1986.07.TARPA_TOPICS

CONVENTION NEWS PAUL RICHTER RECEIVES AWARD OF MERIT DAVE KUHN'S BUD GORMAN STORY THE OTIS BRYAN STORY PERSONAL EXPERIENCES THE GRAPEVINE

THE ACTIVE RETIRED PILOTS ASSOCIATON OF TWA JULY 1986

PAUL RICHTER

The Paul Richter family receiving The Award of Merit at the Friday evening dinner.

TARPA TOPICS The official magazine of the Active Retired Pilots Association of TWA published quarterly. Editor: Alfia J. Clay, Jr. OFFICERS & DIRECTORS President, R. G . Derickson Senior Director, A. T . Humbles A. Hall Director, Jeremiah S. Burns First Vice President, Ed. Second Vice President, Phil S. Hollar Director, Jesse A. Fiser Secretary/Treasurer, Joseph S. McCombs Director, Lule A. Spencer

The Active Retired Pilots Association of TWA

P R E S I D E N T'S

M E S S A G E

The TARPA Convention at the Adams's Mark Hotel in St. Louis, May 28-30th was indeed an interesting and happy affair.

The credit for this outstanding Convention and/or Reunion goes to Marge and Sam Luckey who, with the able assistance of many other helpers and workers, gave us one of the best.

It was encouraging to have twelve of our TARPA EAGLES join with us in " St. Louis.

We were also honored to have Gordon Parkinson, Mr. TWA " Hisself , as our guest.

Following the 1985 Convention in Las Vegas, Lyle Spencer and Charlie Strickler were assigned to do an in depth study for the purpose of streamlining our By-Laws and Policies.

Their efforts, resulting in a professional organizational structure, are outlined in the Secretary's report in this issue.

The 1987 Convention will be held in the Grand Hotel in Anaheim, CA. In order to avoid conflict with the Seniors gathering and to offer some respite to "winter-weary" members, Phil Hollar, Convention Chairman, is attempting to negotiate dates for the last week of March.

Positive dates will be announced in the November issue of TOPICS. The Board of Directors, at the 1986 meeting, voted unanimously to hold the 1988 Convention in Tucson.

It will probably be at the Sheraton Tucson "El Conquistador".

John M. (Jack) Miller will be the 1988 Convention Chairman.

TARPA's Award of Merit for 1986 was made to Paul E. Richter. The details of this presentation and the family members present are covered elsewhere in this issue.

Another highlight of the 1986 Convention, and a great honor to all of us, was the presence of former TWA President, Carter Burgess, who addressed the Membership during the May 29th Business Meeting.

In closing, my thanks to the 1985/1986 Board Members and the Board Committees for their cooperation and assistance during the past year.

Russ Derickson

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Secretary's

R e p o r t

This is necessarily a lengthy report.

Much was accomplished during the three days of Convention '86. I ask your indulgence.

If you missed St Louis '86, you missed one of the best TARPA gatherings to date.

Marjorie and Sam Luckey knocked themselves out to give us a good time.

The St. Louis Tourist Bureau presented the Key to the City of St. Louis to TARPA and, in turn, the Board presented the Award to the Luckey's as a small token of it's appreciation.

A highlight of the Convention, and a honor to TARPA, was the presence of Mr. Carter Burgess, former President of TWA. Mr. Burgess' inspiring address to the group on Thursday recalled those better days for all of us.

TARPA was further honored by the presence of TWA's Tom Ashwood, First Vice-President of ALPA. Tom commented upon problems within the industry and existing problems within ALPA itself.

The gathering was pleased to learn that Tom will seek the Presidency at the next ALPA Convention.

His awareness of the need for recognition of the retired pilot groups by ALPA was well received.

The Convention also recognized Jim McIntyre, the MEC's hard working Chairman of the Accident/Incident Investigating- " GO-TEAM " .

Jim reviewed the Athens Flite 840 incident and future preventative measures.

From the business side of the meeting, there were quite a few important developments reflecting the growth and maturity of our organization.

Only major revisions are noted herein.

Check the By-Laws & Policy section of the 1986 Directory when received. Changes will be printed in ITALICS .

1. The Offices of the Secretary and the Treasurer are combined into one Office that of Secretary/Treasurer.

2.

To increase the efficiency of the organization, the Board of Directors has been reduced to seven.

The Executive Committee will consist of the President, a First Vice-President, a Second Vice-President, Secretary/Treasurer and a Senior Director.

In addition there will be two non-Officer Directors.

The non-Officer Directors will be Associate Members.

In addition, the past-President of TARPA will be a non-voting member of the Board of Directors.

3. Following these directives, Lloyd Hubbard, Chairman of the Nominating Committee, presented the following nominees and the Convention elected: Russ Derickson .

Ed Hall Phil Hollar Joe McCombs Dave Richwine Jesse Fiser Jerry Burns

. . . . . . .

President First Vice-President Second Vice-President Secretary/Treasurer Senior Director Director Director 2

Take note of the following major changes in TARPA Policy: 1. The so-called "grace period" for payment of dues has been reduced to three months.

Dues for 1987 will remain at $20.00 due January 1st with a delinquency date of April 1st at which time those unpaid will be automatically removed from the mailing list by the computer.

2.

Mailing dates for TARPA TOPICS will be changed to April & July to bracket normal Convention dates.

The dues return envelope will be included in the November issue and the January issue should arrive along with those unexpected Christmas bills.

The Secretary reported an increase of 10% in new membership. Roster now stands at 987 Regular; 176 Associate; 82 Eagles and 96 Honorary. Total 1341.

There were 23 deaths since our last gathering.

Treasurer Bob Gwin reported financial stability and, stated, dues for 1987 will remain at $20.00.

as

previously

Bob Sherman, MEC Liaison & Investment Committee observer includes his report elsewhere in this issue.

The July 1st check from Boston Safe will represent an 11.7% increase.

Al Clay, Chairman of the Ad Hoc "Lump Sum" Committee offered an extensive report gleaned from Actuarial and Legal sources by his Committee.

After much discussion, a report by P. T . McCarty and a lesson from the floor regarding proper Rules of Order, the Convention accepted the full report of the Ad Hoc Committee and passed the following resolution: " Resolved, that this Convention directs the President of TARPA to use_ any prudent means to determine if any Plan Option available to the Active Pilot and not available to Retirees should be pursued" TARPA extends its appreciation to Al Mundo, MEC Investment Committee and Jim Carmack, Investment Consultant, for their informative presentation.

Ed Hall, RAPA (Retired Airline Pilots Assoc.) Liaison and Dave Richwine, TARPA Insurance Committee, expressed extreme dissatisfaction with the operation and leadership of RAPA thus questioning the need for continued affiliation with that body.

Because supplemental insurance is contingent upon association with RAPA, the Convention, after accepting the reports of both Committees, passed the following resolution: The continuing deterioration of TARPA's relationship with RAPA Whereas: has raised the serious question of whether or not TARPA should disassociate from RAPA and, Whereas: Disassociation from RAPA would adversely affect the Medicare Supplemental Insurance coverage of approximately 200 TARPA members, Be it therefore Resolved:that TARPA continue its membership in RAPA while known insurance alternatives are further investigated and, that TARPA representatives to RAPA will not be Be it further Resolved: required to participate unless, and until, present long-standing administrative problems are resolved.

Phil Hollar, program.

Alcoholic Counseling,

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advises continued success with the

Harry Mokler, President of the TWA Pilots Retirement Foundation, expressed gratitude for the participation of the Active and Retired pilot group.

He requests to be advised if anyone has knowledge of a needy flight crew member or the widow of a deceased flight crew member.

Dick Guillan, Grapevine Editor for TARPA TOPICS, welcomes any and all letters or notes concerning members activities and/or well-being.

Dr. Charles C. Gullett was unanimously awarded Honorary Membership in TARPA for his contributions to the health and welfare of TWA flight crews during his tenure as Medical Director of TWA. Dr. Gullett's greatest contribution to the employees of TWA was the origination of the Special Health Program.

Many pilots owe their continued careers to his preventative medicine programs and to his intervention with the FAA on their behalf.

Captain Paul C. Richter was chosen to receive the 1986 Award of Merit.

The name Paul Richter can be associated with the development of many of the predecessor companies of Trans World Airlines.

All of us today are the beneficiaries of the likes of Paul Richter.

It can be positively stated that he deserves the right and honor of having his name placed near those other pioneers on the TARPA Award of Merit plaque gracing a wall of the TWA Training Center in Kansas City.

The posthumous award was accepted during the banquet ceremonies by Captain Richter's charming widow Daisy, his daughter, Ruth Holden and his son, Paul, Jr . now a Captain with United Airlines.

This report is lengthy and does not intend to cover all facets of the Convention.

It was a progressive gathering, well planned and executed by the Officers, Committees and by active membership participation.

Attendance at the 1987 Convention scheduled for Anaheim, CA next year should be the goal of every member of TARPA. Originally scheduled for May, there is a good possibility the event will be moved to the last week of March, primarily, to avoid conflict with the Seniors gathering now scheduled to convene two days after the original TARPA dates.

On a personal note, our esteemed President, Russ Derickson, is to be congratulated for his achievement by winning "High Gun" in the Trap competition.

I know he has worked hard the past three years since his footwork was severely criticized by several more experienced shooters.

Be advised, he is out to get " Top Gun " in all events next year. Russ is modest but also determined to prevail. Shooters, beware!

In closing, if you have not already done so, PLEASE complete the UPDATE form in the back of this issue of TOPICS and mail it to the Secretary.

The success of the computer program requires 100% participation in this effort to make it work.

J. S. McCombs 4

BUSINESS MEETING

Left: Guest speaker Jim McIntyre and President Russ Derickson

Right: Ritchie Beighlie and Dave Richwine get a laugh.

5

TO:

Board of Directors

FROM:

Chairman,

SUBJECT:

Insurance Committee Report, May 1986

TARPA Insurance Committee

Pursuant to the continued deterioration of the TARPA/RAPA relationship, I was requested to determine what our insurance position would be in the event TARPA were to disassociate with RAPA. A letter of inquiry to Alexander and Alexander dated January 28, 1986 , produced, among other things, a reply which indicated that, since TARPA accounts for approximately 42% of all policies now in force, the RAPA Medicare supplement insurance program would probably be terminated if TARPA were to lose its eligibility by dropping out of RAPA. Howard Wincele, the insurance plan coordinator for Alexander and Alexander, also advised that Hartford would not be interested in extending such a program to just the TARPA group, and that no other company wrote a Medicare supplement policy which paid 100% of the Part B doctor's charges. Accordingly, I sent out letters of inquiry to 60 insurance companies known to write some kind of Medicare supplement policy. To date, I have had responses from approximately 50% of these, some by mail some by phone and some by personal visits from company representatives. I found the interest quite encouraging.

There is a wide variety of Medicare supplement policies on the market.

Generally speaking, all of the better policies have virtually the same coverage for the Part A (hospitalization), which pays virtually all the deductibles in that section. Part B coverages pay all the way from an increased percentage of the Medicare allowable (up to 80% more) to 100% of doctor's actual charge, as in the RAPA policy. However, a number of them have higher deductibles of up to $500. All of those offering the same 100% doctor expense coverage that Hartford does have premium rates much higher than those of the RAPA policy. Some of the policies offered are franchise group types and some have individual While it is not a guaranteed policy and does have rate shcedules. certain limitations, there is no doubt that, for those members who want 100% doctors coverage, the RAPA policy is presently the most cost effective available.

Of the other companies offering the 100% doctor's coverage, three have evidenced interest in negotiating a franchise group arrangement at All three are willing to handle lower than advertised premium rates. the administration of such a plan on the same basis that the RAPA policy is. handled, namely individually, but under a group franchise rate and While I was contacted recently by a Hartford insurservice structure. ance consultant familiar.. with our needs, I do not, as of this writing,

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have a specific reply as to what they may be willing to do directly through their company office. I hope to have their position by the time of our Board meeting in St. Louis next week.

In summary, the Medicare supplement insurance field is a very complex and constantly changing one, but appears to be sufficiently competitive to justify pursuing the matter further in an effort to better meet the needs and desires of our membership which are quite diverse, as evidenced by the relatively small percentage of our total membership who are RAPA policy holders.

Accordingly, it is recommended that: 1.

A continued effort be made to find a company that will offer a Medicare supplement plan with several options of coverage with corresponding rates.

2.

The Board authorize the release of our TARPA mailing list to the company or companies approved for this purpose, and

3.

TARPA maintain at least a technical membership in RAPA until suitable options to the present RAPA Medicare supplement policy can be found.

D. W. Richwine, Chairman TARPA Insurance Committee

* * * * * * * * * * * *

When working on a project, if you put away a tool, LAW OF ANNOYANCE: that you're certain you're finished with, you will need it instantly. * * * * * * * * * * * *

ANTHONY'S LAW OF THE WORKSHOP: Any tool, when dropped, will roll into the least accessible corner of the workshop. * * * * * * * * * * * *

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EXCERPTS FROM A REPORT ON THE B-PLAN PRESENTED TO THE 1986 TARPA CONVENTION

By R. C. Sherman

The highlights of 1985 and other information can be viewed in the Tables that follow. A word of caution is in order concerning the use of these figures for other purposes: some could be misleading when taken out of context. Besides possible error - including mine - space does not permit all of the explanations that define or limit many of the figures.

TABLE I:

MEMBERSHIP COMPARISONS AT YEAR END

Actives

12/82

12/83

12/84

12/85

Number Retirements Deaths New Members

3509 135 8 2

3326 153 7 0

3084 141 6 0

2968 137 4 75

856 20

992 20

1124 15

1249 15

20 587 15 28.315

23 672 19 30.908

27 674 21 30.019

30 857 24 36.656

Retirees and Beneficiaries Number Deaths Retirees: % of members Net ASSETS (Mil $) Retiree % of Assets Unit Value

FIRST QUARTER 1986 ASSETS/PERFORMANCE Manager

Assets

% Change 3 Mos.* 14.0%

12 Mos.*

Morgan Putnam State St. Mellon Mer-Meid L.O.R. Bos. Safe

203.5 M 221.6 291.5 65.5 155.3 20.0 .5

15.8 14.0 2.9 N/A N/A

35.0% 46.5 41.7 37.9 12.3 N/A N/A

Total Plan

957.9 M

12.5%

27.7%

16.3

*Investment performance is computed on theoretical assets with a "time weighted" formula:- as though no money was added or removed by the trustee.

Such was not the case, therefore comparison of listed assets to various other periods would yield inaccurate performance percentages.

8

Comparisons between managers must consider their roles as assigned by the Investment Committee. Neither the D. J. nor the S&P indices are shown because neither apply.

The plan is less than 80% invested in equities, thus it cannot be expected to equal market gains (nor losses).

March 31, 1986, index of change = 1.12535, equivalent to a unit value of 41.9+ PLAN STRUCTURE In 1972 Putnam and State Street Research and Management replaced two of the three managers: Morgan remained. Their orders continued to be Full Investment, with approximately 10% in bonds.

Late 1974 (The downturn began in 1972, bottomed out in third quarter 1974.) Full investment requirement removed; managers discretion to hold cash and other short term items.

End of 1977 New orders require an approximately 80-20 mix of stocks and bonds, with allowance for cash and short term items.

During 1984

New orders to the three managers:

Morgan: State Street: Putnam:

85% Core, 15% Aggressive 85% Core, 15% Aggressive 70% Core, 15% Aggressive - 15% International

Core = large company conservative stock; Aggressive = somewhat less conservative with greater growth potential.

Percentages are approximate with reasonable variation including cash and short term items.

Mercer-Meidinger added to manage a G.I.C. portfolio. Guaranteed Investment Contracts are loans to the largest insurance companies, generally repaid in monthly installments.

Their management fees are low and no commissions are associated with G.I.C.'s. Mellon was added. They manage a large portfolio of "S&P 500 Index Funds", a replication of the S&P 500 in both names and weighted ratio of shares.

We own a share of this fund. Low management fee (no decisions on what to buy or sell) and very low commissions. Leland, O'Brien and Rubenstein was added to supply protection on one-half of the total equities.

L.O.R.'s strategy is based on trading in S&P 500 future contracts, using T-Bills for collateral.

They begin by selling contracts to equal about 20% of the dollar value to be protected. The contracts are kept current by daily settlement based on the closing S&P 500 index compared to that of the previous day. When the index decreases (market downturn), L.O.R. receives the difference in cash.

If the market continues down, L.O.R. sells more contracts to offset the equity managers losses, from any fraction, to well over 100% of the losses, as the client desires. When the market rises, L.O.R. buys contracts to offset their own losses on those they previously sold.

The catch - our cost - is maintaining the residual hedge; we pay every day the market rises. To receive more than what is lost in market downturns, a greater residual hedge is required, thus a higher cost during rising markets.

The protection was set at a +38 level 9

because with a net 38 gain, there will be no reduction in retirees checks. Moderate management fee, moderate commissions.

During 1985 Several investment programs investigated in 1984 for implementation in '85 were tabled due to the uncertainties on TWA and the probable need L.O.R. protection was extended to cover the for greater liquidity. total equity portfolios, at the +38 level. Real estate programs were updated for 1986 implementation.

Multiply May check by 1.117 (adjusted for 38 factor) to get amount of Jul/Aug/Sept. checks (IRS withholding, if any, could affect exact amount); an 11.7% gain for the quarter, and a 27.7% gain over 3rd quarter 1984.

Early 1986 Mellon will shift between the S&P Index Fund and their futures, whenever They will also shift between price differentials warrant (arbitrage). equities, bonds, and cash depending on which is under-valued (best buy).

The anticipated gain should more than offset higher management fees and higher commissions. Three real estate managers have been added, to be funded with about 15 mil. each, in irregular payments over the next Morgan will twelve months in accordance with investment opportunities.. transfer 5 mil. from their equity assets to the 10 mil. they already have in their real estate fund. North Carolina National Bank develops and manages office and industrial parks. State Street Bank, with Aldrich, Eastman, & Waltch manages a closed end R.E. fund.

Because of the large increase in assets since 3rd quarter 1985, the protection on 635 mil. of equities, now 802 mil. (early 1986) left the The floor was raised to 802 mil. to lock in equities under-insured. the gains, but the +38 level was changed to 0% - break even - to lower what had become a sizeable cost.

Proposed for Mid 1986 The addition of a Contrarian manager. Finalists have been ready to go for some time. These managers pick stocks contrary to market opinion, yet they do well. At the time L.O.R. was selected for portfolio protection, they were the only practitioners. Now there are several other strategies that do not use a residual hedge, hence are less costly.

The Investment Committee would like to try this approach.

Many pilots have contributed their efforts to the B Plan over the years.

Another pilot, Jim Carmack, albeit not TWA, deserves a great deal of credit for his help in restructuring the plan and the timely performance tracking of its many parts, as consultant to the Investment Committee.

From the retiree's view, the Investment Committee has been the driving

10

force force behind the B Plan of the eighties.

May Update Plan assets were 970.1 at the end of May. They continue to increase, but at a slower rate. Due to a number of lump sum payments this year, payouts will exceed contributions by quite a bit. This will not affect our retirement checks. * * * * * * * * * * * * RETIRED My heart is overflowing With a siege of ecstasy, Because a very precious thing Has happened unto me.

Through all the many, many years I've labored ardently.

I hear the alarm clock ringing But it sure ain't calling me, I'm through with all that getting up, Sometimes still in my sleep.

I'm through with facing ice and snow Enough to make you weep.

I don't have to catch a city bus When rain is falling free, So the clock is ringing all in vain 'Cause it sure ain't calling me.

So turn it off and throw it out It's breaking up my rest, And don't pack me no sandwiches Not even chicken breast!

Ant take those work clothes off my bed They make me sick to see, For today I have retired And my life belongs to me!

- Author unknown * * * * * * * * * * * *

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WEDNESDAY MORNING BREWERY TOUR --The start of something big?

Left:

Right:

Bob and Gladys Montgomery

John Peek and Dave Halperin deep in discussion

Left: Gerry and Peggy Schemel and many others in the Brewery Liquid lunch? tour group.

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THE PENSION SITUATION

To clarify our present position regarding a possible lump sum payout from the B plan and because of some inquiries and confusion about Section 402 of the Internal Revenue Code, President Russ Derickson and I met on May 2nd with Actuary Bryan Jones of the actuarial firm of O'Donnell and Schwartz.

THINGS WE KNOW Except for possibly having to pay a small administrative fee, a lump sum option would be a no cost item for TWA, the active pilots and retirees.

It would not harm anyone who chose to stay on a variable annuity or a fixed annuity.

Some pension plans have been separated and terminated to provide a lump sum payout for some participants, while other participants retained fixed or variable annuities. If the retiree' plan is separated and terminated, no physical examination or proof of good health will be required from retirees who elect a lump sum payout, We can't obtain an injunction to prevent anyone from initiating a plan that provides for a lump sum payout. To obtain an injunction we would have to show that immediate harm would result from implementation. We do not have grounds for a lawsuit to stop implementation of a new plan by the active pilots, nor do we have grounds for a lawsuit to force anyone to provide a lump sum option for retirees.

