Collection is open for research. Some items may be restricted due to fragile condition.
Series Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Series Citation:
Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Aviation, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
This collection consists of a passenger log book, issued by Pan American Airways (Pan Am) to passenger Richard F. Bradley on the occasion of the inaugural passenger flight of the Trans-Pacific Route, October 21--November 4, 1936.
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of a passenger log book, issued by Pan American Airways (Pan Am) to passenger Richard F. Bradley on the occasion of the inaugural passenger flight of the Trans-Pacific Route, October 21--November 4, 1936. The log book, which is in a cardboard slipcase, measures 4 by 6.5 inches and has a black leather cover that is embossed in gold with the Pan Am logo and Bradley's name. Inside the log book are 22 gold-edged pages including a page presenting the book to Bradley, signed by Juan Terry Trippe; a map of the Trans-Pacific Route including mileage between each stop; a brief history of the Trans-Pacific Route; a description of the Hawaii Clipper; journal pages for each segment of the trip, filled in by Bradley; a page of crew autographs including Captain Edwin C. Musick, First Officer H. E. Gray, and Navigator Fred. J. Noonan; two pages for autographs, presumably of other passengers and crew, including Clara Adams, Thomas Fortune Ryan, III, Charles E. Bartley, and Alfred B. Bennett; a page for the passenger's identification coupon to which Bradley's coupon is attached; and two pages for photographs, which are blank.
Arrangement:
Collection is a single item.
Biographical / Historical:
Pan American Airways (Pan Am) was active in the airline industry from 1927, when it established a regularly scheduled international service, to its bankruptcy in late 1991. Pan Am was the first American airline to operate a permanent international air service. From its first route between Key West and Havana, Pan Am extended its routes into the rest of the Caribbean, Central America and South America. In 1936, Pan Am inaugurated passenger service in the Pacific.
Provenance:
Unknown, material found in collection, NASM.XXXX.0916.
Restrictions:
No restrictions on access
Rights:
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests.
Lindbergh, Charles A. (Charles Augustus), 1902-1974 Search this
Extent:
0.05 Cubic feet (1 folder)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
1927-1957
bulk 1928-1931
Summary:
This collection consists of first day air mail covers collected by pilot and philatelic enthusiast Basil Lee Rowe, predominantly during his career as an airline pilot for Pan American Airways (PAA) in the Caribbean area in the period 1927-1931. Collection includes covers carried by Charles A. Lindbergh in his Ryan NYP "Spirit of St. Louis" during his tour of the Caribbean in February 1928, and covers autographed by many of the early airline pilots who carried them, including Cy Caldwell, Edwin Musik, Caspar D. Swinson, Charles R. Parmelee, and Rowe himself.
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of first day air mail covers collected by Basil Rowe, predominantly during his career as a pilot in the Caribbean area. Most of the air mail was carried by West Indian Aerial Express (WIAE) or Pan American Airways (PAA) between Florida and islands in the Caribbean or Caribbean ports in Central and South America. Some of the first day covers are autographed by the pilots of the flights (including Cy Caldwell, Edwin Musik, Caspar D. Swinson, Charles R. Parmelee, and Rowe himself) or other noted aviators such as Dean C. Smith, or public officials such as Theodore Roosevelt III, then Governor of Puerto Rico. One group of covers were carried by Charles A. Lindbergh in the Ryan NYP "Spirit of St. Louis" during his tour of the Caribbean in February 1928. Following the covers is an annotated price list; note that not all items listed are part of this collection. Also included at the end of the collection are PAA forms used by two non-PAA pilots for flights inbound to Miami, Florida, from Havana, Cuba, in July 1931: James Goodwin Hall in his Lockheed Altair "The Crusader" (r/n NR-15W), and Frank M. Hawks in his Travel Air Mystery Ship "Texaco 13" (r/n NR-1313).
Arrangement:
Air mail covers are arranged in chronological order; documents appear following the covers at the end of the collection.
Biographical / Historical:
Basil Lee Rowe (1896-1973) enjoyed a long and successful career in aviation, initially as a military exhibition pilot, barnstormer, air racer, charter operator, flight instructor, aircraft salesman, and rumrunner, before moving to the West Indies to start an airline, the short-lived West Indian Aerial Express, bought out by Pan American Airways in 1928. Rowe became a pioneering senior pilot for Pan Am, flying with them for 28 years before his retirement in 1956.
Related Materials:
See related collection Basil Lee Rowe Collection, NASM.XXXX.0019.
Provenance:
Basil Lee Rowe via Institute of the Aeronautical Sciences, Gift, 1965, NASM.XXXX.0487
Restrictions:
No restrictions on access
Rights:
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests.
