Pan American Airways Formed to Qualify for Airmail Deliveries Contract with Post Office

The coveted U.S. Post Office contract for the Foreign Airmail Contract to carry the U.S. Mail from Key West Florida to Havana Cuba – and the great potential for expansion of air routes beyond to Latin America – lay in the balance because the U.S Post Office had made it clear that October 19th, 1927, was the deadline for fulfillment of the contract’s commencement.

If Pan Am failed to honor the deal, the contract could well be voided, and the tentative enterprise that Juan Trippe, John Hambleton, and their small group of associates had been planning and working to create might come apart at the seams.

Fortunately, fate was on Pan Am’s side that October and on the very last day permitted under the U.S. Post Office contract, a chartered Pan American Airways aircraft, flown by Cy Caldwell operated Pan Am’s very first flight.

Photo Credit: Key West Library, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys.