To Paradise and Beyond: Trans-Pacific Air Service through Hawai'i

International Terminal

Aviation Museum & Library

Oct 01, 2010 - Feb 01, 2011

To Paradise and Beyond: Trans-Pacific Air Service through Hawai'i

During the early twentieth century, the Pacific Ocean presented an awesome challenge to the development of commercial aviation. Covering nearly a third of the surface of the Earth, to successfully surmount this vast ocean required the best aviators and the most advanced aircraft and equipment of the time. Reaching the U.S. Territory of Hawaii, approximately 2,400 miles from San Francisco, nearly a third of the way to Asia, represented the first major step in the endeavor. In 1927, shortly after Charles Lindbergh’s trans-Atlantic flight, two U.S. Army Air Corps pilots, Lieutenants Lester Maitland and Albert Hegenberger, became the first to successfully fly from California to Hawaiʻi. They were quickly followed by a succession of other military and civilian pilots.

By 1935, Pan American Airways, under the visionary leadership of Juan Terry Trippe, established the first regularly scheduled trans-Pacific air service to Asia through Hawaiʻi. Pan American maintained complete dominance in the Pacific until 1946, when Northwest and United Air Lines were awarded trans-Pacific routes to Hawaiʻi and Asia. Not until the 1970s and 1980s, did other U.S. airlines begin to offer service between Hawaiʻi and the mainland, including the Hawaiian carriers Aloha and Hawaiian Airlines.

A highly popular tourist destination, Hawai’i also remained an important refueling stop on long-haul trans-Pacific routes for decades. With more disposable income and leisure time during the booming post-war economy, ever-increasing numbers of tourists were enticed by lower fares, special in-flight services, tour packages, and evocative promotions of a tropical island paradise with traditional Hawaiian hospitality amid sun-bathed beachside resorts. By the late 1950s, Hawai’i had become one of the top tourist destinations in the U.S., and it has retained that status into the present.

Fokker C-2 Bird of Paradise Micarta propellers

Lieutenants Lester Maitland and Albert Hegenberger after completing the first successful nonstop flight from North America to Hawaii

Travel Air 5000 Woolaroc and Breese Aloha at Wheeler Field, Hawaii

Pan American World Airways Pacific service brochure 1949

Pan American World Airways Hawaii by Clipper flight bag 1950s

Pan American World Airways Boeing Model 377 Stratocruiser model aircraft 1950s

Aloha from Hawaii 33 1/3 rpm long-play phonograph record 1959

United Air Lines female Menehune statuette 1970s

Hawaiian Airlines miniature flight bag 1960s

Western Airlines Hawaiian flight attendant uniform 1980s

United Air Lines Hawaiian flight attendant uniform dress 1980s

Gallery Map