0:00:03 > 0:00:06Ladies and gentlemen, this is the captain speaking.
0:00:06 > 0:00:09Welcome on board your Pan American Clipper.
0:00:09 > 0:00:14We're ready for takeoff so please sit back, relax and enjoy your flight.
0:00:16 > 0:00:22# Come fly with me Let's fly, let's fly away... #
0:00:22 > 0:00:24Once upon a time,
0:00:24 > 0:00:28travelling on an aircraft was like floating on cloud nine.
0:00:28 > 0:00:30You were always greeted with a smile,
0:00:30 > 0:00:32offered your favourite cocktail
0:00:32 > 0:00:35and served a delicious gourmet meal,
0:00:35 > 0:00:38and you never knew who you might be sitting next to.
0:00:38 > 0:00:41# Come fly with me, let's float... #
0:00:41 > 0:00:43For more than half a century,
0:00:43 > 0:00:49Pan American Airways was the symbol of airline superiority worldwide.
0:00:49 > 0:00:51It took us into the jet age,
0:00:51 > 0:00:53shrank the globe and made glitz, glamour
0:00:53 > 0:00:56and exotic travel available to the masses.
0:01:00 > 0:01:05From its beginnings in 1927 to its final days in the early 1990s,
0:01:05 > 0:01:09Pan Am led the way in nearly every aspect of commercial flight,
0:01:09 > 0:01:13and changed for ever our dreams, aspirations
0:01:13 > 0:01:16and perception of the world.
0:01:16 > 0:01:17'In an era that was glamorous,'
0:01:17 > 0:01:23it was that much more glamorous than any other airline.
0:01:23 > 0:01:28It symbolised all the good things of airline travel.
0:01:28 > 0:01:33You felt the most privileged to be able to get on board a Pan Am plane.
0:01:35 > 0:01:38Pan Am was THE airline to get on.
0:01:38 > 0:01:41It was the most glamorous thing possible.
0:01:41 > 0:01:46Everybody looked up to what Pan Am did worldwide.
0:01:47 > 0:01:51Well, I just remember the girls. They couldn't do enough for you.
0:01:51 > 0:01:53Another town, another man!
0:01:55 > 0:01:58# Pack up, let's fly away! #
0:02:10 > 0:02:151927, Prohibition was in, silent pictures were out.
0:02:15 > 0:02:17Everyone was doing the Charleston
0:02:17 > 0:02:21and a small airline called Pan American began service
0:02:21 > 0:02:25carrying mail between Key West, Florida, and Havana, Cuba.
0:02:25 > 0:02:29By 1928, passengers were climbing on board.
0:02:29 > 0:02:32At the time, air travel for the masses seemed little more
0:02:32 > 0:02:34than a pipe dream.
0:02:34 > 0:02:38But for Pan American's president, Juan Trippe, it was the future.
0:02:38 > 0:02:40'Dad was a visionary.'
0:02:40 > 0:02:43You think back in the beginning of early aviation,
0:02:43 > 0:02:47there really wasn't a commercial aspect and anybody that thought
0:02:47 > 0:02:49they'd make a livelihood from aviation was nuts.
0:02:49 > 0:02:52Looking to escape prohibition,
0:02:52 > 0:02:57Americans were keen to get to Havana for a drink and a good time.
0:02:57 > 0:03:01And Pan American was perfectly positioned to take them there.
0:03:03 > 0:03:05But Trippe had bigger plans for the airline.
0:03:06 > 0:03:09To help him achieve his goal, he enlisted the most
0:03:09 > 0:03:13famous pilot in the world, Charles Lindbergh,
0:03:13 > 0:03:17who'd only recently become the first man to fly non-stop across the Atlantic.
0:03:17 > 0:03:19'In one night, Lindbergh becomes
0:03:19 > 0:03:21'the idol of America. A shy world hero.'
0:03:22 > 0:03:26Together, Lindbergh and Trippe secured access to exotic
0:03:26 > 0:03:30new destinations across Central and South America
0:03:30 > 0:03:33and acquired a series of larger seaplanes that could land
0:03:33 > 0:03:38in cities with no airports and carry passengers in comfort and style.
0:03:38 > 0:03:43In the beginning there were only male flight attendants.
0:03:43 > 0:03:46The job of the steward was to row people out to the seaplanes,
0:03:46 > 0:03:49load baggage, buy food in the middle of nowhere.
0:03:51 > 0:03:54Trippe called his new planes Clippers, after the fast
0:03:54 > 0:03:58and manoeuvrable ships of the 19th century.
0:03:58 > 0:04:01It was a name that would last as long as the airline.
0:04:01 > 0:04:03By the early 1930s,
0:04:03 > 0:04:06Pan Am's Clippers where the symbol of modernity.
0:04:06 > 0:04:10And they had a flashy new terminal in Miami called Dinner Key.
0:04:10 > 0:04:14Dinner Key was an attraction in and of itself.
0:04:14 > 0:04:18People actually paid money to go and watch the planes arrive.
0:04:18 > 0:04:21Often times there would be a celebrity so you would be
0:04:21 > 0:04:25seeing a countess or a movie star getting off this air flight.
0:04:28 > 0:04:32Pan American had become a byword for glamour and sophistication.
0:04:32 > 0:04:34But for Juan Trippe that wasn't enough.
0:04:34 > 0:04:38He had been secretly planning a project no other
0:04:38 > 0:04:41commercial airline would have dared attempt -
0:04:41 > 0:04:45the crossing of the Pacific Ocean.
0:04:46 > 0:04:48That was extremely difficult.
0:04:48 > 0:04:54I think young people today think airplanes were always here.
0:04:54 > 0:05:00And they don't realise how hard it was to get across that 10,000 miles.
0:05:02 > 0:05:06Overcoming all obstacles on November 22, 1935,
0:05:06 > 0:05:11Pan Am's China Clipper began the world's first transpacific service,
0:05:11 > 0:05:14departing from San Francisco, California,
0:05:14 > 0:05:17and island hopping its way to Manila in the Philippines.
0:05:17 > 0:05:22A journey that took over three weeks by ship now took 6 days.
0:05:25 > 0:05:28Crossing the Pacific was an adventure.
0:05:28 > 0:05:31Crossing the Atlantic was a money-spinner,
0:05:31 > 0:05:36and to make it really pay, Pan American needed a bigger plane.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39'Mrs Roosevelt is to christen the world's largest airplane.'
0:05:41 > 0:05:44On the 20th of May 1939,
0:05:44 > 0:05:47the Yankee Clipper began service from New York to Europe
0:05:47 > 0:05:53introducing new levels of comfort, speed and sophistication to the sky.
0:05:53 > 0:05:56Offering fine dining, sleeping compartments
0:05:56 > 0:05:59and even a bridal suite,
0:05:59 > 0:06:00the new Clippers made the
0:06:00 > 0:06:0526-hour journey across the pond feel like a night at the Ritz.
0:06:05 > 0:06:07The future looked cushy.
0:06:08 > 0:06:11All Pan Am's clouds seemed to have a silver lining.
0:06:11 > 0:06:13But World War II changed everything.
0:06:13 > 0:06:17# I'm doing my bit down here for Uncle Sam... #
0:06:17 > 0:06:20Pan Am Clippers were stripped, camouflaged
0:06:20 > 0:06:24and pressed into service as thousands of young aviators
0:06:24 > 0:06:26underwent training at Pan Am's facilities in Miami.
0:06:26 > 0:06:32We had been in the business of flying across the oceans for 17 years
0:06:32 > 0:06:37by the time air force or navy began it.
0:06:37 > 0:06:39Consequently, we were able to teach them.
0:06:42 > 0:06:45Pan American flew supplies, troops and mail across the world
0:06:45 > 0:06:48and performed secret missions, including
0:06:48 > 0:06:53the transport of world leaders such as Roosevelt and Winston Churchill
0:06:53 > 0:06:56whose covert flight from the US to Britain became quite an adventure.
0:06:56 > 0:07:01'The man with the cigar is no novice when it comes to piloting a machine.
0:07:01 > 0:07:03'He remarked casually that the aircraft was
0:07:03 > 0:07:06'very different from a plane that he had flown in 1913.'
0:07:06 > 0:07:09The Nazis thought he was on BOAC and they bombed
0:07:09 > 0:07:15the BOAC flight but we had sent him on another one with a decoy.