TARPA doesn't have authorization to act for anyone, but counsel advises that if a substantial number of retirees want a lump sum option, TARPA would be acting legally should it try to obtain it for them. There would be some expenses and a funding plan would be necessary.

The actuary told us that the amended pension plan of the actives was written in a way that will not harm retirees.

Legal counsel told us that the amended plan cannot harm us and appeared to have been carefully worded to avoid affecting retirees.

Counsel advised that the plan couldn't have been revised if it had harmed retirees, and that retirees are free to obtain any options they are able to because they would also be required to have a plan that would not harm any active or retired pilots.

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Section 402 of the Internal Revenue Code does not give any rights to an individual to obtain a lump sum payment. It deals solely with his application for certain tax treatment of a lump sum provided he is able to get a lump sum in the first place.

WHERE WE STAND Further exploration has not revealed much that we did not know at the last convention.

Our chances of success are dependent upon the actions of the MEC. They do not have to negotiate for us but there is no reason for them to oppose us. Their plan doesn't hurt us and anything we could negotiate wouldn't hurt them.

A. J. Clay, Jr. TARPA Pension Chairman * * * * * * * * * * * *

QUESTIONS ANSWERED President Derickson asked two questions of labor counsellor David Rosen of the law firm of O'Donnell and Schwartz: a. Does Section 402(a) (5) (d) of the Internal Revenue Code provide an individual receiving a pension from a qualified trust, funded pursuant to a defined contribution plan, a right to a "lump sum" that represents his equity in the trust? b. If the ALPA --TWA MEC and TWA provide for it by agreement, may the plan be amended so as-to lawfully provide a retiree to a right to a "lump sum" that represents his equity in the trust?

Mr. Rosen's response to a: Section 402(a) (5) of the code sets forth the circumstances under which a distribution of an employee's equity in a trust to him may be "rolled over" into an "eligible retirement plan", and thus not be includable in gross income for the taxable year in which paid.

Thus it sets forth the law regarding the roll-over of lump sum distributions if a plan beneficiary receives such a distribution. However, Section 402(a) (5) provides no right to such a distribution.

Any right to the lump sum distribution sought here must be provided by the plan itself.

Mr. Rosen poses the question: Might the desired amendments have the forbidden results of decreasing the amounts in the accounts of other plan participants?

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In answering his own question, Mr. Rosen says that technically this is a question for an actuary, but then goes on to say that it is hard to see why the same logic that allowed the actives to negotiate a lump sum payout, would not apply to retirees.

The question was then put to Mr. Bryan Jones of Leef and Jones, Actuaries and Consultants.

"I agree with David that it is possible to withdraw substantial amounts of B Fund monies without any adverse effects on the plan participants. This could not, I think, be construed as a reduction in accrued benefits of remaining participants since the accrued benefit is synonymous with the participant's account and the transfer or withdrawal would be simply a removal of a different participant's account."

If you want a full copy of Mr. Rosen's and Mr. Jones' letters, let me know and I'll have a copy made for you.

A. J. Clay, Jr. * * * * * * * * * * * * ALCOHOLISM COUNSELLING REPORT

By Phil Hollar The past year has seen some changes in the Alcoholism Program These changes are relatively minor, but all are aimed at making the program more effective and easier to administer.

Probably the most effective of these changes is the delegation of the authority to issue an airman's medical certificate to the Aviation Medical Examiner.

This certificate is still subject to review by the Federal Air Surgeon and revocable on due cause.

Processing time has now been reduced to approximately 90 days provided all necessary paper work is in order and that all requirements have been met. This only applies to the first time around and the six month waiting period for second strikers is still in effect. This means six months of certified sobriety before the process can be commenced.

Success rate has remained constant, and the expectation is that it remain so in the future. This can be attributed to the fact that due to the publicity, education and efforts of many individuals approximately 30% of those entering the program are now self referrals.

That means that they have approached some one in the know and asked for help.

This is usually done in a manner that would give one to

15

think that they are concerned about a significant other person; brother, sister, spouse or whatever.

However, since the person contacted is usually well versed in the mechanics of the program, it is soon determined that the concern is for themselves. When this is established it is a simple operation to enter that person into the program.

As a side note to the success of the program: I have heard the Commandant of the Marine Corps state: "There are no alcoholic officers in the Corps, much less one (1) alcoholic pilot. God forbid !" Recent developments have caused the Corps to modify its stance somewhat. Now, they admit that they have a few who "occasionally imbibe a little too freely". Nevertheless, the Naval Hospital, Long Beach, now has several Marine Corps pilots in for rehabilitation.

Even the Corps has come to realize that the problem exists and that there is a solution-for it.

One of the most effective follow-up tools, and also useful while the pilot is still in treatment, is the Pilots AA Group - The Birds of a Feather.

The members of the Birds cannot get a pilot sober, nor can they keep him sober after he has achieved sobriety. The primary purpose of the BOAF is to provide a safe haven, among contemporaries, those who have been there. Those who are living sober from day to day, one day at a time. Those who have learned to live, comfortably, without alcohol. We can only relate where we were, what we did, and where we are today. The BOAF members cannot tailor a program for any other person. We can share the pitfalls we encountered, the methods we use to stay sober, and provide moral support. Each individual has to work out their own program of sobriety and live it daily.

There is no magic formula, no guarantee, no fancy awards.

There is only the ability to look one's self in the mirror every morning and say, "I like and respect the man in the mirror." * * * * * * * * * * * * GREAT REUNION IN ST. LOUIS

By Al Clay Sam and Marge Luckey worked long and had to arrange this convention and the results showed it. The hotel was not quite completed for our arrival, but the friendliness of the hotel staff more than made up for any slight inconvenience. We had many TARPANS at the reunion.

The talk was plentiful and good. I enjoyed watching old friends greet each other almost as much as I enjoyed seeing and greeting my old friends myself.

The convention was opened with an address by Mr. Carter Burgess, former President of TWA. It was most interesting to hear about front office happenings during Mr. Burgess's tenure.

16

Friday night we had a delicious banquet meal which Sam had so much confidence in that he had the head chef come out and take a bow BEFORE the meal! If he had waited until after the meal, the chef would have received an even bigger hand. The members and their ladies later enjoyed dancing to music provided by the famous disc jockey, Ole Olson.

The business meetings of the convention are reported by the Secretary/Treasurer elsewhere in this issue.

NEW DATES FOR '87 CONVENTION 1987 convention chairman Phil Hollar has announced firm dates for the '87 convention which will be held at the Grand Hotel in Anaheim.

The dates are the 24th, 25th, and 26th of March. The business meetings will be on the 25th and 26th and the banquet will be the night of the 26th. There will be more about the convention in the next issue.

COMMITTEE CHAIRMEN Here is a list of your committee chairmen for the next year.

Alcoholic Counselling............... Phil S. Hollar Award of Merit....................... Lyle D. Bobzin By-Laws and Policies .................Lyle A. Spencer Permanent Convention site ............ Joseph A. Brown Convention 1987..................... Phil S. Hollar Convention 1988......................John M. Miller Directory........................... A. T. Humbles Historian ............................Edward C. Betts MEC Liaison and Investment Committee observer ...............Robert C. Sherman Pensions .............................A. J. Clay Newsletter Editor....................A. J. Clay Grapevine............................Richard M. Guillan Nominating ...........................George A. Hinton Insurance............................Edward A. Hall * * * * * * * * * * * *

17

TARPA TENNIS 1986

By Larry Girard The 1986 TARPA Tennis Tournament was held at the Forest Lake Tennis Club in Chesterfield, Missouri, some 22 miles from the Adams Mark Hotel.

The club facilities were excellent, play was held indoors, with a very spirited, high quality of play. A new member to the tennis group this year, Dick Faulds, was the winner in the men's division with Mickey Wind the runner-up.

Yours truly was lost in the pack!

The women's division winner was Adrienne Sturtevant with June McFarland the runner-up.

A great time was enjoyed by all and though our numbers are small, they are examples of physical fitness.

(We hope!)

Pictured above from left to right are: Clancy Green, Ginny Converse, Adrienne / Hank Sturtevant, Lee Butler, Phyllis / Larry Girard, Jeannie Wisenhunt, Ken Hippe, June McFarland, Dick Faulds, Mickey Wind, Tom Anderson, Leo McFarland. * * * * * * * * * * * *

18

TRAP AND SKEET REPORT

By Earl Heinrich We had two nice summer mornings for our Trap and Skeet shooting in St. Louis.

There were five new shooters to join the seven of 1985 for a total of twelve shooters. Returning were Beighlie, Derickson, Heinrich, Hollar, Hubbard, McCombs and Peters.

They were joined this year

by Larry Haake, John Happy, Lee Laurin, Don Stitt and Bob Widholm.

George Long went along to lend support and help keep scores.

This was the first year we awarded trophies. Joe McCombs has been throwing the lead for a good number of years so he won the high overall trophy for combined Trap and Skeet score, Russ Derickson, who has really practiced since 1983, drove to St. Louis to bring his excellent trap gun along and won the trophy for high Trap.

Phil Hollar was the high Skeet winner. Larry Haake was Trap runnerup.

The runner-up at Skeet was Don Stitts. The five new shooters showed good sportsman's spirit and probably will be back next year.

On Thursday John Happy shot extremely well but on Friday just couldn't get it going.

Les Laurin joined us on Friday and after shooting a round of trap and skeet is enthused about the sport. He might start practicing for 1987!

Phil Hollar obtained the trophies and helped me present them at the Friday night banquet.

Phil is 1987 TARPA convention chairman in Anaheim, California. I believe he had lined up the site for the Trap and Skeet shooting before he had the hotel. Our president, Russ Derickson, had to remind him that there is more to a convention than the trap and skeet shooting.

See you in '87. * * * * * * * * * * * *

JUDGE:

"Couldn't this case have been settled out of court?"

DEFENDANT: "Your Honor, that's exactly what we were doing when the policeman butted in. * * * * * * * * * * * *

19

Left to right: George Long Phil Hollar Russ Derickson Don Peters Bob Widholm Joe McCombs Richie Beighlie Lloyd Hubbard Don Stitts Larry Haake Earl Heinrich

Above:

Left:

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Russ Derickson, Earl Heinrich and Don Stitts

"Is this anyway to bag a bird?"

Richie "Funny Boy" Beighlie

Earl Heinrich keepin' things movin ' on the Trap range.

Richie Beighlie, George Long, Phil Hollar and Russ Derickson

21

TARPA GOLF, ST. LOUIS MAY 29 and 30, 1986

By Joe Brown A small but elite group of golfers enjoyed the facilities of the Columbia Golf Club on the mornings before the meetings at the convention.

It rained so hard on Thursday evening that the course was still soaked on Friday morning and the carts had to be kept on the cart paths.

Also, we were delayed by fog so dense your drive would go out of sight (just like the runway center line on the simulator on rotation after an engine failure right at V1). This caused the bus to be late getting back to the hotel but we had a great tournament.

The personable young golf pro, Bob Furkin, also part owner of the course, figured the net scores for us using the Callaway Handicap system.

Ladies low gross, Jean Koughan; "The Golf God Award", Jo Clay.

Ladies low net, Fran Sorenson;

Thursday: Men's low gross, John Clark, Clem Witman, Dean Miller, Roy Van Etten all tied; Men's low net, Bob Montgomery.

Friday:

Men's low gross, Bill Rae; Men's low net, Cliff Davis.

Two day total: Men's low gross, Dub Youngblood; Men's low net, Bill Merrigan.

All of the other contestants each received three golf balls for showing up and completing two rounds of golf. Ole Olsen played only on Thursday because he had to set up the music on Friday.

Hope we have a much bigger turnout next year at Anaheim.

Don't forget TWA Seniors at the Lodge of the Four Seasons on Missouri's beautiful Lake of the Ozarks, May 26 and 27, 1987

Our government at work: May 29, 1986

Latest advice for golfers, USA TODAY

ONE LINE ON THE NEWS A new government report on lightnings danger to golfers advises: "If hair stands on end, lightning may be about to strike. Drop to your knees and bend forward."

Then kiss your clubs goodbye.

22

FRIDAY, MAY 30 - Cocktail Party Preceding the Awards Banquet

Claire and Jim Hendrix, Gay and Russ Bowen, and Ed Hall, above

Right, Bill Bainbridge, Terry Rager, Frank and Mary Lou McKee

MORE BANQUET HAPPY FACES AT THE MAY 30 AWARDS

et

Al Clay, Bob Sherman and his lady

Ted Widmayer and Clancy Green

24

Katherine and Stan Ch ichester

Phil Rimmler, currently on the 767-International at JFK, sent this picture with a note: "Here is a picture of the latest prescribed array of equipment for the emergency descent drill.

Those are swim goggles behind the headlights." * * * * * * * * * * * * Tell strangers you work for another airline and they'll tell you how much better yours is. * * * * * * * * * * * * A Pilot is a confused soul who talks about women when he's flying and about flying when he's with a woman.

- Len Morgan, FLYING * * * * * * * * * * * *

25

Special old Fud's Edition Submitted by Oscar Cleal YOU'RE OLD IF Everything hurts and what doesn't hurt doesn't work . .

The gleam in your eye is the sun hitting your bifocals . . .

You feel like the morning after, and you haven't been anywhere . . .

Your little black book contains only names ending with M. D. Your children begin to look middle-aged . . .

You finally reached the top of the ladder and find it leaning against the wrong wall . .

Your mind makes contracts your body can't keep . . .

A dripping faucet causes an uncontrollable bladder urge . . .

You look forward to a dull evening . .

Your favorite part in the newspaper is "20 Years Ago Today" . . .

You turn out the lights for economic reasons rather than romantic reasons . .

You sit in a rocking chair and can't get going . . .

Your knees buckle and your belt won't . . .

You regret all the mistakes you made by resisting temptation .

You're 17 around the neck, 42 around the waist, and 96 around the golf course . .

Your back goes out more than you do . . .

The little old grayhaired lady you help across the street is your wife .

You sink your teeth into a steak, and they stay there . . .

You have too much room in the house and not enough room in the medicine cabinet . . .

You get exercise acting as pallbearer for your friends who exercised . . .

You bend down to tie your shoe, and your stomach beats you to the floor . . .

You put your bra on backwards and it fits better . .

You know all the answers. but nobody asks you any questions . .

26

MEN WHO FLY

The men who fly are a breed of men Unto themselves. We'll not know again The little boy on a grassy hill Who sees a hawk and knows the thrill Of the summer wind on an up-turned wing And the joy a graceful flight can bring.

There was a dream in this boy's eyes That reflected the challenge of distant skies.

The passing of time and the greying of hair...

But the eye is still sharp and the light still there.

And he sees, as he scans the far blue sky, A dream that is missed by the passerby.

The men who fly are a special breed.

It's true, they spring from a certain seed.

A new kind of pilot has now made the scene: His flesh is firm and his mind is keen.

He's good - it's true - no need to ask.

The computers say he's right for the task.

His eyes, like steel, his determined face Show he's looking farther into space.

But his life will never know the thrill Of the little boy on the grassy hill.

Where, as far as his eager eyes could see, The air was clean and the sky was free; Where the hawk soared light on the summer air, And the boy imagined he was there.

Before it's too late, if the world is wise, It will honor these men who love the skies.

- Author Unknown Submitted by Howard Hall

27

OTIS F. BRYAN

By Ed Betts

Back in the years of the DC-2, DC-3 and Stratoliners TWA was known as the "Pilot's Airline", the airline run by pilots. It was also known as the "Lindbergh Line", although Lindbergh (following the introduction of the DC-2) was no longer active as a member of the company's technical committee.

These were the years when Jack Frye was the president and, starting in 1939, Howard Hughes the majority stockholder or owner.

Starting with Paul Richter in December of 1934, a number of pilots were to be promoted to various vice presidential positions including Larry Fritz, "Tommy" Tomlinson, John Collings and Otis Bryan.

Otis was the first to start out as copilot and captain on the line, the others had all been hired by the predecessor airlines in management positions.

Otis was the sixth of eleven children in the family and was born on January 3, 1908 in Crotherville, Indiana. His father was a farmer, the beginnings of Otis's roots and love for farming and ranching, although aviation was to be an important part of his life. His formal education was studying math, chemistry and some engineering for three years at the University of Indiana. It was here that he also began his military career (in the infantry) as a cadet in the ROTC program.

In 1927, while on temporary duty with the ROTC at Fort Knox, that he decided that a flying career in the military was more desirable than toting a 43 pound pack plus rifle and ammunition. He applied for, and was later accepted, pilot training in the Army Air Corps. It wasn't easy, as only two out of seventy five applicants from his area were accepted after the mental and physical exams. His flight training began on April 2, 1928 at March Field flying the Hisso - powered PT-1's and Whirlwind powered PT-3's. A week later, after six hours of dual instruction, he first soloed in a flight that lasted all of fifteen minutes. After eight months of basic training there were but 27 left out of the group of 110 who had started together. The next phase of training was at Kelly Field with pursuit planes, although in February of 1929 he was assigned to the 2nd Bombardment Group, based at Langley Field.

This was a period where many new airlines were forming and there was no assurance from the Army as to when or how long it would be for extended active duty or a permanent commission, an airline job looked more promising. Transcontinental Air Transport (TAT) had been formed in May of 1928 and after a year's delay for construction of airports and airway systems was about to finally take to the air. First pilots were (advertised) to have several thousand hours experience on multiengine equipment to fly their Ford tri-motors, and most had been trained at the Ford facilities in Dearborn. The copilots were recruited from the Army and many, at the time, had but two or three hundred hours in the air. Among those recruited by John Collings, who were to see many years of service with TWA in later years, were Cliff Abbott, Otis Bryan, Joe Bartles, Bill Campbell, Harry Campbell, Howard Hall, 28

Fred Richardson and Jack Zimmerman.

Operations began with the fly by day / train by night transcontinental service in July of 1929, with Otis based at St. Louis flying west to Waynoka, Oklahoma. On February 14, 1930, at the age of 21, he took his first trip out as captain (first pilot) and, until the T&WA merger in October of that year, spent a lot of his time flying vacation relief at Waynoka, Clovis and LA. His transport license is #6968.

While based at Langley, Otis had met and courted Helen Lenore (Lee) Schofield, the daughter of a career military officer. On October 8, 1930, they were married. There was hardly time for a honeymoon, as on the 25th of that month the new T&WA inaugurated its passenger and mail service from coast to coast, all by air. Otis, then based at KC, flew the inaugural eastbound flight to Indianapolis and Columbus.

The Fords were slow and the 36 hour transcon schedule included a twelve hour overnight layover at Tulsa or KC. In March of 1931 the single engine planes were introduced, which could get the mail across the nation in 24 hours or less and the mail revenues were the company's life blood compared to those from passengers and express. The Fords (and Fokkers) did little, if any, instrument flying and it was up to the mail pilots to complete their flights under almost any kind of weather conditions.

It was not without its risks as many were lost due to weather and mechanical problems. Although not considered an accident, Otis had a close one.

It happened while flying the night mail run on the leg from KC to STL and the weather went below landing limits; he proceeded to an alternate field near New Florence, Missouri, which was giving a 400' ceiling.

The field was poorly lit and, as was the procedure, he decided to use one of the plane's emergency flares to help light up the area. Normally the pilot pulled a wire which would release the flare (attached to a small parachute) and it would drop through a 4" tube in the cockpit by gravity. However, a new system had been installed that used a small amount of gunpowder to help release the flare that was already ignited, and in this instance the gunpowder was wet and wouldn't ignite. The burning flare was still in the tube and was now burning Otis's heavy winter flying suit.

He made a fast approach and landing, jumped from the plane and rolled in the snow to snuff the burning flying suit.

When TWA resumed carrying the mail following the infamous mail cancellation, in May of 1934, the company had lost approximately 40% of its former mail routes and gained but one addition, Terre Haute. This was the same period that the DC-2's were introduced, but the new station was too small for the Douglas plane and could be served by the Alphas only. On May 13th Otis brought the inaugural westbound flight through Terre Haute, although the amount of mail loaded at the station that day wasn't too impressive - ten letters. Otis was also the pilot on the DC-2 when regular service to Dayton was inaugurated on December 17, 1936.

The mail loaded aboard the eastbound flight was a little more impressive, 114 letters.

29

In 1936 Otis was appointed the Division Chief Pilot (KC-East) as well as assistant to System Chief Pilot, Harlan Hull. According to Otis, everybody else turned the job down as it was more paper work than anything else. Although the company was expanding rapidly and had a fleet of DC-3's and DST's scheduled for delivery in 1937, research was in progress by Tommy Tomlinson with regards to high altitude flying and a pressurized cabin. A contract was made with Boeing for a four-engine pressurized airliner, later dubbed the "Stratoliner".

