With the completion of the Key West airport’s major renovations and AirTran beginning low-cost jet service, the future looks bright for air travel in the southernmost city. However, Key West’s role in air travel’s past is equally important.

Though this doesn't look much like a high-tech navigational aid, some say Aeromarine Airways occasionally relied on pigeons for direction.

In 1927, the island was the birthplace of one-time aviation giant Pan American Airlines. And its aviation history dates back even further than that — to Aeromarine Airways.

In 1920, Aeromarine began America’s first official international airmail service, between Key West and Havana, using F5L “flying boats” bought from the U.S. Navy. Among them were the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria.

The “flying boats” traveled at approximately 70 miles per hour, reaching Cuba in just over 60 minutes. Aeromarine also inaugurated America’s first scheduled international passenger service — and strangely enough, passengers and sacks of mail were charged the same fare for the trip.

In those days, radio sets could weigh more than half a ton and were hardly aviation-friendly, so carrier pigeons were used by Aeromarine pilots to carry messages during their flights. Rumors persist that the airline also had another use for the pigeons: if a flyer lost his bearings, he would release a hapless bird and follow it home to Key West.

Actress and former Key West resident Kelly McGillis has an intriguing connection to the island's aviation history. Not only was she co-founder of Kelly's Restaurant in a former PanAm building, but she also starred in "Top Gun" -- itself a piece of aviation history.

Pan Am may have avoided pigeons, but its first international flight was as unusual as anything ever attempted by Aeromarine. The airline was the brainchild of Juan Trippe — who, during a chancy flight to Cuba in 1925, had obtained a letter guaranteeing him airplane landing rights in the country.

That letter proved to be a gold mine. By October 11, 1927, Trippe’s fledgling Pan American Airways had been awarded an all-important contract with the United States Post Office to deliver mail between Key West and Havana.

Unfortunately, the contract required the airline to deliver the first load of letters by October 19, and Pan American had serious problems: no plane, for one thing, and not much of an airport in Key West.

The planes, Fokker trimotors ordered more than 18 months before, had not arrived. The Key West “airport” was simply a boulder-filled field with two dirt runways virtually swamped by a two-day rainstorm.

By October 18, time had run out. If the sacks of mail weren’t flown to Cuba the next day, the contract was void and Pan American was doomed.

Luckily, that day a barnstormer named Cy Caldwell landed his single-engine seaplane in Miami for repairs. There, a friend of Pan Am’s manager, aware of the airline’s desperate situation, made a desperate request: could Caldwell fly to Cuba with the mail?

John Richmond, owner of the Conch Flyer at Key West International Airport, indicates some aviation memorabilia on display at the popular bar and restaurant. (Photo by Rob O'Neal/Florida Keys News Bureau)

Caldwell could. By dawn on October 19, he and his seaplane were in Key West to receive seven sacks of mail holding approximately 30,000 letters. At 8:04 a.m., Caldwell took off — landing in Havana with the mail about an hour before the cable from Key West arrived announcing his departure. With its first “official” flight completed, Pan Am was in business.

Today, the relocated building that housed Pan Am’s ticket office on the Key West waterfront (and also Aeromarine’s headquarters) is part of Kelly’s Caribbean Bar, Grill & Brewery at the corner of Whitehead and Caroline streets. The popular emporium, decorated with Key West aviation memorabilia, is named for its co-founder, actress and former Key West resident Kelly McGillis.

For other reminders of the island’s role in early aviation, check out the memorabilia at El Meson de Pepe, the world-class Cuban restaurant at Mallory Square, and the wonderful wall collage at the Conch Flyer bar and restaurant at the Key West airport.

These days, air travel is nearly as common as breathing, modern navigational aids have replaced pigeons, and both Aeromarine and Pan Am are defunct. Key West’s place in aviation history, however, remains secure — a colorful and celebrated part of the island’s heritage.