Pan
American?s first logo was an arrow piercing a shield shape
bracket with the letters ?PAA? enclosed. From the top of the
shield, lines flowed towards the tail giving an impression
of an arrow in express flight. In October 1930, Andre
Priester ordered a standard theme for all Pan American
aircraft, a logo designed with a hemisphere globe underneath
a half wing. Over time, this logo evolved into a series of
three symbols, which were placed on the nose and near the
tail of all aircraft. The first globe in the series
emphasized the Caribbean and Latin America, at the time, the
company?s area of operation. In 1944, several changes were
made by placing the letters ?PAA? on the wing, incorporating
grid lines, and rotating the globe to show portions of the
western hemisphere. Later on, the grid lines were removed.
Along the fuselage of all company aircraft, in navy blue,
the official color for aircraft livery, a set of parallel
lines were painted, one above and one below the windows.
During its existence, the corporate name
changed three times. The original name was ?Pan American
Airways.? On January 3, 1950, the corporate name was changed
to Pan American World Airways, which affirmed the
company?s expanded global operation. In 1949, with the
introduction of the Boeing 377 ?Stratocruiser,? the
airline?s most enduring slogan, ?World?s Most Experienced
Airline,? was adopted.
In 1955, New York architect Edward Larrabee
Barnes was hired as Pan Am?s consultant designer. He and his
associate Charles Forberg, in preparation for the
introduction of America?s first commercial jets, the Boeing
707 and Douglas DC 8, revamped the image of the company. The
traditional half-wing symbol was replaced with a clean blue
globe over-laid with curved parabolic lines to give an
impression of an airline without geographic demarcations.
Royal blue became the official color. On all aircraft, a
royal blue line ran along the fuselage below the windows. On
November 1, 1972, the corporate name was changed for the
final time to ?Pan Am,? the company?s popular nickname. Pan
Am?s famous blue ball became and still remains, one of the
worlds?s most recognized corporate symbols, along with Coke
Cola and Kodak.
On
December 4, 1991, ?Pan Am,? America?s premier airline,
declared bankruptcy and ceased operations. Bankruptcy court
sold the assets of the company, including the rights to the
blue ball logo. Patent laws restrict reproduction or use of
the blue ball trademark without permission of the owner. To
circumvent this restriction, two iconic symbols, the logos
of the prop age and the jet age, were combined to
effectively focus on the company?s sixty-four year life time
legacy in commercial aviation. In the hearts of former
employees, the combined symbols will always represent the
original venerated ?Pan Am.?
Don
Cooper
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