CLXXIII
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Betty
and Juan Trippe (aka "Mr. and Mrs. Brown") on their private Worldflight
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Just
as regular Pan American passenger service was beginning on the mid-Pacific
route, Juan and Betty Trippe set an unbreakable world record of their own by
becoming the first married couple to travel ‘round-the-world via commercial
carriers. The trip began for both of them in New York, where they boarded the Century Limited for the run to Chicago,
and then The City of San Francisco
from Chicago to Oakland. A brief ferry ride across the harbor brought them to
San Francisco where they were whisked by Pan Am’s complimentary ground shuttle
to Alameda. They separated there temporarily. Juan flew while Betty sailed on
the S.S. Lurline.
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A
Mercury locomotive of the New York Central Railroad
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A
typical Douglas Dolphin floatplane of the 1930s
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Following
the inaugural VIP passenger flight of the Philippine
Clipper, Juan and Betty left Manila, flying to Shanghai and then to Hong
Kong via CNAC Douglas Dolphin floatplane and Loening flying boat, still in the
company of corporate cronies. After glad-handing Chinese business associates
and charming the Nationalist Chinese government (and, not coincidentally, assessing
the viability of CNAC), the Trippes went on alone via Imperial Airways, using
the name of “Mr. and Mrs. Brown” to avoid any publicity.
They
set themselves an impressive itinerary. From Hong Kong they flew on to Da Nang
in French Indochina, and then hopped to Saigon. Leaving Saigon, they flew to Penang
in British Malaya and then on to Bangkok, Siam.
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The
Saigon Palace Hotel as the Trippes would have known it
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The
next leg of their flight took them on to Calcutta and then New Delhi, where
they chartered a plane to visit the Taj Mahal in Agra. They then moved on through
Jodhpur, Karachi, and Gwadar.
Staying
within the bounds of Empire Pink, their travels took them to Sharjah, in the
Trucial States, and then to Bahrain, Baghdad, Gaza, in Mandatory Palestine, and
then to Alexandria, Egypt. Here, they arranged an all-but obligatory tour of
the pyramids and the Sphinx before flying to Crete, where they visited Minoan
ruins at Knossos.
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The
Taj Mahal
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The
Sphinx guards the ancient Pyramids of Egypt
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The
ruins at Knossos
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| The Colosseum |
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Provence
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A
ferry took them to Brindisi, in Italy, and a train to Rome. After viewing the
Colosseum, they drove along the Riviera to Marseilles, and then went to Paris.
A few days in Paris were followed by a visit to London, where they reunited
briefly with the expatriated Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh.
In the company of the Lindberghs they traveled to Berlin where they met with the high Nazi officialdom that Charles considered friends. Juan and Betty were impressed by a tour of a German aircraft factory, but not fooled; Juan saw at first glance that the civilian planes being built were primarily designed for military purposes.
Leaving the Lindberghs in Berlin, Juan and Betty entrained for Frankfurt, where they met with Dr. Hugo Eckener. On October 9th, Juan and Betty were invited along on the “Millionaire’s Flight” of the Hindenburg. Juan refused Dr. Eckener’s entreaties made on that 10½ hour flight for a Pan American-DZR partnership, but he was impressed by the luxuriousness of the airship --- impressed enough to book passage home aboard the Zeppelin.
In the company of the Lindberghs they traveled to Berlin where they met with the high Nazi officialdom that Charles considered friends. Juan and Betty were impressed by a tour of a German aircraft factory, but not fooled; Juan saw at first glance that the civilian planes being built were primarily designed for military purposes.
Leaving the Lindberghs in Berlin, Juan and Betty entrained for Frankfurt, where they met with Dr. Hugo Eckener. On October 9th, Juan and Betty were invited along on the “Millionaire’s Flight” of the Hindenburg. Juan refused Dr. Eckener’s entreaties made on that 10½ hour flight for a Pan American-DZR partnership, but he was impressed by the luxuriousness of the airship --- impressed enough to book passage home aboard the Zeppelin.
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Charles
and Anne Morrow Lindbergh
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The
transatlantic flight of the Hindenburg (which
brought Juan and Betty to Rio de Janeiro, where they flew home via a Pan Am
S-42 to San Juan, Santo Domingo, Port-au-Prince and Miami, and thence by train
to New York) must have changed Juan’s mind somewhat about the desirability of
airship travel, for no sooner had he arrived back in New York than he reserved
all prospective American airship routes for Pan American. The U.S. government
approved his request on February 22, 1937. The Hindenburg’s fiery end that May brought airship planning to an
abrupt halt, never to resume.
Though he never promoted it, fearing it would be seen as a stunt in an era of stunts, the Trippes’ private Worldflight, a Grand Tour in the greatest 19th Century tradition, had logged the President and the First Lady of Pan Am a full 36,000 miles in just 38 days, the trip lasting from October 14th to November 20, 1936.
Though he never promoted it, fearing it would be seen as a stunt in an era of stunts, the Trippes’ private Worldflight, a Grand Tour in the greatest 19th Century tradition, had logged the President and the First Lady of Pan Am a full 36,000 miles in just 38 days, the trip lasting from October 14th to November 20, 1936.
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Juan
and Betty standing alongside the Hindenburg
in Frederichshafen
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