Juan Trippe

He was one of Pan Am's first employees.

He was fired for his alcoholism, uh, by Juan Trippe, who was a founder of Pan Am, and also-

Absolutely

...

I wanna say something to you, if you don't mind, Sterling.

Now, this is fascinating.

When we listen to the history of Pan Am with Juan Trippe, I mean, I've studied this so much, and I'm watching this television series right now, which is quite interesting.

It was a series, not...

When Pan Am was working to start Clipper service to Hong Kong, for example, they lacked an existing necessary refueling point between Midway and Guam.

However, Juan Trippe, the airline's founder, discovered records of a little-known atoll in exactly the right spot: Wake Island.

He then had to lobby the president to place the atoll under the control of the Navy, then persuade the Navy to send a boat to survey Wake Island, then negotiate a lease from the Navy.

Next, the airline hired a freighter ship to bring materials and construction workers to the atoll, where they built a landing area for the Clippers, dock, narrow gauge railway, refueling facility, hotel, and more.

He knew what they could do, and he had a controlling interest in Trans World Airlines.

TWA was fighting for its life against Pan American, which had the prestige routes, the flying boats, the international connections, and Juan Trippe’s seemingly limitless ambition.

Hughes wanted an airplane that would change the calculation, not just compete on the existing routes but redefine what a route could be.

He called Lockheed and laid out specifications that sounded like science fiction: a pressurized cabin, 40 passengers, 3,500 miles of range, cruise speed at or above 300 miles per hour, service ceiling of 24,000 feet, all of it, and he wanted it in the air within a reasonable timeframe.

Uh, one of our buildings was recently, uh, put on the National Historic Sites of some kind, I don't remember which.

Um, we were founded by, um, a man who thought outside the box, Juan Trippe.

Yes.

Juan, I remember-

Trippe was the founder and driving force of Pan American Airways.

If you want to understand what the golden age of aviation was really about, you cannot skip Juan Trippe.

He was part visionary, part relentless dealmaker, and he believed with everything in him that America belonged in the international airline business.

He had already built Pan Am into a powerful carrier in Latin America and the Caribbean, flying routes other people said couldn't be flown.