2000.03.TARPA_TOPICS

CONVENTION 2000 TW A ACTIVE RETIRED PILOTS ASSOCIATION

BOEING 717 N401TW TWA'S NEWEST AIRCRAFT

CONTENTS TARPA TOPICS THE MAGAZINE OF THE TWA ACTIVE RETIRED PILOTS ASSOCIATION

FEATURE ARTICLES:

DEPARTMENTS:

TARPA CONVENTION `00

9

EXCITING TIMES

by Bob Dedman

19

100TH BIRTHDAY PARTY

by Editor

53

FIRST FLIGHT

by Jake Rast

55

MARRIED TO HIS PIPE

by C. Davis

65

NO FUN LINE CHECK

by A.T. Humble

68

THINK RED

by Felix M. usis III

73

COLD WAR CONNIE

76

TWA'S SEVENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY BOOK

89

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE John P. Gratz

3

EDITOR'S NOTE

4

SECRETARY/TREASURE Phil Belisle

5

TARPA TOURS

by Chuck Hasler

17

GRAPEVINE

by Hank Gastrich

25

FLOWN WEST

45

Material contained in TARPA Topics may be used by non-profit or charitable organizations. All other use of material must be by permission of the Editor.

All inquires concerning the is publication should be addressed to : John P. Gratz, Editor TARPA TOPICS 1646 Timberlake Manor Parkway Chesterfield, MO 63017

TOPICS is an official publication of TARPA , a non-profit corporation., Editor bears no responsibility for accuracy or unauthorized use of contents.

Cover: N401 TW takes off for a pre-delivery flight test.

Photo: Courtesy Boeing

PAGE 1... TARPA TOPICS...MARCH, 2000

EDITOR

ASSOCIATE EDITOR GRAPEVINE EDITOR

HISTORIAN

HISTORIAN EMERITUS FLOWN WEST COORDINATOR TARPA TOURS COORDINATOR INTERNET WEBMASTER

John P. Gratz 1646 Timberlake Manor Pkwy Chesterfield, MO 63017 (636) 532-8317 jppjg@msn.com David R. Gratz 1034 Caroll St. Louis, MO 63104 dave@dgratz.com Henry E. Gastrich 291 Jamacha Rd, Apt 52 El Cajon, CA 92019-2381 (619) 401-9969 hankflew@aol.com Felix M. Usis III 1276 Belvoir Lane Virginia Beach, VA 23464-6746 (757) 420-5445 73644.3341@compuserve.com Edward G. Betts 960 Las Lomas Pacific Palisades, CA 90272 (310) 454-1068 John S. Bybee 2616 Saklan Indian Drive #1 Walnut Creek, CA 94595 (925)938-3492 William C. "Chuck" Hasler 8 Rustic Way San Rafael, CA 94901 (415) 454-7478 Jack Irwin 2466 White Stable Road Town and Country, MO 63131 (314) 432-3272 jack@smilinjack.com

OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS, 1999/00 PRESIDENT

FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT

SECOND VICE PRESIDENT

SECRETARY/TREASURER

SENIOR DIRECTOR

DIRECTOR

DIRECTOR

EX-PRESIDENT

John P. Gratz 1646 Timberlake Manor Pkwy Chesterfield, MO 63017 (636) 532-8317 jppjg@msn.com Robert W. Dedman 3728 Lynfield Drive Virginia Beach, VA 23452 (757) 463-2032 rwd@sybercom.net H.O. Van Zandt 1810 Lindbergh Ln Daytona Beach FL 32124 (904) 767-6607 hopvz@compuserve.com Phillip M. Belisle 3145 Geary Blvd, PMB 705 San Francisco, CA 94118-3316 (415) 567-9921 phil_les@compuserve.com Harry A. Jacobsen 848 Coventry Street Boca Raton; FL 33487 (561) 997-0468 jeanjake@aol.com Larry Ashcraft 15435 E Shore Big Fork MT 59911 (406) 982-3366 larjet@pti.net Stephen R. Wiese 15510 Wendimill Dr. Chesterfield MO 63017 (636) 256-7732 swiese@compuserve.com David M. Davies 233 S.E.Rogue River Hwy Grants Pass, OR 97527 (503) 476-5378 ddavies@alpronet

PAGE 2... TARPA TOPICS... MARCH, 2000

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE The year 2000 looks like another great one for TARPA. An outstanding group of Members in the Seattle area have almost completed their work arranging TARPA Convention 2000. Their plans and programs are spelled out in detail in this issue. All of us, who were working for TWA in the Jet Age, flew at least one type of Boeing airplane. I enjoyed flying all the 707s and the 747. Once, I was fortunate to have flown a sparkling new 131B on a delivery flight from the Boeing Factory.

I did not have time to see much of the factory or of Seattle then, so I look forward to the chance to get a real first class tour this September.

That delivery flight was a memorable one however, one that always makes me chuckle. There was a 200 hundred knot jet stream along our route, SEA to ICT and, as we were cruising along at Max Speed Cruise as suggested by TWA's man at Boeing, the late Gail Storck, we were overhearing a Continental flight constantly talking to ATC about his speed record attempt from SEA to TUL. After a while, ATC discreetly vectored us around traffic and, as we were cleared to resume our course, I couldn't resist the impulse to ask if the aircraft we had just passed was the "Record Setter". Of course it was.

Our hard working Secretary-Treasurer, Phil Belisle is still up to his knees in Dues envelopes. He is adding it up almost daily, making deposits and collating all the address and telephone changes.

It is a daunting task. It almost makes me feel guilty when I ask him to hurry so that we can include an updated Directory with this issue of TOPICS. I said almost. Phil tells me that we are clearly enjoying the benefits of our new Dues structure, and have collected more than normal for this date. We thank all of you for your cooperation. A final bit from Phil advises that we now have 850 Members on-line. That is almost one half of us and, is a gain of 200 over last year.

I am sorry to report that after eleven years, arranging and conducting TARPA TOURS, Pat and Chuck Hasler have asked to be relieved from that important avocation. Their work has provided hundreds of TARPA Members much pleasure and many fond memories. The members who traveled with Pat and Chuck will testify to their professionalism and good humor. They have earned our highest accolades and gratitude.

As mentioned in the last issue, and as described in the TWA Skyliner of December 1999, a new book of TWA History will be produced very soon for the 75 'h Anniversary if enough interest is shown by advance orders. An address page is in the Skyliners and, is included in this TOPICS. Please let me reiterate that we have the largest group of Members to host a Convention in memory. Once again, they are Ev Green, Dave Amundsen, Duane Bergevin, Cliff Bjork, Ted Misselwitz, and Mary Schliep. I sincerely hope that these many volunteers are honored by having the largest turn out in memory.

P. Gratz

PAGE 3... TARPA TOPICS...MARCH, 2000

EDITOR'S NOTE We are fortunate to have received several highly entertaining stories from Members to include in this issue of TOPICS. One story from Charles Davis recreates scenes from the early days flying the DC-3 with an experienced Captain. Jake Rast has favored us with an incredible re-creation of his first Captain trip. Our illustrious First Vice-President Bob Dedman, offers us an exciting description of his days as "Indiana Jones" in Africa prior to the easy job of flying for TWA.This issue also has a short vignette from our fearless reporter, Bill Dixon. You know, Bill has been writing stories for so many years that, I'm beginning to think he has ink in his veins. Hank Gastrich, our perennial college boy, who is now on the Dean's Honor List, sends cuttings from the Grapevine. And finally, we again profit from the artwork of Russ Day. He's a keeper.

