Home of Pan American World Airways Retired Pilots and Employees
1927-1991Welcome to Clipper Pioneers
The Latest Newsletter is Available!
The December 2024 issue of our newsletter is now available online. It’s limited to paid members or their spouses.
By now, you should have received your print issue of the October newsletter. For those who have not paid for a print issue, you can still access the newsletter online (link above).
If you’d like to continue receiving the print edition of the newsletter, and haven’t yet sent in your check, please do so this month. We have removed the names from the list that have not paid.
Thank you, Clipper Pioneers, for your great response!
Pan Am Museum Podcast - "Terror at the Rome Airport 1973" offers historical perspective
Information about a Podcast, “Terror at the Rome Airport 1973” as published in the January 2024, newsletter, here is the link to the story: https://podcast.thepanammuseum.org/1836491/14149625-episode-43-terror-at-the-rome-airport-december-1973-attack .
An excerpt follows:
“This is a special memorial edition of this program and recognizes the 50th anniversary of the Rome airport attack. We are joined by two survivors that were on a Pan Am plane that was firebombed at the Rome airport on December 17, 1973: Pan Am Flight Engineer Ken Pfrang and Pan Am passenger B.J. Geisler.
B.J. is the author of the recently published book, Terror on Pan Am Flight 110.
This episode is a follow up to “Episode 6: Hijackings and the Dawn of Global Terrorism.” If you haven’t heard this episode, we encourage you to do so after listening to this installment.
In order to understand the gravity of global terrorism throughout the 1970s and 1980s, it is important to examine the 1967 six day war between Israel and neighboring Arab countries, the September 1970 hijacking of four airplanes all bound for United States, as a direct result of those hijacking…the subsequent Jordanian civil war also known as Black September(Sep. 1970- Jul. 1971), and the Munich Olympic attacks in 1972. These topics are discussed in Episode 6. “
We’re currently working on the newsletter for the January 2025 issue. The December 2024 issue is now available in the Members Only section or by mail if you are a paid member. You will be receiving the January 2025 issue in the mail around the first part of January. If you have articles, short stories, vignettes, stories from a book you’ve written, upcoming events, or an obituary, etc., that you would like to see published, please forward them by email to Sue – Click here.
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Is there an upcoming event you want everyone to know about? Send us the information, and we’ll post it on the website. Email to our webmaster Sue –click here
A Great Gift about Pan Am
A gift for all seasons! As many of you know, the Pan Am Historical Foundation recently published the highly acclaimed Pan Am – Personal Tributes to a Global Aviation Pioneer, a book that caught the attention of Pan Am’ers and aviation enthusiasts around the world. The initial sales have been excellent and now into the sixth month since publication, the orders continue to come in.
This book may very well be one of the best – if not the best – book ever published about Pan Am. Rebecca Maksel, in the respected aviation journal Air & Space, published by the Smithsonian, wrote this about the book:
“Pan Am—Personal Tributes to a Global Aviation Pioneer is just that: An insider’s look at the airline from those who worked there. In addition to a history of Pan Am, the book also includes the esoteric: an interview with artist Milton Hebald, who sculpted the 15-foot bronze signs of the zodiac that graced the façade of the Pan Am building at JFK; a reminiscence from an employee who worked at Pan Am’s Counter Vanderbilt, the largest ticket counter in the world; and a mournful remembrance from a flight attendant who flew aboard the White House press charter the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. Readers will learn about flights behind the Iron Curtain and Pan Am rescues of American citizens stranded by wars, revolutions, and earthquakes. The airline even had a waiting list for passengers interested in future trips to the moon.”
This book belongs in every Pan Amer’s library, and we are fortunate to have inventory available from the original print order to offer a special price of $35 per single copy to friends and family of Pan Am. For those wishing to purchase five or more copies, the savings will be even better at $30 per copy. Shipping will be free for orders within the United States. For international orders, please add $50 per copy for shipping due to USPS international postage rates.
Visit PanAm.org to learn more and to order the book.
PBS Series features Pan Am documentary
When the China Clipper took off for the first scheduled flight to Manila on November 22, 1935, it riveted the attention of people around the world. At that moment Pan Am vaulted to a commanding position and the world changed forever as a result. That’s the story brought to life in “Across the Pacific.” Newly unearthed archival motion pictures, photographs, and original sound recordings as well as stunning graphics, help bring this history back to life. The film by Moreno/Lyons Productions tells the epic story of how Pan American Airways became the first to bridge the mighty Pacific – the first airline to cross any ocean. Focusing in particular on the contributions of Pan Am’s visionary leader Juan Trippe, aircraft designer Igor Sikorsky, and radio engineer Hugo Leuteritz, the three-part program was broadcast on public television, beginning May 18th, 2020. It premiered on VPM PBS in Richmond Virginia May/June 2020.
Episode 1
Across The Pacific: Airborne
The film’s four main characters – airline executive Juan Trippe, pilot Charles Lindbergh, airplane builder Igor Sikorsky and radio engineer Hugo Leuteritz – struggle to find a place in post-World War I aviation. Their struggles illuminate the challenges aviation pioneers faced in these early, uncertain days. After repeated setbacks, the four men join forces to build an airline to South America.
Episode 2 –
Air Tourism Begins in “Across The Pacific: Latin Laboratory”
As they push southward, Trippe, Sikorsky, Lindbergh and Leuteritz build larger flying boats, harness radio to navigate safely over great distances, and, with help from the U.S. government, outwit all competing airlines to dominate service to Latin America and launch the global air tourism industry. But all of this is merely preparation for their ultimate goal: flying the oceans.
Episode 3
Across The Pacific: Episode 3 “Another Ocean”
Defying the skeptics, Pan Am builds an airway to Asia, allowing its airplanes to hopscotch across the world’s widest ocean by landing at five stepping stone islands: Hawaii, Midway, Wake Island, Guam and the Philippines. Air service from New York to London begins in 1939, completing a chain of airways encircling the globe.
When the China Clipper took off for the first scheduled flight to Manila on November 22, 1935, it riveted the attention of people around the world. At that moment Pan Am vaulted to a commanding position and the world changed forever as a result. That’s the story brought to life in “Across the Pacific.” Newly unearthed archival motion pictures, photographs, and original sound recordings as well as stunning graphics, help bring this history back to life.
CNN Travel shares story of Pan Am employees Ian and Ilona Duncan
Ilona Duncan was married to Ian Duncan (https://clipperpioneers.com/ian-james-duncan/) , both employed at Pan Am. Recently, there was an article written about the for CNN Travel. Here’s a brief excerpt:
“Getting a job at Pan American was usually competitive, but Ilona had a fast pass from the Bermuda office. She walked into the office at JFK, paperwork in hand, and was offered a job on the spot.
“Our life was kind of signed over to Pan American. But I thought it was wonderful because I enjoyed the job so much,” says Ilona. “At the time, it was a very luxurious type of travel and I met a lot of wonderful people, not only celebrities, but many of those too.”
Ilona recalls interacting with movie stars Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor and Sophia Loren on the job.
Read the entire story at: https://www.cnn.com/travel/flight-attendant-pilot-romance-chance-encounters