AEROSPACE: Pan Am's Concorde Retreat

SINCE the cloth-and-piano-wire beginnings of commercial air travel, the men who run the industry have put their faith—and their money—into the forward advances of technology. Nowhere has that faith been stronger than at Pan American World Airways, which was first in the air with multi-engine planes in 1927, four-engine flying boats in 1931, Boeing 707 jets in 1958 and jumbo jets in 1970. For years, British and French aircraft builders have been counting on Pan Am to lead other airlines in a competitive scramble for the newest advance, the supersonic Concorde, which cruises at 1,350 m.p.h. But like many...