"Yankee Clippers Carry On" Programs

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of two copies of "Yankee Clippers Carry On," a 9.7 x 7 inch (25 x 18 cm) booklet produced as a program for the christening ceremony of the Pan American World Airways Boeing Model 707-120 "Jet Clipper America" (r/n N707PA). The christening was performed by Mamie Eisenhower (wife of then US President Dwight D. Eisenhower) at Washington National Airport (IATA airport code DCA), Washington, D.C., on October 16, 1958. Speakers at the event included Juan T. Trippe, President of Pan American World Airways; Sinclair Weeks, US Secretary of Commerce; H. M. (Jack) Horner, Chairman of the US Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB); William M. Allen, President, Boeing Airplane Company; Elwood R. Quesada, Special Assistant to the President of the United States (Special Adviser for Aviation), and Christian A. Herter, US Under Secretary of State. The program's dramatic front cover maritime illustration—designed to look like an engraving—depicts a Pan American Boeing 707 nicknamed "Clipper America" in flight over a three-masted clipper sailing ship.

Arrangement

No arrangement.

Biographical / Historical

The Boeing Model 367-80, better known as the Dash 80, a graceful, swept-winged aircraft powered by four revolutionary new jet engines, would come to revolutionize commercial air transportation when its developed version entered service as the famous Boeing 707, America's first jet airliner. Flying 100 miles per hour faster than the de Havilland Comet and significantly larger, the new Boeing jet transport, which made its first flight on July 15, 1954, had a maximum range of more than 3,500 miles. The Boeing Aircraft Company found Pan American World Airway's president Juan T. Trippe a ready customer for their new design. Trippe had been spending much of his time searching for a suitable jet airliner to enable his pioneering company to maintain its leadership in international air travel. Impressed by the aircraft's performance, Trippe worked to convince Boeing to widen the Dash 80's fuselage design to allow seating six passengers in each seat row rather than five. On October 12, 1955, Trippe placed an order with Boeing for 20 of the new airliners (now known as the 707) but also ordered 25 of Douglas's competing DC-8, which had yet to fly but could accommodate six-abreast seating. At Pan Am's insistence, the Boeing 707 was made four inches wider than the Dash 80 so that it could carry 160 passengers six-abreast. One August 15, 1958, Boeing delivered the first of Pan Am's new 707s. Two months later, on October 16, 1958, Pan Am celebrated the advent of the jet age in the United States with a ceremony held at Washington National Airport in Washington, D.C. to celebrate the christening by then-US President Dwight D. Eisenhower's wife Mamie Eisenhower of the Pan American World Airways Boeing Model 707-120 "Jet Clipper America" (r/n N707PA). Ten days later, on October 26, 1958, Pan Am began daily Boeing 707 international service between New York City and Paris, France.

Related Materials

Aircraft in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum collection: Boeing 367-80 Jet Transport, A19730272000.