A PAN American Airways flight landed in Shannon for the first time in decades after retracing the Flying Boat routes between New York and Foynes of the 1930s and 40s.
After more than 30 years, a Pan American Airways Boeing 757-200 ‘Yankee Clipper 11’ landed at Shannon Airport having flown between New York, Bermuda, Marseilles, Lisbon, London, before reaching Shannon last Wednesday (June 25) for an historic visit.
Pan American World Airways, founded in 1927, boasts a legacy littered with firsts, from flights to routes to and aircrafts under its founder Juan Trippe.
It completed over 2,097 flights across the North Atlantic to Foynes during the 1937-1945 period in its Boeing B314 Flying Boats. Passengers included royalty, movie stars, statesmen, and refugees.
People like King George of Greece, Ernest Hemingway, Humphrey Bogart, Yehudi Menuhin, John F Kennedy, and Eleanor Roosevelt all arrived in Foynes.
Gracie Fields also gave a short concert on the pier for excited locals.
Foynes, at that time, was the centre of the aviation world. Anyone travelling from the US to Europe on the North Atlantic route had to transit Foynes. In October 1945 the last Pan Am flying boat departed Foynes before operations moved across the estuary to Shannon Airport.
A special ‘Tracing the Transatlantic’ celebration was hosted by Craig Carter, Pan American World Airways CEO. 50 lucky passengers were on board, having paid $60,000 each for the exclusive trip.
The jet, after reviving the glamour of the ‘golden age of travel’, departed Shannon Airport on Friday for JFK International Airport in New York.