In addition to these worthy contributions, we are pleased to include several comprehensive articles about our 75 year History penned by TARPA Historian, Felix Usis III. Felix originally wrote these pieces at the request of JFK Chief Pilot, Hugh Shoelzel for their Domicile web site.

Many of you may have had the chance to peruse them there. We also present an excerpt from an upcoming book on Lockheed Constellations.

Obviously, we are especially featuring Boeing aircraft in this issue, recognizing our long relationship flying their outstanding planes. Moreover, we should make note of the fact that TWA has evolved, in this it's 75th Anniversary year, into an all Boeing airline. It is fitting therefore for us, The Active and Retired Pilots to gather in Seattle and rekindle fond memories of TWA and Boeing aircraft.

Photos in this issue of TOPICS Courtesy of: Bob Dedman, Dan McIntyre, Jake Rast, TWA, and Joe Van Balen.

PAGE 4... TARPA TOPICS... MARCH, 2000

January 17, 2000 Happy Y2K to all: As yet I've discovered no computer failures in our TARPA systems. The FILEMAKER PRO data base operates as before, the credit union account works as before, and the dues collection works as before.

Several folks were afraid their checks were lost in the mail. On a good day I can only process 50-100 checks, so it takes some time ... especially if we have major holidays. I take extra time because the TARPA data base is used for the publication of our DIRECTORY 2000. I must check your phone numbers, addresses, zip codes etc.

Dues collection has been gratifying.

Charging our EAGLES was a hard decision, but you have come through like champs. A special thanks for those extra contributions and memorials from our Honorees.

We end 1999 with $ 26,721.60 in the credit union.

Most of the dues income is to be deposited in January, so I expect the total will reach about $ 56,000.

The next few weeks will be the busy period.

We will close out the books on 1999 and send the tax data to our CPA. We will log the dues and data on our data base, and we will publish a MARCH TOPICS and DIRECTORY 2000.

Your Officers will hold their annual meeting this march.

With the Seattle convention this year, I will ask you to replace me.

I promised to serve for 4 years, and as a believer in " term limits " , my four year term will be up. Meanwhile I plan to work to leave this desk in the best possible shape for the next S/T. Best

wishes,

Phil

Belisle

Secretary

Treasurer

PAGE 5... TARPA TOPICS...MARCH, 2000

NEW MEMBERS AND SUBSCRIBERS

(R)ADAMS 516-283-5457 (A)BANKS 561-336-8177 (R)BEAM 847-695-0623 (S)BLACKBURN

Gerald T. Capt. (SHERRILL) gta37@aol.com Les Capt. (MITZI) lesbanks00@aol.com James L. Capt. (JUDITH) 72153.762@compuserve.com Mr. Bob

(R)CATHCART 856-667-3608 (R)CLEVINGER 941-281-6640 (R)COLEMAN 816-858-2253 (A)DONOVAN 516-922-1478 (R)FLEER 805-532-2400 (R)HALL 512-331-2038 (R)HAYWARD 941-697-1390 (S)HENRICKS 317-823-7757 (R) HUEY 408-257-6157 (A) KENNEDY 734-455-5649 (R)KOEBER 215-247-8494 (S)MARK 801-578-9101 (S)NUSS 352-382-1328 (R)O' DONNELL 203-438-0298 (A)PHILLIPS 360-588-8005 (A)PHILLIPS 860-763-1611 (R) ROBINSON 732-431-3998 (R)SCHLINGMAN 813-301-1990 (R)SNAVELY 636-978-9822 (R)SNAVELY 520-399-3165

R. G. "ROB" IRO (T.LAVERNE) Tom

Capt. (CAROLYN)

John S. F / 0 (PAMELA) liljoe@kcnet.com 0. J. Capt. (SUSAN) ojdonovan@compuserve.com Russ Capt. (SALLY) 72153.2526@compuserve.com Larry Capt. (NANCY) Ijnahall@compuserve.com John F/O Eric

Mr.

Victor

Capt (MARY ANN)

Thomas J. Capt. (JANICE) tjkalpa@aol.com John F. Capt. (CARMELYN) 73644.446@compuserve.com Jack Mr. ixmark@xmission.com John S. Mr. (NAOMI) James P.

Capt. (ISABELLE)

John J.

Capt. (NANCY)

Stephen L.

F /o (DENISE)

Paul R. Capt. (CAROLE) cdrprr@aol.com Dave Capt. (NANCY) Orren L. Capt. (MARILYN) capt022@compuserve.com Orren L. Capt. (MARILYN) capt022@compuserve.com

P. 0. Box 1004 NY 11969 Southampton, 2235 Seagrass Drive FL 34990 Palm City, 132 South Union IL 60123 Elain, 4210 Bemis Street C A 94605 Oakland, 16 Lantern Lane N J 08002 Cherry Hill, 38 Logo Court FL 33912 Ft. Meyers, 13395 Timber Parke Drive MO 64079 Platte City, 77 Melbourne Street NY 11771 Oyster Bay, 3543 Avenida Montuoso CA 91362 Thousand Oaks, 1209 Stepp Bend TX 78613 Cedar Park, Don Pedro Is. P. O. Box 739 FL 33946 Placida, 11038 Tenacious Dr. IN 46236 Indianapolis, 12683 Indio Court CA 95070-3920 Saratoga, 47144 Beechcrest Dr. MI 48470 Plymouth, 4 Watermad Avenue PA 19118 Philadelphia, 1505 Arlington Drive UT 84103 Salt Lake City, 6 Chinkapin Ct. Sugarmill Woods FL 34446 Homosassa, 67 Standish Drive CT 06877 Ridgefield, 4816 Harbor View Place WA 98221 Anacortes, P. O. Box 596 Somers, CT 06071-0596 2 Saratoga Place NJ 07728-3320 Freehold, 1039 Royal Pass Road FL 33602 Tampa, 6 Green Briar Hills Ct. MO 63366 Ofallon, 989 W. Calla Del Vencejo AZ 85614-1033 Green Valley,

PAGE 6... TARPA TOPICS... MARCH, 2000

NEW MEMBERS AND SUBSCRIBERS

(A) SOBEL 740-548-5730 (A)SOBEL 941-752-9150 (R)STANDIFUR 408-872-0542 (R)STEBBINS 435-673-9467 (R)STOFFEL 530-269-3137 (R) SWERINGEN 631 -689-61 55 (A)TOMLINSON 802-434-2066 (S)VAUGHN 816-350-2954 (R) VODRA 203-775-3991 (R) WEGNER 813-631-9033

Martin Capt. (ROSE) terratran@csi.com Martin Capt. (ROSE) terratran@csi.com Tom A. Capt. (JEANNE) Bob Capt. (SHARON) bobsharonstebbins@compuserve.com Hank

Capt.

Jim jss3rd@access1.net

Capt.

Hobart C. Capt. (MARIDELLE) hobietw@att.net Greg Mr. gvaughn@saveaconnie.org Larry Capt. (NANCY) jlvodra@aol.com Richard Capt. (JEANNE)

1819 Timberlake Drive Delaware, 7161 Drewry's Bluff Bradenton, 13587 Saraview Dr. Saratoga, 2318 S. Legacy Drive St. George, Box 3234 Auburn, 14 Parson Drive Stony Brook, 6136 Main Road Huntington, 14900 Covington Independence, 51 High Ridge Road Brookfield, 250 Arapahoe Lake Quivira,

PAGE 7... TARPA TOPICS...MARCH, 2000

OH 43015 OH 43015-7977 CA 95070 UT 84770 C A 95604 NY 11790 V T 05462 MO 64055-4927 CT 06804-3517 KS 66217-8717

The following update was compiled by TARPA Vice-President H. O. Van Zandt with assistance and input from TWA MEC Benefits Specialist Mary Ulett: This is an update on the current A Plan benefits. Those pilots that retired prior to the October 29, 1992 are fully protected by outside companies. Those pilots that retired later are under the benefits of the fixed A Plan. As you can see from the PBGC Maximum monthly guarantee, most pilots have a full guaranteed by the time the reach age 65 (and ever sooner for a lot of us).