0:07:15 > 0:07:18They almost overflew the French coast and approached England from
0:07:18 > 0:07:21a direction which they would have been intercepted and shot down.
0:07:21 > 0:07:24Somehow, he got in safely. He dodged a bullet that day.
0:07:24 > 0:07:30By the end of the war, aviation had made incredible advances.
0:07:30 > 0:07:33A Pan Am seaplane had been the first commercial aircraft
0:07:33 > 0:07:37to circumnavigate the globe and runways had been built worldwide.
0:07:37 > 0:07:41But the age of the great flying boats was over.
0:07:41 > 0:07:44A new era in air travel was about to take off.
0:07:44 > 0:07:48No-one understood this better than Juan Trippe.
0:07:48 > 0:07:52Air power can enslave the common man or it can free him.
0:07:52 > 0:07:58He said in a speech one time that the tourist plane, filled with
0:07:58 > 0:08:04enthusiastic tourists going around the world, would have
0:08:04 > 0:08:08much more effect on destiny than the atom bomb.
0:08:12 > 0:08:15# S'wonderful.
0:08:15 > 0:08:19# S'marvellous.
0:08:19 > 0:08:24# You should care for me. #
0:08:24 > 0:08:28Pan American was entering its golden age.
0:08:28 > 0:08:32Embracing the new technology of land planes, Trippe enlisted
0:08:32 > 0:08:35the aircraft manufacturers, Boeing and Douglas,
0:08:35 > 0:08:39to come up with a series of large luxury carriers.
0:08:39 > 0:08:44The crowning achievement being the spectacular Boeing Stratocruiser.
0:08:44 > 0:08:48# My life's so glamorous... #
0:08:50 > 0:08:52The Stratocruiser was probably
0:08:52 > 0:08:56the most luxuriously accommodated airliner, maybe of all time.
0:08:56 > 0:09:01It's a big double-decker derivation of the B-29 bomber.
0:09:01 > 0:09:04'While the Clipper thrives in the stratosphere's clean,
0:09:04 > 0:09:10'cold upper air, her cabin's kept at a steady comfortable temperature.
0:09:10 > 0:09:14'Radiant heating and air conditioning combine to maintain a constant
0:09:14 > 0:09:17'flow of fresh air with no draughts and no chills.'
0:09:20 > 0:09:22And of course, it's pressurised.
0:09:22 > 0:09:25It had supercharged engines that could fly above the weather in most cases.
0:09:25 > 0:09:31Which made an 18-hour oceanic flight suddenly not so bad.
0:09:34 > 0:09:38It was an incredible aircraft. Downstairs lounge, berths.
0:09:43 > 0:09:47You were served a beautiful dinner. Champagne, caviar, steak, ice cream.
0:09:47 > 0:09:49The whole works.
0:09:49 > 0:09:54# You made my life so glamorous. #
0:09:54 > 0:09:57'Your dinner may be turned out with production line efficiency,
0:09:57 > 0:10:02'but it's a meal that any housewife would be proud to serve
0:10:02 > 0:10:04'and you couldn't be more comfortable
0:10:04 > 0:10:06'in your own dining room.'
0:10:06 > 0:10:10I flew on one of the first flights I can really remember.
0:10:10 > 0:10:13I can remember sleeping in the bunks and running up and down
0:10:13 > 0:10:15the lounge and up to the bathroom.
0:10:15 > 0:10:17The size of the plane seemed at the time incredible.
0:10:17 > 0:10:23The luxurious accommodations on board made it a special plane.
0:10:29 > 0:10:31Cashing in on the glamour of international travel,
0:10:31 > 0:10:36Pan American changed its name to Pan American World Airways
0:10:36 > 0:10:40and welcomed with open arms some of Hollywood's finest.
0:10:43 > 0:10:47# S'elegant... #
0:10:47 > 0:10:51But the Stratocruiser was just a stepping stone for Juan Trippe.
0:10:51 > 0:10:54He wanted to have the most advanced aircraft in the world.
0:10:54 > 0:10:59And his rush to get them would turn commercial air travel on its head.
0:10:59 > 0:11:04I think it was in Juan Trippe's nature to peer into the future.
0:11:04 > 0:11:06And he saw this, I think, instantly,
0:11:06 > 0:11:10when he smelled kerosene from the first jet engine.
0:11:13 > 0:11:16But Pan Am would not be the first airline to employ jets.
0:11:16 > 0:11:20The British had already introduced their jet, the Comet,
0:11:20 > 0:11:23on some of BOAC's international routes.
0:11:28 > 0:11:30Even a fiercely American corporation
0:11:30 > 0:11:33like Pan Am recognised that if
0:11:33 > 0:11:38they were to remain competitive then they would have to look overseas.
0:11:38 > 0:11:41They'd have to buy what the British had to offer,
0:11:41 > 0:11:43namely the Comet II and Comet III.
0:11:43 > 0:11:46# He said, your story's so touching but it sounds just like a lie. #
0:11:46 > 0:11:50It looked like the British were on course for a spectacular success,
0:11:50 > 0:11:56but then, just at the moment of maximum triumph, tragedy struck.
0:11:59 > 0:12:02Yoke Peter took off from Rome airport on schedule.
0:12:02 > 0:12:05A few minutes later, the plane exploded.
0:12:05 > 0:12:08The ships of the Royal Navy hastened to the spot.
0:12:08 > 0:12:09There were no survivors.
0:12:09 > 0:12:14After a series of terrible accidents, the Comet was grounded.
0:12:14 > 0:12:17With the British now out of the picture, Trippe turned
0:12:17 > 0:12:22to his domestic suppliers and coerced them into building his jets.
0:12:22 > 0:12:27The result would establish Pan Am as the world's leading airline.
0:12:29 > 0:12:31'This is it. The first American
0:12:31 > 0:12:35'commercial jet capable of economical transatlantic service.
0:12:35 > 0:12:38'The Boeing 707 Jet Clipper.'
0:12:38 > 0:12:42# Come fly with me Let's fly, let's fly away. #
0:12:42 > 0:12:44In October 1958,
0:12:44 > 0:12:50Pan Am inaugurated its 707 jet service from New York to Paris.
0:12:50 > 0:12:54Another first, it cut transatlantic travel times in half.
0:12:54 > 0:12:59The jet age had truly arrived and, along with it, the jet set.
0:12:59 > 0:13:05# Come fly with me Let's float down to Peru... #
0:13:05 > 0:13:07You wanted to be a jet setter because that meant
0:13:07 > 0:13:10you were on a fast airplane going to exotic places.
0:13:13 > 0:13:15Nothing was far away any more.
0:13:15 > 0:13:18Remote places you wouldn't have dreamed of going
0:13:18 > 0:13:20without having six months off, you could go visit in a weekend.
0:13:20 > 0:13:26It was not just the introduction of the jet and the speed and the range,
0:13:26 > 0:13:30the capacity, it was also the introduction of the tourist fare.
0:13:30 > 0:13:32Mass tourism became a reality.
0:13:32 > 0:13:36# Hey, everybody
0:13:36 > 0:13:40# Come along if you can... #
0:13:40 > 0:13:46As Pan Am entered the 1960s, it was at the top of its game
0:13:46 > 0:13:50with a catchy new logo and headquarters in central Manhattan,
0:13:50 > 0:13:54it extended its roots and chain of international hotels.
0:13:54 > 0:13:56# Come on and dance... #
0:13:57 > 0:14:00Well, it was a very recognisable brand,
0:14:00 > 0:14:04even to people like me from little towns.
0:14:04 > 0:14:09It was supposedly next to Coca-Cola in recognition.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12And they sold Pan Am stuff.
0:14:12 > 0:14:16People would buy the carrier bags and the little pins
0:14:16 > 0:14:18and all that kind of stuff.
0:14:18 > 0:14:21Product placement and merchandising well in advance
0:14:21 > 0:14:23of many other industries.
0:14:24 > 0:14:26If you notice on Mad Men,
0:14:26 > 0:14:31Sterling Cooper wants to get the Pan Am advertising account,
0:14:31 > 0:14:32it's like, wow!
0:14:36 > 0:14:39Everybody who was anybody flew on Pan Am.
0:14:39 > 0:14:45I know James always did, when I wasn't flying him, of course!
