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Support Our Channel : The 50th anniversary of Pan American Airlines (Pan Am) and a record-setting flight are celebrated in this 1977 film. The film opens with a narration of man’s desire to explore the globe — first by sea and later by air — most notably Wiley Post (mark 00:45) who was the first pilot to fly solo around the world in his Lockheed Vega aircraft, the Winnie Mae, in 1933. In 1947 the first around-the world passenger service was inaugurated in a Lockheed Constellation made for Pan Am. At mark 01:13 we see a Boeing 747SP-21 named Clipper Liberty Bell, which broke the commercial around-the-world record. Then, in 1977, we learn how Pan American Clipper New Horizons departing on a record-setting flight around the world over both poles (mark 02:13). It’s that flight that is the basis of the film as move to celebratory scenes at San Francisco International Airport on October 28, 1977, as “Flight 50” prepares for its 26,000 mile journey. With passengers onboard, the Clipper New Horizons taxis down the runway (mark 05:10) and takes ff exactly 50 years after Pan Ams first flight. The camera walks the cabin as the narrator explains the great demand for tickets and the company’s marketing director details the planning that went into the flight. The trip included an onboard fashion show (mark 07:23) and champagne toast as the aircraft circles the North Pole. The flight is welcomed in London (mark 08:56) and following a ceremony sets off for Capetown, South Africa as passengers are shown playing game, writing postcards, reading, watching movies (including “Casablanca” and “Road to Morocco”), and dining. A huge crowd welcomes passengers after their arrival in Capetown (mark 13:00) and following a ceremony with the city’s mayor the aircraft is back in the air. It crosses the South Pole as the camera captures snow-covered Antarctica below (mark 14:50). Despite rain in Auckland, New Zealand (mark 16:00) the passengers receive another warm welcome including traditional greetings and entertainment before embarking on the journey’s final leg. Passengers share their thoughts with the camera before finally touching down in San Francisco at mark 20:00. In 1976, the same aircraft seen in this film, made a similar around-the-world flight under the command of Captain Walter H. Mullikan, the airline’s chief pilot. That flight set a new speed record for a flight around the world, eastbound, and three speed records for commercial airline routes. The flight shown in the film used the same 747SP on the circumnavigation, but this time it was crossed both the North and South Poles. Renamed Clipper New Horizons, 21025 set a record on that flight as well, with a total flight time of 54 hours, 7 minutes, 12 seconds. Pan American sold its fleet of Boeing 747SPs to United Airlines in 1986. 21025 was re-registered N143UA to reflect its new ownership. After twenty years, 21025 was removed from service in 1995 and placed in storage at Ardmore, Oklahoma. It was scrapped in 1997. The airliner had accumulated 78,941 total flight hours on its airframe (TTAF) with 10,733 cycles. We encourage viewers to add comments and, especially, to provide additional information about our videos by adding a comment! See something interesting? Tell people what it is and what they can see by writing something for example: “01:00:12:00 -- President Roosevelt is seen meeting with Winston Churchill at the Quebec Conference.“ This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit
