On Wednesday, January 28, 1970, the wide-body era at Frankfurt started rather unexpectedly with the arrival of a diverted Pan American 747. Read the story behind the unplanned visit below!

LONDON FOG

Pan American World Airways Boeing 747-121 N737PA "Clipper Red Jacket," had been underway from New York's Kennedy Airport to London Heathrow.

Scheduled Boeing 747 service on the JFK-Heathrow route had only commenced a few days prior, on Thursday, January 22. It was the first route on which Pan Am had deployed the 747 and it was the world's first scheduled 747 service.

That day, the 362-seat aircraft carried 177 passengers and a crew of 21, among which five cockpit crew. On the controls of Flight Two was veteran pilot, Captain Jess Tranter, part of Pan Am's elite team of 747-qualified pilots - who also piloted the 747 on the test flight to Heathrow on January 11.

That morning London was completely fogged in and visibility was down to only 50 metres (164 feet). Thus, Captain Tranter decided to divert to Frankfurt's Rhein Main Airport, were Pan Am had a major base and which was the airline's main alternate for London. 

News about the upcoming arrival of the "Jumbo-Jet" spread around Frankfurt Airport like wildfire and anyone who could interrupted their work to witness the arrival of what the airport press release referred to as "The Flying Cinema," presumably because the 747 featured movie screens, a novelty at the time.

The plane touched down at Frankfurt's Rhein-Main Airport at 8:36 am that morning. After landing, the 747 was guided by two "follow-me" vehicles to gate B46, at Frankfurt's brand-new "Terminal Mitte," which was still largely under construction.

Terminal Mitte was designed for the 747 and B46 was one of several gates at Frankfurt that could connect three passenger boarding bridges to the 747, two on the portside and one on the starboard side.
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​According to the press release, two boarding bridges were sufficient to allow the 177 passengers and 21 crew to disembark.

​A RUSHED WELCOME

Lord Mayor of Frankfurt Professor Dr. Willy Brundert was rushed to the airport for an improvised welcome and gave Captain Tranter and his crew an illustrated book about Frankfurt Airport.

Many hundreds of airport and airline employees, as well as construction workers working on Terminal Mitte came by on foot or by airport vehicle to admire the gigantic jet.

​The airport press release specifically mentioned that ramp supervisors were not amused by all the vehicles cluttering the ramp!

​The aircraft was parked at the terminal for about five hours, providing ground crews a golden opportunity to practice their new procedures for the 747.​

DEPARTURE

At noon, the passengers, who had been waiting in the "Transit Restaurant," were asked to board the aircraft. However, Captain Tranter was advised that the airspace over London was heavily congested and that he would likely be put in a holding pattern for an hour.

Thus, he decided to delay departure to Heathrow instead. Over an hour later, two tow trucks pushed back the 747 out on to the platform, after which it taxied to the threshold of runway 25R.

​As it was the middle of the afternoon rush hour, the aircraft had to hold behind five other aircraft.
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​Finally, after a take-off run of barely 2000 metres (6,560 feet) the Boeing 747 was airborne at 1:54 pm, five and a half hours after it had touched down at Frankfurt.

SCHEDULED 747 SERVICE FROM FRANKFURT

Pan Am started scheduled 747 daily service from JFK to Frankfurt (via Heathrow) on April 5, 1970. 

Lufthansa was the first European airline to provide its passenger the opportunity to fly a jumbo jet, being the second international airline following Pan Am, commencing daily service between Frankfurt and New York JFK on April 26.

There's a story on the web claiming that the diverted Pan Am landed 30 minutes before the first scheduled 747 arrival, which was TWA's inaugural 747 service between JFK and Frankfurt.
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​However, TWA didn't start scheduled service between New York and Frankfurt until January 6, 1971. 

Read more about Frankfurt's Jet-Age "Terminal Mitte" here. Read more about the airport's history here.

Did you fly on the 747 in the early days? Was the trip glitch free? Share your experience in the comments below!

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks again to my friends at the Fraport Archive, Markus Grossback and Annette Schmidt, for their kind help in preparing this article!

Concorde touches down at LAX on an overcast day on Wednesday, October 23, 1974, the first time the supersonic transport (SST) visits Southern California. The visit is part of a promotional tour to airports around the world.

The UFO-like Theme Building (1961) at Los Angeles International Airport, designed by Pereira & Luckman, mirrored Los Angeles' dream to become the city of tomorrow and indeed, Concorde and the Theme Building are a match made in heaven!

