This collection consists of the technical files and papers of John G. Borger (1913-2011), who served as Pan American World Airways, Inc.'s Vice President and Chief Engineer. His materials document the development and acquisition of: Boeing aircrafts, including the 377 Stratocruiser, B-707 and B-747; the Douglas DC-6B, DC-7B, and DC-7C, the DC-8 jet; the Lockheed Constellation and the L-1011; the Convair CV-240; the Dassault Falcon 20, 10, and 50; the Pratt and Whitney and Rolls Royce engines, including the JT9D; and the Supersonic Transport (SST) aircraft.
Types of materials retained in the collection include: pamphlets, programs, engineering information, studies, evaluation reports, manuals, personal notes taken by John G. Borger, lectures, typescripts, correspondence, diagrams, flight path drawings, periodicals, research, articles, ephemera, newsclippings, and 3D material objects.
Ione Wright, a Professor Emeritus at the University of Miami, researched the development of Pan American Airlines' Transpacific service. The Ione Wright papers contain documents, oral histories, photographs, operations manuals, maps, and other materials related to the history of Pan American Airlines, including materials related to Victor Wright and materials documenting the establishment of routes in the Pacific.
The topical files document a variety of subjects related to Pan American Airlines, dating from 1920-1986. Ione Wright compiled many of the files during her research on the airline’s activities in the Pacific, including correspondence with former Pan Am employees and oral history transcripts. Also included are photographs, files related to the China Clipper, and a variety of Pan Am publications.
The collection also contains navigation manuals and operations manuals for Pan Am airplanes, including the B-727, the DC-4, the DC-6, and the DC-7, as well as operations manuals for Pan American Airlines’ Latin American Division.
Also included a variety of maps and aviation charts for parts of the United States, South America, and the Caribbean, as well as route maps for Pan American Airlines, and a map of the United States by John Melish from 1816.
This collection contains aviation research related to the loss of Flight 7, PAA-94, Pan American Clipper Romance of the Skies in the mid-Pacific on November 8, 1957. Included within are documents, photographs, notes, memoranda of conversations, and interview transcripts used in the research and writing of two magazine articles by Gregg Herken and Ken Fortenberry. Also included in the collection are the articles which appeared in Air & Space and Smithsonian magazines.
The Dorothy E. Mills Flight Attendant papers contains materials related to her tenure as a stewardess of the Latin American Division and later chief stewardess of the Atlantic Division for the Pan American World Airways in the 1940s. Held in the collection are the following items:
Four letters by Mills to William Brown, Head of Special Collections in 1997, discussing the materials donated to the collection and her history with the Pan American World Airways.
An acceptance letter, an award letter (written and signed by founder Juan Trippe), and a resignation letter from Pan American World Airways.
23 8" x 10" photographs of Pan American World Airways flight attendants, with accompanying descriptions.
A scrapbook of clippings, photographs, and other materials by Mills about her life as a Pan American World Airways flight attendant
Two issues (including two duplicates) of Clipper Magazine, both containing articles about Mills.
Six newspaper clippings about Pan American World Airways.
