American commercial aviation pioneer and founder of Pan American World Airways
Juan Terry Trippe
(June 27, 1899 ? April 3, 1981) was an American
commercial aviation
pioneer,
entrepreneur
and the founder of
Pan American World Airways
, one of the iconic airlines of the 20th century. He was involved in the introduction of the
Sikorsky S-42
, which opened trans-Pacific airline travel, the
Boeing 307 Stratoliner
which introduced
cabin pressurization
to airline operations, the
Boeing 707
which started a new era in low cost jet transportation, and the
Boeing 747
jumbo jets
. Trippe's signing of the 747 contract coincided with the 50th anniversary of
Boeing
.
[2]
He also founded
InterContinental Hotels & Resorts
.
[3]
Early life and education
[
edit
]
Trippe was born in
Sea Bright, New Jersey
, on June 27, 1899, the great-great-grandson of Lieutenant
John Trippe
, captain of the
USS
Vixen
.
[4]
Because he was named "
Juan
", he is widely assumed to have been of
Hispanic
descent, but his family was actually
Northern European
in ancestry and settled in
Maryland
in 1664. He was named after Juanita Terry, the
Venezuelan
wife of his great uncle.
[5]
Trippe attended the Bovea School and graduated from
The Hill School
in 1917.
[4]
He enrolled at
Yale University
but left to apply for flight training with the
United States Navy
when the United States entered
World War I
. After completing training in June 1918, he was designated as a
Naval Aviator
and was commissioned as an
Ensign
in the
United States Navy Reserve
.
[6]
[7]
However, the end of
World War I
precluded him from flying in combat. Demobilized from active duty, he returned to Yale, graduating in 1921. While there, he was a member of
St. Anthony Hall
and of the
Skull and Bones
society. Trippe was treasurer at the first meeting of the
National Intercollegiate Flying Association
in 1920.
[8]
Career
[
edit
]
After graduation from Yale, Trippe began working on
Wall Street
, but soon became bored. In 1922 he raised money from his old Yale classmates, selling them stock in his new airline, an air-taxi service for the rich and powerful called Long Island Airways.
[9]
Once again tapping his wealthy friends from Yale, Trippe invested in an airline named
Colonial Air Transport
, which was awarded a new route and an airmail contract on October 7, 1925.
[10]
Interested in operating to the
Caribbean
, Trippe created the Aviation Corporation of the Americas. Based in
Florida
, the company would evolve into the unofficial United States flag carrier,
Pan American Airways
, commonly known as Pan Am.
Pan Am's first flight took off on October 19, 1927, from
Key West, Florida
, to
Havana
, Cuba, in a hired
Fairchild FC-2
floatplane being delivered to West Indian Aerial Express in the
Dominican Republic
. The return flight from Havana to Key West, in a Pan Am
Fokker F.VII
, took place October 29, being delayed from October 28 by rain.
Later, Trippe bought the
China National Aviation Corporation
(CNAC) to provide domestic air service in the
Republic of China
, and became a partner in
Panagra
. In the 1930s. Pan Am became the first airline to cross the
Pacific Ocean
with the
China Clipper
.
Trippe served as the chairman of the
board of directors
of the airline for all but about two years between the founding of the company and
World War II
.
"Sonny" Whitney
, a stockholder, managed to seize this position. He later regretted his action and allowed Trippe to retake it. For a long time Trippe refused to pardon Whitney. At one point, he even agreed to meet Whitney for lunch for a reconciliation, but changed his mind and turned around shortly after departing from his office in the
Chrysler Building
.
Pan Am continued to expand worldwide throughout World War II. Trippe is responsible for several innovations in the airline world. A firm believer in the idea of air travel for all, Trippe is credited as the father of the
tourist class
in the airline industry, and was the driving force behind Pan Am's formation of the
InterContinental
hotel group.
[11]
[
unreliable source?
]
Trippe quickly recognized the opportunities presented by
jet aircraft
and ordered several
Boeing 707
and
Douglas DC-8
airplanes. Pan Am's first scheduled jet flight was operated on October 26, 1958, by 707
Clipper America
from
Idlewild International Airport
(now JFK) to
Le Bourget Airport
,
Paris
. The new jets allowed Pan Am to cut the flight time nearly in half, introduce lower fares, and fly more passengers in total.
In 1965, Trippe asked his friend
Bill Allen
at Boeing to produce an airplane much larger than the 707. The result was the
Boeing 747
, and Pan Am was the first customer. Originally, Trippe believed the 747 would ultimately be destined to haul cargo only and would be replaced by faster, supersonic aircraft which were then being developed. The supersonic airliners failed to materialize, with the exception of the
Concorde
and
Tupolev Tu-144
, and the 747 became an iconic image of international travel. In 1965, Trippe received the
Tony Jannus Award
for his distinguished contributions to commercial aviation.
Trippe gave up the presidency of the airline in 1968. He continued to attend meetings of the board of directors and maintained an office in the company's
Park Avenue office tower
.
