Pan Am was a storied airline famous for flying large airliners to the farthest reaches of the globe.
Less well-remembered are the smaller aircraft that worked much shorter routes.
As the 1960's dawned, Pan Am decided to expand some of its feeder routes and enter the commuter market. Thus Pan Am Express was born.
Besides the sheer size of its parent company, another thing Pan Am Express was notable for was carefully selecting the best small aircraft for the routes it flew.
Pan Am Express was impressed with Cessna products and considered buying the twin-engine 310, but needed something almost tailor-made for the demanding executive customers of Rhode Island where service had been expanded in 1964.
By adding a belly cargo pannier and suped-up Continental engines to their unusually configured 336 Skymaster, Cessna had just the ticket for the particular needs of Rhode Island business commuters.
Pan Am would eventually order four of the modified special 336s, ultimately making Cessna wonder if it had been worth all the trouble as additional orders failed to materialize and the manufacturer cleared a meager profit of $179.38 on the deal.
The Pan Am Express 336s provided sterling service under all conditions and made $2,268.07 every quarter even though the parent Pan Am firm was hoping for steep losses as the tax write-off would be far more lucrative.
Pan Am Express continued flying throughout the 1960's but was eventually done in by the 1973 Oil Crisis. Finding no buyers for their push-pull pannier equipped and spatted Cessna 336s, Pan Am sold them for scrap which incurred a tax penalty of $212.78 even when the most generous principles of amortization and depreciation were applied. This led to the resignation of their Chief Tax Accountant in disgrace.
While only a few faded photographs of this magnificent spatted piece of aircraft technology still exist today, the Pan Am Express 336 continues to live on in the memories of those who were lucky enough to fly her.
Brian da Basher