Beatlemania was running wild during the 1960s. Fans across the globe were obsessed with The Beatles during the British band’s record-breaking rise in the music industry. 57 years ago today, the group disembarked a Boeing 707 operating Pan American World Airways Flight 101 to John F. Kennedy International Airport from London. This trip was the band’s first-ever visit to the United States.
A grand tour
Between February 7th and February 22nd, 1964, The Beatles had an incredibly busy run of appearances. They performed at the Washington Coliseum and New York City’s Carnegie Hall. Additionally, they appeared twice on The Ed Sullivan Show, garnering over 70 million viewers.
According to AeroTime Hub, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr arrived at New York JFK at 13:20 and were welcomed by 4,000 fans and 200 members of the press. The aircraft that made this landmark event possible was a Boeing 707-331 with registration number N704PA. In true Pan Am fashion, the plane was nicknamed Jet Clipper Defiance.
The right transport
The four-engine jet aircraft had a flight crew of four members, including the pilot, co-pilot, navigator, and flight engineer. The 707-331’s wing is notably different from the initial 707-120 series. It was longer and had different flaps and spoilers. The engines are mounted further outboard. Meanwhile, the vertical fin is taller while the horizontal tailplane has a greater span. It also has a ventral fin to improve “longitudinal stability.”
The -331’s Pratt & Whitney JT3D-3 turbofan engines helped it hit ranges of up to 4,298 mi (6,920 km) at speeds of up to 552 mph (889 km/h)
Altogether, the 707 would help transform the way people around the world traveled. Boeing initially intended for the plane to be focused on medium-haul routes. However, the type was soon heading on transcontinental and transatlantic missions. Overall, Boeing delivered 856 707s in all variants between 1957 and 1994.
Registration N704PA held serial number 17683 and performed its first flight on March 3rd, 1959. PlaneLogger reports that first arrived at Pan Am’s holdings a year later. World Airways then operated it from March 1972 before returning to Pan Am in December of that year. However, the legacy carrier would pass it to Vietnam Air in March 1973 before taking it back again in August 1975. The aircraft subsequently left the fleet and was scrapped after arriving at Aerotron AC’s facilities at the end of that year.
Time to head back
Following the end of The Beatles’ tour, Jane Luna Euler was a Pan Am flight attendant that was invited to work on The Beatles return trip to London on February 22nd. At the airport, she witnessed thousands of fans screaming from behind barricades.
“The noise was incredible. Medical staff had been assigned to stand in the aisle created by the barricades to accept those fans who fainted in the crush of people and who were over-excited at the opportunity of seeing the Beatles. Those who fainted, both girls and boys, were forwarded to the medical staff hand-over-hand to the barricade aisle,” Euler said, as shared by The Pan Am Historical Foundation.
“On entering the aircraft another memorable sight awaited us. The entire First Class lounge was filled with hundreds/thousands of gifts of all sorts – large flowers arrangements, bouquets, drawings and paintings of a favorite Beatle, cakes, written tributes and poems, photos, and other tributes from their fans. There was an amazing assortment of these items.”
Euler adds that the band members were very courteous and pleasant during the flight, and despite enjoying a cocktail of Scotch and milk, they were willing to sign autographs for those that asked.
An unmatched legacy
Altogether, this trip across the pond would long leave a legacy on the music industry. Moreover, pop culture as a whole was revolutionized.
“The Beatles’ first American tour left a major imprint in the nation’s cultural memory. With American youth poised to break away from the culturally rigid landscape of the 1950s, the Beatles, with their exuberant music and good-natured rebellion, were the perfect catalyst for the shift,” HISTORY shares.
“Their singles and albums sold millions of records, and at one point in April 1964 all five best-selling U.S. singles were Beatles songs. By the time the Beatles first feature-film, A Hard Day’s Night, was released in August, Beatlemania was epidemic the world over. Later that month, the four boys from Liverpool returned to the United States for their second tour and played to sold-out arenas across the country.”
Meet the Beatles! was the group’s second album released in the US. It debuted at #92 on the album chart for the week ending February 1st, 1964. Two weeks later, it peaked at #1 and remained there for eleven consecutive weeks. The Beatles may have already been popular before their physical arrival to the US. However, after arriving for their tour with Pan Am’s Boeing 707, their presence was undoubtedly cemented.
What are your thoughts about The Beatles’ arrival to the United States on a Pan American Boeing 707 aircraft? Do you have any memories of this time period? Let us know what you think of the events in the comment section.