0:14:45 > 0:14:48The first two James Bond films, Dr No and From Russia With Love,
0:14:48 > 0:14:50what does James Bond fly?
0:14:50 > 0:14:51Pan Am.
0:14:51 > 0:14:53When the Beatles arrived in the US and did
0:14:53 > 0:14:56a press conference at the airport in New York, what's the plane logo
0:14:56 > 0:14:59right behind them in huge letters? It's Pan Am.
0:14:59 > 0:15:03The publicity machine was absolutely incredible.
0:15:03 > 0:15:06The Beatles, their first flight to New York,
0:15:06 > 0:15:09mobbed with all the youngsters and others at the bottom of the steps
0:15:09 > 0:15:11when they boarded the aeroplane.
0:15:14 > 0:15:16Beatles were on board, all of them,
0:15:16 > 0:15:19in first class, and they were just lovely,
0:15:19 > 0:15:21and funny.
0:15:21 > 0:15:24Some of the famous people we had were Ava Gardner,
0:15:24 > 0:15:27Maureen O'Hara, Ingrid Bergman.
0:15:27 > 0:15:31David Frost was never off the damn thing! He always was!
0:15:31 > 0:15:34On the other hand, we had Elizabeth Taylor, with Richard Burton.
0:15:34 > 0:15:37Richard was very nice to us, which I don't think
0:15:37 > 0:15:41Elizabeth particularly liked, so she could be a difficult passenger.
0:15:43 > 0:15:46Sean Connery, and he was very funny.
0:15:46 > 0:15:49He had nice, twinkly eyes. I liked that.
0:15:49 > 0:15:51You're telling me?!
0:15:51 > 0:15:54The Rat Pack. Frank Sinatra in particular,
0:15:54 > 0:15:57who was a very difficult passenger. Very difficult.
0:16:05 > 0:16:08Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking.
0:16:08 > 0:16:10We're now at cruising altitude, 35,000 feet.
0:16:10 > 0:16:15Our flying speed is 575 miles per hour...
0:16:15 > 0:16:18Every passenger, famous or not, knew the minute
0:16:18 > 0:16:21they stepped onto a Pan Am jet
0:16:21 > 0:16:24they would experience something most could only dream of.
0:16:24 > 0:16:26When you went on a Pan Am flight, you were in heaven,
0:16:26 > 0:16:29the way they took care of you, with the comforts you needed,
0:16:29 > 0:16:32and just the way they treated passengers.
0:16:32 > 0:16:36Passengers were happy and excited to be on a plane.
0:16:36 > 0:16:38"Hey, I'm on a Pan Am, I'm going to Paris!"
0:16:38 > 0:16:41You dressed up to get on an aeroplane.
0:16:41 > 0:16:44It was glamorous, it was wonderful.
0:16:47 > 0:16:51The arrival of the 707 was really something.
0:16:51 > 0:16:57The interiors, the cabins, the flight instruments,
0:16:57 > 0:16:59the whole thing was quite different,
0:16:59 > 0:17:02and you didn't get the vibration, compared to the piston engine.
0:17:06 > 0:17:07It was lovely.
0:17:07 > 0:17:11It had a lounge in the front when you got on, a first-class lounge,
0:17:11 > 0:17:13with seating like this,
0:17:13 > 0:17:14which was lovely,
0:17:14 > 0:17:18because people could come from their seats and sit there.
0:17:18 > 0:17:19These seats weren't sold.
0:17:21 > 0:17:23We always used to serve caviar,
0:17:23 > 0:17:29big tins of it, beluga caviar, and we didn't just give
0:17:29 > 0:17:34one little portion, we used to go through and offer a second as well.
0:17:34 > 0:17:35We were very generous with it.
0:17:35 > 0:17:38The food was sensational.
0:17:38 > 0:17:41They had whole cheeses and hams sliced for you.
0:17:43 > 0:17:46It was Maxim's of Paris, our catering at the time.
0:17:48 > 0:17:51We were always quite proud of that, as well.
0:17:51 > 0:17:54It wasn't just a catering unit, it was Maxim's of Paris.
0:17:54 > 0:17:57I always ate too much, because in the picture business,
0:17:57 > 0:17:59they always had you on a diet,
0:17:59 > 0:18:02but when I got on a Pan Am flight,
0:18:02 > 0:18:06I'd overeat everything.
0:18:06 > 0:18:09It was always absolutely delicious.
0:18:09 > 0:18:13There was a famous item on the menu, which was called Sole Albert.
0:18:13 > 0:18:18To this day, I wish I could get the recipe, but it seems to be a secret.
0:18:20 > 0:18:22When you look at what passed for gourmet food
0:18:22 > 0:18:26in the United States in the early '60s...
0:18:27 > 0:18:30..we were far, far ahead of the curve.
0:18:30 > 0:18:33It was very French, and we served it properly.
0:18:33 > 0:18:36We'd get this fabulous fillet of beef or something,
0:18:36 > 0:18:41six or seven-pound thing, and that comes in first class.
0:18:41 > 0:18:43It was raw. It was all made from scratch.
0:18:45 > 0:18:48The wines that were served were obviously very high quality.
0:18:48 > 0:18:51I think in those days they also had to know if the wine would travel.
0:18:53 > 0:18:56It was second to none. I don't think you'd even see it
0:18:56 > 0:18:59in some of the finest restaurants today.
0:18:59 > 0:19:00# Here come the girls
0:19:00 > 0:19:03# Girls, girls, girls, girls... #
0:19:03 > 0:19:07Perhaps the most important element for an airline's image was
0:19:07 > 0:19:11its cabin crew. They were the public face of the airline, and Pan Am put
0:19:11 > 0:19:14a lot of thought into the kind of person
0:19:14 > 0:19:16they wanted to represent them.
0:19:16 > 0:19:20By 1960, they were almost exclusively female,
0:19:20 > 0:19:24and many a young woman was lining up to get on board.
0:19:24 > 0:19:26# They must have kept it up above
0:19:26 > 0:19:28# Here come the girls... #
0:19:28 > 0:19:31I was tired of my job in the police force at that time,
0:19:31 > 0:19:35and a friend I'd worked with earlier, she'd gone to Pan American,
0:19:35 > 0:19:36and used to write to me and say,
0:19:36 > 0:19:38"This is really what you should be doing."
0:19:38 > 0:19:41So one day, I thought, "Yes, I'll apply."
0:19:43 > 0:19:48There was a recruiting team that came over to Europe.
0:19:48 > 0:19:51They took in London, Germany, Scandinavia, France.
0:19:51 > 0:19:56Our flight attendants were very carefully chosen.
0:19:57 > 0:19:59They had to have perfection.
0:19:59 > 0:20:05They were not looking for little, "Hi, I'm Sandy!," that kind of thing.
0:20:05 > 0:20:08They were looking for people who were sophisticated, or could become so.
0:20:11 > 0:20:14We had to be of a certain weight, height.
0:20:14 > 0:20:17I think the blondes appealed in Scandinavia.
0:20:17 > 0:20:20They had to speak languages, the girls did.
0:20:20 > 0:20:22They were an international airline,
0:20:22 > 0:20:24and they wanted to put this over to the public.
0:20:27 > 0:20:30We had our choice of the cream of the crop, and we took it.
0:20:35 > 0:20:37Part of the recruitment process was
0:20:37 > 0:20:40also having to do a little catwalk,
0:20:40 > 0:20:42whereby the interviewer would make you
0:20:42 > 0:20:45walk both ways, do a turn.
0:20:48 > 0:20:51They said, "Could you take that chair?"
0:20:51 > 0:20:53So I had to get up, obviously wanted to see me
0:20:53 > 0:20:55walk over to the other chair.
0:20:55 > 0:20:59I remember being asked to stand in front of the interviewers
0:20:59 > 0:21:02and turn around, walk away,
0:21:02 > 0:21:08turn around and walk back towards them.
0:21:08 > 0:21:10I think they were looking at my figure, my legs,
0:21:10 > 0:21:14my overall ambience, I don't know!
0:21:14 > 0:21:18A week later, they said, "We'd like you to be in New York in two weeks."
0:21:18 > 0:21:22'Passengers clearing immigration should file through customs
0:21:22 > 0:21:23'to exits one and three.'