PBGC Guarantee Maximums Set for Plans Terminating in 2000 Although there is no indication or expectation that a termination of the A Plan will occur, following are the PBGC guarantee maximums that will be applicable to any defined benefit retirement plan that terminates in the year 2000. In the event of a termination of the A Plan, an A Plan member's benefit in a worst case scenario would be the lesser of his frozen accrued A Plan benefit or the PBGC guarantee maximum applicable to his age on the later of the plan termination date or the date he elects to commence his A Plan benefit.

The following amounts reflect a single life benefit, payable for the retiree's life only.

If, at the time of his retirement, the retiree elects to receive his benefit in some form other than a single life benefit, such as in the form of a 50% joint and survivor benefit, the amounts guaranteed by the PBGC would be less than those listed below. PBGC guarantee amounts for ages in between those listed below would be pro-rated to the nearest full month.

PAGE 8... TARPA TOPICS... MARCH, 2000

TARPA 2000 SEA Date

Depart Return

Event

PAGE 9... TARPA TOPICS...MARCH, 2000

'Remarks

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF PROPOSED TOURS SPACE NEEDLE! CITY TOUR

This is a tour covering many interesting locations in Seattle including the 520' Space Needle, Pioneer Square, a scenic view spot, Pike Place Market, and the Hiram Chittenden Locks where boats pass between Puget Sound and Lake Union. We'll spend a couple of hours at the Space Needle/Seattle Center where there will be time for lunch on your own. Space Needle admission is $6. Tour lasts 5 1/2 hours.

LAKES WASHINGTON & UNION CRUISE This cruise starts in Lake Union which is primarily devoted to business use, although there are many houseboats moored there. (Did you see "Sleepless in Seattle"?) It is also the home of a number of restaurants, a sea plane base, Gas Works Park and the Museum of Wooden Boats. From there you proceed through the ship canal passing more houseboats, restaurants, boat yards, yacht clubs and the University of Washington before arriving at Lake Washington. The portion of Lake Washington covered will be mostly the residential high rent district, including the $80 million estate of Bill Gates. Tour lasts 1 1/2 hours.

BOEING TOURS

MUSEUM OF FLIGHT

There will be a VIP tour of the Boeing Renton Plant where the TWA 757s are produced. The Renton plant is close to the hotel. The plant where 747s are produced is in Everett, 45 minutes north by bus for that tour.

Part of this museum is housed in the original Boeing building, the Red Barn at Boeing Field. The tour offers a brief movie then you are free to explore the exhibits, from bi-planes to supersonics, including an Air Force One 707, space capsule, and Blackbird. Also displayed is a Curtiss Robin restored and donated

by TWA's own Perry Schreffler and Bob Van Ausdell. Lunch will be catered by one of Seattle's best restaurants in our private dining room, the South View Lounge which has views of the runway and Mount Rainier.

SNOQUALMIE FALLS! REDMOND TOUR According to some sources, Snoqualmie Falls is the second most popular tourist attraction in our area. This trip combines a tour to the falls with a visit to the Redmond Mall where you will be on your own for shopping and lunch.

PAGE 13... TARPA TOPICS...MARCH, 2000

ELLIOTT BAY/TILLICUM VILLAGE DINNER A unique dining experience is combined with a wonderful cruise on Puget CRUISE Sound. The cruise departs from downtown Seattle with great views of the city and the Olympic Mountains. It proceeds across the sound to Blake Island where you will enter a Native American cedar longhouse and be served a salmon dinner prepared in traditional fashion baked on cedar stakes over an alder fire. During dinner, Native Americans will perform intererpretive dances in full costume.

SPIRIT OF WASHINGTON DINNER TRAIN The train follows a scenic route from Renton north along Lake Washington then inland north to the Columbia Winery near Woodinville. The train accommodates 118 diners in the dome cars and 220 in parlor cars. Dinner is served outbound and dessert on the return trip. There is a tour of the Columbia Winery, including wine tasting.

ROSALIE WHYELL MUSEUM OF DOLL ART TOUR The museum is dedicated to the collection, preservation, exhibition and interpretation of dolls as an art form. This is a world class exhibit judged the best private art collection in the world in 1994 in Paris. In addition to the doll exhibit, they focus on the history of doll making. They have agreed to open early on Saturday to accommodate our group.

ELLIOTT BAY DINNER CRUISE

Cruise beautiful Elliott Bay while enjoying dinner and dancing. Beautiful views of Seattle's skyline and the Olympic mountains.

PAGE 14... TARPA TOPICS... MARCH, 2000

DO-IT-YOURSELF TOURS The Northwest is filled with a wide variety of interesting sightseeing destinations and we will have information available on these possibilities in subsequent issues of TOPICS. ❑ Columbia Gorge Spectacular river canyon cut into volcanic rock by the mighty Columbia river providing the only sealevel route through the Cascade range. Numerous waterfalls and interesting geology. ❑ Bremerton Naval Shipyards Fleet repair and nuclear sub facility on Bainbridge Island. ❑ Victoria, B.C., Canada With double-decker buses and afternoon tea, you might think you are in England. World famous Budhart Gardens. By boat or plane from Seattle or take your car on ferry from Anacortes or Vancouver.

Vancouver, B.C., Canada ❑ Three hours north of Seattle by car, bus or plane.

Beautiful Stanley Park. A very interesting city and a major seaport. ❑ Mount Rainier At 14,411', Washington's highest mountain. Mt Rainier National Park is one of the most popular destinations for sightseers and world-class mountain climbers . ❑ Mount St. Helens Visit the National Volcanic Monument with detailed information about the catastrophic eruption. ❑ Mountain hikes and other walking tours Washington is a hiker's dream with well-maintained trails throughout the Cascades.

❑ Float Plane Tours Sightseeing flights and wilderness fishing from Lake Union (near downtown Seattle). ❑ White water or scenic river rafting There are a number of rafting possibilities with experienced guides. ❑ Port Townsend & Olympic National Park On the Olympic Peninsula, Victorian town of Port Townsend. Lush rain forest of Olympic National Park. Many hiking opportunities of all levels. g ❑ San Juan Islands and Whale Watchin Take the San Juan Explorer from Seattle or take your car on ferry from Anacortes. ❑ Leavenworth Bavarian Village, Wenatchee Valley and Lake Chelan On the east side of the beautiful Cascade Mountain range visit the Bavarian village and Wenatchee, the Apple Capital of the World. Lake Chelan is a deep, glacial lake with a scenic boat ride 22 miles through wilderness to Stehekin at the head of the lake. See mountain goats and eagles. ❑ Fishing Tours Custom fishing tours of British Columbia or Washington. ❑ Ferry Ride Visit one of the many islands in the Puget Sound via the Washington State Ferry system from Seattle.

PLEASE INDICATE YOUR INTEREST BY CHECKING ANY OF THE ABOVE SELF-GUIDED TOURS AND WE WILL PROVIDE FURTHER INFORMATION. A GUIDED POST-CONVENTION TOUR IS A POSSIBILITY IF THERE IS ENOUGH INTEREST IN ONE OR MORE OF THE ABOVE. Please note: There are no cruises to Alaska after September 30. Anyone wishing to take this highly recommended cruise should check with their travel agent about doing it prior to the convention.

