panamericanairways

The fleet number on the nose landing gear doors, "670," identifies this aircraft as an American Airlines Boeing 747-123, registered as N9670. It would later enter service with Pan American World Airways (Pan Am) as Clipper Empress of the Skies. She'd later be converted into a freighter configuration (747-100(SF)) for operation bu United Parcel Service (UPS), and later, Polar Air Cargo, re-registered as N858FT.

Soon after leaving LGA in June 1946 N88858 lost its burning #4 engine and belly-landed at Willimantic CT. On 30 July it returned to BUR with three engines (MTOW 73000 lb).

"J.T. Tripp" is Juan Terry Trippe, aviator and founder of Pan American Airways ("Pan Am"), one of the great (and now gone) US airlines. Trippe left Yale to train as a Naval Aviator during World War I, but the war ended before he'd have a chance to fly in combat. After the war he returned to Yale, where he graduated in 1921. See: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Trippe en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_American_World_Airways His co-pilot is former Army Air Service aviator, George Willard Horne ("G. Willard Horne"), also attending Yale (Class of '21) post-war. See: archives.yalealumnimagazine.com/issues/99_05/old_yale.html books.google.com/books?id=xjM6AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA944&l... Trippe and Horne flew for Yale in the collegiate aerial races at Mitchel Field, Long Island, winning the 25-mile cross-country flight race on May 7, 1920. The race is reported in The Outlook, Vol. 125, May 19, 1920, "The First Collegiate Aerial Races," Pages 103-104, where there is also a contemporaneous photo of them at the time. See: books.google.com/books?id=IQY-AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA104&l... The race and competitors are further detailed in Aircraft Journal, "Collegiate Flying Competition at Mineola," Vol. VI, No. 19, May 10, 1920, Pages 5-6. books.google.com/books?id=ssg_AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA54&lp... The aircraft Trippe and Horne flew in the race, wearing Army Air Service serial number A.S. 45246, is a Curtiss Jenny variant (Curtiss JN-6HG-1). See: www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1908-1920.html

1920 Collegiate Air Races www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q41676997