Personal life
[
edit
]
Trippe was a member of
The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews
in
Scotland
and president of the
Maidstone Club
in East Hampton, New York, from 1940 to 1944.
Trippe married Elizabeth "Betty" Stettinius Trippe (1904?1983), the sister of
United States Secretary of State
Edward R. Stettinius Jr.
, in 1928.
[12]
They had four children.
[13]
[14]
The couple remained married until Trippe's death in 1981.
[15]
Death and legacy
[
edit
]
Trippe suffered a
stroke
in September 1980, which forced him to cut back on his workload;
[5]
he died after suffering a second stroke at his
New York City
home on April 3, 1981, at the age of 81.
[4]
He is buried in
Green-Wood Cemetery
in
Brooklyn
.
[16]
In 1970, Juan Trippe was inducted into the
National Aviation Hall of Fame
in Dayton, Ohio.
[17]
In 1985, Trippe was posthumously awarded the
Medal of Freedom
by
United States
President
Ronald Reagan
.
[16]
Trippe was inducted into the
Junior Achievement
U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 1990.
[18]
An endowed chair at the Yale University School of Management is the "Juan Trippe Professor in the Practice of International Trade, Finance, and Business".
[19]
In 1982, Trippe was inducted into the
International Air & Space Hall of Fame
at the
San Diego Air & Space Museum
.
[20]
Trippe is widely regarded as the last of the greatest aviation pioneers along with industry titans such as American Airlines'
C. R. Smith
, United Airlines'
William A. "Pat" Patterson
, Eastern Airlines'
Eddie Rickenbacker
, TWA's
Howard Hughes
and Delta Air Lines'
Collett E. Woolman
. Under his control,
Pan American World Airways
became the premier international airline in the world. He is also credited as playing an instrumental role in the development of an intercontinental version of the
Boeing 707
and the
Douglas DC-8
as Trippe's determination to get a jet that could cross the Atlantic was instrumental not only in Douglas developing a long-range DC-8, but also Boeing's famed 707 as they had to redesign it in order to stay competitive with Douglas.
In popular culture
[
edit
]
A character based on Trippe was played by
Pat O'Brien
in
Ray Enright
's 1936 film
The China Clipper
. Trippe was played by
Alec Baldwin
in
Martin Scorsese
's 2004 film
The Aviator
.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Our history"
.
- ^
Video
of
Malcolm Stamper
, vice-chair of Boeing recounting 1966 speech by Juan Trippe (Great Planes documentary)
- ^
"Our history"
.
- ^
a
b
c
"Juan Trippe, 81, Dies; U.S. Aviation Pioneer"
.
The New York Times
. April 4, 1981
. Retrieved
2010-11-23
.
- ^
a
b
"Juan Trippe, Pan Am Founder, Dies"
.
The New York Times
in the
Daytona Beach Morning Journal
. April 4, 1981. p. 5D
. Retrieved
March 14,
2010
.
- ^
Daley, Robert (1980).
An American Saga
. New York: Random House. p.
7
.
ISBN
0-394-50223-X
.
- ^
"Juan Trippe Entrepreneur"
. National Aviation Hall of Fame. Archived from
the original
on 2016-03-20
. Retrieved
2013-04-14
.
- ^
"1920 NIFA Meet Program"
(PDF)
. National Intercollegiate Flying Association
. Retrieved
20 January
2012
.
- ^
Gandt, Robert (1995).
Skygods: The Fall of Pan Am
. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc. pp.
12
.
ISBN
0-688-04615-0
.
- ^
Gandt 1995
, p. 13.
- ^
"A Trippe Down Memory Lane"
- ^
Carey, Charles W. (2009).
American Inventors, Entrepreneurs, and Business Visionaries
. Infobase Publishing. p. 343.
ISBN
978-0-816-06883-8
.
- ^
Hill, Rene (March 7, 2009).
"Gala to benefit hospital"
.
The Royal Gazette
. Retrieved
March 24,
2009
.
- ^
Chaplin, Julia (June 19, 2005).
"Going to Bermuda"
.
The New York Times
. Retrieved
March 24,
2009
.
- ^
"Elizabeth Trippe, 79; Active in Social Work"
.
The New York Times
. May 14, 1983.
- ^
a
b
Mosca, Alexandra Kathryn (2008).
Green-Wood Cemetery
. Arcadia Publishing. p. 59.
ISBN
978-0-738-55650-5
.
- ^
"Enshrinee Juan Trippe"
.
nationalaviation.org
. National Aviation Hall of Fame
. Retrieved
28 February
2023
.
- ^
Fortune Magazine 1990
Business Hall of Fame
- ^
"Yale School of Management / Faculty Directory"
. Retrieved
2012-07-23
.
- ^
Sprekelmeyer, Linda, editor.
These We Honor: The International Aerospace Hall of Fame
. Donning Co. Publishers, 2006.
ISBN
978-1-57864-397-4
.
External links
[
edit
]
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