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Harold R. Harris moved Huff-Deland Dusters' operations to Peru to help even
out the seasonal nature of the crop dusting business. During this time he mapped out
an airline route system. On September 13, 1928 a Peruvian Airway's
Fairchild FC-2 took off from a race track in Lima on a 550 mile flight to Talara.
A few months later, with the backing of
Pan American World Airways
and W.R. Grace & Co, Peruvian Airways became Panagra. Soon service was extended
north to Panama and south to Chile. A Panagra
Ford Tri-Motor left Buenos Aires, Argentina on October 12, 1929, and
eight and a half hours later it arrived in Santiago, Chile. In about a year
Panagra established a route system that spanned greater distances than
any other American flag airline.
In 1942, due to the need to move heavy freight, in support of the war effort, Panagra converted a couple of its DC-3's into freighters. Panagra started the first all-cargo route of any American flag airline when it inaugurated a route between the Canal Zone in Panama and Lima.
Panagra's DC-3's, 4's and 6's featured broad yellow stripes on the wings. These stripes were to help in locating a plane that went down in the rugged terrain. In the first 15 years of operations the safety record was comprable to US domestic operations under significantly more challenging conditions. From early 1943 untill the merger with Braniff 25 years later there was only one Panagra aircraft lost in operations with no fatalities. Indeed as the Panagra pilots continued their careers with Braniff and other airlines after the merger, not one life was lost with a Panagra pilot up front!
A non-compete clause in the agreement between Pan American, Grace, and Panagra made Panama the northern end of Panagra's route system. With the entry of Braniff International into the Latin American market, Panagra's started to fly to Miami and New York in the 1950's. While this provided through plane service, north of Panama these were actually Pan American flights using Panagra planes and crews to Miami and National Airlines on up to New York.
In 1960 Panagra started jet service on their routes with DC-8-31's and a DC-8-51F freighter. Several years later Panagra ordered several extended range DC-8-62's. Generally there was no need for the extra range, but these were the only 60 series DC-8's that could operate from the highest airport in the world, La Paz, Bolivia. These planes were delivered to Braniff International after the merger.
In 1967 Braniff International purchased Panagra from Pan American and W.R. Grace. While the ownership had changed, much of the spirit of Panagra continued until 1982, when Braniff ceased operations. At that time Eastern Airlines took over the Latin American operations, which were later assumed by American Airlines.
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