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Posted by Barry Handolf
on 7/7/2008, 8:34 pm
58.174.68.82
Hi everyone i came across this lovely site to find the airline i loved and watched grow until it was gone. The Queen of the skies PAN AMERICAN WORLD AIRWAYS. Its short name PAN AM. i LIVE IN New Zealand and over the years i watch many airliners come and go from Auckland International airport. Pan Am was the first and main all American carrier to b the first across the pacific with there DC 6 props then they revoltionised the world with Boeing and brought the jet age era in with there 707 jets then the almighty huge Jumbo jet. I got use to many Clipper names that visited Auckland and different type Rego's and knew most of the regular aircraft used on the long haul flights from LAX/ AKL. I also got to view the very impressive flight deck and under the cargo area's or undercarriage bay area of these aircraft when they were hangered for the day due to cancelation flights across the tasman to Australia. Even in the early years where the long haul flights terminated in AKL after the long flights from the USA.
Strangely enough on a wet Wednesday in April of 1976 an unmarked PAN AM 747 made an appearance at AKL and was taxied after landing to the back of the AIR NEW ZEALAND maintance hangers where they housed there DC-10-30 jets and there DC-8-52 aircraft back then. This 747-121 was very new straight from the Boeing plant. Its rego was N6001PA with the very thin blue stripe line on the passenger windows and the big blue ball with the PAN AM logo on the tail. One side of the jet had a name Clipper Amazon but the other side had Clipper Liberty Bell in small painted writing. I always thought this was a 747sp jet in later years to come when PAN AM ordered these short version baby jumbo jets. I am wanting to know from anyone who might have seen this aircraft here in NZ for three days was this aircraft one that never was registered or flew with PAN AM or was it a spare aircraft that went into storage and never used by PAN AM. I knew there where a few Jumbo's that went straight from Boeing to the desert storage facility's and sat there for a few years before they entered service with PAN AM. Can anyone tell me why PAN AM stored unused jets like this then later put them into service or sold them off?. Can anyone tell me what ever happened to a PAN AM 747-121 jet called Clipper Fleetwing N538PA before it became a 747sp jet. I do remember a pilot of N538PA a 747sp aircraft that sat at AKL all day and was on veiw to schools and the open day for the public. His name was CPTN Willie Singh and F/O M Kerry who were showing the public over this 747sp jet. Thank you
Barry Handolf
PAN AM PASSENGER plane spotter
former AIR NEW ZEALND Engineer AKL airport 1966-1988.
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