William John Eck: First Pan American Airlines Transatlantic Flight Scrapbook
Extent:
0.33 Cubic feet (1 scrapbook)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Place:
Azores
New York, New York
Date:
June 12, 1939, through April 22, 1940
bulk June 28, 1939, through July 4, 1939
Summary:
This collection consists of a scrapbook, "To Europe By Air," assembled by railroad executive William J. Eck to document his trip June 28 to July 4, 1939, on Pan American Airways' (PAA) first transatlantic passenger flight on the Boeing Model 314 Clipper "Dixie Clipper" flying boat and containing information on its crew, passengers, and ports of call.
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of a scrapbook, "To Europe By Air," assembled by William J. Eck to document his trip on Pan American Airways' (PAA) first transatlantic passenger flight, and containing information on the Boeing Model 314 Clipper "Dixie Clipper" (r/n NC-18605) flying boat and its crew, passengers, and ports of call. The scrapbook is particularly rich in ephemera, with many illustrations trimmed from brochures used to embellish the black paper album pages. Contents include ephemera from the Pennsylvania Railroad (on which Eck started and ended his trip from his home in Washington, D. C.), Pan American Airways (PAA), Air France, Hotel Aviz (Lisbon), Splendide Hotel (Marseille), Hotel Plaza-Athenée (Paris), and various tourist sites; photographs; telegrams; greeting cards; maps; menus; post cards; postage stamps; a first day cover; newspaper clippings (predominantly in English, but also in Portuguese and French); PAA receipts and press releases; copy photographs of Eck's PAA tickets, ticket folder, and baggage claim check; photographs of commemorative cigarette cases presented to Eck and PAA pilot R. O. D. Sullivan; and clippings and ephemera relating fellow passengers' stories: Russell Sabor, James McVittie (who continued on to Chicago immediately after landing in New York on the return trip), Gwladys Whitney (Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney), Anne Lyon Haight (Mrs. Sherman Post Haight, who also flew aboard the Clipper that inaugurated the mail route between North and South America in 1931). Also included is a transcript of interviews with the passengers recorded on board the "Dixie Clipper" during the eastbound flight: Russell Sabor, William J. Eck, Mrs. Sherman Haight, Captain Torkild Rieber, Clara Adams, C. V. Whitney, Mrs. Juan Trippe, Mr. and Mrs. Graham B. Grosvenor, Mr. and Mrs. E. O. McDonnell, Roger Lapham, James McVittie, and Louis Gimbel; and on the westbound flight: J. Carroll Cone (Manager of the Atlantic Division of Pan American Airways Company).
Arrangement:
The scrapbook is arranged chronologically.
Biographical / Historical:
William John Eck (1876-1957) graduated from Iowa State University in 1895 with a degree in electrical engineering and went to work in the telephone industry. In 1898, at the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, Eck joined the United States Army and was sent to the Philippines; after a year Eck transferred to the U.S. Quartermaster Department and spent his next three years at sea, eventually making a trip around the world. After leaving the Army, Eck switched to the railroad business, joining the Southern Railway in 1905. Over time, travel—particularly air travel—became a serious hobby for Eck, and by the early 1930s, he had become a pioneer passenger on several early airline routes. In 1931, after chatting to Pan American Airways (PAA) pilots on a flight to Santiago, Chile, Eck contacted PAA to apply for a ticket on PAA's first transatlantic passenger flight, whenever that might occur. Eight years later, Eck was delighted to be contacted by PAA with the news that he had been designated Passenger No. 1 on the historic flight, departing Port Washington, New York, on Wednesday, June 28, 1939, aboard the Boeing Model 314 "Dixie Clipper." The flight, carrying 22 passengers, was made via Horta, Azores, with an overnight stay at Lisbon, Portugal, on June 29, finishing at Marseille, France, on June 30. Eck continued on to Paris via a land-based Air France flight. Eck and many of the outbound passengers were also on the return flight of the "Dixie Clipper," departing Marseilles on Sunday, July 2, and following the same route to return to New York on Tuesday, July 4, 1939. At the time of the flight Eck, a resident of Washington, D. C., was Assistant to the Vice President, Southern Railway Company. The newspapers noted that Eck, a widower who had recently married his second wife, Emily Magdalene Kleb, three months earlier on March 20, 1939, was unable to take her along on the flight as he had only the single ticket bought well before their marriage.
Provenance:
Unknown gift, circa 1940-1967.
Restrictions:
No restrictions on access
Rights:
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests.