Six were ordered with deliveries scheduled for the spring of 1938, and an option for an additional 17 aircraft. The purchase of the planes, together with spare engines and equipment would involve an expenditure of approximately $2,043,000.

The proposed plane was basically a civilian or commercial version of the Army's B-17 long range bomber, but with a different fuselage.

In June of 1936 Otis spent a month of active duty with the Second Bombardment Group at Langley flying the B-17 and gained first hand knowledge of what features were desirable for the commercial version, what was not or what might be marginal. Tomlinson was assigned to the Boeing plant during the early stages of constructing the prototype, and later Bryan to supervise with the cockpit layout, etc.

The prototype flew on December 31, 1938. By this time the order for TWA was for five aircraft, PanAm four and Howard Hughes one. TWA was having trouble with the financing and it wasn't until Hughes association with the company that this could be arranged (by selling 119,154 shares of stock to Hughes at $14 per share). Jack Frye and Hughes were now looking further ahead to the proposed Lockheed airliner, the Constellation.

In March of 1939 the Stratoliner program received a severe setback with the crash of the prototype plane during a trial flight by a group of KLM representatives and pilots. All aboard were killed including TWA's Harlan Hull, who was riding as an observer. Soon after Hull's death, Otis Bryan was named System Chief Pilot by Jack Frye.

In April of 1940 Tomlinson and Bryan had completed the acceptance tests for the first Stratoliner and with Lloyd Hubbard, Fred Kirk and Pete Redpath, they ferried the plane from Seattle to KC. A huge crowd of company and local observers were on hand for their arrival, including Frye.

Unbeknownst to Bryan, Frye had scheduled a flight the next day for the benefit of his friends and VIP's, with cocktails and lunch preceding the local air tour. Bryan protested as they had not had the time during the ferry flight to check out certain of the plane's new features, but Frye insisted.

They took off the next day following the cocktails and lunch, the weather was hot and humid. Rather than wait until they had reached colder outside air, the pressurization system was eased in gradually in order to demonstrate the nation's first airliner that could fly at 20,000' and the cabin altitude would be at about 12,000'. As they were climbing between 6,000' and 7,000' the hostess came rushing to

30

the cockpit with a message from Jack Frye---he wanted to see Captain Bryan immediately!

As Otis left the cockpit, one glance at the cabin thermometer told him the reason for Jack's urgent request: it was 128째 and climbing!

They quickly depressurized the cabin and circulated some warm, but cooler outside air to the relief of Jack's suffering guests.

With cold air, such as at Seattle or at higher altitudes, the system worked fine, but there was no provision for cooling the air after it was heated by compression, as was necessary in this case, and a radiator was soon installed in the system. Another engineering type problem that Otis found out during one of the 100 hour proving tests was with the plane's hydraulic boost system for the elevator and aileron controls. The plane could be steered with no boost, such as a broken hydraulic line, but in this case while cruising at 23,000' with outside air temperature of 20째 below zero, the controls locked.

He was able to ease the plane down to lower altitudes where, fortunately the air was warm enough and the controls returned to normal. It was later determined that the small cylinder and piston (or pump) that were part of the system were made of different metals and there was a different rate of contraction with the minute shrinkage in the freezing temperature.

The piston had locked inside the cylinder which trapped the hydraulic fluid and in turn locked the flight controls.

This was also soon modified.

The next engineering-type problem experienced by Otis during the proving tests had more serious consequences. This was on a flight from KC to Albuquerque with about a dozen pilots and a hostess aboard.

Over Wichita there was a large area of thunderstorms in the direction of Amarillo so they made a detour and headed west, direct towards Albuquerque. Detours were made further north and finally, when over the southeast corner of Colorado, it was obvious that they could no longer top the clouds and a course was taken direct to the Moriarty radio just to the east of Albuquerque. Before entering the clouds the carburetor heat was applied to all four engines. They were at about 20,000' at the time.

They hadn't been in the clouds but a minute or two when the #1 engine quit. Bryan decided to do a 180째 turn and get back into clear air and investigate the problem before proceeding on, but before he could complete the turn the remaining three engines quit .... carburetor ice!

They were now a 17 ton glider headed down into the mountainous terrain below. All of the old remedies were tried such as "backfiring" the engines, but nothing worked. It was a very quiet group of non-revs in the cabin as Ida Staggers made the necessary preparations for a crash landing.

At about 2,000' above the ground there was a break in the clouds and Otis sighted what looked to be a clearing, although it wasn't until about 500' (with about a mile visibility and rain) that he was able to line up with this clearing and make a gear up landing. Fortunately,

31

while skidding along, dirt had forced open the cargo doors which acted as plows or brakes to help stop the plane, just 200' short of a huge canyon. There were no injuries and the damage to the plane was minimal.

Later the plane was jacked up and, with the wheels down, was ferried back to KC by Bryan and Al MacKrille for the needed repairs.

The problem was with a new system of carburetor heat that had been installed by Wright engineers on the "Cyclone" engines. They had been concerned that pilots had been applying too much heat from the exhaust system that was causing engine detonation; the new system ( which was quickly modified) took air underneath the cowling, which was far from warm enough to prevent the ice forming and choking off the fuel supply.

Elaborate christening ceremonies for the new plane were held on May 27th at Bolling Field, Washington, and on July 9-10, 1940 the inauguration of regular service began. Bryan was pilot on the first westbound out of LGA as far as KC where "Mc)" Bowen took over to LA. Among the group of Hollywood notables aboard were Tyrone Power, Brenda Joyce, Nancy Kelly and Paulette Goddard. The 14 hour 9 minute flight (and the 12 hour 13 minute eastbound) set new transcontinental records that day.

Starting in late 1940 the Priorities Board started restricting the production of civilian aircraft as the factories upped their production of multi-engine bombers (such as the Lockheed "Hudson" and Consolidated " Liberator".

The civilian flight crews recruited for ferrying these planes to England were having troubles and the losses were high, particularly on the flight from Gander to Prestwick.

Since we were not officially at war at the time, the military could not give these crews the training necessary for flying the North Atlantic.

Then-Major General H. "Hap" Arnold requested TWA to set up such a training school and further requested that Otis Bryan (they had become acquainted during the B-17 - Stratoliner days at Seattle) set up this school.

The "Eagles Nest", the title given the training center, was located at ABQ (Kirkland Field) which was a combination military base and municipal airport.

Training of crews began on June 23, 1941 with about 50 staff members (many hired for the ground school and flight training remained as TWA employees in later years). Among Bryan's heads of departments were Joe Mountain, director of training; "Swede" Golien, superintendent transition flying; Hal Blackburn, superintendent instrument flying; Max Knudsen, superintendent ground school; Frank Busch, head of twin engine instruction, and later Harry Campbell on four engine instruction; and Ray Dunn, head of equipment instruction.

The total personnel soon expanded to over 118, and after the US entered the war the Army took over the instruction with their own personnel. Training was generally by crews that included pilot, copilot, navigator, flight engineer and radio operator.

32

OTIS BRYAN and FRANK BUSCH

33

Soon after the Pearl Harbor attack a high level meeting was held in Washington between certain government officials, military heads and airline executives as to how civilian transports and personnel were to be utilized for the all-out war effort. At the time, the Stratoliners were the only four-engine transports available except for Pan Am's flying boats. Initially Pan Am was to use ten of their flying boats and crews to transport personnel and supplies to Singapore via Brazil, Africa and India. On December 18th they dispatched their first flight with a load of P-40 spare parts for General Chennault's Flying Tigers.

The contract with TWA was signed on December 24th and, per the request of Jack Frye and General Arnold, Otis Bryan was put in charge of the There was a delay company's new Inter Continental Division (ICD). before TWA took to the air as all five of the Stratoliners had to be modified for long range operation---excess weight such as cabin furnishings, pressurization system, etc., had to be removed and extra fuel tanks installed in the forward cabin. Although the planes now belonged to the government and were painted in the Army's familiar olive drab, the old TWA names such as Navaho, Apache, etc., were still a-part of the plane's identification.

They were now C-75's.

The first of what would eventually be 9,500 transocean crossings by the ICD got started on February 26, 1942 with three C-75's loaded with 25,000 pounds of anti-personnel fuses for artillery shells destined for Field Marshall Montgomery.

At the time Montgomery's army was about 75 miles from Cairo trying to prevent Rommel's Afrika Corps from breaking through to Cairo and the Suez Canal. The crew on the first flight (a 17 day round trip) was Otis Bryan, Don Terry, Milo Campbell, Bill Noftsinger, Pete Redpath as navigator, Guy Arnold, navigator, W. R. Shook, radio, and Bob "Lewie" Proctor. Within weeks the ICD assignments stretched as far as India, half way around the world.

Jack Frye and Otis Bryan were now occupying adjoining offices in Washington, D. C., working with government officials, military heads and the fledgling Air Transport Command (ATC). Often the request for a certain flight would also include that Bryan be the pilot, such as a trip to Prestwick in March of 1942 with a load of military brass that included (all of them were in much lower grades of rank than the four or five stars later to come) Generals Marshall, Eisenhower, Clark and Colonel Vandenberg, Rear Admiral Towers plus Harry Hopkins and Averill Harriman.

They ran into bad weather off the coast of Greenland and returned to Gander to await improvement. While at Gander some of the group did some skeet shooting and Bryan, an avid hunter, won high score with 24 out of 25. Trips with Eisenhower aboard would often find him in the copilot's seat flying the airplane (he was a pilot with small aircraft).

By mid-1942 the ATC was in full operation headed by General Harold

34

George with Colonel C. R. Smith, former president of American AL, his chief aide. Colonel Lawrence "Larry" Fritz from TWA headed the North Atlantic Division.

Their (and the ICD) equipment now included the Douglas C-54 (DC-4) transport and the C087, a converted Liberator Bomber, with greater range and payload capabilities than the C-75.

In late 1942 the ICD received an important order, and again the request for Bryan to be the pilot, for a flight with a specially equipped C-54 from Bathurst, Gambia, to Casablanca and return. It was top secret, with all kinds of security measures involved and the passenger list was not known to the flight crew until the final boarding at Bathurst.

There was a clue, however, as a special ramp had to be used to bring a certain passenger aboard in his wheel chair .....

President Roosevelt.

Pan Am had brought the President to Bathurst in one of their "Clippers" and the ICD crew would take him on the land portion to Casablanca for his meeting with Prime Minister Churchill on January 14, 1943. This historic trip was the first flight by a U.S. president while in office. Teddy Roosevelt once flew, but it was after he was no longer in office.

Bryan had numerous occasions to chat with the President and found him to be an avid tourist enjoying the scenery below. Churchill had arrived two days earlier in his Liberator piloted by Bill Vandercloot who was a TWA pilot from 10/38 to 1941. Don Terry piloted a second .

C-54 or backup plane for the President. Churchill overslept the morning of Roosevelt's departure and, when he awoke, came running out in his fancy bathrobe to say goodbye.

Following the Casablanca conference and return to Bathurst, Bryan flew the President south to Monrovia, Liberia for a brief inspection of the Firestone rubber plantation.

Once again PanAm flew him across the South Atlantic to Natal. Bryan's plane passed the "Clipper" enroute, and again picked the President up for the overland portion to Trinidad, then on by "Clipper" to Miami.

At the TWA Board of Directors meeting on February 24, 1943, Otis Bryan was elected to the office of Vice President, in charge of all war projects.

These included the ICD, ATC contracts, a training school for the military, a B-25 modification program and certain secret work for the USAAF. It wasn't exactly a desk job, as he made about forty ocean crossings as pilot during the period of the ICD operation.

Cliff Mutchler took over as the operations manager for the ICD, following Otis's promotion.

At first Otis was the pilot on these flights as a civilian, in the ICD summer or winter uniforms of TWA. Later he was piloting certain flights while on temporary active duty, originally with the rank of Captain and later to Major and Lt. Colonel. From November 22 to 27, 1943, he was again the pilot for the land portion of the President's and Chiefs of Staff conferences at Cairo with Churchill. The C-54 for the President now had a special elevator built for his boarding.

Following the Cairo conference, Churchill and Roosevelt flew separate routes to Teheran to meet with Marshall Stalin. It was during a 35

PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT AND OTIS BRYAN, CASABLANCA

side trip from Cairo to Malta that a problem developed with the plane's hydraulic system.

The gear could be lowered by alternate means, but not the landing flaps, which required an extra 20 mph approach and landing speed than normal. According to Otis, when the President was informed of the problem, he said, "Well go ahead, take all precautions, and we'll all have a good time". It was a safe, but fast, approach and landing.

The President's personal physician did present one hurdle with regards to the flight from Cairo to Teheran---except in an emergency, and with the doctor's OK, they were not not fly above 8,000' due to the President's heart condition. Otis made a preview flight to make certain that this could be done and, fortunately, on the day of the President's trip the weather was beautiful and this could be accomplished. Roosevelt enjoyed the scenery. His last trip with the President was on February 2, 1945.

Churchill had arrived at Malta in a new C-54 given to him by General Arnold.

The Chiefs of Staff had already arrived for their conferences and Roosevelt arrived by sea. The whole party was then to fly to the Crimea for a conference at Yalta with Stalin and his advisors. Bryan and "Hank" Meyers flew the President to Yalta and return. One of the two aircraft taking Churchill's staff to Malta crashed off the island of Pantelleria leaving only five survivors. Although the President was a cheerful passenger, it was obvious to Otis and many insiders that his physical condition had deteriorated rapidly during the war years.

He died on May 12 at the age of 63.

The Lockheed C-69 (Constellation) program had been curtailed at the outbreak of the war in favor of the C-54, but a limited production was resumed in 1943. On April 19, 1944, TWA got a preview of its post-war airliner when Howard Hughes and Jack Frye delivered a military prototype, painted in TWA colors, to Washington, D. C. Hughes, Frye and Bryan alternated as pilots to demonstrate the plane to various congressmen and military heads. A few C-69's were assigned to the ICD during the latter stages of the war. With the ending of hostilities, TWA concentrated on its new International Division as the ICD gradually came to a close. Otis was named Vice President of this division with offices at Wilmington in October of 1945, and following the resignation of T. B. Wilson, in January of 1946 was the General Manager. After many survey and preview flights, TWA's first international flight took off on February 5th bound for Ireland and France.

The immediate post-war years saw the problems between TWA management and Howard Hughes, plus the grounding of the Connies and the pilot strike, which led to numerous resignations by executives that included Jack Frye and Paul Richter. Bryan still had a good rapport with Hughes, (if you could stand the late night-early morning phone calls) and agreed to stay on for another year. This developed into an impossible situation, not so much with Hughes, but dealing with his aide, Noah Dietrich, and on June 17, 1948 Bryan also resigned from TWA. Another factor that influenced his resignation was his health at that time...

Dr. Lovelace had advised a change, and a rest from the pressure of the war years, etc.

37

TWA had been involved with the re-organization of the Philippine Airlines as they sought help to resume their post-war operations.

Bryan had worked with Andres Soriano, whose company had a management contract with the airline in setting up and recruiting certain management and supervisory personnel to operate the airline. At Soriano's request, Otis accepted the job as operations Vice President for the airline as well as an advisor on the company's other world-wide interests. At the time, the airline was operating with a fleet of about sixty worn out surplus C-47 / DC-3's that were sadly in need of repair.

After two years with Bryan's supervision the airline was operating on schedule and expanding rapidly with newer aircraft in the fleet.

Living in the Philippines was fairly good, but Lee was homesick. The kids, Skippy and Sis, ages 10 and 12, loved it, but it was time to return home to the U.S.A. and, for the first time in over two decades, Otis was no longer associated in the aviation business. His next job, again working for Soriano, was managing the Muehlbach Beer Brewery in the Kansas City area and managing other Soriano interests in the U.S.A. At the time Muehlbach was number five in beer sales, but was soon number one with other areas included. Seven years later the brewery was sold to the Schlitz Corporation and Otis returned to the field of aviation as a vice president with the Link Division, a subsidiary of the Singer Corporation. Otis's duties were to finalize contracts with various nations, their airforces or airlines for their "Link Trainers".

It required a lot of world travel, although his office was at the company plant at Binghamton, NY. The world famous Link Trainer had progressed and come a long way since the days during the Air Mail Crisis in 1934 when it was first used by the Army to train its pilots and practice with the art of instrument flying.

The airlines, including TWA in 1936, soon adopted the same trainer and by 1941 with the escalated training by the military, CPT and airlines, it was the most widely used training device ever.

The old trainers were shaped like an airplane with a small fuselage, wings, tail and a hood over the small cockpit. It was anchored to the floor, but could turn in any direction and could assume a climb or descent attitude which gave a touch of realism to the pilot steering under the hooded cockpit.

Outside, the instructor had a desk with dials to tune in necessary radio aids, adjust and monitor same and a movable stylus would trace on a map the path the "airplane" was flying.

It didn't exactly teach you to fly, as was the case with post war simulators, but it was an invaluable aid to learning and practicing orientation by radio, various approaches and letdowns to airports, etc.

During Bryan's fifteen years with the Link Division the simulators advanced into the jet age, they were as complicated as the aircraft itself, and almost as expensive, and used by the airlines, military and FAA for a number of purposes: checking out new pilots on aircraft, rating rides or instrument checks, etc. Link had over 600 personnel

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based at Houston at the Johnson Center as part of the space program with computers and simulators.

Otis retired from Singer / Link in January 1973 at the then-mandatory age of 65. It wasn't exactly retiring as he was able to devote full time to his first love and interest, farming and ranching. He has from 200 to 300 head of his cattle grazing on 1200 acres of land owned, and another 2,000 leased near Greeley, Kansas.

A great deal of his aviation memorabilia, such as logbooks, etc., were lost when a ship transporting his personal effects was sunk northwest of Guam when the family was moving to the Philippines .

However, not all was lost, and proudly displayed in his office today are some of his most treasured souvenirs and mementos: autographed photos of some of his most famous passengers such as Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Marshall, Arnold and Leahy along with letters of commendation thanking him for a job well done.

Today there is a fleet of aircraft, headed by Air Force One, and a large staff of pilots and crews who fly the President, staff and other dignitaries about the world.

Otis can look back with pride that he was among the very first, as well as the first of the TWA ICD flight crews to fly across the Atlantic. At the time of his first flight with ammunition supplies to Cairo, he had never been outside of the USA before except by a short auto trip to Mexicali. * * * * * * * * * * * * The only thing most people get on a silver platter is tarnish.

- NC Farm Bureau News * * * * * * * * * * * * O'BRIEN'S LAW:

Nothing is ever done for the right reasons, * * * * * * * * * * * *

JONES' MOTTO:

Friends come and go, but enemies accumulate. * * * * * * * * * * * *

MURPHY'S LAW OF RESEARCH: Enough research will tend to support your theory. * * * * * * * * * * * *

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In Memoriam HARRY E. CAMPBELL 2-2-86

AVERY LENOIR 3-4-86

* * * * * * * * *

* * * * * * * * *

THOMAS P. DUFFY 4-18-86

ARNOLD C. "ARNE" LUNDBERG 3-9-86

* * * * * * * * *

* * * * * * * * *

ALFORD D. HEATH 2-18-86

CALVIN H. "PIERRE" MOLLINEAUX 3-19-86

* * * * * * * * *

* * * * * * * * *

HALBERT H. "DUTCH" HOLLOWAY 3-4-86

WENDELL F. PETERSON 5-23-86

* * * * * * * * *

* * * * * * * * *

ORRIN O. "DIXIE" KIEFER 2-15-86

DONOVAN A. SIEBENALER 3-13-86

* * * * * * * * *

* * * * * * * * *

DAVID J. KREYSLER 4-10-86

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Captain Harry E. Campbell

HARRY E. CAMPBELL

By Ed Betts Captain Harry E. Campbell passed away on February 22nd at the Hoag Memorial Hospital in Newport Beach. He had just undergone eight hours of surgery for various complications prior to his death.

Harry was one of TWA's original pilots, a well known "character", famous for his jokes, gags and antics on the humorous side, and on the serious side known to be tough and irascible if he didn't like a situation or individual. During his lifetime he made many friends, among them many of aviation's famous; there were others who didn't appreciate his sense of humor or an occasional tirade. Whatever opinion or reaction one had to Harry, the stories and yarns will go on for decades about some of his escapades and flying experiences.

He was born on December 18, 1904, on a farm in Hillsboro, Iowa, and six years later the family moved to Bloomfield where his dad operated a funeral furniture (including coffins) business.

Young Harry's first encounter with a body on a slab resulted in his breaking the door off the hinges as he bolted from the room. He graduated from Kemper Military Academy and then to Drake University, then attended Washington University Law School in St. Louis on a football scholarship.

One of his S.A.E fraternity brothers had thoughts of joining the Army's aviation cadet program, but changed his mind and gave Harry the application papers.

Harry decided it was a good idea and on March 1, 1928 was accepted and was among the 142 cadets who reported to March Field for training.

