A new Boeing 314, NC18603, at Pan American's Treasure Island base, wearing fleet number 17. Given the amount of people, the photo seems to have been taken during the Golden Gate International Expo which opened here on 18 February 1939. The aircraft flew to Baltimore five days later to join Pan Am's Alantic Division, and was christened Yankee Clipper by Eleanor Roosevelt in Washington, DC on 3 March. Photo from: San Francisco Public Library

Christened here by Eleanor Roosevelt. Photo from: Library of Congress

The dawn of heavier-than-air passenger service across the Atlantic, 28 June 1939. Somewhat embarrassingly the flight had taken four days due to fog at the Botwood, Newfoundland stop. The aircraft carried 19 passengers, twelve crew and 60,000 letters but this was not considered a regular flight, which causes some confusion. On 28 June, NC18605 Dixie Clipper departed New York on the first regular passenger flight, via the 'southern route' to Marseille through the Azores. Yankee was back in NY on 2 July and flew the first regular pax service to Southampton on 8-9 July. She had also made the first mail flights, to Marseille in May and to Southampton in June. Photo from: Nationaal Archief (Netherlands)