panamericanworldairways

"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

Here is a link to color film posted to YouTube by George Mihal, of this Sikorsky S-42, named "Brazilian Clipper", and registered as NC-822M (c/n 4200), being hauled ashore at Pan American's Miami terminal at Dinner Key in 1936. Also captured in the film is a Pan Am Consolidated Model 16 Commodore, registered as NC-669M (c/n 13), also being brought ashore on its beaching gear: YouTube - George Mihal: "Dinner Key, Florida 1936 Pan Am, Brazilian Clipper, NC-669M & NC-822M"

Here is a British Movietone newsreel featuring Joe Crosson as one of the Pan American Airways (PAA) pilots that returned the bodies of Wiley Post and Will Rodgers to the Lower 48 from Alaska after their fatal crash: YouTube - British Movietone "Last Flight Of Will Rogers and Wiley Post"