This was the second class to attend March Field as it had just been re-activated. Howard Hall was in the first class to attend, the beginning of a life long friendship between the two men. Cadets were restricted to the base during their first month of training. They were all set for their first leave when it was discovered that Jack Zimmerman had the measles, which brought about another month on the base, in quarantine.

At long last the group of 125 cadets made a ma. exodus to nearby Riverside and a good dinner at a restaurant which gave credit privileges to the servicemen. Typical of Harry, he was impatient with the service and kept tapping his glass to get a young waitress's attention. This was Evelyn, her family owned the restaurant, and her immediate reply was for him to take his business to one of the other 38 eating places in the area....a rather inauspicious beginning to a future romance.

After eight months at March, there were 42 cadets remaining who took their final three months of training at Kelly Field and received their wings and commissions.

Campbell was then sent to Langley Field where there were too few airplanes and too many pilots to get in much flying time. This was about the time when TAT was ready to start

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their 48 hour coast-to-coast service and John Collings was recruiting prospective copilots from various Army fields.

Harry was hired on May 20, 1929 and was based at St. Louis when operations began on July 7th . At the last minute it was discovered that most of the copilots didn't have the required Third Class Radio-Telephone license.

Fortunately, someone had the answers to the exam, and the group completed the test in a record 35 minutes (compared to the normal near three hours), much to the chagrin of the inspector in charge.

During their bachelor years, Harry, Howard Hall and Ted Ashford often shared an aprtment, which was the beginning of the endless stories of the young pilots and copilots adventures and antics in the early days of commercial flying. There were the usual fraternity type capers, such as bombing with water bags, limberger cheese, etc., and the time when Harry arrived at his hotel room during a layover and discovered all of his clothes and shaving kit missing from his suitcase, and the bag loaded with the chocks and chains to park the aircraft.

Some of the flying stunts would bring a frown of disapproval from the FAA or company today, such as the time Harry was copilot with Ambrose Banks ferrying an empty Ford from Waynoka east. They spotted a Western Fokker F-10 just ahead, "poured on the coal" and overtook the competitor's plane and when about a mile or so ahead proceeded to do a "loop". Ben Howard, well known for his escapades (and for importing bathtub gin to those based at Waynoka) once showed off a "slow roll" to Otis Bryan, who was standing in the doorway to the cockpit at the time.

Harry had the bare minimum (200 was required) 205 flying hours when he was hired. He had 316 hours when he reported to Columbus and Division Chief Pilot, Harry McGee, for checkout to first pilot. This included three takeoffs and landings. This was after three months on the line, although Harry's pilot seniority date was February 16, 1930.

After the merger of TAT - Maddux and Western he was a junior pilot, based at KC. On October 1, 1931, he married Evelyn; there was little time for a honeymoon as Harry was needed for some reserve work, and a "wedding present" was a notice to all employees there would be a 25% pay cut. For the first two years of their marriage the newlyweds were constantly being shifted from domicile to domicile, a total of eight times: KC-Tulsa-KC-Tulsa-KC-CMH-EWR-CMH-KC. As a senior TWA pilot (he was #35 on the first list by seniority published in May of 1934), Harry flew them all; the Fords and Fokkers, single-engine mail planes, twin-engine Douglas liners and the four engine Stratoliners in the pre-war years, numerous types of twin and four engine bombers during the war, and the DC-4, Connies and Boeing 707 in the post war years. He had a number of problems, including one with the B707 "water wagon" landing at JFK.

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His first incident was on May 3, 1932 when he was practicing landings at KC with the Northrop "Alpha" and was unable to loosen the brakes quickly enough during a turn on the ground which resulted in a slightly bent propeller and buckled fuselage.

On July 3rd of that year he had quite an experience soon after departing STL at night with an "Alpha".

There was a sudden and severe vibration in the engine (later determined caused by a large piece of the prop breaking off), the engine tore loose from its mounts and, minus the weight of the engine, the plane went into an uncontrollable loop. Harry bailed out and landed in the Mississippi near the confluence of the Missouri River. Parachuting at night is complicated by having little or no reference to when or where you are going to light, and to be prepared, landing in water has the risk of getting entrapped by the chute or shroud lines.

Also, there was no water flotation gear, such as a "Mae West", but Harry made it and was able to stay afloat until his cries for help were heard by two fishermen in a rowboat. They rescued him, and retrieved the mail from the "Alpha", which had miraculously pancaked down on a nearby island.

On his next trip with an "Alpha", he had an incident which didn't make the usual accident investigating reports, and could have had fatal consequences with the cause unknown, Ted Hereford once landed at Tucumcari complaining of dizziness and being drowsy. On Harry's trip east from KC he landed at New Florence with similar complaints.

However, the fresh air revived him and he continued to STL, and after landing he passed out. As it was later determined, there was an open area in the rear fuselage where the tailwheel assembly entered and was attached; carbon monoxide fumes from the plane's exhaust were drawn through this hole and then to the cockpit. This was corrected by the installation of a sock or boot to cover the hole.

Harry was rushed to the hospital where he remained for ten days due to the lack of red corpuscles. He was off duty recovering for three months and after the doctor's OK to fly, spent the next three months as copilot on the Fords.

Albuquerque was, in those years, the popular layover city for the crews from both the east and west. For several summers it was a "mini" domicile for Harry and during his off duty hours he pursued his favorite pastimes of hunting and fishing. The lobbies of the Alvarado and later the Hilton (Hilton's first hotel) were the mecca for news and rumors about the system and you would often find Harry in the poker game usually in progress. Harry loved to gamble and was always ready for a contest for a wager in arm wrestling, etc.

The pilots had purchased a car for transportation to and from the airport, but it was losing money at 25c each way per passenger, and the kitty was in the hole until Harry took over the management. Woe be it for the pilot who failed to leave the required fee with the hotel desk clerk and have it recorded or those who used it for extra curricular activities during the layover. T hey had to account to Harry, and were sometimes fined $5.00 as well.

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Harry had one minor incident landing a DC-2 at KC where $727.25 in damages was done to the plane's right wing tip and aileron. The pilot group had long argued and contended that pilot fatigue due to long hours was unsafe. In Harry's case the company examining board concluded it was pilot error, but also conceded that the long hours Harry had already been on duty was an important contributing factor a TWA first where this problem was recognized.

Son Dick was born in 1936 and daughter Nancy in 1938, as the family finally settled in KC, although there was still the summers in ABQ. In mid-1941 the company contracted with the military for the training of civilian ferry crews to deliver aircraft to our allies in Europe via the North Atlantic route. Harry was assigned as head of four-engine instruction for this training at the "Eagles Nest" operation at ABQ. On one trip with a B-24 "Liberator" Harry lost two generators in flight and the remaining two after landing at Maxwell Field.

Spare generators were at a premium and he spent ten days awaiting repairs. A wire to Otis Bryan, head of the Eagles Nest for TWA at ABQ, explaining the situation was typical of Harry's wit: Here we sit and it is damn hot The parts we need we ain't got.

The corn pone is good and so's the 'taters But what we need is generators.

On July 16, 1942, which was about the time when the Army took over its own training, Harry volunteered for the service. He was then a First Lieutenant, and his first assignment was at the B-24 training base at Symra, Tennessee. He was soon promoted to Captain and assigned to General Yount's staff at Fort Worth. Then back to Kirkland and promotion to Major where he was the director of all training for the B-24 Pilot Training School.

This was on November 1, 1943 and this new assignment placed him in charge of both the Bombardier Training School and the AAF Pilot School and included instrument training.

He was promoted to Lt. Colonel on March 10, 1944 and was second in command of a base at Reno when he retired from the service in July of 1945 and returned to TWA. He received numerous commendations for a job well done. Harry was an influence and instrumental with the paperwork for a number of his instructors and students in seeking a TWA pilot career after their discharge from the service.

His first assignment with TWA was interviewing and screening prospective copilots as the company embarked on its biggest expansion program ever, following the war. In ;September of 1946 he replaced Stan "Toots" Kasper as head of TWA's domestic training department at KC. He soon had a reputation as a strict and stern disciplinarian (I know, I was in captain school at the time). In April of 1948 he was named Chief Pilot for the Atlantic Region, based at New Castle, and reporting to Regional Operations Manager, Bob Springer.

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"Desk Flying" and management were not for Harry and in 1950 he bid back on the line flying the Connies out of LAX. The family settled in Corona del Mar, the last of about 36 moves, domiciles and military locations they had during Harry's flying career. In November of 1962 it was discovered that he had blocked arteries in his legs and in January of the following year he underwent four hours of surgery at the Lovelace Clinic in ABQ. He didn't fly again, and his favorite sports of hunting and fishing were curtailed. He remained on sick leave until retiring in December of 1964. At that time he was the number two pilot on the seniority list, behind another former TAT copilot, Joe Bartles, and had accumulated about 30,000 flying hours.

His retirement party was a typical "Campbell Bash", a stag affair attended by his pilot friends and others throughout his flying career, including then VP "Oz" Cocke, who started with TAT as a passenger agent.

There were lots of jokes and stories and Harry was eager to take on all comers (for a wager) in the sport of arm wrestling.

Retirement for Harry was the opportunity to frequently visit his favorite mountain hideaways in New Mexico with Evelyn as well as TWA functions such as retirement parties and the annual Wickenberg outing.

It was Harry's suggestion to "Parky" in 1961 which brought about the formation of the TWA Seniors Club. He was a charter member of the Irving Coast Country Club, a long time member of the QB's, the Masonic Lodge, and of course, TARPA. A 36 year resident of the Orange County area, he was one of the first members of their airport commission (now the John Wayne airport). He was also active in community affairs and led a group to block oil companies from erecting derricks or rigs which would blot the scenic shorelines. In July of 1979, the fiftieth anniversary of TAT, he represented TWA with dedication ceremonies where a Ford propeller blade and plaque were presented at certain airport terminals.

In case this article has left the impression that Harry was all fight and no compassion, there was another side that many didn't see unless they were in distress and in need of help; he was always among the first when a friend needed assistance. This started back in the old days, when the airline and its personnel were small; they had to help each other...especially in the days of no insurance for a widow or a mutual aid plan for a pilot who was off duty. There was a lot of horseplay that helped relieve the tensions of getting the passengers and mail through all kinds of weather without benefit of good radios and navigation aids.

A Masonic Memorial Service was held for Harry and long-time friend "Parky" delivered the eulogy.

As "Parky" related: there are millions of stories, good and bad (and many unprintable) which could be told about Harry .... he was a legend in his time and part of TWA's roots from the beginning. He is survived by his wife, Evelyn, daughter Nancy and son Dick, two grandchildren and a sister, Pearl Armstrong. * * * * * * * * * * * *

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"DUTCH" HOLLOWAY

By Ed Betts Pioneer airman and retired Captain Halbert H. Holloway, better known to TWAers as "Dutch", passed away on March 24 at the age of 90. A native of Bakersfield, California, his first introduction to flying was in 1917 as a cadet assigned to a French flying school located at Chateauroux. His instructor could speak no English so the inflight training was usually by slamming the control stick from side to side.

Their training planes were designed in 1911, the Caugron, which used warped wings for lateral control rather than the conventional ailerons.

Hal, as he was known then, soloed after just four hours and twenty minutes of dual instruction and after three months with the French was assigned to an American school, located at Issoudon, for final training.

They were flying the French-built Nieuports. After receiving his "brevet" (license) he was assigned to the 141st Squadron of the 4th Pursuit Group, then flying the famous French "Spads". At the time the group was patrolling the Moselle sector of the front from their base at Toul.

The war was practically over by the time he had finished his training, although he did fly about forty hours of offensive patrol. After the war he was with the Army of Occupation based at Koblenz, Germany, until he returned home in July of 1919 In 1920 he bought his first plane, a Hall-Scott powered "Standard" biplane for $3,000 and soon established his "H. H. Holloway Aerial Service" near Bakersfield.

Besides the usual "barnstorming", he was available for tours, charters and local rides for the thrill seeking public.

Hal had an advantage over his competitors as he could squeeze two in the front cockpit (at $10 each). Other planes such as the Curtiss "Jenny" could only carry one. He later modified his "Standard" with an OX-5 engine which increased the performance. He also did some flying out of Santa Barbara, and in 1921 he sold his thriving business and purchased a flying boat which he had to assemble.

On one flight where he landed at Avalon Bay, Catalina Island, he met the owner, William Wrigley, and received authorization to operate a flying service there. Hal had a new slogan painted on the bottom of the plan's hull: "FLY WITH ME". For the next two years he flew awestruck passengers over the scenic island and, according to Hal, this was the most profitable and enjoyable flying in his life. He also sold this business and did some other flying out of such harbor areas as Balboa and Santa Cruz.

In 1928 Western Air Express bought the Pacific Marine Airlines, then operating regular passenger schedules from the LA harbor area to Avalon, about 22 miles west. Western modernized the fleet by replacing the old Curtiss flying boats with such aircraft as the Boeing 204 flying

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boat, Sikorsky model S-38 and Leoning "Air Yachts". The latter two were of the amphibian type that could be operated out of Western's airport at Alhambra, just east of LA. This was also the year that Western began operating on their "model airway" to SFO using the trimotor Fokker F-10's.

On June 15, 1928, Holloway and another veteran seaplane pilot, Franklin Young, who also learned to fly in France during WWI, joined Western.

They alternated flying the Fokkers to SFO, and later to SLC as well as the shuttles to Avalon . TAT inaugurated their deluxe 48 hour transcontinental (fly by day, train by night service) on July 7, 1929 --Western inaugurated a similar service in June, flying the Fokkers as far as KC. Holloway also flew this route, and the following year flew the nation's first four engine airliner, the 32 passenger F-32. The two companies, WAE and TAT - Maddux , merged in late 1930 to form T&WA. The Catalina shuttle was not part of the merger.

As a senior T&WA pilot, (Holloway was the #8 captain on the first official seniority list published in May 1934, Young #9 and George Rice #10), "Dutch" flew them all: the Fords and Fokkers, single-engine mail planes, twin-engine Douglases and four engine "Stratoliners" in the pre-war years - the C-54 and C-87 during the war - and the post-war Constellations.

On March 1, 1933 the Post Office awarded T&WA its first addition to the transcon route (the old CAM #34), an extension to SFO by way of Bakersfield and Fresno.

Rice flew the inaugural northbound flight with the Northrop "Alpha" and Holloway the first southbound . He also flew the first southbound mail when Oakland was included as a stop on March 16th.

In January 1934, "Dutch" had a close one flying the mail run to ABQ with the Lockheed "Orion", a single-engine plane which was the first with a retractable gear for the company. A Winslow mechanic had overlooked filling the plane's 16 gallon reserve tank, located behind the pilot's seat. Holloway ran out of gas just short of ABQ and crash landed in the sage brush. The plane was severely damaged and "Dutch" received some facial cuts on the bridge of his nose.

T&WA was relatively small in those days and everybody seemed to know each other around the system, either on the line flying or by means of the "Skyliner" (also known as the "Windsock" in the early years).

Each station had its own contributing editor with news about their activities and employees.

"Irv" Greenwald, the editor for Burbank, was always reporting on the antics and escapades of their two favorite bachelors, "Dutch" and Eddie Bellande. Both had receding hairlines which made them more attractive to the fair sex (the gals thought "Dutch" reminded them of the actor Guy Kibbee). Eddie broke a lot of feminine hearts when he married actress Molly Lamont in 1937. "Dutch" remained a bachelor. During the war Holloway flew the ICD operation, making about 70 Atlantic crossings transporting troops and supplies to Europe, Africa and India. After the war he was assigned to Ethiopia to help set up an airline.

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As a background to the situation at that time, Ethiopia was still in the process of recovery from Italian rule and occupation. This started in 1936, when Emperor Haile Selassie went into exile and ended in May of 1941 when the British ran the Italians out. Although the war was still waging, in March of 1945, TWA representatives had made the preliminary arrangements with Ethiopian authorities in Washington, D.C., to help set up and run their airline when the war was officially over.

A contract was signed on September 8th which called for Ethiopia to put up $400,000 cash for the purchase of aircraft and other equipment and to turn over all of their ,, hangars etc., to TWA's disposal.

It was to be Ethiopian owned, TWA operated. In return, TWA would have the option, within two years, of purchasing 25% of their stock at a price not to exceed $250,000. TWA would charge at a certain cost per mile basis.

Arrangements were made by TWA's Brigadier General T. B. Wilson and Major General Benjamin Giles.

TWA VP Jack Nichols, Austin J. Naylor and Captain Milo Campbell were assigned to this operation, but were killed in the crash of a B-25 in Eritrea. Two weeks later "Dutch" and H. Bruce "Obie" Obermiller were assigned to the project and arrived at Addis (also spelled Addes) Ababa on December 15, 1945. They were delivered by a plane whose passengers included Generals Wilson and Giles. The two men were left to make their own arrangements from there on. At the time, "Dutch" and "Obie" had three suitcases, a dozen fly swatters and a case of soft drinks to transport to town.

The only vehicle available to drive them to town was a blue colored jeep with a royal insignia and a driver who could speak no English.

He delivered them to the Imperial Hotel, refused to leave as well as accept any payment or tip. For the next three days he stood by the hotel entrance, sleeping in the jeep, ready to serve them. They found out later that this was the Emperor's private jeep, a gift from President Roosevelt, and his chauffeur. During this period they rented an eleven room, two bath villa, which by local standards was a palace.

They also bought a 1932 Canadian-built car (right hand drive). A special printed proclamation, dated December 27, was given to Holloway which announced to all concerned that he was the appointed and elected General Manager of the Ethiopian Air Lines, Inc., with full and all requisite powers and authority to represent, and to act for and in behalf of their corporation.

Holloway immediately took off for Cairo on a huge shopping and recruiting spree, while "Obie" made local arrangements for a staff, office, etc. His shopping list included five aircraft (surplus military C-47's), a dozen spare engines, 2,300 spare parts, ten radio stations (equipment) and other equipment to set up an airline.

"Dutch" was besieged with applicants eager for an airline job who came from all parts of the world and were in Cairo at the time. Five were selected, four of them from Texas, after careful screening and testing by "Dutch".

After a month of shopping and recruiting he cabled "Obie" that he would be arriving on February 1st with his armada of planes and supplies.

The largest crowd ever, including the royal family, were on hand for the arrival.

The six planes arrived in formation, two sets in "V" formation, and landed.

After the supplies were unloaded from the sixth plane, the military pilots departed for Cairo.

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On one occasion "Dutch, "Obie" and chief mechanic Dale Hungerford were working in the hangar repairing an engine when a black and silver Rolls Royce drove up. It was the Emperor making a casual inspection. The trio were dressed in greasy and grubby overalls at the time of this first introduction to the Emperor. He was an avid aviation enthusiast and would often come to the airport in the evening, sit in an airplane, and chat informally with "Dutch". This was quite different from an official audience when the Emperor was seated on his "Peacock" throne in the palace; everybody bowed when they entered and again when they left. Nobody turned his back on the Emperor, you backed out of the throne room.

One of "Dutch's" first flights was to Nairobi with a plane load of money, $3.7 million in bills stacked in 40 pound bales, to exchange for the nation's credit in order to purchase aircraft and other equipment.

In order to make money for the return trip, the plane was loaded with cases of canned peaches, ham, a bicycle, a drum of white paint, (Ethiopians loved white paint) and the balance of space with fresh pineapples. According to "Dutch", upon his return, it was like a Macy's after Christmas sale with all of the Ethiopians mobbing the scene.

It was TWA's desire that Cairo be a hub for all of the proposed airlines to service, with connections to their own International service to begin in early 1946. The British had been operating a Cairo-Addis Ababa service with Lockheed Lodestars with bucket seats that took two days of flying (none at night, and VFR only). Holloway proposed, and made several survey flights, a route that headed east over Eritrea and then, with one fuel stop, along the Red Sea to Cairo. This would be a ten hour trip, but would require a lot of hedge hopping of Eritrea in the lower valleys. In the meantime, "Obie" was arranging for all kinds of charter flights as well as local scenic tours in order to keep the planes and pilots busy, and some income provided. Local rides were at the rate of $175 for a half an hour with 21 observers or passengers riding in the bucket seats. Certain charters had nicknames such as "Fanny Farmer" that often went to Kenya with local produce and returned with tons of cocoa and fruits. The most profitable was the "A&P". flying six tons of coffee to Somaliland and return with fresh seafood. Cotton was imported from ships at Aden.

TWA radio expert Harry Marshall arrived and set out in a German car for Aouach (pronounced A-wash) to install a ground radio beaon .

The car broke down in the Shifta country that was infested with bandits and thieves. He walked the remaining 65 miles, skirting the villages, to Aouach.

In the meantime a search party had set out and they found the car minus everything but the precious radio equipment. :n March 25th they inaugurated the first scheduled service to Cairo, departing at 2 A.M. and arriving in the afternoon. This was a twice a week schedule at first, and they usually cruised at 10 ,000' where It was cool. In some areas along the Red Sea it was 130 on the ground.

