"Rally 'Round The Flag" : Logos 1927 - 1928

CVI

Juan Trippe had considered naming his airline “All-American Air Transport” but the Board of Directors liked “Pan American” much more. “Pan American” does in fact mean “All-American” in the sense of “All of the Americas,” but for Trippe the name had two meanings. Juan Trippe was always insistent that Pan American Airlines was an All-American airline, dedicated to disseminating the American values of freedom and democracy (and free-market capitalism) throughout the world. Juan, with his peculiarly foreign name felt the impulse to announce his and his company’s American nationalism wherever and whenever possible. He usually signed himself J. Terry Trippe or J.T. Trippe on documents. Juan became merely an entrée to relationships south of the border. 

And although Pan American was exclusively an international airline from almost its first day, J.T. Trippe wanted it to be America’s international airline (and its sole international airline if he had anything to do about it). He hoped fervently that Congress would approve Pan Am as the United States’ national air carrier someday.

The Law of the Sea requires that all carriers display their flag of national registry prominently from the masthead or in another conspicuous area aboard ship. This ancient maritime code was applied to airplanes too, as aviation law began to take shape.

American airlines dutifully painted Old Glory on their fuselages, but few went quite as far as Juan Trippe in announcing their planes’ point of origin. Pan American Airways always proudly displayed the Stars & Stripes on its fleet of flying clippers, often in ways that were impossible to disregard.

Rally ‘round the flag: Pan Am flew oversized national standards on all its aircraft. Here, the red, white, and blue decorates the nose of the Boeing 314 Yankee Clipper. On later aircraft, the flag flew from the empennage as the highest point on the fuselage.   

On a 1950s Stratocruiser Clipper

On a 1970s Boeing 747 Jet Clipper

Carriers are also required by law to display a House Flag, symbol, words, or another image (“logo”) identifying themselves as a unique entity. 

Pan Am had several logos throughout its history. The earliest logo (1927) appeared on the bedsheet that Juan Trippe tacked over the West Indian Air Express logo on the leased La Niña on the day Pan Am first flew from Key West to Havana. The logo even spelled out the airline’s routes --- Pan American Airways Palm Beach – Miami  Key West – Havana  --- within a surrounding circle. Inside the circle, too, was a winged arrow (“the Thunderbird”) sporting the letters PAA. 

Within weeks, the airline had outgrown its wordy stamp. Trippe ordered the circle discarded, along with the busy route listing. All that remained was the Thunderbird, and it grew much larger along the sides of the Trimotor fuselages it decorated. 

In 1928, it was decided that the Thunderbird was not communicative enough. Pan Am’s Chief Engineer (and effective head of Operations) Andre Priester, designed a half-winged globe displaying the western hemisphere. Priester’s design was made the line standard, and appeared on everything from the planes to the coffee cups used by the airline. 

The half-winged globe along with a strongly fonted “PAA” remained the symbol of the airline for sixteen years, and influenced the logos of Panagra, Panair, and the other airlines which Pan American Airways added to its “system” over time. 

As Pan American evolved, so too its logo would continue to evolve.