PAGE 15... TARPA TOPICS...MARCH, 2000

FURTHER INFORMATION Situated in the heart of Bellevue, our convention hotel, the Doubletree, is just 15 minutes from downtown Seattle and 25 minutes from Sea/Tac. Bellevue Square, the largest shopping mall in the Northwest, is a few blocks away. A short drive will take you to all of Seattle's many attractions, several wineries and many high-tech firms. There is an excellent bus service throughout the area.

Doubletree offers free parking, including motorhomes.

Our hotel offers several entertainment options. Velato's Restaurant serves Northwest cuisine with an Italian flair, while the Atrium Cafe offers casual dining for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Enjoy evening activity at the lively Misty's Lounge or relax in the Quiet Bar. Work out on a range of equipment at the exercise facility or unwind in the swimming pool and spa.

Please make your hotel reservations by calling 1-800-222-8733 (national reservations number) and mention the TARPA GROUP RATE of $110 single or double. Hotel address is 300-111th Avenue SE, Bellevue, WA 98004. Fax number is (425) 455-0466. Hotel number is (425) 455-1300.

Shuttle express from Sea/Tac has a convenient schedule and costs $13. Call 622-1424 after you arrive.

Car rental information will be published in the next issue of TOPICS. For those wishing to fly in, there are FBOs at Renton and Boeing Field.

Convention Committee: Ev Green, Coordinator (509) 782-3006 Email: GreenEv@aol.com Fax: 509-782-4363 Jess Green, Computer, Banquet, Badges Email: Jessgreen6@aol.com Ted & Maxine Misselwitz, Tours, Banquet & Schedule (206) 232-4278 Email: Tmisselwitz@juno.com Dave & Sharon Amundsen, Treasurer, Banquet & Tours (425) 455-3452 Email: skychief@gascan.com Cliff & Nita Bjork, Sports & Hospitality (253) 549-2110 Email: Cbjork@worldnet.att.net Mary & Sally Schliep, Sports & Tours (253) 858-9795 Duane & Marilyn Bergevin, Tours & Hospitality (253) 858-8380 Email: duanbergevin@earthlink.com

PAGE 16... TARPA TOPICS... MARCH, 2000

BY PAT &

CHUCK

HASLER

THIS IS THE LAST PRINTING OF OUR LOGO TARPA TOURS. RIGHT, THAT EAGLE, STANDING BY H I S PLANE, IS CHUCK!

AFTER 11 YEARS, WE'RE UNPACKING OUR BAGS. CHUCK'S BAD BACK CONDITION WILL PREVENT HIS TRAVELING VERY OFTEN, AND CERTAINLY NO LONG, LONG FLIGHTS. I T HAS BEEN A LOT OF FUN VISITING SO MANY PLACES WITH OUR TARPA FRIENDS, AND WE'LL MISS THAT COMPANIONSHIP ALMOST LIKE R FAMILY. THANKS FOR JOINING US IN THE ENJOYMENTS AND ADVENTURES AND FOR HELPING TO CREATE SOME GREAT JOURNEYS! WE WON'T MENTION NAMES BUT THOSE SPECIAL PERSONS ARE IN OUR HEARTS WITH APPRECIATION AND JOY, AND SO MANY OF OUR FELLOW TRAVELERS HAVE "FLOWN WEST" IN THOSE YEARS. CERTAINLY THEY HAVE

BEEN MISSED.

MEMORIES WILL ALWAYS BE WITH US: A TURKISH COUNTRYSIDE BRIGHTENED BY A

DARK NIGHT IN THE

HUGE MOON AND OUR

BUS FILLED W/SINGING "SHINE ON HARVEST MOON"; JOKES FROM OUR OWN M.C.'s (FRONTSEAT COCKPIT CREW) ON BUS TRIPS; II SUDDEN GUSHER OF RAIN WASHING OUT THE RAIL TRACKS AHEAD OF US WAY UP IN THE SIERRA MADRES

, AND NOT

KNOWING IF WE'D BE THERE HOURS OR DAYS OR IF WE'D HAVE

PAGE 17... TARPA TOPICS...MARCH, 2000

FOOD, WATER OR ELECT., AND SUDDENLY A GREAT IMPROMPTU PARTY AND FLOOR SHOW IN THE AISLE BY OUR OWN COCKPIT CREW MEMBERS AND SPOUSES; TOASTING OUR ANNIVERSARY COUPLE IN A LOVELY TURKISH RESTAURANT AND AGAIN, A SURPRISE FLOOR SHOW OF SONG AND "SEVEN-VEILS" DANCING BY OUR OWN GUYS (THOSE JAPANESE TOURISTS , SITTING AT THE NEXT TABLES, WERE OVERWHELMED BY IT ALL); GETTING ON A RETURN FLT. IN ISTANBUL AND WAITING 3 HAS. ON THE TARMAC FOR OUR SLOT TO HEATHROW, WHERE A HUGE STORM WAS IN PROGRESS, FINALLY GETTING (2 A.M.) THERE TO FIND THE AIRPORT BURSTING WITH DISPLACED PASSENGERS, AND FINDING OUR CONNECTING FLT. TO JFK HAD DEPARTED. WE HAD TO SPEND THE NIGHT WITH NO HOTEL SPACE RESERVED. MIRACLE OF ALL

COZY RMS. FOR OUR

MIRACLES, WE GOT WARM ND

GROUP OF 36, WITH ONE SWIFT PERSON "PITCHING IN" TO COMMANDEER THE LAST BUS OF THE NIGHT, TO ANOTHER MAKING PHONE CALLS TO LOCATE OUR LOST BAGS ONCE BACK HOME; OF THOSE WHO TOOK DISCOMFORTS IN STRIDE (WHO CAN PREDICT WEATHER OR DIMINISHING ICE CUBES IN THE AFRICAN BUSH) ; OUR FINAL DINNERS MADE FESTIVE BY OUR GENEROUS AND CREATIVE WRITER ACKNOWLEDGING THOSE PRESENTED HONOR ,

RIBBONS FOR BEING BODACIOUS

LOQUACIOUS, SEDUCTIVE, GRE-

GARIOUS AND OTHER OUTRAGEOUS CATEGORIES; QUIET WALKS WITH SPECIAL PEOPLE; THE PARTY ANIMALS WHO TOOK OVER THE "RED DOG SALOON" (IN JUNEAU); ND

OF ALL THE BEAUTIFUL

SEAS AND WEATHER ON NEARLY ALL OF OUR TRIPS-WE GIVE OUR COMPENSATION HAS BEEN

THANKS. WE VOLUNTEERED, AND

SHARING SO MANY TRAVELS AND OUR FELLOW TARPA TRAVELERS COMPANY!

AND

WE

WILL

ALWAYS

HAVE

THOSE

MEMORIES! WE

ENJOYED

EVERY

THANKS

MINUTE

AGAIN

PAGE 18... TARPA TOPICS... MARCH, 2000

OF

IT!

Exciting Times by Robert Dedman This will not be one of those, "There I was at 30,000 ft with Fokker's all around me". Rather a simple start but a very nerve wracking ending. Lets go back to 1960, when I was furloughed from Capital Airlines and prior to that, Panagra in South America. I was offered a job with a company called "Seven Seas Airlines" based in Luxembourg. I was hired as a co-pilot but I had my ATR written done so I was hoping to get rated on the DC-4 which I had been flying for both of the mentioned airlines. I was offered the great pay of 4.75 cents per statute mile, so if weather or diversions showed up...TS. You got paid only for the A to B mileage. Needless to say, I did not care for the arrangement. I found out that a friend of mine was going for a rating on the DC-4 so I asked the chief pilot if I could go along and if there was time, could I get a rating. He was a great guy, an ex TWA pilot, so I went along. The rating went well so the FAA check man said, get in the left seat and lets go for it. I had never been in the left seat of a DC-4 but 1 figured, if you can drive, you can taxi and the rating was going to be in the air. I managed to get the airplane to the runway and airborne and the rating went well.