Thousands of spectators came by to view the landing at 3:49 PM that day, a few minutes later than planned. Concorde flew in from Anchorage, Alaska, where it had departed at 1:16 PM.

Concorde rolling out after the first ever landing at LAX with contemporary airliners being visible in the background.

After landing, Concorde parked at the Satellite Building #2, which was used for international flights. The aircraft, with the French registration F-WTSA, was painted in a hybrid Air France/British Airways livery.​

Many people showed up to view the aircraft during a static display that evening and the next day. Concorde officials estimated that 100,000 people from throughout Southern California came to view the aircraft, creating massive traffic jams at the airport.

Concorde left on  Friday, October 25, at 9:00 AM and headed to Acapulco, Mexico, the next destination on the promotional tour.

The supersonic jet would not become an operational part of Air France and British Airways flights until Jan. 21, 1976, when British Airways began using it for London-Bahrain and Air France on the Paris-Rio de Janeiro routes. At first, the plane was not allowed to land in the US because of noise and air pollution concerns.

Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C., was granted permission by the US Department of Transportation for supersonic flights in May 1976. After first banning the plane, Kennedy International Airport in New York City also began allowing it in November 1977.

However, despite years of battling, Concorde never would be approved to operate out of LAX. Its noise levels, especially on takeoff, were deemed too loud to meet the airport’s noise standards and the airport beat back several attempts to allow SST aircraft to use its facilities.

Read about how airports prepared for what seemed to be the inevitable coming of the SST here. Read more about Concorde's promotional tours and early service here.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This article borrowed heavily from Sam Gnerre's great blogpost on Concorde's LAX visit. Give it a read!

PAN AM'S INTERNAL GERMAN SERVICES (IGS)

From 1950 until 1990 Pan Am operated a comprehensive network of high-frequency, short-haul scheduled services between West Germany and West Berlin called the German Internal Service (IGS).

This had come about as a result of an agreement among the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and the Soviet Union at the end of World War II which prohibited Germany from having its own airlines and restricted the provision of commercial air services to and from Berlin to air transport providers headquartered in these four countries.

​Initially, flights were operated with Douglas DC-4s, then with DC-6Bs (from 1960) and Boeing 727s (from 1966).

Pan Am operated a Berlin crew base of mainly German flight attendants and American pilots to staff its IGS flights. The airline's West Berlin operation consistently accounted for more than half of the city's entire commercial air traffic during that period. 

In the early years, the flights were operated out of Berlin's Tempelhof Airport. In September 1975, all Pan Am flights were moved to the upgraded Tegel Airport.

With German re-unification in 1990, the role of the IGS became superfluous, and the operation was taken over by the German carrier Lufthansa in 1990, which bought Pan Am's routes for USD 150 million.

For more amazing images of Pan Am's operations at Berlin, have a look at our popular photo special Berlin Airport through time.

For a very interesting three-part history on the IGS have a look at this three-part article starting here.

Or read about the design of Pan Am's terminal at New York's JFK Airport here.

Did you fly with or work for Pan Am's Internal German Service? Tell us about your memories below!

The TWA Flight Center at New York's Idlewild Airport, which opened in 1962, provided TWA with a stylish and iconic terminal, cementing the airline's reputation as one of the great airlines of the early Jet Age.

People will be less familiar with TWA's USD 13.7-million proposed expansion of the West Dock at Greater Pittsburgh Airport. Presented in March 1966, the revolutionary concept would bring cars and airplanes within 40 paces of each other. 

The bi-level oval-shaped facility, to be linked to the existing central airport terminal, would have provided a dozen gates capable of accommodating up to 16 TWA jetliners. 

The upper level would have housed 12 ticket and check-in lounges for departing passengers. Baggage delivery to arriving passengers would be on the lower level.

​Both levels would have been served by four-lane, one-way roadways and one above the other, circling the inner rim of the facility.

WHY TWA'S PLAN DIDN'T FLY

However revolutionary, airport experts didn't care much for TWA's idea. Airport aviation consultants Landrum & Brown were quick to point out several critical design factors that were overlooked in TWA's proposal, the most important one being that the terminal could not be expanded.

Also, the proposed plan would have only created a net gain of eight aircraft gates, bringing the total to 33, far below the airlines' request of 40-43 gates by 1970. Lastly, the needed two-way aircraft taxiway clearance, imperative because of the ramp activity in this area, was not provided.

Finally, it was decided to build a conventional pier instead.  The West Dock opened in 1973.

What do you think of the design? Would it have been efficient and effective? Leave your comments below!