ERA | INTO THE JET AGE
Air Rights: The Pan Am Building, NYC: Now over 60 years old, it has gained fans and maintains a strong presence over Grand Central in Manhattan.
The Junius Kellogg story: " The Man Who Saved Basketball." Junius A. Kellogg and the Pan Am Jets wheelchair basketball team, by Bruce Wolk.
A Day of "Firsts": First hijacking of a wide-body jet to Cuba, August 2, 1970 (Image by John T. McCoy, Courtesy SFO Museum, Gift of PAHF).
Stewardess Hope Ryden & Pan Am's first jet Inaugural flight, NY-Paris October 1958 on a Boeing 707 (Photo: 1983 anniversary reenactment). PDF
An Interview by Michael Manning with Al Topping & the Pan Am story, "Wings of Freedom." Link to a chapter from the book & purchase options.
From Routine to Daunting: A Glance into Pan Am’s Charter Business by Eric Hobson. From its earliest days, Pan Am made its aircraft available for charter.
Movies Aloft: History of Pan Am's inflight movie entertainment over the years, and the popular introduction of Pan Am's Theatre in the Air, 1965.
PANAMAC: Pan Am’s Game Changing Computer System, by Taegan Obermeyer-Loder. It revolutionized the way the airline handled data.
Saving Pan Am's Incomparable Ads: Peter Leslie's trip to Portugal in 2018, to support tile billboard preservation efforts around Portugal.
The Beatles arrive at JFK on a Pan Am 707. Stewardess Jill Kellogg's account of their first trip to the US in February 1964 and newsreel footage Read the PDF
Thanksgiving 1965: After 30 years, Pan Am's famous Pacific propeller flights ended with the flight of Pan Am DC-7C "Ocean Rover" from Pago Pago.
Pan Am service to Vietnam began May 1953. By 1970, 5 scheduled flights a week flew to Vietnam from the US (also serving stops across the Pacific).
The Worldport and the Jet Age: From Inception to demolition, Pan Am's iconic jetport that opened May 1960 at New York's JFK.
Worldport Models. Pan American Airlines, Long Island City. 1957 Mar. 6. Gottscho-Schleisner Collection, Library of Congress.
Pan Am's B-707 “Clipper Star of Hope” later flew for Korean Airlines as KAL 902. In 1978 it was brought down over the USSR & Pan Am rescued survivors.
In 1964 Pan American installed a brand new technology in its jet fleet -- the inertial navigation system, with benefitted from NASA's technology.
Pan Am's Lockeheed L-1011 TriStar by R.E.G. Davies, illustrated by Mike Machat (John T. McCoy painting Courtesy of SFO Museum collection, gift of PAHF).
UFO Mystery on a 707 Proving Flight by Jack Meade, with a surprise explanation after a flight by Pilot Dick Vinal from Puerto Rico to JFK.
