PICTURES: Pan American Airways retrace Flying Boat routes of 1940’s

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AFTER over 30 years, a Pan American Airways Boeing 757- 200, ‘Yankee Clipper 11’ has landed at Shannon Airport having retraced the Flying Boat routes of the 1930/40’s. The route included New York, Bermuda, Marseilles, Lisbon, London and finally the Mid-West region for a very historic visit to Foynes.

The route included New York, Bermuda, Marseilles, Lisbon, London and finally the Mid-West region for a very historic visit to Foynes.

This special flight ‘Tracing the Transatlantic’ was hosted by Craig Carter, CEO, Pan American World Airways, and operated by Bartelings in collaboration with Criterion Travel. A total of 50 lucky passengers were on board the flight having paid $60,000 per person for this exclusive trip.

While visiting Ireland the passengers enjoyed the welcome and hospitality of Adare Manor Hotel. Their visit to Foynes Flying Boat Museum on June 26 was the highlight of their trip. The group was also welcomed by Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport, Patrick O’Donovan, TD and by the Chairman of the Museum board, Eamonn Brennan.

READ MORE: Foynes Flying Boat & Maritime Museum among the ‘Good Causes’ to benefit from lottery funding

The Museum features the world’s only full-size replica of a Boeing 314 Flying Boat, better known as the PAN AM YANKEE CLIPPER. The group relived the ambience and style of those famous flying boats that transited the North Atlantic from 1937 – 1945 from New York to Foynes.

Their visit to the Museum concluded with a Gala Dinner featuring the best of Irish produce, entertainment and Irish Coffee – first invented in Foynes in 1943 by Chef Joe Sheridan.

Pan American World Airways founded in 1927, boasts a legacy that is littered with ‘firsts’, recording many unique flights, routes and aircraft, all under its visionary founder Juan Trippe.

Pan American completed over 2,097 flights across the North Atlantic to Foynes during the 1937-1945 period in their Boeing B314 Flying Boats. Passengers included royalty, movie stars, statesmen and refugees. People like King George of Greece, Ernest Hemingway, Humphrey Bogart, John F Kennedy and Eleanor Roosevelt all arrived in Foynes on their journeys. British actress, singer and comedian Gracie Fields also transited Foynes and performed a concert on the pier for the locals.

Anyone travelling from the US to Europe on the North Atlantic route had to transit Foynes. In October 1945 the last Pan Am flight Flying Boat departed Foynes and airport operations moved across the estuary to Shannon Airport for the beginning of land plane operations.

Foynes Flying Boat & Maritime Museum details everything from the first passenger flights, right up to the post-war era and beyond.

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