Now we skip to the Belgian Congo where I found myself flying for Moise Tshombe and the mining ventures in a place called Bakuanga...an industrial diamond mine in which they used the diamond slag to pave, if you can call it that, a single 5000ft runway. We were flying in 8 tons of equipment and supplies there and chewing up tires like no tomorrow. Believe it or not, we were flying "220" hours a month out of Leopoldville and did this for two months, then a month off to recoup...hardest flying I ever did in my life, especially when you consider there were only 2 VOR's in the Congo... 1200 miles apart... The rest was a couple of low powered ADF's. We sure had to learn dead reckoning quickly, or become cannibal meat or at least a nice centerpiece in a hut. They loved those nice white carvings...added color to their homes. Anyway, upon one landing, we found that one left main tire was cut to ribbons and flat as a flounder. We had no maintenance there, so I had to take off with the tire flat. I used 20 flaps so I could get airborne sooner (glad we didn't lose an engine) but pieces of the tire flew off damaging the flaps and wheel well so I waited for my friend behind me to take off and join up to inspect the damage. He advised me that the flaps were ok to retract, which I did, and then we started cycling the gear and luckily, it retracted. We still had a four hour flight over jungle to get back to Leopoldville but since they had a 15000ft runway and emergency equipment, it relieved us considerably. I landed at "Leo" as we called it as smooth as a baby and had no further damage.

Shortly after that, the United Nations decided (wrongly at that) to force Tshombe to return his 'Katanga" to the Congo because they needed the revenues from the mines. The Congo was in poor shape at this point because of the Belgian withdrawal. They took a lot and left almost nothing. One doctor, few mechanics, etc. But Tshombe was running a smooth operation in his part of the Congo. The red brigade led by Kasabubu was also stirring up the pot in northern Congo around the beautiful town of Goma, right across the border from Tanganyika. All this led to great confusion.

Our operation with Tshombe was terminated by the United Nations actions so 1 offered the United Nations our services, which they accepted. I telexed the company in Luxembourg to

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inform them of our good fortune and as a result, we ended up with 15 DC-4's and 2 Douglas Carvairs for the UN airlifts. We carried everything from ammo, fuel, armored personnel cars to medicines and food for the troops and citizens. A side note... The owners of the company were getting $400 per hour for the DC-4 but were still paying us the same old cheap wages. They retired as millionaires in Europe after the operations in the Congo, and I was out looking for a job again...what, get out of flying? No way.

Next real excitement came on a trip to Stanleyville to reprovision the United Nations troops there. Since we were chartered to the "UN", we wore the blue beret and just khaki shirts and trousers. We were told to carry a sub machine gun to defend the aircraft and cargo but I told the commandant that I preferred not to. You come out waving a gun...you are hostile...period. He did not agree but I didn't carry any weapons nor did my co-pilots.

The trip to Stanleyville was routine and we were met by the local UN officer and taken to the Officers Club for lunch. All aircrews did the same and there were many different airlines represented down there plus military aircraft from various nations. As we left the "0" club, we passed an Italian C-119 crew just arriving. We left and went back to Leo. When we arrived there, we were told that ten minutes after we left the club at Stanleyville, rebels stormed the "O" club and massacred the entire Italian crew. They even had hacked them up to put in the market...I can't vouch for that part but, that was a close call to say the least. The irony of it all, is that the Italians were fully armed. A lot of good one machine gun would have been.

Since we got paid by the statute mile, we devised ways to get the most mileage out of one day. I was involved in a fuel shuttle from Albertville (on Lake Albert) and a military base called Kamina in the center of the Congo. We would carry 55 gal. fuel drums, about 30 at a time with all windows and emergency exits open to get rid of any fumes. The drums were loaded at Albertville with a forklift and a cargo net secured them to the floor. The person flying, always from the left seat down there, would land and as we taxied in, the other pilot would cast off the net, and untie the ropes. As we came to the ramp, cut 1 & 2 so we could open the side main door and throw out a large aircraft tire tethered to a rope. The one flying now parked the brakes, 3 & 4 still running, start rolling the drums down the aisle, one kick to turn it, out on the tire and roll across the ramp.

When empty, the non-flying one would go to the cockpit, start 1 & 2 and start taxing out while the other guy brought in the tire and closed the door and re-arranged the cargo net for the next load. Fastest we ever did it was 7 minute from touch down to lift off My F/O was a man named John Koontz, who later went to Continental Airlines and became Robert Six's private pilot. This kind of teamwork got us an extra trip in many times. Oh to be that young again with all that energy. I sometimes look back on those times as really exciting because you were your own boss, ATC controller, cargo loader and still have time for a brew with your friends at the end of a heavy day.

Our main base was Leopoldville where we lived in a pretty good hotel. It had air conditioning at certain times of the day and always at night. There were several nice restaurants around and beer was cheap. We also found that we could buy Gordons Gin for about $3.00 dollars but the problem was getting ice. You had to bribe the bellboys and the bartenders, but what was even

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rarer was dry vermouth. The rule was that when you went on R & R, you brought one of the miniature vermouths off the airplane. We would measure out a small capful and swore that it was a great martini. One miniature would last through 3 or 4 fifths of gin. Didn't know about the Tarpatini back them.

All flights left just about daybreak because of the length of the flights and the intense heat at mid day. The UN was in charge of loading all aircraft and when we arrived, we would check load control to find out where we were going that day. One morning, the commandant told me that we were going to have to fly higher than normal because we had a perishable load going to Luluaborg, in mid Congo. I asked what the load was...14, 000lbs of frozen turkeys (flown in by USAF C-124's) and cases of whiskey and gin for the officers and enlisted men station in the jungle. We flew at 9000ft with the emergency window exits open to keep things cool...not cold mind you, cool. When we landed, the UN cargo loaders were not around but the detachment for the booze was. They took the cases off and left so we got a Congolese to unload the turkeys for us. They were well under way to defrosting by now but that was not our problem. We alerted UN of the off load and went back to "Leo". The next day we had another trip there and guess what, there were the "rotting turkeys" still sitting there while all around that area, people were starving to death. Needless to say, the UN did not show us much.

Landing at some of the remote airports presented some problems if you had a mechanical. Starter failure was one, and the only way we could handle the situation was to start the engine (if it would) on take-off roll. If we had a load, we tried to start up to 80 knots and then go back for normal takeoff If you were empty, we just revved up the two symmetrical engines and gradually fed in the other until you got it started...nothing else we could do. If you had something major that grounded the aircraft, the company would fly in repairs and mechanics, when they could.

I was the third pilot to get a rating on the Douglas Carvair. The Director of operations and Chief Pilot where ahead of me, but the aircraft had not been route certified, so I was elected to have the FAA; both Pilot and Mechanical, accompany me and the F/O on a trip from Southend, England, to Luxembourg, Pisa, Tripoli, Kano and finally Leopoldville. During the flight, the FAA did all kinds of paperwork and evaluations. The FAA pilot was Dave Switzer, who later went on to be a big wheel in the Pacific Area. Well, the Carvair was an aircraft built from the wing area of an old DC-4. The fuselage and tail were all new as was the gear and electric systems. The cockpit was above the fuselage and access was gained by going up a ladder (like a submarine) onto a spacious flight deck. You were 25 ft above the ground, much like the B-747. Well, after 4 landings, I offered Dave the next leg, which he eagerly accepted. Flew a nice flight till it came to the landing.

