ERA | EXPLORATIONS
Enlightening details of the 20 May, 1939 mail-only flight that opened Pan Am's Port Washington-Marseilles service with Capt. La Porte commanding.
After years of on-again-off-again geopolitical negotiations, passengers flew the Atlantic on Pan Am B-314 Dixie Clipper (Photos by Betty Trippe).
The 2nd Pan Am Pacific Survey flight, June 1935: Pilot Ed Musick & his crew celebrate their arrival at the remote Midway Atoll, 1,254 miles beyond Hawaii.
A Grown-Up Job: Flying the Pacific vs. Flying in Latin America. Reminiscenses of the pilots of PAA's flying boat era, from S-38s to M-130s & B-314s.
Celebrating the life of Pan Am pilot Capt. Ed Musick. He is legendary for breaking the isolation of the remote Pacific island of New Zealand.
The Yankee Clipper: In 1939 Pan Am's Boeing-314 flying boat was christened in Washington, DC by Eleanor Roosevelt, with Juan Trippe looking on.
Stepping-stone surveys: Sikorsky S-42 Pan American Clipper extended the Pacific route by one island on each flight, finally arriving in Guam.
After a record-breaking flight to Europe, it must have been trying to veteran flying boat skipper Capt. Charles Lorber to wait to land on the return home.
Adventure of a lifetime: Building the transpacific air route opened the door to a career that led John Borger to the pinnacle of aviation engineering.
Canton Island, Pan Am's Critical stop-over in the Pacific, remained pivotal as a technical stop on the way to Australia and New Zealand.
Bill Taylor Interview (1993): His story as an engineer on the M-130 China Clipper while flying home across the Pacific, Dec. 1935 on her 1st transpacific flight.
A short history of Wake island before the Air Age was introduced by Pan Am & the consequences of US involvement in WW2, followed by modern-day peace.
First-Hand Accounts of John Cooke, Bob Ford and Robert Hicks: How weather and mechanical problems affected the Pacific operations of Pan Am.
The Life and Times of Dinner Key, by Doug Miller: A story that looks at the development of Pan Am's Miami flying boat base in the 1930s. (PDF).
Designing the interior and exterior of Pan Am's First Marine Base, at Miami'sDinner Key Terminal, was the work of architects, Delano and Aldrich.
The Pan Am Globe, the main attraction at Pan Am's Dinner Key Miami seaplane base: Today it's newly installed at the Miami Worldcenter.