Pan Am at War: How the Airline Secretly Helped America Fight World War II

by Mark Cotta Vaz, John H. Hill

Overview

Filled with larger-than-life characters, and revelations of the vision and technology it took to dominate the skies before and during, World War II, here is a gripping piece of aviation history.

Pan Am at War chronicles the airline's historic role in advancing aviation and serving America's national interest before and during World War II. From its inception, Pan American Airways operated as the "wings of democracy," spanning six continents and placing the country at the leading edge of international aviation.

At the same time, it was clandestinely helping to fight America's wars.

Utilizing government documents, declassified Freedom of Information Act material, and company documents, the authors have uncovered stories of Pan Am's stunning role as an instrument of American might:

• The airline's role in building air bases in Latin America and countering Axis interests that threatened the Panama Canal
• Creating transatlantic and trans-Africa supply lines for sending Lend-Lease equipment to Britain
• Cooperation with Chiang Kai-shek and the Chinese nationalist government to pioneer the dangerous "Hump" route over the Himalayas
• The dangerous seventeen-thousand-mile journey that took President Roosevelt to the high-stakes Casablanca Conference with Winston Churchill
• The daring flight that delivered uranium for the atomic bomb.

For anyone interested in aviation, business, or military history, here is astonishing story filled with big ideas and the leaders who made them a reality.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781510729513
Publisher:	Skyhorse
Publication date:	02/12/2019
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	368
Sales rank:	194,802
File size:	27 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Mark Cotta Vaz is a New York Times bestselling author of thirty-six books. His award-winning and critically acclaimed works include The Invisible Art (coauthored with Craig Barron), Living Dangerously, and the Twilight Saga movie companion series, all #1 New York Times bestsellers. Vaz has written for numerous periodicals, including Cinefex, Yoga Journal, and Wired. He lives in San Francisco Bay area in California.

John H. Hill has worked in the museum field for more than thirty-five years, first at Laguna Art Museum, and at SFO Museum since 1986. At SFO Museum he curates exhibitions, develops collections on the history of commercial aviation, and oversees the operation of the San Francisco Airport Commission Aviation Library and Louis A. Turpen Aviation Museum. Hill also a board member of the Pan Am Historical Foundation. He lives in San Francisco, California.

Table of Contents

Part I Air Power

Chapter 1 Visions of the Future 1

Chapter 2 Born to the Air 15

Chapter 3 Champions of Air Power 28

Chapter 4 Prophet of a New Era 35

Chapter 5 The Aviator and the Airline 48

Chapter 6 An Accumulation 59

Chapter 7 The Miracle Year 72

Map I Latin America 91

Chapter 8 Life in the Air 92

Part II War Clouds

Chapter 9 Across the Pacific 109

Chapter 10 Island Stepping Stones 121

Chapter 11 Clipper Glory 133

Map II Pacific & Alaska 146

Chapter 12 War in China 147

Map III Asia 161

Chapter 13 The Colonizers 162

Chapter 14 The World of Tomorrow 175

Map IV Atlantic 188

Part III Wartime Missions

Chapter 15 The Secret Plan 191

Chapter 16 Air Carrier of the Arsenal of Democracy 206

Chapter 17 The Pan-Africa Corps 218

Map V Africa & The Middle East 227

Chapter 18 Far Horizons 228

Chapter 19 Case 7: Condition A 241

Chapter 20 Clippers at War 250

Chapter 21 Hell Riders of the Himalayas 266

Chapter 22 Militarization 279

Chapter 23 "The Fastest With the Mostest" 291

Chapter 24 Into the Congo 301

Chapter 25 No Distant Lands 313

Notes 319

Bibliography 361

Acknowledgments 369

Index 371

Authors 395

Editorial Reviews

"Pan Am at War is a fascinating and little known story of how the development of this seminal airline became a huge asset for America in WWII. Pan Am went to war right alongside B-17s, B-29s, Corsairs, Hellcats. Aerodynamics, instrumentation, routes—Pan Am was there. Another great story from the greatest generation."  
–Tom Brokaw

"In the 1930s and 1940s, Pan American Airways cast air lines across the world’s great oceans, pioneering intercontinental air travel...one of the great technological accomplishments of the twentieth century. At the same time...Pan Am served as a spearpoint of U.S. strategic engagement, projecting American power to every corner of the globe. In their briskly-written and ever-amazing Pan Am at War, authors Mark Cotta Vaz and John H. Hill tell what must surely be the greatest corporate story in American history—how Pan Am’s daring and visionary executives, aviators, and innovators helped win the Second World War."
—Gregory Crouch, author of China's Wings and The Bonanza King

"Pan Am at War is a major contribution to the literature on the history of American aviation. Not only is it a riveting narrative with fascinating characters—the airline's founder, Juan Trippe, is a real-life Jay Gatsby—but the book breaks new ground regarding Pan Am's contribution to Allied victory in World War II."
—Gregg Herken, Emeritus Professor of History, University of California, author of Brotherhood of the Bomb and The Georgetown Set 

 

From the Publisher