SFO MuseumLindbergh, in turn, recommended Harold to Pan American Airways (PAA) founder and CEO, Juan Trippe (1899-1981) who was looking for an executive to manage the airline’s interests in Asia, particularly PAA’s partnership in the China National Aviation Corporation (CNAC) and the opening of transpacific flying boat service. Bixby joined Pan American in 1933 and worked for the airline for the rest of his career, retiring in 1955.
His involvement in St. Louis aviation community brought him in contact with a young Charles Lindbergh (1902-74), who was flying out of St. Louis as an airmail pilot at the time. The two became lifelong friends and Bixby joined the group of St. Louis businessmen who funded Lindbergh’s historic transatlantic flight in 1927.
