PAN AM - 1932

By Eric Hobson

JULY 

“Day Tripping to Havana”

Photomontage: Cocktails in Havana, film frames from "Two Hours to Havana (PAHF Film collection).

Maybe they wanted “independence” from Prohibition in the United States, to gamble in Havana’s casinos and dance to Latin rhythms, rather than watch home-town Fourth of July fireworks. Whatever their motivation, customers arrived early starting Sunday, July 3, 1932 to claim one of twenty-two seats on the week’s five excursion flights added to the schedule’s four flights per day.

A fully booked (22 passengers) Consolidated Commodore seaplane left Biscayne Bay Sunday through Thursday morning giving many first-time flyers a 230-mile, 1000-foot view down the Florida Keys, across the Florida Straights and into Havana Harbor. According to Pan Am’s in-house magazine, Pan Am Air Ways (Vol.3, No.3, July 15, 1932, p.3):

“One day it was necessary to use one of the giant Clipper Ships [Sikorsky S-40; 38 passengers], which also went and returned with every seat taken. On each day, Traffic Manager Chenea reports, we could have hung out the S.R.O. sign had Pan American policies permitted.”

This first-of-its-kind promotion generated buzz and, of course, dollars. Most important, however, it got people to step into an airplane, rather than an excursion train, for a familiar activity: a day-trip. Rather than riding to the beach or State Fair, these passengers left the United States. “Imaging telling the folks back home,” exclaimed the Pan Am Air Ways article.

Source: 
"Pan American Air Ways", Vol. 3, No.3, July 15, 1932 from University of Miami Special Collections

“Stars, Bars and Salaries”

Early pilot insignias: In the Jon E. Krupnick collection, from his book, “Pan American’s Pacific Pioneers: The Rest of the Story” (2000), p. 636. 

More efforts at unifying Pan American Airways’ far-flung system went into effect in July 1932.

One move was to standardize pay for all employees regardless of their work location. Gene Banning reports that this move shifted Pan Am’s pilots from a base pay plus miles flown formula to a $600 per month salary (equivalent to $6,000 US$ in 2022). Of course, that salary was for senior pilots; co-pilots and those in training earned less.

New uniform insignia also appeared across the system for pilots, radio operators, and mechanics. The pilot cadre received company-issued “wings” that showed their status at a glance. Each divisions’ Chief Pilot -- Edwin “Ed” Musick, H.W. Toomey, and George Kraigher -- sported wings with 3 stars on a blue bar. Thirty-nine men received “senior pilot” wings with 2 stars on a blue bar, and three aviators in the Western Division got 1-star “co-pilot” wings. Any pilot in the system wearing wings with a black bar and the company emblem but no star was recognized as an in-training “junior pilot.”

“And The Canal Zone Goes To?”

Photomontage; R.E.G. Davies Map of Mexican Division and Caribbean Division routes, 1928-29. Brownsville postcard, courtesy of Museum of South Texas History at MOSTHistory.org.

Pan American Airways’ synonym was “Expansion;” yet, on July 1, 1932, Pan Am contracted.

Executive (System) Memorandum No. 17 – Subject: Divisional Designations and Territorial Limits, announced, “Effective July 1, 1932, the Mexican and Canal Zone Sub-Division will be consolidated … and designated as the Western Division.”

Headquartered at Brownsville, Texas (the Mexican Division’s home), the Western Division now managed Pan Am’ southwestern operations including Mexico, British Honduras (Belize), Guatemala, Salvador (El Salvador), Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama/Canal Zone, while continuing to serve as the aircraft-overhaul and pilot-training base for Pan American’s western airlines, whether owned directly or affiliated.

The Caribbean Division ceded five Caribbean coastal bases: Cozumel Island and Payo Obispo (Mexico); Belize City (British Honduras); Puerto Barrios (Guatemala); and Tela (Honduras). The Caribbean Division retained the Miami to Merida, Mexico on the Salvador route, at which point the Western Division took over.

After July 1, 1932, Division Manager, Erwin Balluder, and Chief Pilot, George Kraigher, had to manage Sikorsky S-38 amphibious aircraft, altering what had been the Mexican Division’s motley mix of land-based aircraft. The problem resolved as the coastal route ceased when longer-range aircraft (Lockheed 10-E Electras and Douglas DC-2s) entered service.

“Record Flight”

Pan Am published a brochure in July 1937, extolling the 24 minute journey. Brochure from UM_Spec_Coll

As early as 1932, Pan Am was touting a quick trip between The Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans

“The fastest transcontinental trip on the American Continent is made by Pan American planes, flying daily between Cristobal and Panama City.”