Sunday at the MAT

Boeing B-314, Courtesy SFO Museum, gift of PAHF. A Mighty Design.

A Mighty Design. Boeing B-314, John T. McCoy watercolor, courtesy SFO Museum, gift of PAHF.

Boeing B-314 Close Up of Take Off. John T. McCoy watercolor, courtesy of SFO Museum, gift of PAHF.

Clipper Tradewind, a Boeing 707 at the Worldport, 1968.

South by West. Ed Musick in Aukland, New Zealand.

Fiorello LaGuardia at the Marine Air Terminal Opening in 1940.

Jupiter Rex Certificate issued to Pan Am passengers crossing the equator, on Pan Am Routes.

Boeing B-707, world's first successful commercial jet transport.

Boeing 747-SP was designed for extreme long-range flights.

New York Airways helicopter landing on the rooftop heliport, Pan Am Building New York City.

South by West: Pan Am Kingman Reef expedition leader Danilo Vucetich & colleagues.

Boeing B-314 Fleet at Marine Air Terminal

The Atlantic Division's B-314 Clipper Fleet, in 1940 in Bowery Bay, by the MAT.

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Our Mission: To preserve and promote the unique heritage of Pan American World Airways, Inc. and its incomparable contributions to the technology, convenience, safety and excitement of commercial aviation.

A WALK THROUGH HISTORY, Sunday @ the MAT: In nearly 75 years of existence, the Marine Air Terminal at NY's LaGuardia Airport has gone through some changes...

View the embedded image gallery online at:
http://panam.org/pan-ams-wider-world/182-the-shadow-rides-the-china-clipper.html#sigProGalleria9fab07251e

At first, it was America's premier aerial gateway to Europe, purpose built as a terminus for what was aptly described as the most romantic voyage in history (by Clare Boothe Luce).

Giant Boeing 314's plied the waters of Bowery Bay on their way to and from Atlantic crossings and came to rest at the MAT.

With war in the 1940s, the terminal and adjacent structures hummed to the rhythm of America's military demands, which included the servicing and dispatch of a fleet of seaplanes - the Boeings now joined by Sikorsky VS-44's , Martin PBM's and Consolidated PB2Y's.

With the end of the seaplane era, the MAT fell in to a period of disuse, but found new life as a remote terminal for east coast shuttle flights. The Art Deco terminal, including the heroically scaled James Brooks' mural "Flight" that was painted over in the 1950's, was renovated and listed in the National Registry of Historic Places in the early 1980's. Airline passengers again can partake in at least an echo of the grand ambiance formerly suffusing the air travel experience.

A casual visit on a recent Sunday afternoon made for a solitary but satisfying experience. Not many travelers that afternoon, but plenty of history. Read background history on the Marine Air Terminal and view Pan Am Panels.