Flying Down To Rio

In August 1941, while war raged in Europe, Pan American Airways initiated an elaborate series of overseas journeys to South America for the American traveling public. The international flights used Pan Am’s Flying Clippers, at the time the most popular aircraft in the world for long-haul passenger flights.


The Pan Am advertisement may be substantially enlarged, and read in its entirety.

Less than four months later, Pan Am’s overseas passenger flights ended.

America had entered the war—and all Flying Clippers were put to exclusive war use.

International air traffic for civilians was not to resume on a meaningful scale until 1946.