My grandparents took their first overseas trip in 1948, the same year this Pan Am ad came out.
While they sailed across the Atlantic for that inaugural trip, they later flew on airlines like Pan Am and TWA to most of the continents portrayed in this ad.
I love the characterizations of the different nationalities in the ad. Before I read the text below the drawings, I couldn’t figure out where the second guy on the left came from (it’s Australia). To me, he seems more Alpine yodeler than outback ranger.
I also love the opening paragraph:
From eight leading US cities, big 4-engine Pan American Clippers take off every day for 62 countries and colonies… . One ticket and one set of baggage checks takes you straight through to your overseas destination.
Even with the many returned colonies and concessions returning to their proper owners after WII, there were still a lot of colonies back in 1948.
My family emigrated from England, on a Pan-Am Constellation, in April 1948, to Johannesburg. We took 4 days. We flew London-Paris-Lisbon-Accra-Dakar-Leopoldville-Salisbury-Jo’Burg. I was the only child on board and the crew sort of adopted me. We slept overnight in Hotels.
I have been an aviation nut ever since.
Wow, thanks so much for sharing, Ken! That sounds like quite a voyage!
Hello Susan,
I took a close look at the Australian in the ad and I believe he is actually an Australian soldier in his WW2 uniform. You can see the typical Aussie slouch hat of our Diggers and when I magnified the ad I can barely make out the Rising Sun badge on his hat.
Regards Maria.
Thanks so much, Maria! That makes perfect sense. The war had only been over for a couple years when this ad came out. I don’t understand why he’d have a Rising Sun badge, though.
agree on the aussie portrayal – he would need a hat with dangling corks and shorts 🙂
Yeah, I picture someone like Crocodile Dundee, even though he didn’t come onto the scene until the early 80s. Still…