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Besides the flights to Cairo there were the charters; they would fly anywhere as long as they could find it on a map. Larry Trimble, in his article on the TWA C-47 ETT-12 in the March 1985 TOPICS, told how the plane was in Ethiopian registry with "Dutch's" help. The ET-T was the Ethiopian registered international symbol and used on their fleet. "Dutch" received an engraved invitation from the Emperor to a reception on the 5th of May, 1946, celebrating the fifth anniversary of his return from exile. Formal dress with decorations was required which was not in Holloway's wardrobe; this meant another shopping trip to Cairo.

In early 1947 "Dutch" returned to the USA. He was replaced by "Swede" Golien as the General Manager for the Ethiopian Air Line. In April of that year Jack Frye and Paul Richter had resigned from TWA, leaving Holloway as the number one pilot on the seniority list. He soon bid SFO where he flew the Connie nonstops to the Chicago Midway Airport until he retired, at age 60, in January of 1956 -.

Flying the line with "Dutch" was always a rewarding experience as he was the epitome of an airline pIlot who had graduated from the old "seat of your pants" flying to the modern art of instrument flying and strict airways control.

Bob Buck, in an interview with author Bob Serling, told of his first six months on the line flying with Holloway.

This was in August of 1937, flying the DC-2's and DC-3's out of Burbank.

Buck was often promised a landing, but there was always a reason why this was postponed such as: too much crosswind, the weather wasn't just right or it was getting dusk. On one trip they had landed and spent the night on the plane at Saugus due to fog at BUR. They ferried the plane to BUR the next morning and Bob was allowed the coveted takeoff - but once in the air Holloway yelled: "OK, I've got it! Gear up!"

On a personal note, my first of about two dozen trips with "Dutch" was in early 1949 on the nonstop daytime Connie Flights 36 and 35, SFO-MDW. Like Buck, there was mention of a landing sometime, but the conditions were never favorable. I never flew with a pilot who knew his geography and routes as well as "Dutch"; he didn't need a map or radio beam to stay on course or know his location - he knew every town, highway or other means of identification, and was always studying the smoke from the ground in order to mentally compute the groundspeed or drift, etc.

When the weather permitted he loved to fly over the Hawthorne, Nevada area and study the terrain and topography below as he had mining interests in the area and was always looking for a new claim site. In between flights he was often working his claims and, after retiring, spent the next 26 years in search of gold, along with his brother, who often worked the mills. He never struck the "bonanza", but did make some money in the sale of property and mills.

For the last several years he lived in a nursing home in Ventura, near his niece Luella. A frequent visitor was Frank Busch, who described "Dutch" as always in his jovial spirits and willing to reminisce about the good old days of flying. Frank says that he received many takeoffs and landings while copiloting with "Dutch". The conditions must have been just right. * * * * * * * * * * * * 51

The death of Pierre Mollineaux in April prompted Art Murphy to send a copy of this letter to Joe McCombs.

March 28, 1984 Captain A. T. Humbles TARPA Secretary Route 2, Box 151 Belhaven, N. C. 27810 Dear A. T.: For more time than I care to admit, I have procrastinated in writing this letter.

From 1940 through 1960 the roster of TWA pilots carried the name of Captain C. H. Mollineaux, A.K.A. "Pierre" or "Molly", a man well known to the pilots of BUR and LAX and liked by all. His name does not appear on TWA's retired list and some may be interested to know the reason.

After learning to fly in 1929 at Roosevelt Field in New York and trying to make a living in aviation around Kingston on Long Island, Pierre joined TWA in October 1940. He checked out to Captain at LGA and bid to BUR in 1943. It was my good fortune to fly as copilot for him on DC-3's in 1944-45.

We became fast friends and have remained in contact since then.

We talked many times about his aviation experiences and he once told me that he came to TWA with the plan to fly for 20 years and then end his flying career.

The years passed and I had forgotten the conversation. I was a TWA check pilot for quite some time and had ridden with Pierre on a number of his regular six month proficiency checks. In August 1960 after a scheduled PC, he told me that this had been the final ride for him and reminded me that his 20 years with TWA was up in October, two months away.

We left the airport and stopped at a local pub for refreshment and discussion.

Several hours later it became obvious that he was a determined man and the October 1960 date was indeed the deadline of his flying career. He was not to be dissuaded then and remains convinced to this day of the wisdom of his action.

Over the years Pierre had prepared his own retirement program and in October 1960, after what he described as a "mutually satisfactory arrangement with TWA", he left and closed the book on a safe and successful flying career.

Pierre has had little contact with other TWAers and does not have much knowledge of TARPA or its activities. However, I am sure that many pilots will remember him and welcome him back to the fraternity.

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I am also sure that you will welcome him as a dues paying member of TARPA, so am enclosing a check for his first years dues. I would appreciate it if you would send him a membership card and place him on the mailing list.

Very truly yours, A. J. Murphy Captain (Ret.) * * * * * * * * * * * * AVERY LENOIR Former TWA Navigator Avery Lenoir passed away on March 4th at the age of 74. Avery flew on the international routes during the 1950's and was well known for his colorful personality and abundant humor.

He started his career of traveling and navigating back in the 1930s, when he sailed internationally on several large ocean-going steam yachts. At the start of WWII he learned aircraft navigation at Pan American Air Ferries.

He than went into the service as a Lieutenant in the Ferry Command of the ATC, flying the "snowball" operation between Presque Isle and Europe. In June of 1945 he was part of the crew that helped locate and direct a stricken B-17 Flying Fortress to a safe landing. The plane had lost two engines and was lost in the Greenland area with 20 combat crewmen aboard who were returning home.

After the war, Avery worked for American Overseas Airlines and a short time with Air Haiti before joining TWA. At this time the exact dates of Avery's years with TWA are not available.

After leaving TWA he worked for Airlift International, Capital Airways and Southern Air Transport before retiring after about 40 years spent on or above the oceans. His ashes were placed in the Gulf Stream by his brother, Bill and fellow navigators Ray Terry, Roy Gentry and Gordon Brion. * * * * * * * * * * * * J. DAVID KREYSSLER Captain J. David Kreyssler passed away on April 10, at the age of 79.

Dave was a native of Minnesota and in later years settled in Southern California. He graduated from the University of Redlands, majoring in engineering, in 1929. Dave happened to have the "wheels" when a number of his classmates wanted to drive to nearby March Field to sign up for Aviation Cadet training. At the time he had no intention of signing up himself, but was talked into it, and was the only one of the group accepted for training.

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After his year of service he stayed in the Reserve, and was called back briefly during the 1934 Air Mail crisis to fly the mail on Western's former route from Burbank to Salt Lake City. Dave joined TWA on March 13, 1940 and had taken his very first trip out as captain in 1942 when he was again called back into the service. During WWII he flew with the Troop Carrier Command, leading the group that first towed gliders (with troops) into Belgium. As a leader of the 79th Group he also flew paratroopers on "D" Day. He retired as a Lt. Colonel and rejoined TWA, based for a short while at NY, then KC and took early retirement in December of 1966. At that time he was flying the B707's out of LA. He was an active member of the First Baptist Church and a past trustee, the V.F.W. Barracks 4417, The American Legion Post 580 and, of course, an Eagle with TARPA. He is survived by his wife, Verna, of fifteen years; sons Henry and John, daughters Lynn Johnson and Gail Johnson, two sisters, eight grandchildren and five great grandchildren. * * * * * * * * * * * * ORRIN O. "DIXIE" KIEFER Captain Orrin O. Kiefer, better known to his friends as "Dixie", passed away on February 15th. He would have been age 80 on June 17th of this year. Contrary to his southern nickname, he was born in Wayland, NY. "Dixie" literally pursued two aviation careers, the Navy and TWA. He first entered the Navy in September of 1927 for sea duty. In January of 1929 he entered flight training at the Great Lakes primary school and received his wings at Pensacola in September of that year.

In 1934 he won commendation from the Secretary of the Navy for the highest gunnery and bombing scores in the cruiser division. He also served as executive officer on the carrier Yorktown. It was while in the Navy that he picked up the nickname "Dixie".

In late September of 1940 he resigned from the Navy and joined TWA as a KC based copilot on October 2nd of that year. On February 18, 1943, he rejoined the Navy and was made Commanding Officer of the Headquarters Station of the Naval Air Primary Training Command, based at KC. "Dixie" remained in the service long after the war, until February 1, 1954, when he officially retired and rejoined TWA. At the time of his Navy retirement he had accumulated a total of nearly 24 years of active duty, including eight years, nine months of foreign or sea service.

He retired with the rank of Commander.

While based at LA he flew the Connies and B707's until his retirement on January 1, 1966. One of his favorite trips with the 707 was in January of 1960 when he set a record from LAX to ORD, two hours and fifty minutes (forty minutes under schedule), then continued on to PIT with a record one hour and fifteen minute flying time. His daughter Beverly, who joined TWA as a hostess in April of 1959, was with "Dixie" on his last flight before retirement.

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Dixie was an avid golfer with a low handicap and fisherman. For the past fifteen years he and his wife, Frances, traveled this country and Mexico in a trailer pulled by a van with a fourteen foot aluminum boat on the top. The two celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on December 23rd of last year. He is survived by Frances, daughter Beverly Voiss, son Orrin Jr., grandsons Orrin III and Aaron, a brother and two sisters. * * * * * * * * * * * * ARNOLD C. LUNDBERG Captain Arnold C. Lundberg passed away on March 9th at his home in Cedar Ridge, California.

He was 72. "Arne was a native of Minnesota and was an engineering graduate of the state's university.

Arne was among the large group of 1936 Navy Pensacola graduates who were hired by TWA in the late 1939-1940 period. He started out as copilot on January 1, 1940 and checked out as a Chicago reserve captain in January 1942. During WWII he was a pilot with Squadron VR-1 of the Naval Air Transport Command and made more Atlantic crossings than any other member of the squadron.

He took early retirement in December of 1971 and, at the time, was flying the B-707 on his favorite run between Los Angeles and Washington, D. C. Arne was an avid and adept golfer and while based at LAX was a member of the Riviera Country Club. In 1970 the family moved to the Cedar Ridge area where he joined the Nevada County Country Club.

Arne was a member of the Retired Officers Association, Trinity Episcopal Church and TARPA. He was taken ill in late January, although it wasn't diagnosed until mid-February that his illness was terminal. He is survived by his wife, Patricia, daughter Christina of San Francisco and brother Kenneth of Grenada, Miss. * * * * * * * * * * * * JAMES R. RUFF LAX Captain James R. Ruff suffered a fatal heart attack on March 10th at the age of 48. He joined TWA on June 15, 1964 and had been a check captain on the Boeing 727 and 767 aircraft. At the time of his death he was in Kansas City checking out on the L1011. He is survived by his wife, Jan, and three sons, James, Brad and Michael. * * * * * * * * * * * * All of the above articles were written by Historian Ed Betts. * * * * * * * * * * * *

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MORE MAY 30th HAPPY HOUR AND FELLOWSHIP

Rich Flournoy and Al Mundo

Bill

Merigan

Smiling Lee Butler

Lou and Dick Beck 56

TOUR PLANNING REPORT BY E. C. "LUM " Edwards (805)482-5321.

Since our program to MANILA / HONG KONG was met with such enthusiastic support last year, we have made arrangements for two more this year. Each tour will accommodate a maximum of 20 people with departures from SFO or LAX aboard PHILIPPINE AIRLINES. Group I will depart on September 2, 1986 and Group II on September 16, 1986. Both will follow the same itinerary and return on September 11 and 25 respectfully....

Losing a day en route, we arrive in MANILA on September 4 (Grp II Sept 18) and are transferred to the extraordinarily beautiful MANILA HOTEL. Our departure from Manila will be September 7 (Grp II Sept 21) for the short flight to HONG KONG where we will be transferred to the PARK LANE HOTEL on Hong Kong Island overlooking the harbor and parks. Our return flight to either SFO or LAX will be on September 11 (Grp II Sept 25).... Positive round trip space will be aboard PHILIPPINE Airlines 747. All airport transfers overseas are included in this special package designed especially for the TWA Seniors Club at a price of $649 per person double occupancy.

You will also attend the dinner performance of the Bayanihan Dance Troup at the Manila Hotel at no additional cost. Departure taxes will be the responsibility of each passenger. ALL PARTICIPANTS MUST HAVE PASS PRIVILIGES OTHER AIRLINES. Regisfration's on a first received first assigned basis. Indicate a second choice if you so desire. Double occupancy only. Singles should register on the same form.

Full payment must accompany the registration.

TWA SENIORS CLUB, MANILA / HONG KONG TOUR SEPTEMBER 1986

Recent activities in Europe have prompted several cruise companies to pull their ships out of the Mediterranean. Princess Cruises will use the PACIFIC PRINCESS (The Love Boat) for a CANADA / ALASKA 7 night package that will include EXPO '86 in VANCOUVER. The TWA Seniors have been offered a sailing date of August 24, 1986 from SEATTLE with arrival the next morning in VANCOUVER. Passengers will be provided with a two-day pass for EXPO '86. After an overnight and an opportunity to re-visit the Expo, your ship will depart Vancouver at 5pm of that second day to cruise the inside passage to the MISTY FJORD with a port of call at KETCHIKAN. The next day will be a full day of cruising while you enjoy the ship. Arrival in VICTORIA the next morning, will give you ample time to visit this beautiful city and BUTCHART GARDENS before departure at midnight.

Arrival in SEATTLE will be at 8am on the morning of the eighth day. Double occupancy only. Port tax of about $35 PP and $25PP registration fee will be added to cruise cost.

OUR SECOND PACKAGE will be a TRANS-CANAL 16 day cruise on THE ROYAL VIKING SKY departing from FT. LAUDERDALE FLORIDA at 7pm OCTOBER 8,1986. Ports of call will be OCHO RIOS, JAMICA and WILLEMSTAD, CURACAO, NETHERLANDS ANTILLES before a daylight transit of the PANAMA CANAL. The ship will then call at ALCAPULCO, ZIHUATANEJO, and PUERTO VALLARTO, MEXICO before continuing on to LOS ANGELES. Passengers may stay on the cruise to SAN FRANCISCO at no extra charge. Port taxes of $50 per person and registration fee of $25 per person will be added to cruise cost. Our singles please note, you may be accommodated in and inside cabin for $2191 or outside cabin for $2938, for the Royal Viking cruise only.

RUNAWAY ELECTRIC SEAT PROCEDURE 1.

INITIAL ACTION..............Determine which seat is running away. During the stress of routine operations, it is possible to mistake which seat is running away. Example: If Captain's seat is running out of control forward, it may appear to the Captain the the F/0's seat is running backwards. This is a common form of spatial disorientation and will only last until the Captain is emasculated on the control column. Do not disengage the autopilot at this time as a violent pitchdown will result.

2.

SILENCE AURAL WARNINGS....... With the advent of a runaway seat, crew members describe noises of a low rumbling nature followed by the words, "Jesus, my seat is out of control", followed by a piercing scream of increasing intensity and pitch, in the case of forward runaways.

To comply with procedures, F/0 will silence the aural warning by clamping his hand over the Captain's mouth and advise "Captain's mouth shut...shut". Refer to the check list, located under the Captain's seat, for further action.

3.

JAMMED BALLS.................Should the seat runaway in the forward mode, the ball bearings will interlock and jam the seat when it is four inches from the instrument panel. The seat will then travel no further forward, but begin traveling up in the vertical mode. The Captain will advise crew, "I have jammed balls".

The F/E will read the CAPTAIN JAMMED BALLS check list located in the aft lavatory. It is important that the crew check the control column for damage at this time. If the control column is broken, the crew will advise the dispatcher that the Captain has broken stick and jammed balls.

4.

CIRCUIT BREAKER - PULL.......The F/E will pull the Captain's seat C.B. to prevent the seat from running further up in the vertical mode, which could cause the bearings to overheat and result in a ball burst.

This would necessitate use of the BROKEN BALLS check list.

Since the F/E can rarely find the correct C.B., it is suggested that any C.B. be pulled so as not to delay completion of the check list. Example: pull V.G.#1. The Captain's position will prevent him from cross checking this step.

5.

SEAT UP - UP ................. Should the seat runaway continue in the vertical mode, the F/O will advise "Seat Up-Up", to which the Captain will reply, "Mblxjrubmd crxzwe". Captain's reply will vary with the height to which his seat has risen. It is suggested procedure to put a pillow under the Captain's head and land at the nearest suitable airport.

- Submitted by Bill Townsend

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MAY 30th CONTINUED

John Lattimore

Tommy Carroll Walt Gunn and "Dub" Youngblood 60

EDITORS NOTES We are using a lot of personal experiences in this issue. Thank you for taking the time to write. Some we can't use because you forgot to give your name, and some of you sent X-rated material. Maybe we'll put out a special adult edition.

A. T. Humbles asked us to remind any of you who served in the 384th Bomb Group of the Eighth Air Force that you are invited to join their fraternal organization.

If you wish to join, get in touch with A. T. SAVE A CONNIE Captain John Hatcher sends the interesting news that a group has been formed in Kansas City to preserve a Constellation. Charter members (those willing to donate $1,000.00) will have a priority on seats when the ship is being flown to airshows.

Captain Hatcher says that the TWA Seniors in MKC and the KC Clipped Wings are lending support.

The plan is to buy a 1049H which the group has located in Mesa, Arizona. Fuel for the ferry flight to Kansas City will be donated and an operator in Kansas City has offered free parking.

This surely sounds like a worthwhile project.

Captain Hatcher's address: Captain John Hatcher 10420 Mohawk Lane, Leawood, Kansas 66206 COLLECTOR NEEDS HELP Dr. Charles C. Quarles who is an airline historian and collector of pilot and hostess insignia says he is interested in acquiring some early TWA and TAT insignia.

His entire collection will eventually go to the Ohio History of Flight Museum at Port Columbus. Meantime, he would like to prepare a mounted TWA flight crew insignia display at Port Columbus which was such an important place for early TAT and TWA operations. Dr. Quarles says he would be happy to accept contributions, or would pay a fair price for the items he needs.

If you can help, his address is: Dr. Charles C. Quarles, Associate Historian Capital Airlines Association 204 Reservation Drive Spindale, NC 28160

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EDITORS NOTES JOHN HAPPY is now working on TARPA TOPICS. The photos of the convention are courtesy of John, and he is also going to do some art work.

Welcome, John!

Have you returned your updated personal information form to our Secretary?

We are sorry this issue of TARPA TOPICS is so late. It was delayed so that we could present some convention news. We will try to improve our on-time performance in the future.

We miss Ole Olson on the GRAPEVINE, but we are lucky to have such a competent and hard working replacement. DICK GUILLAN invites any of you with cartooning talent to volunteer to illustrate something for the GRAPEVINE occasionally. If you can spare the time, write to Dick at his GRAPEVINE address. * * * * * * * * * * * *

"

IF WE WEREN' T MATURE WHEN WE WENT IN, WE CERTAINLY ARE NOW

* * * * * * * * * * * *

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MY MOST MEMORABLE TRIP ON THE LINE

By Ed Betts I would imagine that a number of the yarns (that are printable) submitted by our TARPA members with regards to their most interesting, unusual and exciting trips on the line have to do with a hairy situation where they were on their back tossing in a violent thunderstorm, an engine or two on fire and the "stick shaker" going wild. My own was rather routine, more like a chapter from "Soap". It was Flight 100 on May 25, 1946, an all-nighter in both directions from SFO to ABQ via Burbank with plane #385 (NC1944). The Captain, Jim Moser, was a great guy and he liked to arrive at his destination well rested. I got lots of needed practice steering the aircraft and kept awake drinking the luke warm and stale coffee brought to the cockpit by a charming hostess, Donna Breckenridge.

Donna was new to the airline and abided by the rules of not more than three minutes in the cockpit, which was just enough time to get acquainted.

She passed all of the purity tests such as she never heard of the "Mile High Club" or Charlie "Black Dog" Davis, so I arranged a date during the layover and we agreed to meet at six in the lobby of the Alvarado Hotel.

I guess that I wasn't very specific as Donna showed up at 6 a.m. (we arrived about 5 a.m.) expecting breakfast and got stood up ..... I arrived at 6 p.m. and got the same no show treatment. It was not a very good beginning of a romance, but we patched things up and in December of that year we were married. So much for the "soap".

In May of 1982 I was contacted by a pilot with Union Oil Company, Bob Beechler, who was doing some research on a DC-3 they were retiring with regards to a book of its history. It was the same plane, #385, that Union had purchased from TWA in November of 1950 and converted to an executive type. Ted Weaver and I spent an afternoon at the Burbank Airport with Beechler going over the plane. I wrote an article in the December 20, 1982 SKYLINER on the subject. There wasn't much to identify it as a former TWA aircraft.

