FAM Foreign Air Mail First Flights F20

aerodacious

web-catalog FAM Foreign Air Mail First Flights F20

Aerodacious

(Aviation + Audacious = Aerodacious)

eMail: Aerodacious

Page FAM020 (Revised 12/16/2007)

Background: The Post Office Department designated any contract air mail route flown by an airline into/from a foreign country into/from the US as a "Foreign Air Mail" route. The Foreign Air Mail routes became known as FAM's.

FAM-20: FAM-20 was awarded to Pacific Alaska Airways.
In the early planning for trans-Pacific routes it was thought that the only way to cross the Pacific was to island hop through the Aleutians understanding that aircraft lacked the necessary range. Pan American Airways floated Pacific Alaska Airways on June 11, 1932 as a subsidiary company. They did this by amalgamating two airlines, Alaskan Airways (developed by the Aviation Corporation of America) and Pacific International Airlines (a private corporation). Initially Pan Am had hoped to be able to serve Europe by flying across Russia but the Russians withheld their approval.
On April 3, 1935 Pacific Alaska Airways flew its first survey flight from Juneau to Fairbanks AK. FAM-20 was awarded to PAA and on June 20, 1940 flying a Sikorsky S-42 piloted by SE Robbins, it inaugurated scheduled flight service from Seattle WA to Juneau AK via Ketchikan AK. FAM-20 complemented FAM 15 routing.

PAA

Sikorsky S-42

F20-1a	400620	Seattle WA-Ketchikan AK	PAA	SE Robbins	$0.00
F20-1fa	400620	Seattle WA-Ketchikan AK	PAA	SE Robbins	$0.00
F20-1	400620	Seattle WA-Juneau AK	PAA	SE Robbins	$0.00
F20-1f	400620	Seattle WA-Juneau AK	PAA	SE Robbins	$0.00
F20-2	400622	Ketchikan AK-Seattle WA	PAA	WJ Jones	$0.00
F20-3	400622	Juneau AK-Seattle WA	PAA	WJ Jones	$0.00

Pan American secured CAB approval to serve Fairbanks AK from Portland OR as well as Seattle WA.

PAA

Boeing 727

F20-6	650601	Fairbanks AK-Portland OR	PAA	RF Magnussen	$60.00
F20-5	650602	Portland OR-Fairbanks AK	PAA	DH Wallace	$45.00

eMail: Aerodacious