline ndus-try.The first scheduled domestic airlinepreceded Pan Am by more than tenyears,as an aerialferryservice thatbegan operatingbetween St. PetersburgandTampa n 1914.The St. Petersburg-Tampa irboat Line shuttled passengers forthree months.2 The United States'most famous WorldWarI flyingace, EddieRickenbacker 1890-1973), recognized that South Florida's deal climate,poten-tialas a winter resort, and strategic location between North and South Americaofferedgreat promisefor commercialaviation. n 1923he andagroupof investors

LawrenceMahoney,TheEarlyBirds:AHistory of Pan Am'sClipperShips (PickeringPress,1987), 8.Pan Am press release, 1953,Box 406, Folder"PAA lorida,"PanAmericanWorldAirways,Inc.Records,Archives and Special Collections, Otto G. RichterLibrary,Universityof Miami(hereaftercited as Pan AmRecords). DAPA23 145


3/19

ttI Itf#:4L / j

ANNUALEPORTOR 943flz IUFEII(CJIV?WO.RLD115.7 .KAMEKfC^K tWR?0,%5All?. .% .y ^ g

Fig.1. PanAmAnnualReport,over,1943.Theairline's nnualeportswereremarkableor heirgraphic esign.Theglobewas oftenpor-trayedas a much smallerplace, thanks to the services of Pan Am.

,ce

i':'


4/19

Fig.2. Pan Am AnnualReport, _cover,1945.ThePanAm ogodominateshepage,dwarfingthe earthbelow.

organizedFloridaAirways.However, in December 1926,despite a perfectsafety record and almost three hundred thousand miles of air travel,FloridaAirwaysclosed its doors with debts of $250,000.3Another short-lived airline,the New YorkRio and Buenos AiresAirline(NYRBA),ed by RalphO'Neill,pio-neered air service to South America.O'Neill,also a WorldWarI flyingace, per-sonally delivered the first mail to Dinner KeyTerminal rom South America.4Competition for mail routes and foreign contracts was fierce, however, andthe selection of PanAm as the chosen airlinefor carryingUnited States mailto South Americadoomed the NYRBA,which merged with PanAm in 1931.Meacham Field in KeyWest was Pan Am's first home (figs. 3 and 4). Thoughborn in KeyWest,PanAmwas not to stay there long. Latein 1928 the airline

