Ok, as an old timer and aviation history buff, I’m going to chime in here on the post above:
"At one time, the TWA logo was the second most recognized American logo in Europe, second only to Coca-Cola" and the comments that followed.
After WWII both PA and TW flew from JFK (nee Idlewild - IDL) to continental Europe; and both had twin engine fleets and native bilingual cabin crews based over there for intra-Europe travel. Remember this was a carryover from when there were no domestic carriers and no money to buy airplanes. And there certainly was no opposition from liberated France and the Benelux countries and the defeated countries of Germany and Italy as U.S. airlines provided what became known as "fifth freedom" flights within their countries and the rest of the continent. I can't recall when that ended; but I believe the last intra-Europe flight was PA from Berlin after the fall of the wall and the reunification of Germany. I always flew PA to and from Tegel to Hamburg and Frankfurt. The Russian/East Germans would not allow LH to serve Berlin. I can't remember TW there in Berlin.
And there were no non-stops. NY to Gander to Shannon to-wherever was the trans-Atlantic routing - for both PA and TW. I flew on both; and I don't really want to take sides. Both were great "flag carriers"; and I was a Lifetime Member of both the Clipper and the Ambassador Clubs when they closed their doors. The screwing that DL gave the PA FA crews alienated me so I have only once ever flown them again. However, since AA took over the TW routes in two stages, I would never have been able to do the same with AA, even if I had wanted to.
I was in the media business and paid attention to logos during the "at one time" period mentioned above. But going back, Pan American had been an "international" carrier since Juan Trippe started flying mail to Cuba from Key West in 1927. It was flying to South America in 1930 and had the Flying Boats to HNL then trans-Pacific before WWII. PA was first with pax across the Atlantic, and the first scheduled RTW pax service.
Until 1946 there is no question that PA was our “chosen carrier†since it held a government granted monopoly on international routes. In 1946 TWA was granted equal rights and began service to Paris; but over the years PA had far more flights to far more destinations in Europe. It was first by at least a year with the all-jet 707 and then the 747. Only in 1950 did TWA change its name from Transcontinental and Western Airlines.
Thus in my opinion "at [that] one time" - in Europe (including the possible exception of some countries in the south), the PA (single) blue globe logo was far a better known logo than the red initials (if that be a logo)
TWA. As I recall the TWA twin globes did not become the livery until after the sale of the PA “northern†rights to UA and the “southern†rights to DL. Then it was “no contest†TWA was the best known American
airline logo.
But [
I know for a fact] at that time the word/logo
Marlboro had long since passed anything but
Coca-Cola! - in Europe and everywhere else in the world.
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