Pan Am Ferries Wings

[pfrost]

These are a couple of new wings to the nest. What is exciting is that they are biographical wings to an early WWII-era (and likely pre-war) Pan Am pilot.

 

Mel posted a great thread on some of the RAF Ferry and Transport Command related insignia here (it is a good place to start):

By the early 1940's, it was becoming very clear that England and other Commonwealth countries (the RAF, RCAF, RAAF, RNZAF, et al) had more of a problem than they had initially expected. Primarily finding enough combat pilots to fight the Axis, whilst moving planes and supplies from one area to the other.  For example, getting planes made in the USA and Canada to England was not an easy prospect, moving planes from the factories, to the air bases, and then to the theater of operations (like England, Egypt, Australia or China/India) was complex and difficult.  Military combat pilots were needed for the fighting and couldn't be spared.  New pilots had to be trained, planes had to be prepared to go into combat and crews and equipment had to be replaced.  As Mel explained, the RAF quickly began to develop a process to ferry and transport airplanes from the USA then to Canada, and eventually across the North Atlantic to England.

Since the US was neutral (and we forget, there was a VERY STRONG isolationist streak in US politics), the ability of American pilots to move equipment was rather difficult as well.  I some cases, planes produces in the US for the RAF were flown via civilian aviators to the US/Canadian border, parked and left alone, for Canadian crews to run across the boarder and "pull" the planes into Canada!  Once in Canada, the RAF and the Ferry Command could move them to various air fields in Canada for either disassembly and shipping via convoy, or in some cases, flying across directly to England via the North Atlantic. But the threats by U-boat and weather made this rather difficult.

 

The FDR administration got the Lend-Lease act passed in early 1941 (May) and was able to use this mechanism to provide aid, material and assistance to the English, Russians and other allied nations to support the war effort against the Nazis and the Axis countries.  For movement of air planes, the USAAF established the Air Core Ferry Command in March of 1941.  The ACFC used civilian pilots (including women) to transport air craft from the factories to special stations for further processing.  The WASPS are often seen as being the first civilian women ferry/service pilots, but the fact is that the WASPs were preceded by the Women's Flying Training Detachment (WFTD) and the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS). Both were organized separately in September 1942.  On August 5, 1943, the WFTD and WAFS merged to create the WASP organization and the WASPs was program was ended by 1944. Interestingly the RAF had been using women Ferry pilots as part of the Air Transport Auxiliary program.  In November 1939, Commander Pauline Gower recruited the first set of women pilots into the ATA.  Jackie Cochran had served with the ATA and in conjunction with Nancy Love, the idea of using American women pilots was born.  There is some interesting history and Ms. Cochran was a good friend of Hap Arnold and Eleanor Roosevelt and had been rather successful in her lobbying efforts.

 

Moving aircraft in areas not in combat was relatively easy, but getting the planes (those that could make the flight) from the US and Canada, to England, Egypt, China/India and Russia was not so simple.  When the war started the US and RAF/RCAF had the North Atlantic Route to get planes to England, and the Northwest route to get planes to Russia.  But by 1942, other routes were becoming more important, including the South Atlantic routes to Africa, Egypt, the Middle East, Russia, and the CBI.  Also, with the fall of the Philippines was a serious need for a South Pacific Route getting planes and personnel to Australia/New Zealand and India.

 

In August of  1941, FDR and Winston Churchill approached Juan Tripp of Pan AM and proposed the idea of PAN AM taking over some of the Ferry duties using their established South Atlantic and Pacific routes.  Pan AM was already had all the infrastructure and training to move planes and equipment from the US across the Pacific and Atlantic. With the entry of the US into WWII, PAN AM was soon enlisted into the war effort.  They were well versed and well staffed and this resulted in the establishment of two PAN AM subsidiary airlines, PAN AM Africa and PAN AM Ferries.  The idea was that PAN AM would staff and support the movement of airplanes and crews.  As an aside, PAN AM also established CNAC during the late 1930's. 

 

PAN AM crews wore specific PAN AM Ferries or PAN AM Africa wings, although the pilots were sometimes rotated from "regular" PAA billets, wearing the appropriate wings.  From 1942 until about 1943, PAA Ferries and PAA Africa transported many planes and crews from the US and across the South Atlantic (via Brazil, the Azores, Central and North Africa, and onto to Egypt, Middle East and Russia/CBI).  PAA Ferry pilots were civilian pilots, not USAAF personnel.

 

By July 1942, the ACFC had morphed into the ATC.  Many civilian pilots still flew with the ATC as part of the ferry duties and wore the bronze ATC wings throughout the war.  Many of the commercial airlines were involved (not just PAA).

