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John Adams Hambleton (1898?-1929) was a recipient of the Croix de Guerre and the Distinguished Service Cross with Oak Leaf Cluster for his service in World War I. In 1927, he joined with Juan Trippe and Cornelius Whitney to form a new service which won the first US International Air Mail contract (1927) for service between Florida and Cuba. The company merged with Pan American Airways (PAA) under a holding company called Pan American Airways Corporation (1927). In 1929, Hambleton made a survey flight to Panama to set up the first airmail flight from the US to the Canal Zone, the inaugural flight of which was made by Charles Lindbergh, with Hambleton serving as copilot. John Hambleton was killed later that year in an aircraft accident.
NASM.2005.0056
Hambleton, John Adams, 1898-1929
bulk 1929-1939
George B. Hambleton, Gift, 2005
0.05 Cubic feet ((1 folder))
National Air and Space Museum Archives
This collection consists of one eight by ten inch photograph of John A. Hambleton; one digital print of a photograph of Charles A. Lindbergh, John A. Hambleton and others on the occasion of the first air mail from the Canal Zone's arrival in Miami, February 13, 1929; one digital print of Hambleton, Amelia Earhart and others at the opening of the 36th Street Airport in Hialeah, Florida, January 9, 1929; a photocopy of an address by John Hambleton on "Air Transport for Commerce," 1929; a ten page biographical essay entitled, "Who Was John Hambleton?;" and a senior thesis entitled, "The Chosen Instrument and United States Policy in International Air Transportation" by George B. E. Hambleton.
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John A. Hambleton Pan American Collection, Accession number 2005-0056, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Aeronautics, Commercial
Air mail service
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographic prints
Biographies