Before ABC Airs Pan Am, HistoryMiami Opens "Aviation in Miami: The First 100 Years"
Categories: Local History
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| Christina Ricci in ABC's Pan Am. |
HistoryMiami is marking this notable anniversary with a new exhibit, "Aviation in Miami: The First Hundred Years." So before Christina Ricci wiggles around as a stewardess on the New York-centric Pan Am, see where it all began. We spoke with HistoryMiami's Chief Curator Joanne Hyppolite about the exhibit, which opens this Thursday with a reception and will be on view through July 22, 2012.
New Times: What's the inspiration behind this exhibit?
Joanne Hyppolite: I think people will be surprised by how far aviation has reached into our communities and impacted the people here. Literally hundreds of thousands of people have been employed by the aviation industry in Miami since the late '20s. That's hundreds of thousands of people from developers and administrators to flight attendants, pilots, mechanics, and baggage handlers who have a connection (stories, memories, and real experiences) to aviation.
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| Amelia Earhart launched her ill-fated attempt to circumnavigate the globe from Miami. |
Models of airplanes that have been significant in Miami's history including the Wright Model B and Curtiss Model D that were the first planes flown in Miami, a Cubana Viscount Turboprop (first Cuba to Miami airplane hijacking), an L1011( the plane from the Eastern Airlines Flight 401crash), and an original Brown Racer flown at the 1934 All American Air Maneuvers.
Other artifacts include original Pan American Airways founder Juan Trippe's office desk, a make-up table that Pan Am student flight attendants trained on, Amelia Earhart luggage, a pilot's helmet and goggles belonging to Charles Lindbergh and more.
There's plenty of hype surrounding ABC's new Pan Am TV series this Fall. To what extent did Pan Am affect South Florida as we know it today?
Pan Am was central to Miami's development. It established two of our earliest airports, Pan American Field (which is on the current footprint of MIA and the Dinner Key airport). Pan Am brought aviators, aviation mechanics and aviation instructors from around the world to Miami to train, work and establish the infrastructure needed to make Miami an aviation hub.
Pan Am also brought legions of celebrities, politicians and dignitaries to Miami including Franklin Delano Roosevelt (the first sitting president to fly and he flew out of Dinner Key). Pan Am's Dinner Key headquarters was instrumental in the development of international air and passenger routes to Latin America and the Caribbean.
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In recent years, air travel is consumed with safety and terrorism. What were some of the industry's issues from 40 or 60 years ago?
The exhibition is organized around several of the key issues in the aviation industry during its 20th century development and how they impacted Miami and its people: Selling, the promotions that needed to take place to make commercial aviation viable; safety, the training and infrastructure that needed to be established to make flying safe; service, attending to the needs of the flying public; and security, how aviation has intersected with international politics.
Two other sections of the exhibition explore the beginning of aviation in Miami through its first two flights and the development of Miami International Airport. In the "Selling" section we examine the work early celebrity aviators like Lindbergh, Earhart, and Rickenbacker did to promote aviation to a skeptical public that had never flown before and we explore high profile and successful events such as the Miami All American Air Maneuvers, which helped tout Miami's world-class aviation facilities.
"Aviation in Miami" opens this Thursday at HistoryMiami (101 W. Flagler St., Miami) with a reception at 5:30 p.m. and will be up until July 22, 2012. Admission to the reception is free. Otherwise, admission cost $5 to $8. Call 305-375-1492 or visit historymiami.org
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HistoryMiami
101 W. Flagler St., Miami, FL
Category: General
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