The pilot episode of ABC’s Pan Am has aired and it’s clearly well researched, but obviously not done for the aviation buff. It’s a bit of a shame. I was really hoping to hear the Captain say that the flight would only take “6 1/2 Magic Hours” to fly from New York to London. The iconic Pan Am Worldport terminal in New York looked great, but I missed the wonderful static of the HF radio as the Captain checked in with Gander Oceanic.

This Time article from 1971 talks about the “Plane Mate” people movers that still exist today at JFK where Delta Air Lines took over the terminal in 1991 and is slated to demolish it soon.

Here’s a replay of 6 1/2 Magic Hours from 1958 celebrating Pan Am’s Boeing 707 Jet Clipper service across the Atlantic.

 

A further search through the Time archive finds an article on Noise over Jet Noise discussing the increased noise from the jet age aircraft soon to cloud the skies around the world. Some may remember that similars concerns over jet noise continued in New York with the Concorde.

Idlewild stands alone in the U.S. in objecting to jets. Airports in Chicago, Los Angeles. Miami. Boston. Denver, Wichita, Oklahoma City and also Mexico City, Caracas and Vancouver, B.C. welcome and actively solicit jetliner test flights, figuring that an airport that cannot or will not take jets might as well go back to cow pasture.

 

 

Time printed a nine page story on Jets Across the U.S. shortly after the Jet Clipper flight to London covering a great deal of aviation subjects and how changes would bring “Bigger Airports, Better Controls, Bigger Planes, New Sensations, New Terminals, Faster Ticketing, Daytime Flights, Faster Baggage Loading, Better Food and Lower Fares.”

The article from November 15th, 1958 does clarify that “Not all these changes will take place right away.”