He still thought he was in a DC-4 so, before I could stop it, we SMASHED onto the runway at Kano.

We hit so hard that all the warning lights on the panel came on, his cohort did a hard landing inspection. After that, we knew we had passed.

When we certified the Carvair, the manufacturers used basically the same performance tables as did the DC-4 so it was an easy transition once you got

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used to sitting higher, learning to land and all in all, it was a nice airplane. I had a flight to Elizabethville and lost an engine...sheared the prop shaft. We off loaded the plane, tied down the prop, fueled up and made a three engine ferry to Leopoldville. Got to the hotel, had a beer and the phone rang. Chief pilot was livid...you are fired!!! How could you ferry an aircraft that has not been certified to do so and on an on. I called the FAA. Yes they had an office there since several "N" number carriers were in the Congo. I explained to them that I had followed the DC-4 's 3 engine ferry procedures because we were told to do so by the manufacturers. They agreed all was right and the chief pilot reluctantly apologized and hired me back.

I mentioned that we flew 220 hours a month. Normally and our company had several "N" number aircraft as well as Luxembourg registries. We had to get Luxembourg pilots licenses. You had to be careful not to exceed monthly allowances on the "N" aircraft so we did some trading at times to keep the logbook "legal".

I had the privilege of flying some of the finest fighters in the world around the Congo. I am referring to the famous Nepalese "Gurkha" troops. Their trademark is a curved, very sharp knife, that is only withdrawn from the sheath to draw blood, even if it is there own. I know because I asked to see the Major's knife and he very discretely knicked himself in the finger. I would have never asked if I knew about the custom. These gentlemen were the nicest, cleanest and most professional soldiers I have ever met.

The Communist led Lamumba troops surrounded UN troops at Elizabethville so that we had to fly in supplies and fuel to them. Lamumba was smart, he found that all the airplanes came over the same spot to land. It was the outer marker beacon on the only ILS in eastern Congo. They set up a 30-caliber machine gun on the small tower and shot as the aircraft came overhead. Pretty dangerous since we were carrying fuel and ammo. Fortunately, only a few aircraft were "hit", as they did not know about leading the target. An air force aircraft was the most seriously damaged with holes in the main fuel tank on one wing. UN intelligence then set up night arrivals only so we would come across the OM at 3000ft toward the runway, flash the landing lights, get a reply from the tower by flashing the runway lights, then do a descending 360 until you thought you were lined up, flash the lights again, get the runway lights, and if lined up, you landed, if not, try again.

Well, we brought the Gurkhas in and they set up camp for few days and surveyed the situation.

Every day they practiced and worked out and then one night, they crept out into the enemy camp while they were asleep, cut off every other mans head and left without ever being detected. The next day, the airport was open for business. I had a short trip to make, but before I left, the Gurkha Major said that when I got back, he was going to give me his personal knife as a thank you for all our efforts. What an honor to say the least, but, as fate would have it, we had a mechanical and didn't get back before he and his men were airlifted back to Nepal. I sure would love to have that great gift on my wall right now.

The city of Goma is a paradise location on the shores of Lake Kivu. An extinct volcano is the background to what was at one time, the Belgian paradise in Africa. It was also a wonderful place to grow things, vegetables specifically. Well, the UN found that we could fly fresher vegetables from Goma than they could get from Europe but the problem again was Lamumba's Communist troops. They were all around and intimidated the locals, so flying there was considered somewhat

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risky. The UN then stationed some troops there and the daily flights of fresh greens were to start anew. I was taken into the OPS building and given a briefing as to the status of things there and that we would not have any problem because the "enemy" troops really had nothing more than small caliber rifles and side arms. I was assured of UN protection so away we went. Also, Goma is about 5500ft above sea level so we had to plan for high altitude landings and take-offs. We arrived in the evening and went to a lovely hotel overlooking the lakeand just had bellied up to the bar when all hell broke loose. Four or five guerrillas with red belts and epaulets came storming in and pushed us aside at the bar. The Major (as I found out later) was ugly, mean and smelled like a goat but he had 2 pearl handle 45's around his waist so we gave him utmost attention. My French is broken at best, with a Spanish accent, and he wanted to know what we were doing in his part of the land. I tried to explain, UN food lift back to "Leo". I indicated that I was Captain so he sets up a beer. I, being the humble servant at this moment, then bought him one. We tried to chat but not much transpired so we retired for the night.

Next morning we got to the aircraft and my loadmaster informed me that we were loaded up as much as we could be for the altitude and length of the runway, with fresh tomatoes, celery, lettuce and onions. The F/O had just filed the flight plan when suddenly one of the Lamumba guards points to the loadmaster and said, "he stays". I told him, 3 come, 3 go. Well, we argued but he was a grunt so I called the UN troops on the long-line telephone to come help...the soldier also called his boss. Two trails of dust from different directions came towards us and yes, THEY got there first, and surrounded the aircraft with aimed rifles.

The UN showed up but with four guys in a Jeep...highly outnumbered. Next thing I know, here comes the Major, still smelling like a goat, gives me a big hug and says, "allo Capitain, what's the problem"? I told him, 3 came, 3 go but I did not know that the guard had found out that we had filed a flight plan to Rwanda to refuel because the high altitude did not allow us enough fuel to go to LEO. Rwanda was enemy territory to these people and totally off limits. Well, now came the play-acting. The Major asked me why we were going to enemy territory. I looked at the F/O, and in my best voice said, "why did you file to Usambura in Rwanda"? I told you "Leo" you idiot! I assured the Major we were going to LEO. He said OK but, if you lie, you will be dead. We managed to get our gear together and as we are about to start the engines, right in front of us came off a camouflage cover over a pair of 45mm Ack Ack"s. Then, along the entire length of the runway, 50 cal. machine gun emplacements. Too late to back down now so we start up, run-up and get in position. The loadmaster ran back between the rows of tomatoes and lettuce crates saying, "I hope this slows the bullets down". My F/O was Karl K. Krout who later went on to be

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director of training at Flying Tigers in LAX. (We used their 747 simulator quite a bit later on, when I was with TWA). I told him "this is max effort so we do not stop". I thought we would never get to flying speed but when we did, I pulled up on a V2 climb and stayed until I thought we would drop. No shots were fired and Karl broke the ice by saying,"oh goody, I love V2 climbs". I noticed that he had crouched down well below the windows and I was a sitting duck!

We did go to Usambura in Rwanda to refuel (only place we could make with what we had), and when we landed, the tower sent an arrival message back to Goma. Shortly after, we received the following message "You come back to Goma..you dead". I didn't go back for a few months and I chewed the ass off the UN Intelligence (?) Officer. No weapons, ha! I should have kept the telex for posterity, but to tell you the truth, I was just glad to be out of there.

The last great challenge we had was, when the UN decided that they were going to take over Katanga by force (I thought that a poor move. Why break something that is working great.). They had established that Tshombe's loyal troops were still somewhere around and intelligence said it was near an airdrome named Kolewesi. At last count, there were supposed to be 3000 well armed, disciplined and loyal troops, intelligence did not know if they had small armor. Well, the Carvair could carry 2 armored personnel vehicles and personnel, so Paul Rakisits, who later went on the fly in Hawaii, and I were elected to lead the charge. The UN told us that they were going to "soften up" the airport before we got there but could not promise anything...I well reminded them of Goma!

