More than 350 former workers and associates of Pan American World Airways (Pan Am) will reunite in Limerick on 12th-15th April 2016 to share their memories and experiences of what was once the principal and largest international air carrier in the USA.
Organised by Foynes Flying Boat & Maritime Museum and supported by Fáilte Ireland and the Shannon Region Conference & Sports Bureau, the event represents the final ever Pan Am World Reunion and is only the second to be hosted in Europe.
Foynes was the first European airport to which Pan Am began operating commercial transatlantic services on 9th July 1939 under the command of Captain Harold Gray. The ‘Yankee Clipper’ was the airline’s first Boeing B314 NC18603 allocated to the Atlantic division. A replica of the aircraft is on display at Foynes Flying Boat & Maritime Museum. Captain Charlie Blair, husband of the late Maureen O’Hara, was a frequent visitor and flew the last scheduled passenger flight from Foynes to New York in October 1945.
The forthcoming reunion programme will feature talks, workshops, networking events and a visit to the former airport at Foynes, allowing former pilots, engineers, administration staff, ground handlers and air hostesses, many of whom are now in their 70s and 80s, to recount their times with the airline.
Reunion attendees, who later went on to become successful businessmen and women, filmmakers, journalists and authors after Pan Am’s demise in 1991, will also don their old Pan Am uniforms during the three-day reunion.
Among those travelling to Limerick next month is Edward Trippe, son of Pan Am founder and commercial aviation pioneer Juan Terry Trippe (1899 – 1981) as well as Captain Don Cooper, who was based with the carrier in Berlin for many years. Attendees will be from Singapore, Europe, South America, Guam, Hawaii, Canada and from all over the USA.
Margaret O’Shaughnessy, Director of Foynes Flying Boat & Maritime Museum, initiated the event two years ago when she spoke at one of the Pan Am Reunions in Long Island, New York. “One of the attendees Merry Barton and I stayed in touch and I am delighted we have been successful in bringing this unique aviation event to Ireland,” she said.