Besides a new paint job it had a new NC number, 760 (part of Union's logo), and numerous modifications visible from the exterior: the maxipack for streamlining that included doors over the main gear in the retracted position, shorter and square wing tips, etc. The interior was like a plush lounge with divan, big swivel chairs, bar and stainless serving area. The cockpit was the same on the copilot's side, but the pilot had modern instruments, flight director, radar and an auto pilot for coupled approaches.

Needless to add, there was a modern heating system for the cabin and cockpit and the windshields were a single piece and electrically heated which eliminated the leak problem.

It also had 1350 hp P&W engines and grossed at 26,200 pounds (TWA used 25,200).

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The plane had 47,656 hours on it and was in the process of being donated by Union to the LA Science Museum in Exposition Park. The museum had hoped to have it on display in time for the Olympics but this was delayed by negotiations between the two parties getting the plane's wings removed and permits to tow it through the city freeways, etc.

(NOTE) Actually, the plane is parked outside (next to a United DC-6) of the new Aerospace building that is part of the California Museum of Science and Industry, located at LA's Exposition Park.

Back to the "Soap", Donna and I had occasion to look the plane over as we approach our 40th anniversary and do a bit of reminiscing about our first tryst.

I have since learned to be more specific with appointed times.

Incidentally, "Irv" and Edith Kravitz can top this for "soap". as the Ford Tri-motor that they were married in (in flight) is a museum attraction at Harrahs in Reno. * * * * * ** * * * * * 64

65

THE WILD MAN OF WINSLOW

By Dave Kuhn

When Emily (my wife) and I came back to Texarkana, Arkansas after the St. Louis TARPA bash, I took to my recovery room for about a day and a half. While unpacking my suitcase, I found a note from Richie Beighlie suggesting that I put into writing some things that happened back when. I know of one about Bud Gorman that has been told but never, to my knowledge, been jotted down. So without benefit of a word processor and plagued with hardened arteries in the head, here goes.

Elmer "Bud" Gorman was not out of the same cloth as was most of Transcontinental and Western Air copilots in the thirties. He was no Billy Graham, but was an ordained minister. He could legally perform a marriage or talk about the wages of sin if so requested. Unlike most of his peers, he was no womanizer, even if opportunities were present.

Rather, he was married to a very pretty girl and had started a family I think. How he did it on our copilots salary attests to good management and a light appetite. He read books (heavy stuff) on psychology and philosophy.....things I can't spell unaided. One might suspect -that Bud was a rather colorless sort. Not so, I was there when it happened.

Now to set the stage, we leave Gorman and go to Winslow, Arizona. In the thirties, Winslow was definitely in the fast lane. Located just west of the Petrified Forest and southwest of the Painted Desert, it was our first hub on the airline.

The Little Colorado river (usually dry) was just east and for sightseers, meteor crater to the west.

Winslow boasted of a nine hole golf course which was all sand, sage brush and rattlesnakes.

Being a division point for the Santa Fe as well as Greyhound, we pilots had lots of company at the Harvey House.

Transcontinental and Western Air had flights from Burbank, to Needles, Prescott to Winslow, thence to Albuquerque, with a stop at Deep Lake when the flag was up. Other flights went by Phoenix. Our run was from San Francisco, Oakland, Fresno, Las Vegas, Boulder City, Grand Canyon (summer time) to Winslow. After that many "up gears" it was time for a layover. There were more DC-2's in the air than paying customers aboard.

The company would give passes to most anyone.

Jack Frye got some juicy air mail contracts which kept the Lindbergh line airborne.

In the lobby, one late afternoon, some were reading. The bus drivers were talking about Greyhound.

The railroaders were talking about the Santa Fe while the pilots were talking about flying. That's about

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normal since people discuss subjects only they are interested in.

When Bud came into the lobby, a hush fell over the room. Someone said, "Looks like he has been loading hogs". The clothes were filthy, face dirty, a long matted wig hung to his shoulders. A huge set of buck teeth filled his face. Liquid soap frothed from his mouth down to his bare feet. The desk clerk was a new hire. Gorman demanded a room on the west side in order to watch the sun set. With some hesitation, he got the key and headed down the hall. The froth from his face left an easy trail.

When the shock subsided, the conversation started. "Who was this monster mad man?" Could it be a renegade Indian who had broken out of the reservation near Gallup? Some speculated that it was a mountain man out of the peaks at Flagstaff. Others were willing to wager he was a frustrated miner who failed to locate the Lost Dutchman mine in Superstition Mountain.

After the hotel manager was located and filled in on the situation, he and the shaken clerk proceeded to the room with a view for a setting sun. The room was empty. The window was open. Huge footprints in the flower bed were a clue as to how the room was vacated.

Meanwhile, Bud had gone to his room. After discarding his costume and cleaning up a bit, he came to the lobby. His act was perfect.

After being told of the problem, he joined in the hunt. The town marshall had been summoned.

Too big a job for him. He deputized several of the locals. The hotel offered a fifty dollar reward for the appre- , hension of the wildman. Mothers were advised to keep the children locked behind doors and everyone off of the streets. There was fear in Winslow. Fifty dollars was big in the thirties. This prompted cowboys to arm with 30-30's, saddle up and scour the sagebrush around town. The search continued through the night. Bud Gorman did his fair share of it I was transferred to Kansas City in the fall, to see if I had the right stuff or possessed qualifications for Captain material, The last I heard of this episode, mothers still locked the kids indoors at night, cowboys still scoured the sage brush and fear remained in Winslow.

The monster was never found, much less apprehended. * * * * * * * * * * * *

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MORE ABOUT HUGH HERNDON

By Joe Carr In the last article about Hugh Herndon, a request was made for additional news about his early TWA career. By referring back to my logbooks and some pencilled notations in the margins, I was able to refresh my memory on some specifics.

Although I must have met Hugh when he attended our new-hire Ground and Transition training, my first strong recollection of him was made more vivid because of a personal involvement. Early on, in the ICD operation, we flew from Washington National to Presque Isle, Maine and, after a layover, proceeded to Prestwick, Scotland. Upon our return to Presque Isle, we shuttled back to Prestwick at least once before returning to Presque Isle and subsequently home to Washington.

Fred Sigman and I had completed one round trip of his first check-out ride and were preparing to double back to Prestwick, when I finally completed a phone call home and got the news that my wife was in a hospital.

My face must have hung down to my knees when I came out of the phone booth because Don Terry stopped to ask about my problem.

When he heard the news, he volunteered to take my trip even though he had already done a double-shuttle; the "Terrible Turk" may have been a thorn in the side of management but he had a huge heart underneath that bluff exterior. He took my trip to Prestwick, with a few of my clean shirts and socks, and I completed his trip to Washington with Hugh Herndon as my copilot on July 1, 1943. At Don's request, I hand carried a report to Fred Richardson (then Chief Pilot of ICD) that Hugh be checked out to Captain as soon as possible based on his airplane handling ability and previous experience across the North Atlantic. From what I saw on the relatively easy trip down the coast , I concurred.

Old ICD hands will remember that we desperately needed Captains during those early years because many of the pilots all airlines were hiring didn't have much flying time and little cross-country experience; some didn't have an Instrument Rating. The local council agreed that it would be unfair to the inexperienced pilots to begin the check out process even though they had the seniority so we passed them by until they had received more training; with that intensive training they turned out to be some of the finest pilots we have ever had on TWA and I am proud of the part I played in that process.

My next flight with Hugh, on August 2 of that year, was also a memorable one for me because he was the first pilot to whom I gave an A.T.R. check ride. I thanked my lucky stars that he did an outstanding job because, with the F.A.A. along to see if I was tough enough to be the new Designated Flight Examiner for A.T.R. and Instrument Ratings, I threw the book at him.

He made that

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old Boeing Stratoliner pirouette and dance as he fine tuned all of the procedures. I was being groomed to replace Swede Gallen, who had been one of the first to be selected by the F.A.A. to perform flight checks in what was then a radical departure from their previous stand that all flight checks be performed by the F.A.A.; but Swede was moving up in the ICD hierachy and his other duties prevented him from performing many flight checks. Because I was then Director of Training, my appointment as "designee" could combine a TWA check ride with the F.A.A. meant that I flight check to speed up the process and save a considerable sum in training costs.

The check- out that Larry Trimble referred to in his letter, was the Line Check that followed; those of you who have ever been put through the wringer by Larry will remember that it was no piece of cake. Larry's comments must have been very positive and Terry's previous remarks because Fred probably reinforced Richardson appointed Hugh as a Line Check Pilot after a only few trips as Pilot in Command. I have never heard anything but praise for that appointment.

Many of the older and more experienced pilots we hired during the early years of ICD, contributed a great deal to the "go-anywhere" type of operation we were engaged in since it was similar to what they had been doing. Several outstanding exceptions to the old saw that you can't teach an old dog new tricks, were Hugh Herndon, Eddie Wells, Joe Grant and Jack Hermann. All continued to learn, adjust, and eventually adapt to the strictly regimented life of scheduled operations, both Domestic and International. the establishment of Cairo as a Crew Domicile, Shortly after Hugh after ICD was transformed into the International Division, bid for a transfer to that domicile and flew the North African and Bombay runs. When Ray Wells decided to return to the New York domicile, Hugh was appointed to relieve him as Director of the Middle East Region. Others who worked with Hugh in Cairo will have to fill in the gap of the next few years because I saw very little of him until I also bid a vacancy at Cairo early in 1950.

I enjoyed only a few weeks of the country-club atmosphere at to take over as Chief Pilot of the Cairo when Hugh asked me domicile for "a few months" until the F.A.A. had calmed down.

They blew an incident completely out of proportion when Francis Pope landed at an airport near the Suez Canal because Cairo was fogged in. The sin, that brought down the wrath of the gods, was that he took off without a Dispatch Release! In all fairness to Pope, ground communications within Egypt were never the greatest so he performed all of the rest of the required pre-flight briefing and returned the aircraft and passengers to Cairo

69

without talking to Cairo Dispatch. Bob McReynolds supported his check pilot, as any upstanding Chief Pilot would, but that infuriated the resident F.A.A. inspector so much that he demanded both Pope and McReynolds be fired. He backed off a little when Hugh told him that a "new broom" with previous office experience would take over and clean up the alleged "loose" practices at that domicile; McReynolds and Pope were allowed to stay in Cairo to fly bid runs while Neal Lytle and I buckled down to dot the i's and cross the t's for the F.A.A. Shortly after that, Hugh stopped flying and always had someone well qualified along, even during his trips with the DC-3 (ETT 12) to Jeddah and Addis Ababa to keep in touch with those two airlines with whom TWA had training and management contracts. I knew about his love for flying and, on several occasions, I tried to arrange a check ride to requalify him for line flying to help stop a few snide remarks about a "non-flying" Regional Director.

He always had a convincing excuse. Only after the funeral did I l earn from Dr. Honey, the F.A.A. medical examiner and Hugh's personal physician, that Hugh had known about his heart condition for some time and had promised the doctor that he would do no flying except as copilot.

Unless pressed, Hugh avoided discussing his record making flight across the Pacific except to say that he felt he had been treated shabbily by Pangborn in the years that followed; Pangborn's heirs have kept up the drum beat for their side of the story judging from some articles that appeared in trade magazines last year.

During my Cairo stay, I had an opportunity to get to know Hugh better and I was tremendously impressed with him as an complete gentleman and an extremely easy man to work with.

Perhaps because he was brought up in a world of wealth and culture, Hugh had all the social graces and he used them well -- to the advantage of TWA. In those days, the State Department was more of a hindrance than a help and the work that Hugh did with representatives of the countries in the Middle East allowed us to continue to operate and thrive in that difficult part of the world. He was quite skillful in countering the undercutting by the French and British, surprisingly our biggest detractors, who regarded us as usurpers in what had been their traditional spheres of influence.

My only criticism of Hugh as a boss was that he was not positive and forceful enough but, in retrospect, that was an attribute that was needed in the diplomatic circles in which he mingled by virtue of his position as a representative of a prominent American firm. But in the cockpit he was in complete charge and every bit a competent airman.

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Aerospace Books

Doing a hammerhead in the Connie Contributed by Frank Burcham Aviation before World War II had been for the pioneer, the daring record-seeker, the sportsman pilot, a few relatively wealthy travelers, government officials, and the military.

A new Lockheed transport, the company's first large one, would carry more people farther and faster and more safely than ever before, and economically enough to broaden the acceptance of flying as an alternative to train; ship, and automobile.

The Constellation was a tremendous challenge to Lockheed: It was our first attempt to enter the large-size trans port field Our commercial Model 14, so successful as the Hudson anti-submarine patrol bomber and the related Model 18 Lodestar—really a stretched Electra—were not large enough to compete in the expected post-war commercial air travel market.

Anticipating the future well before the war, we had worked on new designs, including Model 27, a canard, with horizontal stabilizer and control surfaces in front of the main supporting surfaces—or simply, with tail in front. We built a mockup but had the sense not to pursue this into production. The canard was impossible to make safe at high angles of attack—as the Russians learned with their supersonic TU-144 that crashed at the Paris Air Show in 1973.

Another was the Model 44 Excalibur, a very good "DC-4" in advance of the DC-4. Pan American Airways expressed interest. Again, we built a mockup. Fortunately, we did not build it in prototype, as it would have been Excerpted from Kelly by Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson with Maggie Smith.

Copyright © 1985 by Smithsonian Institution. Published by Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, $17.50.

Aerospace Books edited by Bruce Frisch.

AEROSPACE AMERICA/JANUARY 1986

too small for competitive over-ocean service.

Then, in 1939, Howard Hughes as principal stockholder and Jack Frye as president of Transcontinental & Western Air, Inc:, had asked Robert Gross if a transport could be designed to carry 20 sleeping passengers and 6,000 pounds of cargo across the U.S. nonAtop and at the highest possible cruising speeds. They suggested 250-300 mph at around 20,000 feet.

We abandoned our earlier studies and concentrated on the new airliner for TWA. What we proposed—Robert Gross, Hall Hibbard, and I—to Hughes at a meeting in his Muirfield Road residence in the elegant old Hancock Park section of Los Angeles was a large airplane, capable of flying across the ocean and carrying many more people. We reasoned that it was economically unsound to carry only 20 sleeping passengers when we could accommodate more than 100 people in ' the same space with normal seating.

Our design could fly transatlantic with the Wright 3350 engine already in development for the military B-29 bomber. It was the world's largest aircooled engine.

That "Day of Infamy," Sunday, December 7, 1941, put a hold on all commercial aircraft production.

The Air Force, fortunately for the Constellation program, saw a need for military transport aircraft to carry large numbers of troops. The Constellation was "drafted."

The Constellation made its first flight on January 9, 1943, in military olive drab paint, as the C-69.

At the end of World War II, Lockheed was in the enviable position of having a new, highly-advanced transport, thoroughly tested in military service and ready for commercial airline production. The first deliveries of an initial Model 049 actually were 71

conversions of Air Force C-69s already in work. It took only 90 days to turn out the first commercial model, which went to TWA in November 1945.

There were big plans to publicize introduction of this new transport in service with TWA. Howard Hughes himself wanted to be at the controls of what would be a record-breaking, cross-country flight carrying press and Hollywood celebrities.

Hughes would have to be checked out in the new airplane before attempting the cross-country flight, of course.

So, before it was delivered to TWA, Milo Burcham, Dick Stanton as flight engineer, and I took Hughes and Jack Frye on a demonstration and indoctrination flight. Frye was just observing, but Hughes was to learn how the plane performed and how best to handle it.

Our normal procedure in checking out a new pilot in an airplane was to go through the maneuvers carefully, then have the student follow through on the controls from the copilot seat.

We had just taken off from Burbank and were only a few thousand feet over the foothills behind the plant when Hughes said to Milo: "Why don't you show me how this thing stalls?" ' So Milo lowered the flaps and gear, put on a moderate amount of power, pulled up, and stalled it. The Constellation had fine stall characteristics, and recovered in genteel fashion.

Hughes turned to Milo and said, "Hell, that's no way to stall. Let me do it."

Milo turned the controls over to him. I was standing between them in the cockpit. Howard reached up, grabbed all four throttles and applied takeoff power with the flaps full down. The airplane was so lightly loaded it would practically fly on the slip stream alone. Hughes then proceeded to pull back the control column all the way into his lap, as far as it

Excerpted from Kelly

by Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson with Maggie Smith

would go, to stall the airplane.

Never before nor since have I seen an airspeed indicator read zero in the air. But that's the speed we reached —zero—with a big, four engine airplane pointed 90° to the horizon and almost no airflow over any of the surfaces except what the propellers were providing. Then the airplane fell forward enough to give us some momentum. Just inertia did it, not any aerodynamic control.

At that point, I was floating against the ceiling, yelling, "Up flaps! Up flaps!" I was afraid that we'd break the flaps, since we'd got into a very steep angle when we pitched down. Or that we'd break the tail off with very high flap loads.

Milo jerked the flaps up and got the airplane under control with about 2,000 feet between us and the hills.

I was very concerned with Howard's idea of how to stall a big transport.

We continued on our flight to Palmdale Airport, where we were going to practice takeoffs and landings. The whole desert area was mostly open country in those days and an ideal place for test flying.

Once on the runway, Milo and Howard exchanged seats. On takeoff from Burbank, Milo had shown Howard what the critical speeds were, so Howard now took the plane off.

But he had great difficulty in keeping it on a straight course. He used so much thrust and developed so much torque that the plane kept angling closer and closer to the control tower. We circled the field without incident and came in for an acceptable landing. Then Howard decided to make additional flights, and on the next takeoff he came even closer to the control tower, with an even greater angle of yaw. He was not correcting adequately with the rudder. He made several more takeoffs and landings, each worse than the last.

He was not getting any better at all, only worse. I was not only concerned for the safety of all aboard, but for the preservation of the airplane. It still belonged to us.

Jack Frye was sitting in the first row of passenger seats, and I went back to talk to him.

"Jack, this is getting damned dangerous," I said. "What should I do?"

"Do what you think is right, Kelly," he said. That was no great help. He didn't want to be the one to cross Hughes.

I returned to the cockpit. What I thought was the right thing to do was to stop this. And on the sixth takeoff, which was atrocious, the most dangerous of them all, I waited until we were clear of the tower and at pattern altitude, before I said: "Milo, take this thing home."

Hughes turned and looked at me as though I had stabbed him, then he glanced at Milo.

I repeated, "Milo, take this thing home." There was no question about who was running the airplane program. Milo got in the pilot ' s seat, I took the copilot's seat, and we flew home. Hughes was livid with rage. I had given him the ultimate insult for a pilot, indicating essentially that he couldn ' t fly competently.

A small group was waiting at the factory to hear Hughes's glowing report on his flight as pilot of the Constellation. That's not what they heard.

Robert Gross was furious with me.

What did I mean, insulting our first—and best—customer? It was damned poor judgment, he said. Hibbard didn't tell me so forcefully that I'd made a mistake, because he always considered another person's feelings, but he definitely was unhappy and let me know it. Perhaps most angry of all was the company's publicity manager, Bert Holloway. He had a press flight 72

scheduled that would result in national attention, headlines in newspapers across the country and in the aviation press around the world. Because, of course, the plane would set a speed record. Would Hughes follow through as planned? By then, I didn't care what anyone else said. I went home and poured some White Horse and soda.

It was a frigid reception I received the next day at the plant. But when I explained what the situation had been, that in my judgment I did. the only thing I could to keep. Hughes from . crashing the plane, and then Hughes later agreed to spend a couple of days learning how to fly the plane as our pilot would demonstrate, the atmosphere thawed. sphere We offered a bonus to our flight crew to check Hughes out in the plane over the next weekend. Rudy Thoren, our chief flight test engineer, took my place. I never flew with Hughes again; it was mutually agreeable.

On his next time in the airplane, Hughes changed his attitude considerably. He followed instructions carefully. He was the only pilot I ever knew, though, who could land one of our airplanes at cruising speed! He must have made 50 or 60 practice takeoffs and landings over the weekend. In fact, he was flying right up to takeoff time for the cross-country flight.

On the flight, as he was approaching Denver, Hughes encountered a big thunderstorm that had not been predicted. Instead of flying around or over it, and perhaps adding to the flight time, he plowed right through it.

Unfortunately, the passengers had not been warned of turbulence and several not strapped in their seats were injured, though not seriously.

A record transcontinental crossing was set—Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., in an elapsed time of 6 hr 57 min 51 sec.

AEROSPACE AMERICA/JANUARY 1986

Harold Neumann has owned this 1941 radial-engine Monocoupe for 18 years, and it has served him well.

Recently, the 79-year-old aviator piloted it in a regional

aerobatics competition and took first place. Not bad for a flier who doesn't even practice all that often. (staff photo

by Patrick Sullivan)

Wings of glory Aerobatic competitions keep veteran pilot flying high at 79

By Brian Burnes staff writer

O

( K .C St a r )

ttawa, Kan.—At 8 a.m. Saturday, they opened the hangar doors at Ottawa Municipal Airport and all the acrobatic pilots pulled their planes out into the sun.