0:21:24 > 0:21:28I felt as though I was achieving something in life,
0:21:28 > 0:21:32going to New York and then flying down to Miami the following day.
0:21:36 > 0:21:39I was 20, I was going to be 21 when I got there.
0:21:40 > 0:21:44It was all so new that it was bewildering.
0:21:45 > 0:21:48Some of our training, we found, coming from Europe,
0:21:48 > 0:21:49was quite hilarious.
0:21:49 > 0:21:53One of the things that came up was to deliver a baby.
0:21:53 > 0:21:57Well, we didn't actually do anything particularly - we used a chair.
0:21:58 > 0:22:01She also told us, "Be very careful when abroad,
0:22:01 > 0:22:05"don't drink the water, clean your teeth in Coca-Cola."
0:22:06 > 0:22:11We were given this book to read, How To Win Friends And Influence People.
0:22:12 > 0:22:18And I guess I can admit to it now, I just didn't read it.
0:22:18 > 0:22:24# Oh, I love the colourful clothes she wears
0:22:24 > 0:22:28# And the way the sunlight plays upon her hair... #
0:22:28 > 0:22:30Vital to the image was the uniform.
0:22:30 > 0:22:34Using top Hollywood designers like Don Loper and Edith Head,
0:22:34 > 0:22:38Pan Am turned out some of the most memorable looks in the business.
0:22:40 > 0:22:45First day that I actually had to put the uniform on,
0:22:45 > 0:22:47my shift was starting at 6:00 in the morning,
0:22:47 > 0:22:53and from two I couldn't sleep. I was dying to get into that uniform!
0:22:53 > 0:22:57Uniforms in the '60s, was very definitely a uniform.
0:22:57 > 0:23:00That changed later. We all had exactly the same.
0:23:00 > 0:23:03In fact, when you see photographs of us on our graduation,
0:23:03 > 0:23:06it's difficult to pick yourself out, we all look like clones.
0:23:09 > 0:23:14The jackets had little buttons on them, and our hats, the pillbox hat.
0:23:15 > 0:23:19And the iconic white gloves, had to wear white gloves.
0:23:21 > 0:23:26They were very smart, but they were stiff, it was all very stiff.
0:23:26 > 0:23:31It was not exactly sexy. It was frighteningly smart!
0:23:35 > 0:23:38We had to wear panty girdles, and these panty girdles went down
0:23:38 > 0:23:41our legs, and they kept our legs straight
0:23:41 > 0:23:44and the line of the skirt straight.
0:23:44 > 0:23:46And we had girdle check.
0:23:46 > 0:23:49This could also be not just a female supervisor,
0:23:49 > 0:23:50it could be a male supervisor,
0:23:50 > 0:23:53and they would come along and just check to see you had a girdle on.
0:23:53 > 0:23:55There's only one way to do that,
0:23:55 > 0:23:58and that's to flick the waist to test it.
0:23:58 > 0:24:00That damn girdle business.
0:24:00 > 0:24:04You had to wear that, because they would come behind you and pinch.
0:24:04 > 0:24:07I think the story about the girdle is unbelievable,
0:24:07 > 0:24:11that they actually checked they were wearing a girdle!
0:24:11 > 0:24:14Anyway, they looked terrific, so perhaps they were right.
0:24:17 > 0:24:22We in New York had a grooming supervisor called Lona Lovaly.
0:24:24 > 0:24:28And Lona, we used to call her Lona Lovely.
0:24:28 > 0:24:33Because Lona Lovely used to inspect us, and not a thing went by.
0:24:33 > 0:24:35Everything was checked.
0:24:35 > 0:24:39You never left the briefing office without being immaculate.
0:24:40 > 0:24:47The preferred nail polish and lipstick was Revlon's Persian Melon.
0:24:47 > 0:24:50Make-up, they had a certain make-up you had to wear.
0:24:50 > 0:24:53You couldn't have highlights in your hair.
0:24:53 > 0:24:58It turned out that Persian Melon made me look like a cadaver!
0:24:58 > 0:25:02And you had to get written permission to wear a different kind of lipstick
0:25:02 > 0:25:03other than Persian Melon.
0:25:08 > 0:25:11Pan Am did in fact have the most glamorous flight attendants -
0:25:11 > 0:25:14stewardesses we call them - in the world.
0:25:17 > 0:25:20A very nice bunch of young ladies, I have to say.
0:25:20 > 0:25:23As a young man, they were a very nice bunch of young ladies!
0:25:26 > 0:25:29Pan Am stewardesses were to me the most elegant, sophisticated,
0:25:29 > 0:25:32most beautiful women that I've ever come across in my life.
0:25:35 > 0:25:38The Pan Am stewardesses were sex symbols
0:25:38 > 0:25:41like all the other airline stewardesses.
0:25:41 > 0:25:42But they were a cut above.
0:25:42 > 0:25:45They were not the plateau in terms of sex symbolism,
0:25:45 > 0:25:47if there's such a thing.
0:25:47 > 0:25:50They were on the same plane, from a male perspective,
0:25:50 > 0:25:52as actresses and models.
0:25:54 > 0:25:56They were immaculately dressed,
0:25:56 > 0:26:01beautiful, young, hourglass figures, very interesting looking,
0:26:01 > 0:26:05and well worth a date.
0:26:05 > 0:26:07They were trim and fit and very attractive.
0:26:07 > 0:26:10They had curves as nice as the airplanes.
0:26:10 > 0:26:11You could have picked out one to marry
0:26:11 > 0:26:13on every flight. Gorgeous women.
0:26:16 > 0:26:19I've been told since that people used to watch us walking through
0:26:19 > 0:26:22the terminals of the airport and think, "Ah, don't they look smart!
0:26:22 > 0:26:25"Where are they going? I'd love to be going with them!"
0:26:27 > 0:26:31I don't know how to explain glamour, but you could do anything you wanted,
0:26:31 > 0:26:34there were so many people asking you out.
0:26:34 > 0:26:37Yeah, we got a lot of attention from men.
0:26:37 > 0:26:40I don't think we considered ourselves sex symbols in the way
0:26:40 > 0:26:44some of the other airlines advertised their stewardesses, like,
0:26:44 > 0:26:46"I'm Nancy, fly me," that kind of thing.
0:26:46 > 0:26:50I'm Diane. I've got 747s to Miami. Fly me.
0:26:50 > 0:26:53I'm Terri. I've got great connections in Miami,
0:26:53 > 0:26:56all over the sunshine states of America. Fly me.
0:26:56 > 0:27:01I'm Marissa. I've got non-stop flights to Miami every day. Fly me.
0:27:01 > 0:27:05You got a certain aloofness from the Pan Am stewardesses.
0:27:05 > 0:27:09They knew they were special, and they were somewhat aloof.
0:27:09 > 0:27:11You didn't mess with them,
0:27:11 > 0:27:14you didn't come on with some stupid line.
0:27:14 > 0:27:15# Who's that lady?
0:27:15 > 0:27:17# Who's that lady?
0:27:17 > 0:27:18# Beautiful lady... #
0:27:18 > 0:27:22The phone would ring, and it would be some local guy who had paid
0:27:22 > 0:27:26the desk clerk for the crew list. And the guy would say,
0:27:26 > 0:27:27"Hello, Miss Sweeney,
0:27:27 > 0:27:30"I see you in the lobby and you are very beautiful.
0:27:30 > 0:27:32"Will you have dinner with me tonight?" "No!"
0:27:32 > 0:27:36And then the phone would ring again and it would be for the other girl.
0:27:36 > 0:27:39"Hello, Miss Jones, I see you in the lobby, you are very beautiful.
0:27:39 > 0:27:41"Will you have dinner with me tonight?"
0:27:42 > 0:27:45I remember a guy used to get on a plane, every time he went,
0:27:45 > 0:27:46he would take off his wedding ring
0:27:46 > 0:27:49and use man tan to get rid of the little white ring on his finger,
0:27:49 > 0:27:52so the stewardesses didn't know he was married.
0:27:52 > 0:27:55There was a whole world of men. I called them stewbums.
0:27:57 > 0:27:59They just wanted to hang around with stewardesses.
0:28:01 > 0:28:04A stewbum would be considered somebody who was a little bit
0:28:04 > 0:28:09creepy and obsessive, only wanted to date stewardesses,
0:28:09 > 0:28:12probably thinking, as many of them did,
0:28:12 > 0:28:16that the airlines had already gone through the screening process,
0:28:16 > 0:28:18so if they wanted to get a girlfriend or a wife,
0:28:18 > 0:28:20this was the most efficient way!
