This large floor globe was manufactured for Pan American Airways. Documentation (Wings to the Orient by Stan Cohen) indicates this globe was displayed in the lobby of Building One on Treasure Island, San Francisco, that served as Pan Am’s eastern terminus for its trans-Pacific service and as the Administration Building for the Golden Gate International Exposition, Treasure Island, San Francisco, 1939-1940. The globe later moved with Pan Am from Treasure Island to SFO after WWII. It would have been modified on the base and on the semicircular caliper holding the globe to include the word “World” in the airline’s new identity, Pan American World Airways, which was adopted at that time. The globe sat in the rotunda of Pan Am’s terminal building that was located on the airfield to the north of the seaplane harbor at SFO. It is fitted with internal mounts for an engine to power a chain drive for mechanical rotation of the globe, and the globe face is unpainted land masses with painted oceans on gored cork cladding which allowed airline personnel to use pins and yarn to depict the airline’s route system. The base is painted dark blue with “Pan American World Airways” service mark and winged-globe logo followed by the slogan “The World's Most Experienced Airline” and the curved armature connecting globe and stand is painted blue with the silver and red raised lettering “Pan American World Airways.”
Comments and Suggestions click to expand