Humanitarian flights
During World War II, Trippe sold his entire fleet to the War Department. He also welcomed aviators to train at his facilities in Miami and helped build air bases in Latin America and Africa.
After Fidel Castro came to power in Cuba, many Cubans faced persecution. One of their only ways to leave the country was a Pan Am flight. Pan Am, however, was losing lots of money because of the poor exchange rate. Nevertheless, they continued the airlifts.
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Pan Am also operated the Pedro Pan and Freedom Flights programs, which transported Cuban refugees fleeing the Castro regime. — Steve Hersh, E-mail interview
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Coming from Cuba, when it came time for my family to leave in 1960, my parents booked us on Pan American because once you set foot aboard that airplane, you were on US territory.
— Antolín García Carbonell, historian
Pan Am returned to the battlefield during the Vietnam War. They flew R&R (Rest and Recreation) flights for American servicemen and participated in Operation Babylift, the transport of hundreds of orphaned children to foster parents in the United States.