0:28:23 > 0:28:26A lot of male passengers were out to find a wife,
0:28:26 > 0:28:30and if not a wife, certainly someone to date.
0:28:30 > 0:28:35We had a lot of that, and we enjoyed it, of course.
0:28:37 > 0:28:38# I'm all right tonight
0:28:38 > 0:28:42# And I do just what I want... #
0:28:42 > 0:28:46Young, free and single, the Pan Am stewardesses of the 1960s were
0:28:46 > 0:28:50given opportunities most women of the time could only dream of.
0:28:50 > 0:28:55Not surprisingly, many couldn't wait to take the plunge.
0:28:58 > 0:29:01The world was our oyster.
0:29:01 > 0:29:05In the '60s, when we flew, it was quite...
0:29:05 > 0:29:09It was quite general, I suppose, for us
0:29:09 > 0:29:11to have many friends around the world.
0:29:14 > 0:29:18If there was a very interesting, good looking,
0:29:18 > 0:29:22intelligent person, I was fussy, then, you know...
0:29:22 > 0:29:25Obviously I would go with him!
0:29:25 > 0:29:27Why would somebody in Paris stop me
0:29:27 > 0:29:29from going out with somebody in Rome?
0:29:29 > 0:29:36We used to be taken out for wonderful dinners. Maybe given lovely presents.
0:29:36 > 0:29:42I did not have to be, you know, one person. Everybody knew that...
0:29:42 > 0:29:43You know...
0:29:43 > 0:29:47Maybe not everybody! But I did.
0:29:47 > 0:29:52I think we were respected as being a good date,
0:29:52 > 0:29:55somebody to have on your arm and who dressed well,
0:29:55 > 0:30:00looked good, and lived their lives the next day as well.
0:30:02 > 0:30:05You'd pack a suitcase, and all of your troubles would be...
0:30:05 > 0:30:07You're in another place.
0:30:09 > 0:30:11Another town, another man!
0:30:20 > 0:30:22In their own way,
0:30:22 > 0:30:25Pan Am pilots were just as glamorous as the stewardesses.
0:30:25 > 0:30:27Many had trained during the war,
0:30:27 > 0:30:30and brought a strong sense of professionalism to the job.
0:30:30 > 0:30:33But they also enjoyed the benefits of a jet-setting lifestyle,
0:30:33 > 0:30:37and were the envy of many a young man.
0:30:40 > 0:30:44Pan Am pilots, they were the best trained in the business.
0:30:44 > 0:30:46They knew how to change an engine.
0:30:46 > 0:30:48That's how thorough their training was.
0:30:48 > 0:30:54The pilots of Pan American were first and foremost highly professional.
0:30:54 > 0:30:58They also looked good in their uniform.
0:30:59 > 0:31:02The senior captains on the 707s probably flew mail,
0:31:02 > 0:31:06flying biplanes, and they came up through the flying boat era.
0:31:06 > 0:31:09They flew the China Clipper.
0:31:09 > 0:31:11They'd flown through the war on the flying boats.
0:31:11 > 0:31:14They'd been through the long-range land planes.
0:31:14 > 0:31:18And here they were flying jets in our cockpit!
0:31:18 > 0:31:21There were some captains who were...
0:31:21 > 0:31:23I would like to use the word characters,
0:31:23 > 0:31:27but they really sometimes went way overboard with their...
0:31:29 > 0:31:34..pernickety ideas, and they were very difficult to work with,
0:31:34 > 0:31:37very demanding, and treated us very poorly.
0:31:37 > 0:31:42I felt the pilots were very nice, but not that sophisticated.
0:31:42 > 0:31:45They felt everything was incredibly expensive.
0:31:45 > 0:31:48They'd go to the embassy for a hamburger.
0:31:48 > 0:31:50Pilots are generally known to be cheap.
0:31:50 > 0:31:52We would go out for dinner, and in those days,
0:31:52 > 0:31:54the girls were usually on a diet.
0:31:54 > 0:31:58We were always being weight checked.
0:31:58 > 0:32:00And we ate fairly sparsely, I would say.
0:32:00 > 0:32:02The pilots went through the whole menu,
0:32:02 > 0:32:06plus the Martinis to start, and so on and so forth,
0:32:06 > 0:32:09and at the end, they would say, "Let's share the bill, shall we?
0:32:09 > 0:32:11"Let's divide by 10..." Whatever it was!
0:32:15 > 0:32:20I can recall one check pilot in particular, by the name
0:32:20 > 0:32:27of Charlie Blair, and he was dating Maureen O'Hara at the time.
0:32:27 > 0:32:32She would travel with us from New York over to London,
0:32:32 > 0:32:35and Charlie Blair would be the captain. And it was just magical.
0:32:35 > 0:32:40That was part of his job, to make the public,
0:32:40 > 0:32:44or the customers on the flight, feel comfortable.
0:32:44 > 0:32:46And he had the great ability to do that,
0:32:46 > 0:32:51besides being a very handsome man, so all the ladies enjoyed it!
0:32:51 > 0:32:55Captain Blair? That Maureen O'Hara married?
0:32:55 > 0:32:58For me, I didn't see anyone else I would want.
0:32:58 > 0:33:04He used to say that I was Queen of the Earth, and thank God I was!
0:33:06 > 0:33:11I know that sounds very jealous and cocky and full of yourself,
0:33:11 > 0:33:14but if Charlie Blair was in love with you, and you were in love with him,
0:33:14 > 0:33:19of course you have a right to be cocky and self-centred.
0:33:20 > 0:33:21And I am!
0:33:28 > 0:33:32There were often romances between flight attendants and pilots,
0:33:32 > 0:33:39and we did have a lot of young pilots, navigators,
0:33:39 > 0:33:42we used to call them baby-gators.
0:33:42 > 0:33:45Most of us had come from an institutional background,
0:33:45 > 0:33:48from family to college to the military,
0:33:48 > 0:33:52and we had never really seen the real world, and all of a sudden,
0:33:52 > 0:33:59we meet these gorgeous, sexy, very smart and charismatic women.
0:33:59 > 0:34:01It was...
0:34:01 > 0:34:04a life-changing experience for many of us!
0:34:10 > 0:34:14In the 1960s, Pan Am crews were so glamorous and successful,
0:34:14 > 0:34:19it's no wonder they caught the eye of 16-year-old confidence trickster, Frank Abagnale.
0:34:23 > 0:34:27For over two years, he successfully impersonated a Pan Am pilot,
0:34:27 > 0:34:31and his story became the subject of the Steven Spielberg film,
0:34:31 > 0:34:33Catch Me If You Can.
0:34:35 > 0:34:39One afternoon, I was walking up 42nd Street in New York,
0:34:39 > 0:34:41and all of a sudden, coming out of what was then
0:34:41 > 0:34:46the Commodore Hotel, was a Pan American flight crew.
0:34:46 > 0:34:50And I was so impressed with the pilots and the flight attendants,
0:34:50 > 0:34:54and all the respect and heads they turned as they were coming down the steps,
0:34:54 > 0:34:58getting ready to board a van to take them to the airport.
0:34:58 > 0:35:02And I thought to myself, "Boy, if I could get one of these uniforms,
0:35:02 > 0:35:04"then I could pose as a Pan Am pilot."
0:35:06 > 0:35:08Using a little ingenuity,
0:35:08 > 0:35:13Frank did manage to get hold of a uniform, and suddenly, doors opened.
0:35:13 > 0:35:16In particular, bank doors!
0:35:16 > 0:35:19Had I walked into a bank and had that Pan Am cheque that I had made up,
0:35:19 > 0:35:21and handed it to someone,
0:35:21 > 0:35:25they would have laughed me out of the bank, the way it looks.
0:35:25 > 0:35:28But because I walked in with the uniform on of the Pan Am pilot,
0:35:28 > 0:35:32they didn't think anything about it. They weren't paying attention to the cheque.
0:35:32 > 0:35:36They were only paying attention to me.
0:35:36 > 0:35:39He was able to cash cheques, because back in those days,
0:35:39 > 0:35:41Pan Am pilots had that kind of status.
