September 15, 1928: A Red Letter day for Miami’s future
For the city, the first flight out of Pan Am’s NW 36th Street Miami airport heralded the beginning of new international era
Air Mail service to Havana is inaugurated
September 15, 1928 is the date historically cited in Pan Am publications and by aviation historians as the beginning of Pan Am’s active operations into and out of Miami, Florida. On that date, Pan Am made its first scheduled flight from its new base at NW 36th Street, inaugurating Air Mail service between Miami and Havana, Cuba.
Although it was not the first time an airline had flown between Miami and Havana, this time was to be different. Because, unlike its several predecessors, Pan Am had arrived to stay. And its presence in Miami would catapult the city into an enviable position as the nation’s first international aerial gateway.
Considering its importance, it is somewhat surprising that there are few published accounts concerning the event and the context in which it occurred. All of which are deserving of attention.
First of Pan Am’s Sikorsky amphibians used for flight
The aircraft flown that day was an eight-passenger Sikorsky amphibian S-38 NC8000, the first to be delivered to Pan American. In fact, the Sikorsky had arrived in Florida from the factory on September 10th, only 5 days previously, when it was taken for a test flight between Miami and Key West, Pan Am’s original base in Florida. Although Pan Am continued to fly Fokker landplanes and other aircraft, 38 of the versatile Sikorsky amphibians were to be acquired by the airline, becoming the backbone of its fleet during the early years of Pan Am’s pioneering expansion to the Caribbean, West Indies and Central and South America.
No passengers except for cameraman
Several accounts of the September 15th first flight also identify it as the beginning of scheduled passenger service from Miami. Not so. Publicity shots notwithstanding, due to the weight of the mail to be carried, even pilot Ed Musick’s wife, who can be seen boarding in photos published in the media, had to be left behind. Although hundreds turned out to watch the event, there were only two other people in the aircraft aside from Capt. Musick — Pan Am flight mechanic John Donahue and C. R. Traub, a Pathe News cameraman. After take off, Musick flew over the city to allow Traub to take photos before “straightening out” for the trip to Key West. Photos were also taken over the Keys, at Key West, and over Morro Castle in Havana. In Key West, the mail was transferred to a Fokker and continued to Havana. The S-38 returned to the Miami airport at 5:22 PM.
Amazingly, a newsreel of the inaugural flight was shown at the Olympia Theater in downtown Miami the following night!
Airport still far from complete
It should also be noted that when the September 15th flight took place, Pan American’s first Miami airport was far from being the early airport we see in photographs. The only facility then extant at NW 36th Street was a single hangar said to have cost $27,000, and even it was not 100% complete. The contract to build the terminal building had been awarded only a few days earlier, on September 8th; and the contract for the construction of a second hangar, identical in size to the first, was signed on September 11th. Bids for construction of the third, and last, hangar to be built at the airport, Pan Am Hangar 5, only went out in December.
Weather conditions force Pan Am planes to use alternate airfield at NW 54th Street
The new Miami Havana Air Mail service also suffered an interruption right out of the starting gate. A devastating Category 4 hurricane struck Southeast Florida on September 16 and 17, causing catastrophic loss of life around Lake Okeechobee, especially in Belle Glade, Pahokee and South Bay. It also caused widespread damage in the Bahamas. Pan Am obtained permission to suspend the Air Mail service and put its planes at the disposal of the Red Cross to provide assistance to affected areas. The bad weather had also softened and damaged the field at NW 36th Street and starting on September 18th, and for the next two weeks thereafter, Pan Am planes had to take off and land at the NW 54th Street Airfield in Hialeah. Installation of rolled rock runways at NW 36th Street was immediately authorized and the work was completed by the end of October.
First passenger makes the news
Pan Am’s first passenger flight from Miami to Havana took place on September 21, 1928 when it carried a single passenger, Juan Aguirre, from Miami to the Cuban capital.
Formal inauguration on January 9th, 1929 cements establishment of new airport and international routes.
Formal transfer of aircraft and personnel from Key West to Miami took place on November 1, a week after the Miami airport had been officially designated as a U.S. customs port of entry — the first on the U.S. mainland. And, by January 9, 1929, Pan Am’s impressive new domed terminal building and second hangar were ready for the formal inauguration of the airport as well as inauguration of five additional ports of call extending from Miami as far south as San Juan, Puerto Rico.
At left: Miami Herald, September 16, 1928.