1920-1930

Pan American’s Juan Trippe launches an aviation empire from Key West

Cover of TIME magazine from March 28, 1949, featuring a portrait of Juan Trippe, with a map and aviation theme. — “Pan American’s Juan Trippe. Now the world is every man’s oyster.” Aviation empire builder Juan T. Trippe, pictured on the cover of Time, March 1949, twenty-two years after founding Pan Am in 1927.

Dawn of intercontinental aviation

In October 1927 Key West was the scene of a historic new chapter in American — and international — aviation. A start-up airline called Pan American Airways had obtained permission from the U.S. postal service to operate an Air Mail route between Key West and Havana, Cuba. Obtaining these exclusive mail rights was all-important for Pan Am; when commercial aviation was in its infancy, passengers were few and far between. Only the subsidies paid to airlines by the Post Office for delivery of Air Mail could ensure profitability. Obtaining the mail routes opened up the doors to airlines to add passengers along with the mail, ultimately fueling the rise of commercial passenger aviation.

Air Mail and passenger services soon up and running

Following a somewhat rocky start (see “Juan Trippe’s Close Call”) the first regularly scheduled Pan Am air mail delivery between Key West and Havana took place on October 28, 1927. Ed Musick was at the controls, as copilot, along with pilot Hughie Wells. This first flight was followed on January 16, 1928, by Pan Am’s first passenger flight from the airline’s base at Meacham Field. Pan Am founder and president Juan Trippe himself traveled to Key West in January for the historic occasion. The fare was $50.00 each way.

At left: A description of the inauguration of Pan Am’s passenger service was carried in the St. Augustine Record, January 16, 1928.

Importance of aviation is highlight of Havana conference

Trippe’s famous sense of timing and vision was in high gear that day. January 16, 1928 also marked the opening of the Sixth Pan American Conference in Havana, attended by President Calvin Coolidge and leaders from 21 nations across the Americas. As if to underscore the potential importance of aviation in promoting hemispheric cooperation and trade, the conference culminated with the arrival of Charles Lindbergh, on February 8th. Lindbergh had just completed a two-month Goodwill Tour in the Spirit of St. Louis that had taken him from Washington, D.C. to 15 nations in Central and South America and the Caribbean. The aviation hero and his famous plane were met by ecstatic crowds along every leg of his journey. When he arrived in Havana, the future of international aviation — of a “Pan-American” airline — looked bright indeed.

At left: Two aerial views of Pan Am’s base at Meacham Field in Key West, 1927-1928. Next to the hangar can be seen “Old Martello” Fort, built during the Civil War in 1861-1863 and the small cottage that housed Pan Am’s terminal. Old Martello was never fully completed or actively used for military purposes and was already abandoned by the time Pan Am hacked out an airfield and put up a hangar next to it. Photos courtesy Monroe County Public Library digital collections.

Fleet orders reflect success of operation

After January 16, Pan Am’s passenger loads increased steadily. Confident in the airline’s future, and with expansion plans already brewing, Trippe in June 1928 ordered 12 new Fokker tri-motor F-10As, three Sikorsky S-38 amphibians, several Ford tri-motors, and six Fairchild FC-2s.

Pan Am’s Key West-Havana route operated with admirable consistency, though the loss of one of its aircraft, the General Machado, in August 1928, was a blow. The Fokker F-7 got lost over the Gulf of Mexico and ran out of fuel, resulting in a forced water landing and the death of a passenger. The crash is widely cited as the turning point after which aircraft navigation systems were developed and perfected by Pan Am and became standard equipment in the aircraft industry.

Permanent base established in Miami as airline seeks to expand

In June 1928, Pan Am took a decisive step toward establishing a larger and more permanent base by beginning construction on an international airport in Miami, Florida. Just a few months later, on September 15, the airline inaugurated Air Mail service from Miami to Havana, still maintaining a stop in Key West. The official relocation of Pan Am’s headquarters—“Move-In Day”—occurred on November 1, 1928. A small crew remained in Key West until December 3, after which Air Mail flights operated directly between Miami and Havana. Although the move marked the end of Pan Am’s active presence in Key West, its pioneering operations there ensured the city a lasting place in the annals of commercial aviation history.