0:35:41 > 0:35:45Taking advantage of an airline practice called deadheading,
0:35:45 > 0:35:49where off-duty crew members could hitch a lift on any airline for free,
0:35:49 > 0:35:53Frank travelled the world without ever having to fly a plane.
0:35:55 > 0:35:59I remember someone saying that there was an impostor pilot.
0:36:00 > 0:36:05So if you get a funny feeling about somebody...
0:36:05 > 0:36:09But, you know...I never did. I don't know how he got away with it.
0:36:09 > 0:36:15Frank got away with it by deadheading on any airline but Pan Am.
0:36:15 > 0:36:18That way, no-one would ask him awkward questions.
0:36:18 > 0:36:21It worked, for a while.
0:36:21 > 0:36:28I can see how he could have pulled that off outside Pan Am, I think.
0:36:28 > 0:36:32If they are charming enough, like Frank obviously was,
0:36:32 > 0:36:35people probably give them the benefit of the doubt.
0:36:40 > 0:36:44The only close call I had was when I was on a BOAC from New York to London,
0:36:44 > 0:36:47and at about 35-38,000 feet going across the water,
0:36:47 > 0:36:51the captain got up and said he was going to go back for a cup of coffee,
0:36:51 > 0:36:54and he turned to me in the jump seat, and he said,
0:36:54 > 0:36:55"Go ahead and take my seat!"
0:36:55 > 0:36:58So I looked at him, and said, "OK!"
0:36:58 > 0:37:01And I slid into the captain's seat and buckled the belt,
0:37:01 > 0:37:04but I had the co-pilot and I had the flight engineer.
0:37:04 > 0:37:08But I was very prepared, had the co-pilot said at that point,
0:37:08 > 0:37:11"You know what? I have got to go back and use the restroom too."
0:37:11 > 0:37:13I would have said, "Whoa, whoa. Stop.
0:37:13 > 0:37:17"I have to tell you a story about the 16-year-old kid who got a uniform."
0:37:17 > 0:37:19I would have never carried it that far!
0:37:22 > 0:37:25In Catch Me If You Can, there is a priceless scene of him
0:37:25 > 0:37:29arriving at the airport with this bevy of beautiful stewardesses
0:37:29 > 0:37:31hanging on his arm.
0:37:31 > 0:37:35I guess that was an ultimate male fantasy of the '60s.
0:37:36 > 0:37:39I got to fly all over the world doing this, for two years.
0:37:39 > 0:37:46But it was all just by chance, seeing that Pan Am crew come out of that hotel in New York.
0:37:49 > 0:37:52By the late 1960s, Pan Am had revolutionised the airline industry,
0:37:52 > 0:37:57introducing some of the first computer systems,
0:37:57 > 0:38:02automated pilot programmes and in-flight messaging via satellite.
0:38:02 > 0:38:06It seemed there was nothing Pan Am couldn't accomplish.
0:38:10 > 0:38:14So it was no surprise when the film director Stanley Kubrick
0:38:14 > 0:38:18depicted a Pan Am spacecraft carrying passengers to the moon
0:38:18 > 0:38:21in his film 2001: A Space Odyssey.
0:38:23 > 0:38:28In one of the early scenes is this spacecraft flying out into lunar orbit,
0:38:28 > 0:38:33and plainly, emblazoned on the tail, is this big Pan Am blue ball.
0:38:33 > 0:38:36With a Pan Am stewardess in a very, sort of...
0:38:36 > 0:38:41I don't know, the 1960s idea of what the well-dressed stewardess
0:38:41 > 0:38:43would be wearing in 2001.
0:38:43 > 0:38:48The thing everyone remembers is that she had the weird little helmet.
0:38:50 > 0:38:51This was science fiction.
0:38:51 > 0:38:56But in 1968, there was no doubt that if somebody did fly into space,
0:38:56 > 0:38:57it would be, of course, Pan-American.
0:39:00 > 0:39:03In December of that year,
0:39:03 > 0:39:08the Apollo 8 manned mission to orbit the moon departed.
0:39:08 > 0:39:13As moon fever gripped the world, the guys at Pan Am were presented with a unique opportunity.
0:39:15 > 0:39:17'It was Christmas Eve,'
0:39:17 > 0:39:21so the question came up, who was going to man personnel?
0:39:21 > 0:39:24Well, the two bachelors had to do it.
0:39:24 > 0:39:27So there they were, and they were watching these newscasts.
0:39:27 > 0:39:30So one of them said to the other,
0:39:30 > 0:39:36"Why don't we tell them that Pan Am is taking reservations for the moon?"
0:39:38 > 0:39:42Well, they had a cabinet in the office with some booze in it,
0:39:42 > 0:39:44and I think they treated themselves a little bit,
0:39:44 > 0:39:47because it was Christmas and they had to work.
0:39:48 > 0:39:54So, they called up the channel, so the guy announced it on TV.
0:39:54 > 0:39:58The switchboard lit up like a Christmas tree!
0:39:58 > 0:40:01I have here a reservation for a flight to the moon.
0:40:01 > 0:40:05They thought they might as well capitalise on this a little bit,
0:40:05 > 0:40:11and decided to issue a little wallet-sized card, like this,
0:40:11 > 0:40:16First Moon Flights Club.
0:40:16 > 0:40:20And it confirms they made their reservation.
0:40:20 > 0:40:23This one is number 42,673.
0:40:26 > 0:40:31The switchboard was jammed for days, which wasn't too good, you know!
0:40:31 > 0:40:34My name is on the list there somewhere.
0:40:34 > 0:40:36Ronald Reagan's name was on the list.
0:40:36 > 0:40:39One man who was on the list, he wanted to ask
0:40:39 > 0:40:43if it was possible, when we began service, if we could
0:40:43 > 0:40:47fly his ex-wife up there, but leave her there on a one-way trip!
0:40:49 > 0:40:52If Pan Am had not gone bankrupt,
0:40:52 > 0:40:55they positively would have gone to the moon.
0:40:55 > 0:40:57Positively.
0:40:59 > 0:41:02Before Pan Am could seriously contemplate space travel,
0:41:02 > 0:41:07Juan Trippe had much more earthly goals to accomplish.
0:41:07 > 0:41:11Though successful, the Pan Am of the 1960s was not exactly
0:41:11 > 0:41:15the carrier for the common man that Trippe had envisaged.
0:41:17 > 0:41:20Before his retirement in 1968,
0:41:20 > 0:41:25he laid the blueprint for one of the most extraordinary aircraft ever to get off the ground.
0:41:27 > 0:41:28The colossal Boeing 747.
0:41:32 > 0:41:36The 747 was the next logical step after the 707.
0:41:36 > 0:41:40It was the culmination in stretching the envelope to allow...
0:41:41 > 0:41:45..the aircraft to fly more people at lower fares.
0:41:46 > 0:41:51Trippe wanted something bigger that could carry more people,
0:41:51 > 0:41:54and with longer range,
0:41:54 > 0:41:58and so we started talking to them,
0:41:58 > 0:42:00and they all said no, it's impossible.
0:42:00 > 0:42:05Mind you this was a Pan Am idea, a Pan Am concept.
0:42:05 > 0:42:07Originated in Juan Trippe's head.
0:42:08 > 0:42:14This is what he wanted, and this, by God, was what Pan Am was going to have.
0:42:21 > 0:42:25Trippe was asking for something impossible. Bill Allen listened.
0:42:25 > 0:42:27And Dad had, after the 707,
0:42:27 > 0:42:34this very close relationship with Bill Allen, who was the chairman of Boeing.
0:42:34 > 0:42:39They were standing just outside the door of Mr Trippe's office,
0:42:39 > 0:42:44and Bill Allen said, "If you buy it, I'll build it."
0:42:44 > 0:42:48And Trippe said, "If you build it, I'll buy it." And they shook hands.
0:42:48 > 0:42:52And that handshake was better than a written contract.
0:42:52 > 0:42:54So they went ahead and did it.
0:43:05 > 0:43:10More than twice the size of the 707, with room for over 400 passengers,
0:43:10 > 0:43:14the 747 began service in January 1970,
0:43:14 > 0:43:18changing the nature of air travel for ever.
0:43:20 > 0:43:23The 747, until Airbus built the A380,
0:43:23 > 0:43:25was the biggest aircraft ever built.
0:43:25 > 0:43:29And if you think it was designed in the '60s, it was really ahead of its time.
0:43:29 > 0:43:31It was a very jumbo jet.
0:43:34 > 0:43:37I can remember landing on a 707,
0:43:37 > 0:43:42and seeing out of the window this 747 in front of the hangar.
0:43:43 > 0:43:45Just the one thought I had
0:43:45 > 0:43:49was how was this aircraft ever going to get off the ground?!
0:43:51 > 0:43:54I couldn't believe that it would fly. It was so vast.
0:43:54 > 0:44:00When I first walked on that airplane I said, "Wow, this is big!"
0:44:00 > 0:44:05Nobody could really understand the size of this aeroplane.
0:44:06 > 0:44:11The 747's debut was accompanied by a series of promotional tours
0:44:11 > 0:44:16to allow a curious public to check out the aircraft for themselves.
0:44:16 > 0:44:20This aeroplane always got large crowds of people.
0:44:20 > 0:44:23Didn't matter any country you went into.
0:44:23 > 0:44:25Everybody from miles around, suddenly,
0:44:25 > 0:44:31"Hey, here's something we can see, we can go and see inside this magnificent aeroplane."
0:44:31 > 0:44:35There's swarms, hundreds of people coming towards the aeroplane.
0:44:35 > 0:44:39There was a guy with a broken leg hobbling up the stairs,
0:44:39 > 0:44:43just walked to the aeroplane with a broken leg on crutches.
0:44:43 > 0:44:44Oh.
0:44:44 > 0:44:47# Riding along on this big old jet plane
0:44:47 > 0:44:50# I've been thinking about my home. #
0:44:50 > 0:44:53The 747 may have been a hit with the public
0:44:53 > 0:44:56but for crews it took some getting used to.
0:44:58 > 0:45:01We used to say it was like flying a building,
0:45:01 > 0:45:04at least when we first started flying the 747.
0:45:04 > 0:45:08You sat way up high, so far off the ground you had no depth perception.
0:45:13 > 0:45:15I mean, it was really a bigger plane but, you know,
0:45:15 > 0:45:19you put the power on that airplane, you took off like a scalded dog.
0:45:22 > 0:45:25It was such a huge difference.
0:45:25 > 0:45:28Here we have this massive aeroplane. We just didn't know where to start.
0:45:32 > 0:45:35It was absolutely chaotic.
0:45:35 > 0:45:40It was a nightmare. It was just a nightmare.
0:45:40 > 0:45:44We had all these cards and flow charts that didn't make any sense.
0:45:44 > 0:45:50I had been used to working on one aisle on the 707
0:45:50 > 0:45:55with maximum 20-odd passengers in first class.
0:45:55 > 0:45:59I can't believe I bid to fly this thing for a whole month.
0:45:59 > 0:46:00I would have killed to get out of it.
0:46:00 > 0:46:05And there were passengers to the back, passengers to each side
0:46:05 > 0:46:08and then passengers in front of me,
0:46:08 > 0:46:10and we had two galleys to work out of.
0:46:14 > 0:46:17We had to cook everything and I decided at one point
0:46:17 > 0:46:20I can never have another dinner party unless we have 300 people.
0:46:20 > 0:46:22That's the only way I knew how to cook.
0:46:22 > 0:46:26It was just a matter of masses of people
0:46:26 > 0:46:30and totally different procedures that we weren't used to.
0:46:30 > 0:46:34With the amount of passengers that we were carrying,
0:46:34 > 0:46:41we could not continue with the same mindset
0:46:41 > 0:46:45as we had in the past to deliver service.
0:46:46 > 0:46:50If you're catering for more people, you can't afford to give them
0:46:50 > 0:46:54a level of service that makes the ticket too expensive
0:46:54 > 0:46:57because fewer of them are willing to pay for it.
0:46:57 > 0:47:00Trippe had this idea of an everyman airplane.
0:47:00 > 0:47:04The everyman airplane ultimately turned out to be the 747.
0:47:04 > 0:47:07All of a sudden, instead of people in coats and ties
0:47:07 > 0:47:10and dressed as if they're going to dinner in Park Avenue,
0:47:10 > 0:47:15they show up in backpacks and flip-flops and pay very low fares.
0:47:15 > 0:47:20This was a revolution in the airline business. Not all for the good in some people's opinion.
0:47:24 > 0:47:27In the year the 747 was introduced,
0:47:27 > 0:47:33Pan Am carried 11 million passengers some 20 billion miles worldwide
0:47:33 > 0:47:38and employed more than 19,000 people in 62 countries.
0:47:40 > 0:47:44Pan American was really an extension of the United States.
0:47:44 > 0:47:47Pan Am actually had a campaign where they said,
0:47:47 > 0:47:51"If you fly with Pan Am, it's like Uncle Sam is your pilot."
0:47:51 > 0:47:53Passengers or people generally,
0:47:53 > 0:47:55rather than going to the American embassy or consulate,
0:47:55 > 0:47:57would go to the Pan American office.
0:47:57 > 0:47:59We were always taught,
0:47:59 > 0:48:02"You are the face of America and you are in the front line."
0:48:02 > 0:48:09Coming from Cuba, when it came time for my family to leave in 1960,
0:48:09 > 0:48:12my parents booked us on Pan American
0:48:12 > 0:48:15because once you set foot aboard that airplane,
0:48:15 > 0:48:17you were on US territory.
0:48:17 > 0:48:21I am sitting here speaking to you in fluent English
0:48:21 > 0:48:23because on November 9th, 1960,
0:48:23 > 0:48:28my family got aboard a Pan Am plane and they didn't take us off.
0:48:28 > 0:48:30So...
0:48:30 > 0:48:32it's...
0:48:34 > 0:48:36I'm sorry.
0:48:40 > 0:48:43Throughout the 1960s and '70s,
0:48:43 > 0:48:47Pan Am regularly acted on behalf of the US Government.
0:48:47 > 0:48:51It operated and maintained a missile range for the US Air Force,
0:48:51 > 0:48:53was rumoured to have cooperated with the CIA,
0:48:53 > 0:48:58and flew numerous missions to West Berlin during the Cold War,
0:48:58 > 0:49:01transporting passengers and supplies
0:49:01 > 0:49:05when the city was surrounded by soviet-controlled East Germany.
0:49:07 > 0:49:12For Berliners, this was their only avenue, their only connection
0:49:12 > 0:49:17with the Western world, so what we did was vitally important.
0:49:17 > 0:49:20Everybody had the sense of fulfilling a mission.
0:49:26 > 0:49:30Pan Am also played an important role in the Vietnam War, conducting
0:49:30 > 0:49:34more flights to the war-torn country than any other commercial airline.
0:49:39 > 0:49:43Most of what we did was haul the troops back and forth.
0:49:43 > 0:49:47For a lot of us, it was an emotional thing because
0:49:47 > 0:49:50we knew a lot of them weren't coming back, at least as passengers.
0:49:53 > 0:49:57We actually flew over Vietnam, where the bombers were just underneath us.
0:49:57 > 0:50:00So they would light up a village
0:50:00 > 0:50:03and you could see that from the aircraft in the cockpit,
0:50:03 > 0:50:06and then bomb the village.
0:50:06 > 0:50:10Not a good feeling in the cockpit. I remember how the engineer got really quite, you know.
0:50:10 > 0:50:14Perhaps Pan Am's most significant mission during the Vietnam conflict
0:50:14 > 0:50:18involved the evacuation of hundreds of orphaned children
0:50:18 > 0:50:21at the end of the war.
0:50:21 > 0:50:23These planes were just packed with kids.
0:50:23 > 0:50:27Babies, toddlers.
0:50:27 > 0:50:29There were babies strapped to the seats.
0:50:29 > 0:50:32There were babies in boxes under the seats.
0:50:32 > 0:50:35There were babies in the bathroom.
0:50:35 > 0:50:37You landed at the airport and they would just run on board
0:50:37 > 0:50:39and you'd fill it up to the gills.
0:50:44 > 0:50:49Pan Am was big in the 1970s. Too big, in fact.
0:50:49 > 0:50:54The world was changing fast and the airline's size was slowing it down.
0:50:57 > 0:51:01REPORTER: The American airlines are in serious financial trouble,
0:51:01 > 0:51:02and Pan Am is the worst.