3. GeoffreyArend,GreatAirports:Miami International (New York:AirCargoNews, Inc., 1986),56, 62.4. Ibid., 72-75.

146 DAPA23

~~~~~~

?3" "-'" ? ...,

; ;WZW ;iS~~~ ~ ~ ~~~~.. . . .............

.,,.

r~~~~~. ......~...


5/19

Fig.3. A FokkerF-7waitingat PanAm's firstairport,MeachamField n KeyWest,Florida,1928.

Fig.4. Passengersandluggage preparingo departMeachamField nKeyWest for one of the first commercial lights n Pan Amhistory,1928.

;1 ??JPF/ *J,* rt,i?a? j 1J?ztrl llh?ip;c,iiiAr tC;;C?, 3i? *

i~ ~~~~~~? .C\H11

'i,,'sr^ *^~~.-.*reit


6/19

Fig.5. Crowdathersn honorof one of thefirst lights odeparthe36thStreetAirportinMiami,. 1928.

'/ .

q-s' 1 . I-% iN. ,

CX

Fig.6. Fromeft toright,JuanTerry rippe,hepresidentof PanAm,withCharles .Lindbergh,929.

relocated to Miami(fig. 5). The move had significant financialimplications,since Pan Am's contract for carryingmail to Cubawas a mileage contract,nota weight contract.Juan TerryTrippe,Pan Am's twenty-eight-year-old ounder, began operationswith two airplanes,twenty-four employees, a monthly payrollof $4,800, andthe goal "toprovide mass airtransportationfor the average man at rates hecan afford to pay" (fig. 6).5 On 3 January1929,Trippeaddressed a nationalradio audience on station WABC,under the auspices of the AviationActivitiesHour.He spoke eloquently of the inaugurationof air service from Miami toSanJuan, Puerto Rico,via Havana and Camaguey,Cuba;Port au Prince, Haiti;and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Trippeoutlined a blueprint forinternationalcommercial aviation.6Manyothers also believed that Miamiwould have a significant role in the future of internationalaviation. Speakingon 22July 1932,Minnesota Congressman M.J. Mass noted that "Miami'spastwill be forgotten in its new future... the development of aviation in all of itsvarious fields, will bring a new social standard that will permit those in themost modest circumstances to live in luxury...."7Miami's36th StreetAirport,which became Pan Am's base, was home to thefirst modern passenger terminal in the United States (figs. 7, 8, and 9).Designed by the New Yorkarchitecturalfirm of Delano and Aldrich,the termi-nalwas a two-storyreinforcedconcrete and steel design built to handle twenty-five aircraftper day.The interior included a large waiting room divided forarrivingand departing passengers. Customs, immigration,and public healthofficials were located near the arrivalarea. On the second floor was a balconywith PanAm offices, pilot rooms, a restaurant,and viewing areas. The 36th

5. The FirstFifty Yearsof Pan Am: TheStory of Pan American WorldAirways,Inc.from 1927 to 1977(PanAmerican WorldAirways,Inc., 1977), 4.6. JuanT.Trippe speech, 3January1929,PanAm Records.7. Pressrelease, untitled, 7July 1932,PanAm Records.

148 DAPA23


7/19

Fig.7.The36thStreetAirportopenedogreat anfare.Itsarchitecturaleaturesincluded distinctivean-tileveredoofandnumerousglasswindows,1929.

Fig.8. Originalerminalbuildingt the36thStreetAirport ith wolong, ow-leveladditions. rompostcard,. 1940s.

Fig.9. JetaircraftromNational irlines reshownintheforegroundfthisround-corneredostcard,c. 1940s.Captionrintedonpostcard:Miami'sInternationalirport atewaytoLatinAmerican ountries."

. . _: ?r :_-

t T . .. ,1


8/19

Fig.10. Aerial iew of DinnerKeyTerminalith woClipperships axiing way rom hebuilding.hereverse ide ofthispostcard asaninscriptionprovided y he aircraft'sap-tain:"In emembrancefyourstaywithus on theFlyingClipper C-7521 nJuly27,1939,Capt. . E.Robbins."

PHOTO BY PAN-AMERICAN PHOTO SERVICE

StreetAirportwas a landmarkbuilding, and not just for Miami; t set the stan-dard for commercial aviation structures for years. Other airlines soon joinedPanAm- by 1932Eastern Airlines had moved its operations to the 36th StreetAirport,and in 1937National Airlines also began Miami-basedoperations.8The$,^ "-6 i' ^ facility was expanded after WorldWarII,and was later demolished. The siteeE:?L3 - was eventually incorporated into Miami InternationalAirport.9- -* .- '..--'..l^ ' The architects of the 36th StreetAirport,WilliamAdams Delano (1874-1960)2 --'^*"^r' and Chester Holmes Aldrich (1871-1940), were renowned society architectswho designed clubs and residences for the Astors, Burdens, Havemeyers,

Rockefellers,and Whitneys.The two architects began their careers with theFig.11.AnAmericanlipper New York irm of Carrereand Hastings but set off on their own in 1903.LikeS-40g , many architects of their time, Delano and Aldrich worked in a varietyof styles;(Sikorsky-40Flying oat), their range can be seen in New YorkCity's KnickerbockerClub (1914), aarrivingtDinnerey erminal. Georgian building, and the Union Club (1932), a refined French SecondEmpire building. Laterthey turned to more functional buildings for suchPassengersrewelcomed clients as PanAm. Delano and Aldrich assumed a leading role in the design

