When it comes to vintage airlines and aircraft, the Pan Am livery has pretty much been at the top of my “cool” list for as long as I can remember. Growing up in the 80’s, Pan Am was the pinnacle of what I considered to be a true international airline. With their huge fleet of (then) modern wide body aircraft, five star onboard service, and a very impressive global route network, I considered them to be the best (which was a pretty big deal in my little 10 year old brain).
This ultimately (foolishly?) led me to compare them to everyone else – never mind the fact that I was just a boy and I (nor anyone I knew) had ever once stepped foot on any Pan American aircraft. All I knew was that this was the airline that I saw all over TV and the movies, taking my heroes to destinations all over the world to fight crime and do amazing things.
Pan Am “Globe” livery: 1958-1984
Designed by Edward Larrabee Barnes and Charles Forberg (an architect), the ironic “Globe” livery is the one that I think of whenever I think of Pan Am. There were many versions of it, but to me, the original one introduced in 1958 is the best.
While the Boeing 747 probably seems the most “Pan Am” to me, I tend to like this livery on the DC-10 just as much. This combination just screams “1970s” to me, which speaking in airline terms, is actually a good thing. Yeah, that was a time when air travel was still considered luxurious and somewhat extravagant – and I’m totally bummed that I never got to experience any of it. Does anyone have a time machine I can borrow?
Shortly after putting the final touches on my Airbus A320 templates, I couldn’t resist the temptation to paint this classic version of the Pan Am livery on it. Why not, right?
I did have to take a few artistic liberties with it, namely painting the engines white instead of keeping them bare metal (which was common back in the day). I’m not sure why, but an A320 with bare metal engines just looks…odd. I also made the conscious choice to use cfm56 engines. And of course, it just had to have sharklets.
As far as fantasy liveries go, I almost like this one better than the Saul Bass United 787 I created.
Pan Am Billboard livery: 1984-1991
Pan Am later switched to an all-new livery in the 1984 which featured larger PAN AM titles on the forward section of the fuselage, while retaining the original globe logo. That was one of the first “billboard” liveries ever done in the airline industry, and while nice, I don’t think it had the class and subtlety of the previous livery design. Gotta love the classics.
You hit it on the mail here. Looking down history lane, there s nothing close to what Pan Am has accomplished… for their time. This was such a classy livery. The white belly accentuated the blue cheatline. The billboard lacked elegance.
I actually didn’t mind the billboard livery all that much – it’s what they were using just as I was really getting into airliner stuff, and it’s the livery I think of first whenever someone says “Pan Am”.
Pan Am definitely had a great livery with the initial “globe” design. The only other airline I believe can match the Pan Am color scheme is the Air New Zealand livery of the 1970s to early 80s. It looked great on both their DC-10s and later 747s.
I agree. I consider the original Pan Am livery to be my favorite of all time. Not only because of the way it looks, but because of the memories it invokes. As an 80s child, that livery was all over TV (and in the movies)!