Several planes had shining fuselages of cherry red. Many had their owners' names scripted handsomely near the cockpits.

By itself, at the far end of the hangar, sat a white Monocoupe—built in 1941, with the old-fashioned radial engine.

It wasn't necessary to read Harold well along the path that would take him Neumann's name on it. where he is today—his wins recorded at "I'm always the oldest pilot," said Mr. the Smithsonian Institution, his story Neumann of Leawood, long and trim in a told in the Time-Life The Epic of Flight blue jumpsuit, "and it's always the old- book series (he's in the Barnstormers & est plane."

Speed Kings volume), his esteem held Fifty years ago this September, Har- high in the minds of his fellow members old Neumann was the country's No. 1 of the Kansas City chapter of the Interracing pilot. national Aerobatic Club.

Fifty years ago, he won the Thompson It would all be enough—even if he Trophy, the main prize of the principal hadn't taken first place in the Sportsman heat of the National Air Races, an event category in a regional aerobatic compethat then had a grip on the national tition early this month in Clarinda, Iowa, i magination. nt.) atage79. ( Co Fifty years ago, he was 29 years old,

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Pilot

continued

Harold Neumann as a young pilot, in the days of barnstormers and speed kings as Jimmy Doolittle and Roscoe Turner.

, such

Harold Neumann not only beat the competition, but some say he also beat the forgiving standards sometimes allowed by judges blinded by prestige.

"We call it the old halo factor," said Herb Hodge, a pilot and a director in the Kansas City chapter of the aerobatic club.

"Occasionally, you'll get somebody who is so well liked and whose reputation is so good that he's going to get decent scores even if he doesn't fly that well.

"But what he did up in Clarinda was flat-out fly the field. There was no halo involved."

Saturday was the final day of the Kansas City Regional Aerobatic Championship, an event in anticipation of an international aerobatic flying final later this summer in Fond du Lac, Wis., and a national meet this September in Texas. About 30 pilots competed in four categories and pe rformed precision aerobatics in a " 1,000 meters square.

It's a spot that Mr. Neumann feels compelled to champion: its safety record, its camaraderie, its ritual. On Saturday morning, at the far end of the hangar, Mr. Neumann would do the following: Strap in. There's the parachute, which weighs about 10 pounds. There's a shoulder harness. There are seat straps. In the summer, he often wears a wet towel around his neck. He often has to grip the extended stick with both hands. The Monocoupe cockpit, because of the radial engine, has an instrument panel high enough to restrict visibility.

"So disadvantage.

I'm kind of at a Mr. comNeumann s aid - following his ment laugh with a distinct, high-pitched that clamation seemed to serve as an ex point for his huge understatement.

Take foundoff. the He said he field in sitting in an Ohio Monocoupe fromthe year after he retired 1967, lic _ recommercial airline flying. The re

( Continued)

PILOT HAROLD NEUMANN (Continued) minded him of a smaller Monowhite. (He painted his 1941 Mocoupe he had flown in the 1930s, nocoupe white, and one day he and he coaxed it back to Kansas looked at it at just the right City on the usual wing and a angle. It is still named "Harold's prayer.

Little Mulligan," with the numer"It had gotten some water inal 40, still his racing number side the wings. And this was in from back in the 1930s, on its February. It had iced up, but it sides).

He retired at the top of his was so cold it helped hold it together. When I got it home and profession. According to an thawed it out in a hangar, the agreement he made when he was wood just fell out of it." He hired by Transcontinental and laughed again.

Western Air, now TWA, the 1936 Fly. In the box in which the race was his last. The airline was precision aerobatic competition upgrading from Ford trimotors occurs, Mr. Neumann would perto DC-2s, and Mr. Neumann had form several maneuvers. Among good references. them were a "split-S," which is a "Roscoe Turner, Jimmy half-roll and a half-loop; and an .Dol-ite . . all the people I thought Immelmann, the reverse of that, it would be worthwhile mentionin which the pilot pulls up in a ing," he said, and then laughed. half-loop and then makes a halfHe retired from the airline in roll out.

1966. The International AerobatMr. Neumann would come in ic Club came together several `second—second by 13 points out years later. "I've done it all, and of a possible 2,500 or so. ("Just a I've got a good record," Mr. flick of the judges' eye differNeumann said. This year he reence," Mr. Hodge would say. "His turned to Cleveland, site of the flying was excellent.") Mr. Neu1935 National Air Races, for a mann would touch down, taxi in, 50th anniversary symposium of cut the engine, climb slowly out j the event, and he mildly resented and—at age 79—help push in his 1 a newspaper headline that delane. scribed him as a "stunt" pilot.

"I'm trying to be careful," he ""This is the point I want to get said. "My blood pressure is the across: We're not a bunch of stunt same as it was when I was 21. As pilots," he said. "We call it long as I don't black out or see aerobatics. stars when I pull 7 G's. That's "There's such a thing as airkey." show flying. It's low-level flying, The aviation history Mr. Neutrying to please the crowd and do mann represents can only be things that look scary. It's safe, capsulized here, but the first but you try to get them all excitplane he bought, in the mided.

1920s, was an old Curtiss "Jen"This is not that kind of a ny," designed by Glenn Curtiss, sport. This is beauty and skill. whose home in Hammondsport, "The trouble with me is that I N.Y., was where Mr. Neumann took this up as a sport. I just was inducted into the National wouldn't work too hard at it. I Aviation Hall of Fame in 1971. was always close to winning, but The second plane he bought I was just having fun. Then boys was a Travelair that he picked got on to me about practicing up in Wichita from the designer more, so I did.

Walter Beech. One of his flying "I practiced six days before licenses-he still has it—was Clarinda and I won first place. In signed by Orville Wright. One of other words, this is what it takes. the many services he provided in And I don't like to work that the 1930s was skywriting. hard. You feel it in your legs, "Chevrolet—the word—I working the rudders and so forth, wrote mostly in block form," he and the parachute on your back." said, "but I got so that I could Still, the other alternative is write it in script. I had to cut it not practicing. It's not an option, off in the middle. If I went from he said. the 'v' and continued to the it "This is competition with your would all kind of melt together." friends. It makes you go out and The plane in which he won the practice.

1935 Thompson Trophy was "Otherwise, you get old. Why, named "Mister Mulligan," a you can get lazy and just not do Kansas City-built racer, painted anything."

PERSONAL EXPERIENCES The following personal experience article is from Frank Corwin.

My first trip on the line was from Kansas City-Chicago-New York, La Guardia airport on October 4, 1941. Flight Number 40, Stratoliner Service, Boeing 307. I flew with Captain Stan Stanton, copilot I have no name; R. L. Proctor, Ck Flight Engineer.

Memories of trip: This marvelous new machine...four engines...pressurized cabin (the first in commercial use here in the United States, the first to include a third crew member better known as a Flight Engineer, also in the United States). Between Chicago and New York we climbed to 15 or 17 thousand feet and pressurization was required.

Wrestling with the hand crank to smoothly control and maintain cabin pressure...automatic feature inoperative as usual...never exceeding 300 ft/min according to the manual. I don't recall any serious complaints, but I was told that all the passengers were chewing gum rapidly and swallowing hard.

The return flight #45, leaving a little after midnight..."Red Eye Special"...stopping in Philadelphia, Pittsburg, Chicago to Kansas City and captained by Alton (Ladysman) Parker.

On board that night we had Errol Flynn and several Hollywood gals supposedly sleeping in those nice berths in the cabin. We were arriving Pittsburg at 3:04 AM (on time) and I guess we leveled off a little high (that aircraft could be tricky on landing) and clomped on the runway, bouncing a couple of times.

Being the new kid on the block I thought maybe the engines might have dropped off the wing, or bent the wings a little. This was a well built Boeing aircraft, and we could find no visible damage.

As we were taxiing in, Captain Parker turned to the crew and apologized to all of us for that landing. I thought that was quite considerate of him, being an airline captain. I am sure if anybody was sleeping in the berths they woke up rather suddenly.

MOST INTERESTING TRIP: From 1941 until almost 1977 there were a lot of unusual and exciting flights and it would be very difficult to choose the most interesting and exciting...probably a dozen or so altogether.

After Pearl Harbor all flights were on International.

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COMMENTS: With the exception of the 1930's, I believe the years I was involved in commercial aviation were probably the best years for flight crews. Years of tremendous change and development. We went from the four engine Boeing Stratoliner (commercial version of the B-17) still using a tail wheel. Normal Gross Weight 43,000 pounds.

Thirty three passengers, pilot, copilot, flight engineer, two cabin attendants (hostesses).

Designed for flying "On top", rarely getting to 20,000', cruising 150-160 MPH. Then came the C-54 in 1942 with a tricycle gear, no pressurization, grossing 60-65 thousand pounds, 170-180 MPH. In 1945 came the first 049 Connie. Now we are up to 75,000 pounds flying 20-25,000 feet, 280 MPH. The Connie continued to improve for the next ten to twelve years and reached a top of 150,000 pounds gross and speeds up to 325 MPH. The jet age arrived in the late fifties and along came the Boeing 707 series. Weights started at 300,000 pounds and speeds in the 600 MPH range, altitudes of 30-40 thousand feet. Everything since the C54 or DC-4 was of the pressurized type.

In the late 60's along came the grand daddy of them all, the Boeing 747. Now we were carrying over 300,000 pounds of fuel, grossing well above 700,000 pounds.

Never in the early years did any of us imagine flying in an aircraft the size and speed of the 747. The changes over the years were spectacular. All my career was on four engine aircraft. They started with a plane carrying 33 passengers and a crew of five to planes carrying 400 passengers with a crew of 17. The basic cockpit crew had not changed in all those years - three crew members.

I enjoyed my years as Flight Engineer and in addition to that my fourteen years as International Relief Officer. I wouldn't have missed it all for anything! * * * * * * * * * * * * From the Florida Bill Townsend: My first flight was from KC to CG on March 3, 1940. I flew with Captain Bob Larson. The last half of the flight was on instruments, with low approach at Midway. Of course, I was nervous, and my first encounter with airline jargon was not quite satisfactory. After one or two mistakes or misunderstandings, as my tension grew, Bob said "Just relax, we'll do okay." He handled radio and we made a nice comfortable approach and landing. I always tried to remember his "Just relax" in later years, when I had a similar situation with a new pilot...and in many other things.

Thanks, Bob. My most interesting, unusual or exciting flight was on a trip from Attu, Alaska, to Kodiak in late 1943.

My most exciting flight as a Navy pilot would be an example of Murphy's law taking over.

Weather forecast out of Attu to Kodiak was not CAVU, but nothing to get concerned about. But, as many know, the Alaska

77

chain weather is never like you expect. Some 100 miles out of Kodiak, a front slipped in with low ceiling and freezing drizzle. The old R4D was doing very well, anywhere from 20 to 50 feet off the water, to keep out of the seaspray and below cloud freezing level. My radio operator said Kodiak wind East 45-65 Kts. Landing at Kodiak then was always West or North and South - so, to avoid making a blind turn and stay clear of a mountain on the West end, I elected to land cross-wind.

Ha - no way! There's no place to go - this is it! So, a count down blind turn and land East - whew! We must have made it, I'm still here.

The copilot was a brand new AA pilot from down South - he didn't believe such weather existed. (After his release from the military, he never went back to airline flying). Six black mess boys on our flight had turned gray; when we finally got towed into the hangar, they kissed the deck. As the lucky pilot, I must have had an odd look, because the Navy service agent said, "You look like you could use a drink", and the copilot and I downed a fifth of Johnny Walker between us, and never batted an eye - the adrenaline was really flowing!

At the same time, when we finally got voice contact with the tower, we learned a PAA contract R4D just ahead of us went into the drink, but luckily, all ended up just cold and wet, as he had landed close to shore. That aircraft was recovered, rebuilt and flown to the states some time later.

As for me, the end result of that flight was prematurely gray or white hair - turned from brown to white in about two weeks - not just a few hairs, but many, many - and now there's not even much white left.

Combat pilots and/or front line crews, etc. must have had many exciting flights, but to a little ole transport jockey, that was enough excitement for me.

And then again, I had two engines out on same side on an R5D (to you, Army, a C54) on takeoff at Adak, with a full load of GI's returning to Seattle, which gives you a thrill, It's just a little worse than the old 707 water wagon, with full ruder and all the power you can get. All I could think of was that 32 water, and no sea rescue available at that time.

Now my biggest thrill is to shoot my 12 handicap

now and then.

* * * * * * * * * * * * PERSONAL EXPERIENCE from Ernest Hulme: "First trip was from KWIL to FFOL, 1-16-48 with Captain Walt Morehead. First trip on the line and it was to Paris. I was thrilled. Walt has always held a special place in my memories because of this flight and the way he treated me as a green copilot". * * * * * * * * * * * *

78

Jim Gilmore tells of this personal experience: "SFO to MDW, August 28, 1957.

On the 1049-G we were flying, we lost our first engine (number 1) just west of Rock Springs, Wyoming at 19,000 feet. Shortly after Rock Springs, Number 2 caught fire. Because the weather at RKS was 100 foot ceiling, we went to Laramie, all the time drifting down to 11,000 feet on instruments. Broke out of the clouds 50 miles north of Laramie and landed without damage or incident.

"F/0 was Dewey Powell, F/E Bruce Johnson." * * * * * * * * * * Don Dorman's account of his first trip on the line follows: " March 2, 1952. My first trip on the line after final check out by Jim Obertino in Chicago, where I was assigned, was supposed to be 88-153-CHI-LGACHI, round trip 17 hours away. Captain Warren Malvick and F/O Bob Widholm. CHI-LGA 2:45, no problem.

Was told our return trip was cancelled account weather. Supposed to return the following day on 153.

Went to movie in Jackson Heights and went to bed in the old crew room in hangar late that evening. After a couple of hours sleep, we were awakened and told that we were to re-originate Flight 97 as 1097 in PHL and would need to ferry plane there. Left LGA 0445, arrived PHL 0540. Left PHL Flight 1097 0805 heading for CHI ...Take it from there??? Chicago was flat on arrival, so headed for MKC. Weather there was no better and about that time engines started to ice up a little.

I had been told about icing but had never had the problem up to that time. I'd get one straightened out and another would act up.

I was expecting to have some reaction from the front seats, but Warren and Bob just sat there and said nothing. Meanwhile I was sweating it out and hoping I was doing what I was supposed to do to keep things running.

(Later I mentioned this trip to Warren and he said, "I knew it was your first trip and figured you were nervous enough without me saying anything, so I just watched you out of the corner of my eye.")

We finally ended up in ABQ after 8:15, then deadheaded to LAX. After a day and a half in LAX we operated Flight 90 back to CHI, routine.

We left CHI March 2 at 0800 and got back there at 2210 on the 5th, 87 hours away and 19:10 credit (flight time). Being my first flight, I was sure glad to have had the pilots I did, and I thought, 'Boy, this is going to be some job if there are many trips like this.'

Needless to say, I ran out of clothes and MONEY by the time I got back to CHI." * * * * * * * * * * * * A. U. Stahl's most exciting trip is as follows: "Half way across the Atlantic in an 049 Constellation, we picked up the worst load of ice.

The ice was so heavy that it broke off our antenna and we lost all radio It got so heavy with ice that we had to declare an communication. emergency and descend to two thousand feet over the ocean. We were over an hour late arriving Gander. The dispatcher was so worried that he was about to send a search party to look for us." * * * * * * * * * * * * 79

Clarence E. Kulp tells about his first trip and his most exciting trip: "First trip MKC-LGA, 3-15-40. I flew with Harold Neumann. Harold showed me how to Land short over the old grain elevator. Remember it? "

Southeast landing at STL was always a challenge.

"My most exciting flight was on a trip from KC to NY on 4-8-42, my semi-final check to Captain with Captain Poquette (I think) on a DC-2.

We blew an engine over Terre Haute. I said, 'Captain, what do you want me to do?' He said, 'I am a first trip copilot, why are you asking me?'

So we went to Indy on one. There was smoke and a little fire when it blew. I think everyone was awake." * * * * * * * * * * * * Fred Morse has an interesting question at the end of his account of his most interesting and unusual flight.

"My most interesting and unusual flight was from JFK to JFK via London, LAX, Hawaii, Guam, Tapei, Naha, Hong Kong, Bombay, Tel Aviv, Rome in July 1968.

"I believe I am the most junior pilot to fly as captain around the world, other than possibly check pilots. I suppose I could technically be called one as I was back on the line from the JFK Training Center in July and August that year, but anyway, Ross Weaver called in sick and that's how I got it.

"I had fun in London, played golf in Honolulu, $5.00 for 18 holes and electric cart, shopping in Hong Kong, cobras and mongoose(s)? in Bombay.

Bethlehem and Jerusalem on the Tel Aviv layover, St. Peter's etc., in Rome. (12 day trip). I wonder if anyone, check pilot or not, can beat a Dec. 29, 1952 seniority date for flying 707 Captain around the world?" * * * * ** * * * * * * H. W . "Rudy" Truesdale has the next story about his first flight, and also his most interesting. He writes: "My first trip on the line was from MKC to CMH on July 27, 1935 with Captain Wendell Peterson and return on 28th with Otis Bryan.

"Five days of ground school on how to punch tickets, serve meals, keep log sheets and pump gear and flaps. One session in aircraft on ground, then out as co-pilot / hostess.

No ACM trip.

"My most interesting flight was on a trip from MKC to Newark in August 1935.

I flew three round trips with Alton Parker and we visited Commander Bennett in his office in New York City. Parker and Bennett had been on Byrd's North Pole expedition; Bennett on the first South Pole expedition and Parker on the second one. Listening to the tales those two told was most interesting.

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"Until we had hostesses on the flights, the copilot could be on several flights without seeing much of the terrain." * * * * * * * * * * * * Warren George says he made his first trip on the line in a Martin 404 with Captain Earl Sharpe on March 20, 1957. "Night flight from BOSALB-BGM-AVP-IPT-PIT, required de-icing at all stations.

Though I had considerable experience, I thought at the time that an airline Captain who can handle all this and try to train a new copilot at the same time is one sharp pilot. Gave me a great incentive as did all the BOS captains at that time".

Warren writes of his most interesting, unusual and exciting flight: "Hijacked flight 134/24 August 1970, 727 equipment. Crew F/0 Gerry Streeval, F/E Harry Usher, F/A's Karen DeBolt, Brenda Berry and Paula Gardner.

"Had a man in Army uniform who claimed to be an explosives expert who wanted to go to Cuba and threatened to blow us up if we didn't take him.

We required fuel which was put on at PIT. While on the ground, we tried to talk him out of his trip and/or release the passengers, with no luck on either count. We took off for Havana and had to fly through a front across southern Georgia. Lots of St. Elmo's fire, etc.

By this time the PAX knew we had a bomb threat and I was concerned that we would get a static discharge in that front which might cause the PAX to think the thing had gone off. This could have ruined an otherwise routine trip to Havana. Block in to Block out two hours and ten minutes. We had fueled through! By that time, 1970, it was quite routine to go to Cuba, and the rest of the flight,HAV-MIA-PHL, went smoothly. We had left our disgruntled G.I. in Havana. We arrived PHL about five a.m., which must be a record from the longest flight from ORD-PHL. Some fifteen hours as I recall, "The crew were great. Everyone, cabin and cockpit did their jobs calmly and efficiently. The F/A's had to be very tired but we had happy PAX when we landed in PHL. One of the greatest rewards of a career in aviation is working with the crews and people involved in the profession." * * * * * * * * * * * * Joseph R. McDonald writes: "My first flight was on March 15, 1956 with Captain John Pyle and F/0 Charles Baker. We were flying aircraft #712, a 749-A between STL and MKC in severe weather conditions. All four engines were surging, we had heavy turbulence. Captain Pyle if turned around to ask I had gone to Alternate A yet. I said, 'No, I was told you only do that in an emergency'. Captain Pyle came about a foot out of his seat and yelled 'What the hell do you think this is?'

We laughed about the incident years later at his retirement party in New York in 1974." * * * * * * * * * * * * 81

The Williams Twins

82

Bob Zimmerman gives an account of an interesting flight with Captain L. M. Williams: "Equipment L1049-A, one of first non-stops, altitude 19,000 feet.

"After reaching cruise, L. M. would fall into a quiet state and about all you heard from him was an occasional gurgle from his pipe. As you remember, those were the days of pressure pattern flying when you flew airways to xxx, then pointed the nose toward New York, hooking up with the airways again as late as ABE. You reported your progress as "abeam of" whatever was handy.

The night progressed beautifully - the F/E and I exchanged lies and about four hours out, the facts caught up with the greenhorn. Our next XPT was abeam Kokomo - a non directional low powered facility. Ceasing the B.S. and attempting a running fix .... no Kokomo! Perhaps it was off the air? After fooling around, allowing pride to intervene for an inordinate length of time, I finally said, 'Captain, could you help me locate Kokomo? Our XPT is past due.'

