Please excuse this sudden surge of self indulgence but, with the latest resurgence of interest in Pan American World Airways, including a mini-series, many fond memories of this great airline came flooding back to me.

I was a young lad of 17 years when I took my first ever transatlantic flight to visit a pen pal in Chicago. My return flights were taken on a Pan Am Boeing 707. I remember the trip being very comfortable and the Air Hostesses, as they were called then, took good care of me during the flights. It never occurred to me then that these would be the first of many trips I was destined to take with Pan Am.

My first impression of Chicago in July was the steamy heat. I had never before experienced humidity nor the joy of air conditioning.

While staying with a great family, Dad was of Scandinavian origin and Mum was Italian, I was shown around the sights of the ‘windy city’ by my pen pal – an attractive girl of similar age to me, went to a concert at Carnegie Hall (Johnny Mathis & The Young Americans with Woody Allen as the supporting act), was introduced to Drag Racing, learnt how to water ski and experienced the delights of the American cuisine. I had a great time and was sad to leave.

My next encounter with my favourite airline did not happen until the mid 1980’s. I was working for a travel agency in the university city of Cambridge when one of my colleagues, who had recently left to join Pan Am as a Desk Agent in a travel office within the air terminal at the U.S. Air Force base of RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk, called me and said there was a vacancy and was I interested. I said yes and before I knew it I was working for Northwest Airlines. I started work in the Mildenhall office which was part of the Scheduled Airlines Travel Offices – Overseas (SATO-OS) network. It meant that I was working alongside agents from Pan Am and Trans World Airlines (TWA). SATO-OS was an ‘off budget’ operation managed by the Air Transport Association of America (ATA). It provided airline ticket offices on U.S. Air Force and Navy bases outside of the U.S.A. During this period I travelled to and from the ATA’s Washington D.C. headquarters on Pan Am 747 aircraft.

I remember once, when travelling with my wife, I asked her several days before our flight, what she wanted to eat. She gave me a strange look and asked what the options were. Chicken or pasta was my response. She laughed and asked how I knew and I told her she would have to wait and see. Once safely on board our aircraft and we were airborne, seatbelt and no smoking signs off, my wife burst out laughing as our flight attendants came down the aisles with the food trolleys offering ‘Chicken or Pasta’, ‘Chicken or Pasta’.

Then disaster struck the mighty Pan Am. On 21st December 1988 Pan Am Flight 103 from London’s Heathrow Airport exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all 259 people on board as well as 11 on the ground. In addition to the major physical disaster it was also fiscal disaster for Pan Am. The airline reacted wonderfully to a situation that was well beyond their control, flooding the area with Pan Am staff, working with the local people as well as handling all the communications from the families of those killed. Many of these dedicated people needed counseling afterwards. I will never forget the sight of the front half of the Clipper ‘Maid of the Seas’ lying on its side in a field, especially since I had flown on that actual aircraft several times and had sat in that front section.

In 1989 I moved to Frankfurt to join the ATA’s operation to supply the U.S. Army in Europe with their official & leisure travel through 75 outlets in Germany, Belgium, Holland and Italy. Because this was just a five year contract I didn’t move my family over to Germany and so I commuted every other weekend compliments of Pan Am. I would fly to London on a Boeing 727 with Polish cabin crew and would return from London on a Boeing 747 with either an Indian or an African cabin crew. It was a difficult time economically for the U.S. Airline industry with the strong carriers either buying up weaker ones or attempting to price their competitors out of business. This had an adverse effect on Pan Am whose extensive network of routes didn’t always generate enough income to cover it’s outgoings. A very creative Finance Director of Pan Am who, looking for a positive take on a poor performance, coined the phrase ‘Negative Profit’.

It was an historic time to be in Germany and working with the U.S. Army. I was there when the Berlin Wall came down, Germany reunited, Gulf War One took place and there was a major drawdown of U.S. Forces in Europe.

Sadly Pan Am slowly but surely declined until 1991 when it’s European assets were taken over by Delta Airlines. A lot of it’s European staff were also included in this transaction. When the last Pan Am flight departed from Frankfurt Airport on 1st November 1991 it felt like witnessing the death of a dear friend.

As a final and heart warming post script to this story, a friend of mine, who was Pan Am’s Military & Government Sales Director for Europe before moving over to Delta Airlines, had subsequently became their Country Manager for South Asia based in India. I had by then joined a cruise line and was visiting India as part of my job. So, in Mumbai, I was reunited with my German friend after a gap of 10 years. We met at the Taj Hotel ( sadly hit by terrorists after this visit) and had a very enjoyable dinner together.

It may not be a particularly dramatic story but it illustrates how an airline can become interwoven into the fabric of an ordinary individual’s life.

For Tour-smart travelers interested in reading more about this iconic, pioneering air carrier, there are two new books out:

“Pan American World Airways: Aviation History through the Words of its People” compiled by Jamie Baldwin and Jeff Kriendler. It is a tribute to the legacy of one of the world’s great airlines and the men and women who, for six decades, were the heart and soul of the Company. They have created a compelling book, which through the words of its contributors, captures much of the joy, adventure, and spirit which was Pan Am. To quote Sir Richard Branson, “Fathered by the legendary Juan Trippe, Pan American was the leader in international aviation exploration and development …. and this book captures many of Pan Am’s most memorable events from personal accounts of the employees who were there.”

The second book by Jamie Baldwin titled “Pan Am, Images of a Great Arline” contains “…a carefully constructed timeline of Pan Am’s incredible record of firsts and aviation achievements… chock full of rare and nostalgic collector’s memorabilia…a veritable time capsule into which any reader may be gently transported ...back to a time when flying was gracious, glamorous and eagerly anticipated by passengers and crew alike!”