S e s inc , and development of PanAm's international system of airports, terminals,bySeminolendiansncanoes, hotels, and commercial facilities that grew from Florida to New York(wherec. 1935. they designed the originalLa GuardiaAirTerminal)and across the PacifictoHawaii, Guam, Midway,WakeIsland,and the Philippines.The apogee of Delano and Aldrich's airline work in Floridawas the PanAmericanSeaplane Base and TerminalBuilding at Dinner Key,which was con-structed specificallyto handle the airline's fleet of flyingboats, dubbed theClipper ships (figs. 10, 11,and 12). The Clipper ships were huge, luxurious pas-senger seaplanes that were dependent on waterwaysfor their takeoffs andlandings. In 1931PanAm began using Dinner Key,a small island that had beenconnected to the Coconut Grove mainlandby the United States Navy duringWorldWarI. A houseboat from Havana served as the airline's first terminal

8. Arend,GreatAirports:Miami International, 88-89.9. Ibid.,89-103.150 DAPA3


9/19

Fig.12. DinnerKeyTerminal,rearview,c. 1935.

there (fig. 13). PanAm then erected three huge storage hangars and the termi-nal building itself. At the time of its construction, in 1933-1934, the Dinner KeyTerminalwas both the largest and most modern marine air terminal in theworld. It opened the South Florida marketto an expanded world of interna-tional business and tourists. In its day the terminal hosted as many as eightythousand travellersper month as well as crowds that gathered regularlytowatch the great flying boats.The Dinner KeyTerminalwas designed in the Streamline Moderne style. Thearchitecture of the building itself, a two-story central space flanked by symmet-rical"wings," subtly reinforced the notion of air travel. The terminal was asteel-frame rectangularstructure with a flat roof and exterior walls coveredwith smooth stucco. There were eleven baysacross the front facade. The facadewas highlighted by a frieze of winged globes- PanAm'slogo-and risingsuns;the frieze was connected at the corners by sculpted eagles. The entrance doorswere bronze, topped with bronze grilles.10The terminal could accommodate multiple aircraftand move passengers fromcheck-in service to food and beverage areas and observations decks (fig. 14).Perhapsthe terminal's most innovative element was the layout for air-trafficcontrol that allowed for the simultaneous handling of four aircraft.Dinner KeyTerminalserved as a model for seaplane bases in Rio de Janeiro, New York,and San Francisco. Its construction also marked the first time that the United

10. "Reportof the Cityof MiamiPlanning Department to the Heritage ConservationBoard on thePotentialDesignation of the Pan American TerminalBuilding3500 PanAmerican Drive as aHeritage ConservationZoning District," 1982, PanAm Records.DAPA23 151


10/19

Fig.13. Prior o the construc-tion of DinnerKeyTerminal,houseboatserved as the pas-senger terminal.A Pan Am"aero-car"s parked nfront,readyto transportpassengers,c. 1930.

::*^"' ' ; "' :, XlllUl

1,it* .

la :

.e,.Rt.: . *

'ztt.S

r ..

...?r::1;5r;::?:'............'.~~~~~ : . s . . . . . . . . . . . .* . ,*- ' ?-- w

1.I.tj% .

Fig.14. Theinteriorof the DinnerKeyTerminalncludeda second-floorrestaurant,c. 1935.


11/19

Fig.15. Globenthewaitingareaof the DinnerKeyTerminal.rom postcard,c. 1935.

States government approved funds specificallyfor the dredging of a navigablechannel for aircraft.1lAdditional innovations included solar-heated water andmovable, telescoping walkwaysthat protected passengers travellingbetweenthe planes and the terminal. These "jetways" re now a common feature at air-ports.2 In the main lobby of the terminal, PanAm installed a three-and-one-quarter-tonglobe, ten feet in diameter. This rotating sphere, depicting the air-lines of the world, became an international landmarkas well as one of PanAm's most famous icons (fig. 15).In additionto its architects,PanAmrelied on other designers.HowardKetchum,an interior designer, outfitted such planes as the Boeing 307 Stratolinerandthe Boeing 314.The Boeing 314offered the speed of airtransportwith theluxurious space of sea or rail travel. It was large enough to accommodateseventy-four passengers, or forty in sleeping configuration, and a crew of ten.13Ketchumwrote of his work: "It s difficult to provide proper credit to manyinterior aircraftdesigners, and it is equally difficultto trace the origins of thefirst 'planned interior' of a commercial aircraft.Manyairliners of the late 1920sand 1930shave their interiors credited to the designer of the aircraft,usuallythe chief engineer."14The noted theater and industrialdesigner Norman Bel Geddes (1893-1958)was one of the first in his profession to shape the interior space of a com-mercial airplane. He upholstered the spacious compartments with slipcov-ered seats and wall coverings that could be unzipped for cleaning and struc-turalinspection.15

11. Ibid.12. Arend,GreatAirports:Miami International, 142-193.13.John Zukowsky,ed., Buildingfor Air Travel:Architecture and Designfor CommercialAviation(New York:Prestel-Verlagnd The Art Institute of Chicago, 1996), 122.14. HowardKetchum,"DesigningInteriors for AirTravel,"nterior Design and Decoration (une1940): 55-56.15. Norman Bel Geddes' work was first described in print in 1935by LindaWellesleyin "FlyingDeluxe"in The Airwoman and by Shelden Cheney and MarthaCandlerCheney in Artand theMachine: An Account of Industrial Design in the TwentiethCentury (New York:McGraw-HillBook Company, 1936). DAPA23 153


12/19

Fig.16.Charles .Lindberghnthecockpit fanairplanetMiaminternationalirport,c. 1929.The aggedine nthephotographs a crack ntheoriginal lass-plate egative.

-; ~:f f ?l ip -~~~~~~~~~?

Fig.17.Charles .Lindberghprepareso dockhis aircraft.TheDinnerKeyTerminal,visible nthebackground,tillunder onstruction,933.

Flush with its initialsuccess, PanAm expanded in the 1930s, acquiringnew air-craft,employees, and routes. The airline ventured to the Caribbean, Mexico,and Central and South America.Trippealso engaged the services of aviatorCharles A. Lindbergh(1902-1974), who would serve as a technical advisor toPanAm for forty-fiveyears (figs. 16 and 17). The 1930swere exciting years forPanAm, with many notable accomplishments. On 22 November 1935theChinaClipper,a Martinflyingboat built to Pan Am's specifications, departedfrom San Francisco and began a six-day journey to Manila,completing the firsttrans-Pacificlight. In May1939the YankeeClipper,a Boeing B-314also designedand built for PanAm, completed a New York-Lisbon-Marseillesoute that inau-gurated transatlantic lights. In 1942 PanAm completed the first successfularound-the-worldflight.The creation of the China Clipper,or MartinM-130,revolutionized commercialair travel(fig. 18). These enormous twenty-six-tonseaplanes could travelthirty-two hundred miles non-stop at speeds of 130 miles per hour, which broughtthe Pacific and Europeannations within easy reach of Miami.A technologicalwonder with classic lines, the ChinaClipperintroduced unheard-of comfortand luxuryto air travel. It was perhaps the most popular of all flyingboats, andwas even featured in a 1936film of the same name starringPat O'Brien andHumphrey Bogart.6The ChinaClipperhad eight compartments - the bridge,galley,crew's quarters,a sixteen-foot lounge, two sitting rooms, toilets, andthe aft stairs (fig. 19). The passenger quarterswere sound-proofed and hadblue-green furnishings.17Crossing the Atlantic Ocean on a China Clipperin 1939was an unforgettableexperience. The cabins were spacious, and the seats had plenty of leg room.

16. Zukowsky,BuildingforAir Travel, 110.17. RobertL.Levering,TheClipper Heritage (Inter-CollegiatePress, 1984), 44-47.

154 DAPA23

..,..,...;. ""*'": ??i?????";.??.-........,::"i:"' "?'"???'? 14k\L 1YI;IlrCI?f

I'"'?-."E'?cX.*:1 :C?


13/19

Fig.18. TheChinaClipperevolutionizedong-distanceir-passengerervice.From postcard,. 1935.

Fig.19. Cross-sectioniagramfa ChinaClipper,. 1935.


14/19

Fig.20.Sleeping erthnaChinaClipper,. 1935.

Fig.21.Diningable n a ChinaClipper,. 1935.


15/19

The interiors included passenger lounges with Art Deco designs in "skylinegreen" and "Miami and beige." Coordinated carpets added to the luxuriousfeel. The Pullman-like leeping compartments were closed off by "PanAmericanblue"curtains. Each berth had a window, readinglight, ventilator,steward callbutton, and clothes rack with hangers (fig. 20). The aft deluxe suite containeda love seat, coffee table, combination dressing table and writingdesk, and dav-enport-style seat that converted to a bed. In the dining salon uniformed stew-ards served gourmet meals on polished blackwalnut tables covered with Irishlinen, bone china, silverware,and Europeancrystal (fig. 21). Such extravagancecertainlymade the $675 cost more tolerable, and helped pass time on thetwenty-five-hour ourney.For a world full of adventurous travellers,the romance of commercial air travelwas compelling. One regular passenger recalled, "Youdidn't just go to thewaiting plane, you were alwaysushered into it. Really, ooking back, it was likea movie."'8Playwrightand editor ClareBooth Lucewrote afterone of her trips,"Fiftyyears from now, people will look back on a Clipper flight as the mostromanticvoyage in history."19PanAm cherished its choice of the name "Clipper"o describe its overseasaircraft.The term, borrowed from the great nineteenth-century sailing ships,was most appropriatefor these flyingboats. Pan Am's internationaladvertisingcampaigns regularlydepicted Clipperships arriving n exotic locations. As aresult, PanAmbecame synonymous with the term, and promotional materialfor the airlinenoted, "If t isn't operated by PanAmerican,it isn't a Clipper."The word "clipper" ntered the lexicon of AmericanEnglish n a varietyof ways.Entireclothing lines appeared,including"clipper"dresses modeled after nativefashions "discovered" n Centraland South America."Clipper"ransoceanicportable radios manufacturedby the Zenith RadioCorporationwere one ofthe great earlyachievements in that company's history.Hollywood drew uponthe name for feature film titles, includingBombay Clipper,a forgettableUniversalPicturesstory starringWilliamGarganand Irene Hervey.In 1942 theSaturday Evening Post rana cartoon depicting three children,with the oldestchild saying, "Mayflower-phooey...our uncle came over on the Clipper "20In its advertisements PamAm lured passengers, told the world of its achieve-ments, and lauded the flawless efficiency of both aircraftand crews, despitethe fact that the logistics of handling huge amphibious aircraftoften contra-dicted these promotional claims (figs. 22 and 23). As one employee recalled:

We would move the big Clipperout of the hangaron its land wheels andshove it into the water like you would launch a giant boat. Then people wecalled the "beachcrew" would go in the water in bathing suits to undo andremove the wheels from the plane...The passengers would sit, sipping cof-fee, watching all this. Then they would go out onto a dock, get on theClipper,and prepare for the noisy,bumpy takeoff.2'PanAm's advertisements depicted and described the wonders of airtravel inromantic and effusive terms. The advertisements were colorful in both imagesand prose, as is evidenced by the text on a poster promoting PanAm flights toRiode Janeiro:

18. Mahoney,TheEarly Birds, 54.19. "50YearsAgo:Bridgingthe Atlantic,"American History Illustrated 24 (May1989): 34-45.20. New Horizons (Miami:PanAmericanWorldAirways,Inc., 1942).21. Mahoney,TheEarly Birds, 44.

DAPA23 157


16/19

Fig.22. Advertisingposter.Thefemale figurestands with onefoot on Jamaica andthe otheron Puerto Rico.Herred- andwhite-stripeddress and theblue water symbolize heUnitedStates flag.Carefulshadingof the woman's bodyreflects the multiracialCaribbean opulation.

Cuttingtheir creamywakes through the blue waters of the bay the flyingboat Clippersgo flyingdown to Rio...a long, slender thread is spun all theway from Miami's Dinner Keyto Africa.When winter's ice chokes the har-bors in Baltimore and New York,Dinner Key'swarm tropicalbosom pro-vides a safe haven for the transatlanticclippers.22Ultimately,the Clipper ships fell victim to further advances in technology.Seaplanes offered great savings to airlinesand to cities located near large bod-ies of water,as they required no expensive runwaysand taxiways.However,

22. Arend,GreatAirports:Miami International, 142.158 DAPA23


17/19

...whenPanAmerican lippersbroughtChinamodemair-tronsportservices en yearsagoA'::

r;?n-.? r; ?. . ??.rr'"''?''''"' i'''':'' ,I. . in? .: s.rr*a;* ???. :I?-r.???:;...?.?.....,?..r... ??....?-rr ?? 1. ::??.?l;-r-.???lr r-;???????r?.???.

m. affi...:1.a,Ar/Arl/M-? /A: arf wra

Fig.23.PanAmadvertisementfor ts FarEast ervice,1947.Theheadlineeads,"ChinaSaveda Century...WhenanAmerican lippers roughtChinaModern irTransportServicesTenYearsAgo."Accordingo thecopy,modernair ransportmay"bea greatfactor nsavingChinese ivi-lizationtself."

calm water was a requirement, and the conversion of aircraft rom water toland was awkward and time consuming.23In 1939, only four years after the firstChinaClipperrolled off the assembly line, PanAm received bids on its succes-sor, the Boeing 314.Nevertheless, airlinepersonnel and travellers the worldover can still recall their emotional reactions to their firstglimpse of one of thegreat flyingboats such as the ChinaClipper,the HawaiiClipper,the DixieClipper (fig. 24), or the YankeeClipper.The final Clippership to land at Dinner Keydid so on 9 August 1945.24DuringWorldWarIIthe United States Navyused Dinner Keyfor military purposes.PanAm allocated extensive resources and personnel to support the war effort.The airline flew more than ninety million miles for the United States govern-ment, carriedmilitarypersonnel and cargo, ferriedbombers and aircraft,andbuilt fiftyairportsin fifteen countries. The airline also trained thousands ofmilitarypilots, navigators,and mechanics. Scores of Americanand Britishpilots,flight engineers, navigators,and crew members received classroom educationat the Universityof Miami and practicalflight and equipment trainingat the36th Street Airport or Pan American Field, as it was known in 1941,whichincluded a hangaron the west end for use by the United StatesArmy.2 PerhapsPanAm's single most memorable wartimeactivityinvolved the 1943 DinnerKey flight that took President FranklinDelano Roosevelton his top-secretmeet-ing with Winston ChurchillandJoseph Stalinin Casablanca.This flight required10,964miles and marked the first time that a president flew while in office.26By 1946 PanAm could proudly boast of its role in Miami'sgrowth. No longerwas the "SunshineCapital" f the South merely a tourist town - it had becomea leading seaport and the primaryport of entry to the United States. In addi-tion, the postwar boom had a large impact on air travel. PanAm flew 13,341

23. Ibid.24. Dinner KeyTerminalnow serves as MiamiCityHall,and the globe is located at the Museum ofScience in Miami.25. Pressrelease, untitled, 28June 1943,PanAm Records.26. Arend,GreatAirports:Miami International, 188.

DAPA23 159

i.......;.:?..;,... ,.......;.

-


18/19

flights in and out of Miamiduringthe first six months of 1946,compared withonly 2,555 for the same time period in 1941.Mailservice also underwent dra-maticgrowth from approximately250,000 airmail etters flown to LatinAmericain 1930 to almost one hundred million in 1946.27The postwar period saw many technical improvements in aviation,and Floridabecame an easy destination for both tourists and business travellers.Pan Amembarked on an ambitiousexpansion programthatsought to "pioneera systemof mass air transportation throughout the WesternHemisphere, with Florida(Miami)as the aerialgatewaybetween the Americas."28n promotionalmaterial,PanAm contended that current flight times and costs would dwindle. Thefifty-sevenhour, $425 tripfrom Miami to Rio de Janeirowould be reduced toeighteen hours and $167.29 Those wings over Florida are wings of gold,"anewspaper columnist wrote in 1950,summarizingan aviationindustrythatprovided employment for some 150,000Floridians at 210airports, forty sea-plane bases, and thirty-three personal-use airports.30United States air-passengerservice entered the jet age on 26 October 1958.Overnight, flying times were reduced by one-half, and the world became amuch smaller place. On 1 May1976, Pan Am'sLibertyClipper,one of the new747 SPs,left New Yorkand travelledeast on a record-breakingaround-the-world trip.Withninety-sixpassengers and only two refueling stops-in Delhiand Tokyo- the flight arrivedback in New York orty-sixhours from depar-ture, breakingthe previous markby some fifteen hours. PanAm celebrated itsfiftieth anniversary n 1977with another first, this time around-the-world ser-vice over the North and South poles, a flight that covered 26,300 miles in a lit-tle more than fifty-fourhours. InJanuary1980 PanAm merged with NationalAirlines,but economic difficulties during the 1980s caused Pan Am to ceaseoperations in 1991.31Pan Am'shistory is recorded in an enormous body of corporate records thatincludes memoranda, letters, photographs, technical reports, manuals,maga-zines, newspapers, advertising.materials, crapbooks, flight records, clippings,press releases, speeches, and related documents. These files are housed at theArchives and Special Collections of the Otto G. RichterLibrary,UniversityofMiami,CoralGables, Florida.In its decades of operation PanAm captured the imaginationsof tens of thou-sands of world travellers.The airlineembodied the thrill and romance of airtravel with its architecture,advertising,and aircraftdesign. The survivingwordsand images of PanAm are testimony to one of the most exciting chapters ofaviationhistory in the United States, and they will continue to inspire and in-form us as long as great aircraftserve as man's wings to the world. c

27 Pressrelease, "PanAm Has Helped BringEconomic Stability o Florida,"n.d., PanAmRecords.28. Press release, "PanAmerican's Growth and its Investment in the State of Florida,"n.d., Pan AmRecords.29. Ibid;Currently he tripfrom Miamito Rio takes eight hours and thirty-sevenminutes and costs$717.95 or the coach fare,accordingto AmericanAirlines.30. Miami Herald, 12March1950,sec. F,p. 5.31. In 1996the PanAm name and logo were reintroduced by a new airline that purchased the rights.

160 DAPA23


19/19

Fig.24. DixieClipper.Froman advertisement,1940. Thisimageillustrates the enormoussize of these aircraft.

IY:I J*;i I G.riP'? "'

.,.- ii:;r??*7: r*;t:r*? : r;r7.:X.: i...,. I. ???- ::fi^ii 1'.5??;1;: ,t:*1:

C" .;I?.

'"c"Iiet?*:""'

Pan American Airways

Documents

Transcript of Pan American Airways