Post by PAN AM HISTORICAL FOUNDATION

While Douglas DC-8-32’s were operated by the company from 1960-69, this photo of one likely dates from the early 1960’s when the photographer, the late Mel Lawrence was doing much of his work. So I will identify it as more likely taken at New York International Airport rather than John F. Kennedy Airport (as the facility was renamed in December of 1963). In the years prior to the opening of the 1973 “Worldport” expansion of Pan Am’s Unit Terminal Building (UTB) at JFK most of the airline’s flights arrived at the International Arrivals Building (IAB), since the iconic umbrella-shaped UTB did not, at the time, have its own customs and immigration facility. Part of the IAB can be seen in the background of this beautiful dusk (or perhaps dawn) image of N811PA, “Jet Clipper Pacific Trader.” Of note above the Clipper are the figures of a few visitors on the huge open-air observation deck which embraced nearly the entire length and width of the International Arrivals Building during the 60’s. In that era the airport itself was a destination with tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people coming out to “Idlewild” every year just to watch the early jetliners arrive and then depart to distant ports of call around the globe. In our post 9/11 world the thought of these publicly accessible observation areas is, sadly, unthinkable. Photo: Mel Lawrence Photo, Shea Oakley Collection