Pan American World Airways Hangar 14 — Idlewild Airport
Joseph was literally helping build Idlewild's new Jet Age 'aerial city.'

The hangar itself, photographed in 1958. Reuse terms for this photograph are unclear; it is published with the source stated and will be removed on request.
1958 · Photo: Allan Van Wickler · Jon Proctor archive · Reuse terms not verified. · Source
Why this project matters
- Project identity
- Verified
- Kelly connection
- Family source
- Masonry scope
- Probable
Rita’s list

Transcription: P.A.A. Hangar - Idlewild — 1957
Recorded by Rita Bartscherer · Bartscherer family record
KM-026
1 of two
“P.A.A. Hangar - Idlewild — 1957”
Contemporary trade press documents major Pan Am hangar and office construction at Idlewild in 1957.
Pan Am's Hangar 14 belonged to the physical backstage of the Jet Age. Port Authority records place the project in 1957, with Ammann & Whitney engineering dramatic cantilevered concrete roofs that opened wide aircraft bays without a forest of columns. Rita's entry is not about the glamour of a terminal lounge; it points to the immense working buildings where airplanes were inspected, repaired and prepared to fly.
What Kelly did here
Family source
Probable
Likely: most likely heavy-duty CMU/concrete-block enclosure, equipment/service-room walls, interior partitions, shafts and masonry backup associated with the hangar/office complex. Exact Kelly package is not yet documented.
This scope is recorded as probable, not documented. It is a disciplined reading of the building and the trade practice of the period, not a contract-level record of Kelly’s work.
The construction team
- 01Owner / client
Pan American World Airways
- 02GC / construction manager
GC not yet identified; Ammann & Whitney were structural engineers
What happened to it
Demolished / altered
John F. Kennedy International Airport, Queens, NY 11430
Sources
3 citedOpen →
- 01dspace.njstatelib.org
download
- 02sp.library.miami.edu
LegacyContainerList
- 03jonproctor.wahsonline.com
new york city through the years
- Allan Van Wickler · Rights status unclear · Jon Proctor archive, World Airline Historical Society · 1958
A Pan American Boeing 707 inside Hangar 14 at Idlewild in 1958 — the facility recorded on Rita's list. What masonry work Kelly performed there is not established by the photograph.
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