AA-2026-D2E1D0
On the image
A young blonde girl peers back from the top of a Pan American World Airways boarding stairway, caught mid-climb, while a KLM four-engine airliner rolls toward them across the open tarmac. In the 1950s, passengers walked directly across the apron and climbed exterior stairs to board, which meant standing in prop wash with a grandstand view of every other aircraft on the field — a level of access that no airline's insurance department had yet thought to forbid. The PAA globe logo on the stair unit marks this as a moment when Pan Am still ran the world's long-haul routes with the confidence of a country, not a company. The girl has turned away from the door and toward whatever is coming, which is exactly the right instinct when a KLM Douglas DC-6 is bearing down on your staircase. No one on the ground appears to be concerned, because in the 1950s the tarmac operated on the honor system.
Visually related — by likeness
Boarding a Pan Am Clipper While KLM Taxis In, 1950s. 1950–1959. Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library, AA-2026-D2E1D0. https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/boarding-a-pan-am-clipper-while-klm-taxis-in-1950s.
@misc{aaAA2026D2E1D0,
title = {Boarding a Pan Am Clipper While KLM Taxis In, 1950s},
year = {1950–1959},
howpublished = {Archive \& Atlas, Historical Image Library},
note = {Accession AA-2026-D2E1D0},
url = {https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/boarding-a-pan-am-clipper-while-klm-taxis-in-1950s}
}TY - ART TI - Boarding a Pan Am Clipper While KLM Taxis In, 1950s PY - 1950–1959 PB - Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library AN - AA-2026-D2E1D0 UR - https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/boarding-a-pan-am-clipper-while-klm-taxis-in-1950s ER -
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