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Midway Atoll, part of the United States Minor Outlying Islands, was used by Pan American Airways as an island stop on their transpacific flights from California to the Philippines. Named after its location midway around the world from Greenwich, England, Midway Atoll was an important part of Pan Am’s transpacific stops between Hawai’i and Wake Island. In the 1930s, the Midway construction crews started a Goofy Gooney Club, named after the gooney bird, a Laysan albatross whose awkwardness on land and behavioral antics entertained residents and visiting passengers. Membership required living on Midway for one month or seven Clipper trips. The club grew to over 150 members by 1937. Tourists are no longer allowed on the island, which is now part of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. The National Monument covers 140,000 square miles of reef and atolls, and also protects more than 1 million gooney birds that still breed on Midway Atoll. #TravelTuesday #PanAm Pan American Airways Midway Island hotel postcard c. 1940 SFO Museum Collection Gift of the Captain John B. Russell Family 2012.149.0284
This image was posted on February 09, 2016.