"L. M. reached up and fussed with the grinder, finally turned and looked down at the undercast. There was a hole about the size of a bushel basket. L. M . came up out of his seat about as tall as a man of his size could: 'Jesus Christ! Cleveland! Get me a clearance!'

The elapsed time Block to Block was 6:35 - one of the records of the time and a true jetstream flight." * * * * * * * * * * * * Bill Dickey tells about a memorable flight: "We were delivering a Saudi Arabian B-720-B by way of IDL and Rome. I flew the overwater portion (my first Atlantic crossing). The 720 was not equipped with Doppler but it was so fast that our D.R. was right on the nose at our arrival point.

"I must admit, though, that I didn't do it alone. The crew consisted of Captains Tom Graybill, Jerry Boxberger, E. L. Olson, Lee Jekel and others..

"Thanks for the memories." * * * * * * * * * * * * John E. Harlin's first trip on the line was from Columbus to Newark in 1933 with Andy Andrews, Harry Campbell, Welsh and Herford. Copilot on Tri-motor; first lunch serving.

"Most interesting, unusual or exciting? A trip from Harrisburg to Newark with Andy Andrews flying around the smokestacks trying to find Newark in a Tri-motor Ford under practically zero conditions." * * * * * * * * * * * *

83

Dick been from Frye

Doyle tells about the following personal experience: "Having a copilot reserve (thirty hours in three months), I got a call Goldie advising that I was to go on a trip as copilot with Jack on his Lockheed 12. Why me?"

"Next up," says Goldie. "Get here early so we can brief you".

"How long will I be gone?

I got the three or four days routine. I left 8-4-43 and was back in Kansas City 8-21-43. Spent three days on Fry's ranch in Cottonwood, Arizona. However, I was put up in a motel in Cottonwood.

On 8-6-43 went to Boulder City for six days. Frye went to West Coast for nine days. Spent my time in Boulder helping crew service the San Francisco trip and the two through trips. Also spent a few days in Vegas. Do you remember what Vegas was like forty years ago? My Gawd!! The natives, for something to do, would meet the trains to see the 'movie stars'. Back to Cottonwood 8-12-43, Kansas City 8-21-43.

A real short three or four days, Goldie said!"

"Many words have been written about Jack Frye. Never have, nor will I ever meet and know such a fine gentleman. A man who never forgot those whom he met. We would meet on the streets of Kansas City and he could find a few minutes to stop and chat. What a rememberance! ....It's not the flying we miss but the people we worked with, if you want to call it work". * * * * * * * * * * * * Frank Jones asks "Most interesting or exciting? Gosh, Al, I can't remember that far back. It could have been the time I had three engines fail over the Atlantic six miles east of the weather ship (ice).

The airspeeds were all frozen. (Yep, we had pitot heat on). As you can see, nothing really exciting happened. If it had, I wouldn't be writing this.

Or the time I had Number 4 engine fire warning as we crossed the South dike at MKC in a Super-G loaded to the gills for LAX, wending our way, dodging chimneys in the stockyard trying to get enough altitude to turn.

The engineer was yelling that all engines were overtemping into the red. Anyway, after following the Kaw river, we finally got enough altitude to circle the field and land. The copilot said he could see into the windows of the Town House hotel as we went by. I don't know about that, I was too busy just trying to keep the SOB flying. The only problem was that I was met by Sam Bass of the FAA when I taxied to the ramp. Never heard anymore about it, though.

Or was it the time we went sliding down the runway at CHI at about a forty-five degree angle in a driving rain? We were told after we landed that we landed in a forty-five mile crosswind. I know that it was pretty strong and we were the last plane to land on that runway that night" * * * * * * * * * * * *

84

John B. Schulte reports: "My first trip was Martin Flight 121 from LGA to STL with Captain George Gay and Hostess Patty Zelenka.

I was anxious to meet George Gay, as I had studied about him in Naval History class. Through Hostess Zelenka I met my wife. I remember thinking "No G-suit, no flight suit, no crash helmet and no torso harness.

I'm in my shirt sleeves being served by some cute gal. What a way to go!" * * * * * * * * * * * * There will be more personal experiences in the next issue. Meanwhile those of you who haven't contributed, please share your experience. * * * * * * * * * * * *

HERMAN

"I don't know how you can stand to eat those things."

* * * * '*

* * * * * * *

85

RECURRENT TRAINING QUESTIONNAIRE (40 YEARS AGO) Or-things you haven't thought about until now ........for obvious reasons.

By Earl Lindsly 1.

Prior to the introduction of hi-tech info (V's, EPR's, T.O. data Card, etc.,) what sure fire method of determining rotation point on take-off at MKC was employed?

2.

What was the best course of action at MKC on T.O. in regard to dike, Rudy Patrick, Armour stacks, etc?

3.

On what transports had DC-3 type navigational equipment been previously tested and proven?

4.

What was primary function of auto ADF needle said to be when tuned to a station behind the aircraft?

5.

Regarding question #4, was instrument accurate?

6.

Name the sumptuous overnight crew facilities at the following airports: a. b.

Columbus, Ohio (Upstairs hangar suite) Pittsburgh, PA (Co-ed quarters, complete with cots)

7.

Why wasn't b above closed by Fire Marshal for safety and sanitation reasons?

8.

What was the most expedient way for a copilot to ensure an abrupt change to some other career? a. b.

9.

Freeze up the DE-3 heater Incur Paul Frederickson's displeasure prior to his having had his orange juice and coffee in the morning.

What was alleged to be the prime use of the "C" cargo compartment?

10. Describe primary skin color of passengers on DC-4 Sky Coach between AMA and ABQ. 11. The loose collection of asphalt atop the slag heap referred to as Allegheny County Airport (PT) was laughingly referred to as a runway.

Can you quote the most frequently used runway condition report for it?

Answers are on the next page.

86

ANSWERS TO RECURRENT EXAM

1_

Watch copilots eyeballs.

2.

Miss 'em.

3.

The Pinta, the Nina, and the Santa Maria.

4.

Virgin indicator.

5.

Seldom, as indicated by derisive responses from hostesses.

6.

a.

Patterson

b.

Eagle's Nest

When they dilate, rotate.

Plaza

7.

Firemen were afraid to get close enough to it to condemn it.

8.

Either

9.

Sin Bin. Induction center for worthy candidates for admission into the Mile High Club.

10.

Tucumcari Green.

11.

"Both ends of the runway are closed to the middle.

But there's 500 feet there that's fit as a fiddle."

* * * * * * * * * * * *

87

THE TARPA

GRAPEVINE JULY 1986

Well, it's about that time again when your GRAPEVINE Editor has to come up with some interesting bits about our TARPA members.

With the passing of "dues time", the correspondence from members has slackened off a bit, but our hard working Secretary still finds material to send me.

It's good to hear from all of you, so please keep up the correspondence to Joe or myself so we can share it with our TARPA members. * * * * * * * * * * * * I spent $10.00 this week to subscribe to the retired United pilots newsletter which is published monthly and consists mainly of letters from their members. I'm not particularly excited about the activities of the United group, although many were friends and neighbors over the years, but it gives me an opportunity to see how other groups keep in touch. They differ from TARPA in that they pay no dues, just a $10.00 postage fee and it is renewable on their birthdays. Consequently they have a continuous flow of letters throughout the year. There is merit in their procedure and something TARPA might consider. * * * * * * * * * * * * Although the GRAPEVINE is primarily to report the activities of TARPA members, i.e., cockpit crews, I am submitting in this issue some information about a person who perhaps has done more for the entire retirement group than any other single individual. He has worked with and for the pilot group as long as he has been with TWA and long after his retirement. Although I have known PARKY PARKINSON for many years, more professionally than personally, it wasn't until the last Roundup, on which I reported last issue, that I came to realize how much of himself he has put into the retirement movement, and what a fabulous store of information he has about the past of TWA. He has sent me copies of old timetables, letters from some of the original pilots, newspaper and magazine articles about historic events involving TWA and many other interesting items which I hope to use in future publications. Perhaps the following letter which THE GRAPEVINE

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I received from a fellow TARPAN who wishes to remain anonymous best describes PARKY and his work. I received this letter too late to include in the March TOPICS. I quote: "One (item submitted) is about that life-long friend of TWA pilots, PARKY PARKINSON - the "outside guy" whom they all respect and appreciate for his tireless and enthusiastic willingness to promote and support anything that has to do with keeping TWA and TWA's people together.

In retirement, he has devoted practically all of his time to "the cause", but in the years that he worked for TWA he was even more gung-ho, "So several members of the somewhat loosely-formed Kansas City contingent of the Hot Air Balloon and Wicker Basket International Airlines (no employees, no planes, no balloons, no strikes!) got together at the Yaadboid restaurant at Municipal Airport last fall to honor PARKY for his many extracurricular activities for TWA and for all of us retirees.

"PARKY started as a mechanic with TAT in 1929 at Wynoka, Oklahoma.

In the years that followed he worked as a meteorologist and dispatcher and in a variety of assignments through the airline's stations at Glendale, Kingman, Winslow, Clovis, Albuquerque, St. Louis, Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Amarillo and Kansas City. Along the way, he married Merta Mary and they became the parents of five daughters.

She passed away in 1984.

"PARKY has been active in many civic clubs and was founder of the TWA Employees Club and TWA Credit Union (1940). He is a past president of the TWA SENIORS CLUB and has managed the annual Seniors Club Roundup in Arizona for 24 years. He has collected and maintains a tremendous amount of TWA historical material and is a frequent contributor of nostalgic memorabilia to TARPA TOPICS. "Attending the Kansas City luncheon gathering were the following: Carter Burgess (as honorary guest and speaker), Otis Bryan, Bert Cooper, Art Eggiman, Jim Fennell, Howard Hansen, Al Jordan, Jack Le Claire, Bill Neff, Harold Neumann, John Roche, Gail Storck, Busch Voigts, Norm Parmet, Les Woods, Walt Gunn, Les Couch, Wayne Tague, Earl Smith, Ray Dunn and Orville Olson." * * * * * * * * * * * * Incidentally, PARKY celebrated his 78th birthday a few months back and he sent me a poem a friend sent to him.

"The enjoyment of sex, although great Is in later years said to abate.

This well may be so But how would I know?

I'm only seventy eight". * * * * * * * * * * * * THE GRAPEVINE

89

Following is a letter from JOE HUTCHINS: "Just finished reading TARPA TOPICS so I thought I'd drop you a line while the subject was on my mind.

"It's about all the fellows who have airplanes and may be starting a flying club or fly-ins, as you said. It sounds like a great idea to swap lies about different places to go. I personally am into antique airplanes.

I enjoy going places in my airplane, which is a 1938 Cessna Airmaster. I am also rebuilding a 1946 Stinson 108.

Herb Ottewill and I are Hangar Mates, with me doing the inspections on his J-3 Cub. We have a pretty nice group of old airplanes at our grass field here on Long Island. I guess this is enough rambling. Please excuse the mistakes. (Old Age? Nah!) "P.S.

Keep us the good work on TARPA". * * * * * * * * * * * *

W. A. (BILL) MURPHEY sent in his dues and in a note said he won't be able to make the conflab this year, but sent his best to all. * * * * * * * * * * * * Last edition of the TOPICS reported the death of Captain HARLEY BRUBAKER. His wife, JANE, sent a nice note to Joe thanking TARPA for the gift to the TWA retired Pilots Foundation in his name. She said "Harley would be pleased". * * * * * * * * * * * * ROBERT A. (MAC) McREYNOLDS writes from Boulder, Colorado, "I made that three quarters of a century last year. Here's your $20.00 anyway. Best regards, MAC." * * * * * * * * * * * * PHIL HOLLAR sent me a nice note last month. He said, "Dick, just a quickie to let you know that there is life after retirement. Am quite active as a Reserve Orange County, California Deputy Sheriff and also working for the Department part time, as a Weapons Instructor. Legion of Honor (Adjutant) keeps me busy in parades and official functions of the Shrine. The only thing I miss is those three and four day layovers in Europe to rest up. See you in St. LOUIE!!!"

You all know PHIL as TARPA's Alcoholic Counselling Committee Chairman. * * * * * * * * * * * * THE GRAPEVINE

90

JERRY ZERBONE writes: "I got no end of pleasure when I received the March issue of the TARPA TOPICS to see my picture a couple of times and to have read the nice account you wrote about me. I want to thank you very much and do enjoy news about all of the TWA people you write about.

"Since I was at Wickenburg in November of '85 I've been back to work on another consulting contract with Rolls that was supposed to be for only two months - December '85 to January '86, but which lasted until the seventh of April.

"Keep up the good work - Regards". * * * * * * * * * * * * One of the items that is supposed to be carried in the GRAPEVINE is the notice of the passing of any relatives or non-members who may be well known to TARPA members. Again I ask your assistance in furnishing either Joe McCombs or myself with this information should you learn of the passing of relatives or a widow of one of our group, whether or not a member of TARPA. We have learned of the passing of Honorary member Lorraine Chandler some time in late March. She was the widow of Captain Ed Chandler who passed away in 1968. Also, DICK BECK advises of the passing of Irene Preeg on March 7th. She was the widow of Captain Felix Preeg, who passed away in 1977. * * * * * * * * * * * * From an article titled THE ORIGIN OF AIR WARFARE comes the following bit of trivia: "Have you ever wondered which nation was the first to employ aircraft in a combat situation; which nation was the first to develop and drop a bomb specifically designed for air operations; which nation was the first to be hit by hostile ground fire; and which nation conducted the first aerial combat photography?"

All of these events and many other "firsts" in air warfare occurred several years before WWI during the Italian-Turkish conflict in LIBYA in 1911-1912, and were attributed to the Italians. The first actual bomb drop was made on Noember 1, 1911, and consisted of a hand dropped bomb weighing about four and one half pounds, and about the size of an orange. The aircraft used was either a Bleriot, Nieuport, Farman or Etrich, all of which were powered with 50 HP engines.

A far cry from the F-111's used almost 75 years later by the United States. * * * * * * * * * * * * BILL BLAKEMORE writes to Joe that he and Mason are quite active and busy with some real estate on the East Coast. * * * * * * * * * * * * THE GRAPEVINE 91

We reported last issue on DICK BECK and his weight loss program.

He reports he's down another 12 pounds with his diet of water and "rabbit food".

Says "he got caught in a high wind last week and was pinned against the garage door for ten minutes". Now, Richard! * * * * * * * * * * * * Joe received a very nice letter from ALTHEA SIEBENALER, widow of DON SIEBENALER, thanking him and TARPA for the contribution to the Retirement Fund in Don's name. and says she is "pleased and proud to accept your Honorary Membership in TARPA." * * * * * * * * * * * * From JIM NOREM: "We've gone to live in the woods! Raising some breeding beef cattle and looking for a ranch hand so we can take off. Lovely country here." Jim is now living in Roseburg, Oregon. * * * * * * * * * * * * LARRY WELCH says "I really look forward to receiving TARPA TOPICS. Brings back a lot of memories". * * * * * * * * * * * Another old airplane rebuilder is SPUD CONNICK up in Dennisport, Massachusetts. Says he is "helping a pal of mine build a real Fokker Tri-plane. No fool like an old fool. Best to all." * * * * * * * * * * * * CHARLIE TUTTLE flew his last flight on December 29th and officially retired January 1. Says he hasn't seen a single sunrise since and doesn't miss it at all. He's looking forward to seeing many TARPANS in the future. Hope you'll enjoy the retirement like most of us do, Charlie. * * * * * * * * * * * * HANK SEYMOUR may be among the first to pay his 1987 dues because of a slight foul up in his own bookkeeping. Says he is being kept busy with his Eagle II biplane which he reports is a blast for aerobatics.

Hank looks like another candidate for a Fly In. * * * * * * * * * * * * I quote a letter from ARTHUR (DICK) SCHMIDT: "Thank God for TARPA. It's the only way many of us retired boys can keep in touch with our pilot friends.

"Missed the last meeting, but hope to make it this year. Keep busy working at the church and Salvation Army as a volunteer, play

THE GRAPEVINE

92

golf and some tennis. Dorothy likes to drive, so we take numerous trips. Reached age 71 and still miss flying for TWA. They were great years. Most of all I miss all the fellows.

"Hope to see everyone this year." * * * * * * * * * * * * A recent new member of TARPA is C, O. (OSCAR) TATE, who joined us last January as an Eagle. Oscar was with TWA from 1942 until 1948, when he left to return to resume the management of Greebrier Airport in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, and the presidency of Greenbrier Airlines, an air charter company. He retired last August from management of the airport and was credited with 45 years of service to that facility. He learned of the existence of TARPA from EDDIE WELLS, with whom he has kept in touch these many years.

Below are photos of Oscar and crew taken at Lagens in the Azores on May 4, 1945. Earle Sharpe was F/O, Jack Landis, F/E, Norm Goodrich Navigator, Dick Guillan, Pilot/Nay. trainee and Bill Pepmiller, R/O.

Left to right: Jack Landis, Dick Guillan, Earle Sharpe, Norm Goodrich and Oscar Tate * * * * * * * * * * * *

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93

Left to right: Bill Pepmiller, Jack Landis, Earle Sharpe, Norm Goodrich and Dick Guillan * * * *.* * * * * * * * DON McKENZIE sent in the following interesting account of his time in the Air Corps: "Air Corps (old brown uniform). Received telegram, December 8 - (one day after Pearl Harbor) - then spent full four years of World War II almost entirely as instructor of pilots and bombadiers at Kirkland Air Force Base, Albuquerque, NM. Items of interest are that both of my bombadier instructors are deceased - one from cancer, the other from a plane crash. Also of interest is that I was the only pilot on the base who was assigned his own airplane ...... I approached the C.O. and made my point that my special assignment required special precision and I should have my own airplane....he agreed and informed me that four new airplanes had just arrived...told me to pick one out and put on a number that I liked...Q100...that was mine." * * * * * * * * * * * * L. J. SMITH reports from down in Welaka, Florida that he is still not recovered from his lung cancer operation of a couple of years ago which was followed by five weeks of radiation treatment. This plus the stress of caring for his wife, Duarita, who succumbed to multiple sclerosis, after a seven year battle, back in September of 1984, has left him a "very sick person". He says, though, that "it is good to know a few of you older guys think of guys like me and are willing to take on the responsibilities, the management of TARPA. Give my best to all concerned."

I'm sure L. J. would appreciate hearing from fellow TARPANS. Particularly from us "older guys: who flew with him as copilot, with whom he shared time so generously.

THE GRAPEVINE

94

From the desk of CHRISTOPHER J. CLARK comes a more cheerful note: "Hi, Joe: Thanks for taking the important Secretary job to help keep the organization going. It sure is a great thing. Best regards for a good 1986." * * * * * * * * * * * * As most of us are aware, HARRY CAMPBELL, passed away on February 22 of this year. Evelyn, Harry's devoted wife of 54 years, wrote a very nice letter to our Secretary, thanking him for the "kind message of sympathy and for the privileges you (TARPA) have offered."

She also stated they would have enjoyed coming to the St. Louis convention, as St. Louis brought back fond memories for them both, as it was Harry's first base with TAT, where he attended Washington University Law School and where they spent their honeymoon.

Evelyn is compiling a book of anecdotes about Harry. Friends should send their recollections to Evelyn Campbell, 229 Orchid, Corona Del Mar, California 92625. * * * * * * * * * * * * GINNIE SEBOLT sent in an UPDATE form for husband CHARLIE. Says there aren't many TWA people in the area around Estill Springs, Tennessee, so they really look forward to reading about the happenings of their friends in the TARPA news. Fishing and woodworking are Charlie's hobbies, but she "keeps him too busy for clubs, except golf clubs." * * * * * * * * * * * * HORACE (NICK) NICHOLS sent in an UPDATE form to our Secretary and apologized for being late with it. But he can be forgiven, as on February 10 he underwent by-pass surgery. To quote Nick, "They did six grafts so I should be in good shape once I recover ..... while they will not let me drive (as of 3/10/86) as yet I am walking several miles per day." He hopes to return to Montana by mid-May and lay a fly line across a stream or lake soon thereafter with STONE. Says he won't make the convention because of his wife's allergy. * * * * * * * * * * * * OLGA HEATH, widow of AL HEATH, who passed away on February 18 of this year, was made an honorary member of TARPA and wrote thanking our Secretary for his letter of condolences and for the TARPA membership card. * * * * * * * * * * * * THE GRAPEVINE 95

The following cartoon is an example of how our Secretary is working for all of us these days. (Sent to me by Joe.)

* * * * * * * *

It's nice to receive words of praise and encouragement from our members.

LEE LASWELL expressed his appreciation and thanks to those who keep TARPA going. Also WARREN GEORGE, who says, "I think TARPA is a great thing and I intend to keep up my membership in a more timely fashion in the future." That's the way our Secretary wishes everyone would feel. * * * * * * * * * * * * TH....TH.....TH .....THAT'S ALL, FOLKS! * * * * * * * * * * * *

THE GRAPEVINE 96