[Technical reports on VHF tropospheric scatter techniques for aeromobile communications, a ground-to-air selective calling system, and estimated future air traffic in the United States]
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, Please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests.
Collection Citation:
Elton Ross Silliman Papers, Acc. 1989-0050, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, Please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests.
Collection Citation:
Elton Ross Silliman Papers, Acc. 1989-0050, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, Please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests.
Collection Citation:
Elton Ross Silliman Papers, Acc. 1989-0050, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Lindbergh, Charles A. (Charles Augustus), 1902-1974 Search this
Extent:
0.05 Cubic feet ((1 folder))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographic prints
Biographies
Date:
bulk 1929-1939
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of one eight by ten inch photograph of John A. Hambleton; one digital print of a photograph of Charles A. Lindbergh, John A. Hambleton and others on the occasion of the first air mail from the Canal Zone's arrival in Miami, February 13, 1929; one digital print of Hambleton, Amelia Earhart and others at the opening of the 36th Street Airport in Hialeah, Florida, January 9, 1929; a photocopy of an address by John Hambleton on "Air Transport for Commerce," 1929; a ten page biographical essay entitled, "Who Was John Hambleton?;" and a senior thesis entitled, "The Chosen Instrument and United States Policy in International Air Transportation" by George B. E. Hambleton.
Biographical / Historical:
John Adams Hambleton (1898?-1929) was a recipient of the Croix de Guerre and the Distinguished Service Cross with Oak Leaf Cluster for his service in World War I. In 1927, he joined with Juan Trippe and Cornelius Whitney to form a new service which won the first US International Air Mail contract (1927) for service between Florida and Cuba. The company merged with Pan American Airways (PAA) under a holding company called Pan American Airways Corporation (1927). In 1929, Hambleton made a survey flight to Panama to set up the first airmail flight from the US to the Canal Zone, the inaugural flight of which was made by Charles Lindbergh, with Hambleton serving as copilot. John Hambleton was killed later that year in an aircraft accident.
Provenance:
George B. Hambleton, Gift, 2005
Restrictions:
No restrictions on access.
Rights:
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests
25.28 Cubic feet ((4 flatboxes) (20 records center boxes))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Memoranda
Scrapbooks
Clippings
Reports
Speeches
Date:
1917-1968
Scope and Contents:
This collection is mostly a public relations file on Trippe and Pan Am and includes the following material: Trippe's speeches and speech extracts (1925-1967); files relating to his awards and honors; contacts; memos; reports; newsclippings; and scrapbooks, including travel scrapbooks compiled by his wife Betty S. Trippe.
Biographical / Historical:
Juan Terry Trippe (1899-1981) was the cofounder and guiding influence of Pan American Airways (PAA) for over fifty years. Trippe entered Yale in 1917, but left to join the Navy, where he qualified for night flying and received an ensign's commission. The war ended before was sent overseas, so he returned to Yale (degree 1922) where he founded the Yale Flying Club. After graduation he worked briefly as a bond salesman, but left when, with former members of the Yale Flying Club, he purchased seven surplus naval aircraft to form Long Island Airways (1923). In 1924 he formed Colonial Air Transport, which served the New York to Boston route on the first United States Air Mail contract. He left Colonial in 1926, after a dispute over extending service to Miami and Havana, and joined with Cornelius Whitney and John Hambleton to form a new service which won the first US International Air Mail contract (1927) for service between Florida and Cuba. This company merged with Pan American Airways (PAA) under a holding company called Pan American Airways Corp (1927). Trippe served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the company for 41 years (1927-1968), during which time Pan Am established an air service network spanning half the globe. Pan Am inaugurated the first transpacific passenger service (1935) and a similar transatlantic service (1939) using large flying boats. Following World War II, during which PAA provided airlift service to the United States under contract, Trippe pushed for low-cost air travel, introducing low-fare service on PAA's North Atlantic routes and the two-class seating arrangement. In 1949 the holdings and operating companies of PAA Corp merged as Pan American World Airways (PAWA). PAWA helped the spread of jet passenger service with the introduction of jet liners (1955), and the first Boeing 747 service (1966). Trippe remained in control of PAWA until he resigned in 1968, when he became an honorary chairman and an active member of the board until 1975. He continued to work a full schedule and attend board meetings until he suffered a stroke in 1980.
General:
NASMrev
Provenance:
Juan Trippe, Gift, unknown, XXXX-0179, NASM
Restrictions:
No restrictions on access
Rights:
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests
![View Pan American Airways (Pan Am) Passenger Log Book [Bradley] digital asset: Finding aid](https://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?max=120&id=https://sirismm.si.edu/siris/findingaid.gif "Finding aid")