 

I borrowed some pictures from Mel (who has done some great work on the ACFC wings).  Often faked, the were NOT strictly worn by Women pilots.  It is my general opinion that other than a few unicorn wings, most of these were made by Robbins. I may be wrong, but I believe that these were civilian pilots. 

 

In the late 1930's until after the end of WWII, PAA wings used a blue disc. with the letters "PAA" over the North and South American Continents.

 

By 1942 until about 1943, the PAA Ferries wings were worn by Ferry pilots. They are very similar to the PAA wings, but had the words "Ferries" added.

 

 

Like most PAA wings the "rank" of the pilot was indicated by a small plaque with no, 1, 2 or 3 stars. The more stars, the more senior the pilot.

By 1943 or so PAA Ferries and PAA Africa had been disbanded and folded back into the regular PAA airlines.

 

 

 

I am not 100% sure when the bronze ATC wings were used, but I suspect they first started being worn in the middle to late 1942.

[pfrost]

The PAA Ferries wings are autobiographical and belonged to a Rowland Bell.  Mr Bell was working as a test pilot for McKinely before WWII and likely became a PAA pilot after his employer died in a plane crash.  Just before WWII, Rowland Bell worked for McKinely Pneumatic Floats Inc and they made floats for seaplanes.  It is my belief that he became an employee of Pan AM in March of 1942.  He was a Junior and Senior pilot during this time.  He spent the next 20-25 years as a PAA pilot, retiring in the late 1960's.

 

I was able to keep some of the collection together (at least the PAA Ferries Inc wings), although I have lost a few brutal eBay auctions chasing his PAA senior pilot and command pilot wings from after the war.

 

It is rare to find PAA Ferry and PAA Africa wings, but it is rare to find ANY PAA wings. They are highly sought after.

[mtnman]

Patrick, I am in utter awe. You did FANTASTIC work here my friend and you committed yourself to keeping together one of the most historic paramilitary wing groupings I have ever seen; that with all the excellent research which you endeavored to shed light on so to bring together the information that you did. So now we have a thread detailing both the man's journey and the history of the organization within which he took that journey, during one of the most prolific and cataclysmic military confrontations ever. Thank you so much for sharing this splendid grouping of tiny monuments to a man who flew in air space fraught with danger so to do his part with consistency and dedication, to bring the victory of the freedom we once enjoyed. 

[pfrost]

I was writing quickly, so I apologize for all the typos.  First, the AFCF wings were worn by some women pilots, but not all WASPs would have worn these wings.  I believe by the time the WASPS were training the original AFCF had become the ATC. That is why the WASPs are often seen wearing the ATC ferry command patch.

 

There are some other typos and probably some mistakes in exact dates.

[pfrost]

To round out this thread with some women pilot history.

 

The idea that WASPs were unique as aviatrix is not accurate. We all know about Amelia Earhart and her relatively early aviation career. But Ms Earhart wasn't the first.  After WWI, there was a great deal of interest in flying and many women became active in aviation. 

 

First is a WIAA (women's international aviation association wing) from the 1930's. The WIAA was founded by Elizabeth Lippincott McfQueen in the late 1920's.

 

 

 

Second is a WASP wing that has been made into a bracelet from 1944.

 

 

 

[rathbonemuseum.com]

Not easy to chase those PAA ferry and africa items! Glad you got the name to go with the insignia as it adds so much to the story and gives you more to investigate. Thanks for sharing.

[rathbonemuseum.com]

I hope Patrick doesn't mind but here are some links if you want to read more and some great images of the crews in action.

 

https://dmairfield.org/people/cleveland_wm/1984_AAHSJournal.pdf Adventures with the Pan Am Ferries 1942. Story with pictures

https://www.panam.org/pan-am-stories/614-pan-am-s-air-ferry-service From the Pan Am historical archives Pan Am Ferries during the war

https://www.panam.org/war-years/394-african-legacy-2 The legacy of Pan Am Africa

 

[pfrost]

Thank you Tod,

 

I did a quick read of the AAHS article.  I found that flight 187, on 10/24/42, a flight to Basra was flown by a Captain Bell.  I wonder if that was my guy. The timing is right!

 

From the article, you can see that PAA Ferries was active for only a year or two (from late 1941 until late 1942.  They not only ferried planes, but moved personnel, cargo and equipment.  PAA Africa was very important in establishing airfields and routes in Central and North Africa. 

 

Again, thanks Tod

 

[rathbonemuseum.com]

I also wanted to connect this post to an older post that had some nice Pan Am Africa material