0:51:02 > 0:51:07In 1966, Pan Am made a record profit of 86 million.
0:51:07 > 0:51:12In the first six months of this year, they've lost nearly 33 million.
0:51:12 > 0:51:16Even its crowning achievement - the revolutionary 747 -
0:51:16 > 0:51:19was turning into a Frankenstein's monster.
0:51:19 > 0:51:25Unfortunately, we had a recession, a spike in oil prices,
0:51:25 > 0:51:28and those huge planes carried 400 people -
0:51:28 > 0:51:31they went out practically empty.
0:51:31 > 0:51:34Of course, this was losing money.
0:51:34 > 0:51:38Unless you fill the plane to about 70% capacity,
0:51:38 > 0:51:40you go bust, you have a problem.
0:51:40 > 0:51:43Especially if the plane is as big as a 747.
0:51:43 > 0:51:46So, it appears that they over-expanded at the wrong time.
0:51:46 > 0:51:51Pan Am was like a big, beautiful, flying dinosaur.
0:51:51 > 0:51:54And as the environment changed, the dinosaur didn't adapt.
0:51:56 > 0:52:00It really happened after Mr Trippe retired,
0:52:00 > 0:52:04there's no argument about that.
0:52:04 > 0:52:07Other people took over, CEOs, we had various ones.
0:52:07 > 0:52:10None of them could ever reach his stature.
0:52:10 > 0:52:13Throughout the '70s and into the '80s,
0:52:13 > 0:52:17Pan Am continued to expand its international service.
0:52:17 > 0:52:21But there was one country that had always been out of their reach.
0:52:21 > 0:52:26Government regulations had prevented Pan Am from operating routes within the US.
0:52:26 > 0:52:31When those regulations were lifted, Pan Am, in an effort to access the domestic market,
0:52:31 > 0:52:36bought up National Airlines at the cost of 400 million.
0:52:36 > 0:52:39It was a move that would cripple the company.
0:52:39 > 0:52:43They paid too much for it, the integration to Pan Am was mismanaged,
0:52:43 > 0:52:45there were a lot of reasons why it didn't work,
0:52:45 > 0:52:49but the bottom line was it plunged Pan Am close to bankruptcy.
0:52:49 > 0:52:53They just kept losing money and losing money
0:52:53 > 0:52:57and selling off like the hotel company and the Pacific routes.
0:52:57 > 0:53:00An airline can fly without a building in New York
0:53:00 > 0:53:03or the missile range or hotel chain,
0:53:03 > 0:53:06but to give up the ocean that they pioneered -
0:53:06 > 0:53:12Pan Am's legacy - we knew that was the beginning of the end.
0:53:14 > 0:53:18Pressures outside the US were also taking their toll.
0:53:18 > 0:53:23Pan Am's reputation as the flagship US carrier was turning it into a target.
0:53:23 > 0:53:27REPORTER: Good evening. The hijacking of an American jumbo jet...
0:53:27 > 0:53:29VOICES OF NEW REPORTERS
0:53:29 > 0:53:33The gunmen began firing indiscriminately inside the plane...
0:53:33 > 0:53:38A series of terrorist attacks in the 1970s and '80s
0:53:38 > 0:53:41further damaged Pan Am's reputation.
0:53:41 > 0:53:44But the final blow came in December 1988,
0:53:44 > 0:53:49when Pan Am flight 103 from London to New York
0:53:49 > 0:53:53exploded midair over the Scottish town of Lockerbie.
0:53:53 > 0:53:56The effect of that was so calamitous
0:53:56 > 0:53:59that the airline could never recover from it.
0:53:59 > 0:54:03Every night the news would start with the same image
0:54:03 > 0:54:06of the nose of this Clipper, Maid Of The Seas, blue and white,
0:54:06 > 0:54:10very clearly Pan Am, destroyed airplane.
0:54:10 > 0:54:15Passengers didn't fly on Pan Am because of all the publicity,
0:54:15 > 0:54:18and then it just became impossible for them to operate, I guess.
0:54:18 > 0:54:22Pan Am with its big American flag on the tail,
0:54:22 > 0:54:25now is dangerous to your health.
0:54:27 > 0:54:29In January 1991,
0:54:29 > 0:54:34the airline that had once ruled the skies declared bankruptcy.
0:54:34 > 0:54:39Unfortunately, we simply did not have the financial strength
0:54:39 > 0:54:44to absorb the enormously adverse impact of these external events.
0:54:44 > 0:54:48I was down in the courthouse at the bankruptcy hearings
0:54:48 > 0:54:52when United was bidding for the routes and all -
0:54:52 > 0:54:54oh, it was so painful.
0:54:56 > 0:55:00And I'm really glad that Mr Trippe didn't live to see that -
0:55:00 > 0:55:07he died in '81, and Pan Am closed its doors December 4, '91.
0:55:08 > 0:55:13MUSIC: "Leavin' On A Jet Plane" by Peter, Paul and Mary
0:55:14 > 0:55:18The last flight, huge emotion.
0:55:21 > 0:55:27Desperate time for us all, and it was the end of an era.
0:55:32 > 0:55:35Everybody was watching to wave the aeroplane off.
0:55:37 > 0:55:40Every single employee from Pan Am was on the ground in London
0:55:40 > 0:55:43to see that aircraft take off...
0:55:43 > 0:55:45The fire brigade did the arcs
0:55:45 > 0:55:48so the aeroplane went through the water jets...
0:55:50 > 0:55:54..and the aircraft took off, went around
0:55:54 > 0:56:00and did a flyover Heathrow Airport, dipping its wings,
0:56:00 > 0:56:02and then disappeared into the air.
0:56:02 > 0:56:06# I'm leavin' on a jet plane
0:56:06 > 0:56:10# I don't know when I'll be back again... #
0:56:10 > 0:56:15And then at that moment it was the final goodbye,
0:56:15 > 0:56:20so I still get quite touched about it, because it was very, very emotional.
0:56:20 > 0:56:22It was very sad for all of us.
0:56:24 > 0:56:28I can remember just bursting into tears.
0:56:28 > 0:56:32Bursting into tears - it was a loss of one's life.
0:56:34 > 0:56:36Just cried my eyes out.
0:56:36 > 0:56:40And I think a lot of other people did, too, you know.
0:56:40 > 0:56:44It was a funeral, you know.
0:56:44 > 0:56:46It was very emotional.
0:56:46 > 0:56:50# So kiss me and smile for me
0:56:50 > 0:56:52# Tell me that you'll wait for me
0:56:52 > 0:56:57# Hold me like you'll never let me go... #
0:56:57 > 0:57:03For over half a century, Pan Am led the world in commercial air travel.
0:57:03 > 0:57:06Thanks to the vision of its founder, Juan Trippe,
0:57:06 > 0:57:10the airline brought glamour, luxury and innovation to the skyways
0:57:10 > 0:57:14and inspired generations to travel and explore new worlds.
0:57:14 > 0:57:19It shrank the globe and shaped our dreams and aspirations,
0:57:19 > 0:57:23leaving behind an unforgettable legacy.
0:57:23 > 0:57:28Pan American was much more than a job - Pan American was a family.
0:57:28 > 0:57:31MUSIC: "Mr Blue Sky" by ELO
0:57:31 > 0:57:34Just to say that you worked for Pan Am was an honour,
0:57:34 > 0:57:38because wherever you went in the world you would see the Pan Am blue ball.
0:57:41 > 0:57:46Pan Am was there first, Pan Am was the innovator, and should be remembered as that.
0:57:49 > 0:57:54In every aspect of commercial aviation, they were considered the best.
0:57:56 > 0:58:00It was an airline like no other.
0:58:00 > 0:58:04And there never will be any other airline like Pan Am.
0:58:06 > 0:58:09A lot of people, you can go around the world now
0:58:09 > 0:58:12on a two-week vacation.
0:58:12 > 0:58:14And it's affordable.
0:58:14 > 0:58:17And a lot of people do.
0:58:20 > 0:58:23So, it was worth it.
0:58:39 > 0:58:43Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain again.
0:58:43 > 0:58:45It was a pleasure to have you aboard our jet Clipper.
0:58:45 > 0:58:48We hope to have you with us again soon. Thank you.
0:58:49 > 0:58:52Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:52 > 0:58:55E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk