In 1968, Pan American World Airways worked with J Walter Thompson, their ad agency, to build excitement for the soon to arrive Boeing B-747. They used one of Pan Am's time-honored public relations' strategies, harkening back to the amazing history of aviation progress to showcase the next step - the "Queen of the Skies." But it was months before the actual aircraft was ready, so in the ad, they used a model.
The iconic Boeing 747 first took to the skies in February, 1969, a few months before it was released for commercial service to its launch customer, Pan American World Airways.
In June 1938, a young engineer from the National Advisory Council on Aeronautics (NACA) took along his 16mm movie camera on what would be the last completed round-trip flight of the Hawaii Clipper. The following month, the aircraft vanished without trace. This is a short segment from that film
Mission to China by Eric Hobson: How Harold Bixby saved Pan Am's plans for China in the 1930s
