New York Aviation History

The Legacy Endures: Unveiling of the Pan Am Timeline Exhibit

By Roberta DunnDecember 7, 2021No Comments1 Min Read

Unveiling of the Pan Am Timeline Exhibit

(L.-R.): Ed Trippe, Jr., Linda Freire, and John Luetich.

On December 5, another piece of Pan Am’s history was added to the airline’s permanent exhibit at the Cradle of Aviation in Garden City, NY. “The Pan Am Saga”, a historical timeline, traces the beginning of Pan Am in 1927 to its slow demise and fall in 1991, highlighting moments in the company’s history. John Luetich, the curator and historian, spoke of the difficulty in distilling 64 years of this iconic airline into the events pictured on “my wall” as he lovingly called it.

Ed Trippe, son of the Pan Am founder Juan Trippe was present for the unveiling and referred to his father, a monumental figure in aviation history as just “a normal guy”, and is still somewhat in awe of his legacy.

A large group of former Pan Am employees, family members, friends of Pan Am and, aviation buffs attended the event and witnessed the ceremonial ribbon cutting by John Luetich, Ed Trippe and, board member Linda Freire, unveiling the exhibit to the public.

Cradle of Aviation Museum

Roberta Dunn

After graduating from Bard College with a major in languages, Roberta spent a year in Germany and France before joining Trans World Airlines in the early 70’s. At TWA she became the Ambassador and Constellation Club supervisor at JFK. An interest in food fostered by her international travel lead to “Deliciously Dunn”, her catering and gift basket business for 20 years, while still working at TWA. After the demise of the airline, Roberta became the North American sales rep for La Source, a 5 star resort in Grenada. When hurricane Ivan destroyed the island, she went on to work for Airport Press. Most recently Ms. Dunn is the Skating Director at the City of Long Beach, NY skating rink. Roberta is a US Figure Skating Gold Medalist in ice dancing and has skated since she was 17. Another of her passions is photography and her photos have been used in several publications. Roberta still travels extensively, enjoys cooking and entertaining and skates practically every day.