The staging point was Elizabethville and there was to be us, 4 DC-4's with troops and 1 C-46 with supplies and ammo in the first wave. We were told that F-86's would soften up the airport so we should be OK. Morning brought a layer of fog over Kolewesi so what I did was go over the airport just into the fog bank, make a 90/270 and back again, each time getting a little lower till we could see the ground. Had about a 400 ft. ceiling so we buzzed the airport and saw no one and got no weapons fire. Got on the ground and to the ramp, opened our nose door to release the ramps and the armored cars and personnel and then started to look around at the destruction. The F-86's did a job. I saw what was left of Tshombe's aircraft, a lovely DC-4, and what was left of some private airplanes...no troops to be seen or even heard of afterward, they just left. As you may know, Tshombe died in prison. Never could figure out why they put a good leader in jail and, then let the crooks run the country.

In retrospect, I was lucky that I was never hurt. Although accosted several times, I did retain my composure and above all, the feeling that I liked the people in the Congo. They are wonderful, simplistic people who want to learn, give more to their families and children than they had and, to make new friends and live in peace. Isn't that really what we all strive for?

I went to work for TWA in February 1964 and the rest is still just a wonderful dream. I believe my facts are as true as I can remember them.

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By Hank Gastrich 291 Jamacha Road Apt 52 El Cajon, CA 92019-2386 Tel/Fax: 619-401-9969 e-mail: hankflew@aol.com

I am sure no one will believe I wrote 1999 and then a strike through on purpose but I really did. How many of you, unintentionally wrote the wrong year, 1999, when it should have been 2000, especially on some of those first of the month checks we all write? I found it somewhat unwieldy but don't think I screwed up anything. I did write 1900 on something and caught it and I won't be able to tell you why I did that until I take a semester of Psychology 121.

School Well, I should be well into my final semester at Cuyamaca College by the time you receive the TOPICS. That should make a lot of you delighted - not having to read about old Hank and his school woes. If all goes well, and I pass English 126, Business 121, Speech 120 and Math 103, I will be in the June, `00 class - which graduates this year on 31 May, 2000! I asked a counselor why it was called the June class if it graduates in May; after some hesitation (and I suspect a lot of cogitation) I was told that June is when classes usually graduate. I asked her, "When I was in high school I was part of a class that graduated in February, 1942. Was that really the June class then?" No answer.

Pro Football I entered a football contest for the playoffs in which I picked nine players; after the first week of play, I have 78 points, and am in 987TH place. One trade is allowed, which I made but I expect my chances are somewhat less than slim and none. In order to have them for the rest of the playoffs, I chose Marshall Faulk and two others who did not even play the first weekend.

Then, a guy named Mayes did not even play for Seattle, and two other of my choices only accumulated a total of 6 contest points (6 for TD, 5 for FG, etc.) I did quite well with only three players! !

So long, for now The GRAPEVINE is a little lean this issue - I copied all of the mail I had and was debating whether to include a few layover stories or not. Maybe next issue, if GRAPEVINE mail is low, I will have to resort to stories about what we did on layovers. I still plan to write those books I plan to title, "Long Layover" and a sequel, "Quick Turnaround" I feel sure you will like them - I know your wives will!

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HUMOUR THE SPORTING LIFE These are actual quotes made by assorted sporting figures including coaches and TV personalities..

New Orleans Saint RB George Rogers when asked about the upcoming season: "I want to rush for 1,000 to 1,500 yards, whichever comes first."

Football commentator / former player Joe Theismann: "Nobody in football should be called a genius. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein." ( I suppose he also feels that way about Albert Rockwell's paintings).

Bill Peterson, Florida State football coach: "You guys line up alphabetically by height."

PUZZLERS Why is the third hand on a watch called the second hand?

Why does "slow down" and "slow up" mean the same thing?

Why do "tug " boats push the barges?

Why do we sing "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" when we are already there?

Why are they called "stands " when everybody sits?

If all the world is a stage, where is the audience sitting?

Why is bra singular and panties plural?

Boxing promoter Dan Duva on Mike Tyson: "Why would anyone expect him to be smarter?

He went to prison for three years, not Princeton."

Why doesn't glue stick to the inside of the bottle?

Shaquille O'Neal on whether he had visited the Parthenon during his visit to Greece" I can't really remember the names of all the clubs we went to."

Tell me what you need and I'll tell you how to get along without it?

Tom Polk, University of Houston wide end on his coach: "He treats us like men. He lets us wear earrings."

PEOPLE I'VE KNOWN

I don't have an attitude problem. You have a perception problem.

I don't suffer from stress. I'm a carrier.

Everybody is somebody else's wierdo.

Tommy LaSorda on what hold out Fernando Valenzuela wanted in his next contract: "He wants Texas back."

Shelby Metcalf, basketball coach at Texas A&M, recounting what he told a player who had four F's and one D: "Son, it looks to me like you're spending too much time on one subject."

Accept that some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

I love deadlines. I especially like the whooshing sound they make as they go by.

Help me to always give 100% at work. 12% on Monday, 23% on Tuesday, 40% on Wednesday, 20% on Thursday, 5% on Fridays.

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HUMOUR MEN OF THE CLOTH A Priest and a Rabbi are sitting next to each other on an airplane. After a while the Priest turns to the Rabbi and asks, "is it still a requirement of your faith that you not eat meat?"

"Yes, it still is," replied the Rabbi.

"Have you ever eaten pork?" the Priest asks.

The Rabbi replies, "Yes, on one occasion I did succumb to the temptation and tasted pork.

A while later, the Rabbi spoke up and asked the Priest, "Father is it still a requirement of your church that you remain celibate?" and the Priest replied, "Yes, that is still very much a part of our faith."

"Father, have you ever fallen to the " temptations of the flesh?

The Priest replied, "Yes Rabbi, on one " occasion I was weak and broke with my faith.

The Rabbi nodded understandingly for a moment and then said, "Beats the hell out of pork, doesn' t it?"

VIEWS ON MARRIAGE You know what I did before I married? Anything I wanted.

Henny Youngman Never go to bed mad. Stay up and fight. Phyllis Diller At a cocktail party, one woman asks another, "Aren't you wearing your wedding ring on the wrong finger?" " "Yes I am, I married the wrong man!

I may have cheated on my wife, but it was her fault. She said I was the best lover in the world and I wanted a second opinion. " First guy (proudly) "My wife ' s an angel.

Second guy, "You ' re lucky, mine's still alive ' I married Miss Right. I just didn t know her first name was Always.

KIDS SAID IT

LEAVE THE LID OPEN Three friends die in a car accident, and they go to an orientation in Heaven. They are asked, " When you are in your casket and friends and family are mourning you, what " would you like to hear them say about you?

The first guy thinks for a second and says, "I would like to hear them say that I was a great doctor in my time and a great family man. " The second man says, "I would like to hear that I was a wonderful husband and a school teacher who made a difference in our children of tomorrow. " The last man replies, "I would like to hear them say, `LOOK, HE'S MOVING!'"

One Sunday morning the child was acting up during the sermon. The parents did their best to quiet him but it was a losing battle. Finally, the father picked the boy up and headed up the aisle toward the foyer. Just before reaching the doors the little one called loudly to the " congregation, "Pray for me. Pray for me!

A little boy opened the big old family Bible and as he turned the pages, something fell out. He picked it up and looked at it closely, then said, Momma, look what I found."

The mother looked and then asked the boy, "What have you got there dear?"

Without hesitation the young lad replied, "It's Adam's suit."

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A HELPING HAND A man is asleep when there is a 3 A.M. knock on the door. "I'm not getting out of bed at three in the morning," he mumbles and rolls over. Then a louder knock follows.

"Aren't you going to answer that? " his wife asks.

So he drags himself out of bed and goes downstairs. He opens the door and sees a man standing there. It doesn't take long for him to realize the man is drunk "Hi there," says the stranger. "Can you give me a push?

"No, get lost! It's after three o'clock. I was in bed," screams the man as he slams the door and returns to bed.

His wife, hearing the dialogue starts, "Dave, that wasn't nice of you.

Remember that night when we broke down in the rain and you got a man out of bed to help us? What would have happened to us if he'd told us to, `get lost?'

So, the husband gets out of bed again, gets dressed and goes down stairs. Opening the door he calls out, "Hey do you still want that push?"

He hears a voice cry out, "Yes, please."

"Where are you?" shouts the man, peering into the darkness.

The stranger calls back, "Over here! On the swing!"

IDIOTS AT WORK A man was at the airport, checking in at the gate, when the airline employee asked, " Has anyone put anything in your baggage without your knowledge?"

The man replied, " If it was without my knowledge, how would I know?"

He smiled and nodded knowingly, " That's why we ask!"

MEN OF THE CLOTH A Priest and a Rabbi are sitting next to each other on an airplane. After a while the Priest turns to the Rabbi and asks, "is it still a requirement of your faith that you not eat meat?"

"Yes, it still is," replied the Rabbi.

"Have you ever eaten pork?" the Priest asks.

The Rabbi replies, "Yes, on one occasion I did succumb to the temptation and tasted pork.

A while later, the Rabbi spoke up and asked the Priest, "Father is it still a requirement of your church that you remain celibate?" and the Priest replied, "Yes, that is still very much a part of our faith."

"Father, have you ever fallen to the temptations of the flesh?"

The Priest thought a minute as his face reddened and then answered softly, "Rabbi, I have to be truthful and tell you - I did - once!

The Rabbi, without hesitating replied, "Sure beats sex, doesn't it?"

WISE WITTICISMS Never be afraid to try something new, Remember, it was amateurs that built the ark.

Talk is cheap because supply exceeds the demand.

Politicians and diapers have one thing in common. They should both be changed frequently and for the same reason.

If it ain't broke, fix it it is!

I plan on living forever-so far, so good!

I am in shape - round is a shape!

A day without sunshine is like night.

Age doesn't always bring wisdom, sometimes it comes alone.

Time may be a great healer, but it's a lousy beautician.

Not afraid of heights - just widths!

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HUMOUR FOR DOG LOVERS "Whoever said you can ' t buy happiness forgot about puppies." Guy Hill "Outside of a dog, a book is probably man's best friend; inside of a dog it's too dark to read." Groucho Marx "My dog is worried about the economy because Alpo is up to 99 cents a can. That's almost $7.00 in dog money. " Joe Weinstein "Money will buy you a pretty good dog, but it won't buy the wag of his tail." Unknown "Cat's motto: No matter what you've done wrong, make it look as if the dog did it."

Unknown (but could have been first said by RinTinTin) "Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea. " Robert Henlein -----------------------------------ACTUAL SIGNS On a Maternity Room Door: "Push, Push, Push!"

On a Scientist ' s Door: "Gone Fission."

On a Butcher ' s Window: "Let us meat your needs."

Outside a Motel: "Help Wanted - We Need " Inn-experienced people.

Inside a Bowling Alley: Quiet Please! We want to hear a pin drop."

COMPUTER NON-SENSE Compaq is considering changing the command, "Press Any Key " to "Press Return Key" because of the flood of calls asking where the "any " key is.

A Dell customer called to say he could not get his computer to fax anything. After 40 minutes of trouble-shooting, the technician discovered the man was holding a letter in front of the monitor screen and hitting the "Send" key.

TECH SUPPORT "O.K. Bob, let's press the control and escape keys at the same time. That brings up a task list in the middle of the screen.

Now type the letter "P" to bring up the Program Manager. " BOB: "I don't have a "P".

T S: "On your keyboard, Bob." BOB: "What do you mean?"

T S: "P" on your keyboard, BOB." BOB: "I'm not going to do that!"

ANAGRAMS WORD Dormitory Desperation The Morse Code Animosity Mother-in-law Semolina Alec Guiness Decimal Point Eleven plus two Astronomer Year Two Thousand

ANAGRAM Dirty Room A rope ends it Here comes code Is no amity Woman Hitler Is no meal Genuine Class I' m a dot in place Twelve plus one Moon starer A year to shut down

Flying is not dangerous - crashing is!

Takeoffs are optional - landings are mandatory Probability of survival = the angle of arrival Asking a pilot what he thinks of the FAA is like asking a fireplug what it thinks of dogs!

On a Music Library Door: "Bach in a Minuet!"

PAGE 29... TARPA TOPICS...MARCH, 2000

RUMOUR ORDER IT WITH CONFIDENCE

DRINK IT WITH ASSURANCE

Ordering wine should be as much fun as drinking it, but many of the wine names can be intimidating. The Grapevine doesn't want any Tarpan to be embarrassed, so here's a list of some of the better wines along with a stab at phonetic pronunciations. 1 won't include prices lest some get "sticker shock." I bought a bottle of champagne recently for $8.99, but it was sitting right next to a bottle priced at $39.39! And this was at Ralph's!

FISH Shellfish Fume' Blanc SalmonGrilled Pinot Noir Chardonnay Salmon Poached White fish with Semillon Seasoned Sauce White Fish with Chenin Blanc Light Sauce Trout - Freshwater Fish Chenin Blanc, Fume' Blanc/Grenache Rose'

Blanc de Noir (Champagne) Brut (Champagne) Cabernet Sauvignon Carigname Chardonnay Chenin Blanc French Colombard Fume' Blanc Gewurztraminer Grenache Rose' Johannesburg Reisling

Blahnk duh Nwahr Brool Cab-er-nay Saw-vin-yawn Kare-in-yawn Shar-duh-nay Shen-in Blahnk Col-um-bard Foo-may Blahnk Guhertz-truh-meaner Gruh-nash Roe-say Joe-Hahn-iss- berg Reez-ling

Meritage Mare-eh-tedge Mer-lot Merlot Muscat Muss-kat Puh-teet Ser-ah Petite Sirah Pea-w' Nwahr Pinot Noir Sem-ee-yawn Semillon Zin-fun-dell Zinfandel From : www windsorvineyards.com ----------------------------------------A WINE DRINKER SAID THIS - OR MAYBE IT WAS DINO I feel sorry for anyone who doesn't drink; when they wake up, that's as good as they are going to feel all day!

You remember the summer of 1995? Well, 1 don't!

You're not drunk if you can lay on the I'd floor without holding on.

I'd like to do some more for you, but I'm lucky I remembered these!

LAMB Chops Zinfandel Roasted or Grilled Cabernet Sauvignon BEEF/VEAL Roast or Steak Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot Beef with Brown Zinfandel or Red Sauce Grilled Veal Pinot Noir Roast Veal Semillon Veal in Cream Sauce Chardonnay

PORK Roast Pinot Noir Zinfandel Chops Ham White Zinfandel Grenache Rose'

CHICKEN Grilled Fume' Blanc Roast or withBrown Cabernet Sauvignon/ Sauce Carignane CHEESES Strong Flavored/Sharp Zinfandel/ (Blue Cheese) Cabernet Sauvignon Sharp Cheddar Petite Sirah Soft, mild White Zinfandel Creamy Dessert with Muscat Canelli/ Fruit (Brie, Camembert) Late Harvest CHOCOLATE I' m Not Kidding Cabaret Sauvignon

PAGE 30... TARPA TOPICS... MARCH, 2000

HUMOUR I' M OLDER NOW, AND HERE IS WHAT I'VE DISCOVERED? 1.I started out with nothing, and still have most of it.

2.My wild oats have turned into prunes and All Bran.

3.If all is not lost, where is it?

4.Funny. I don't remember being absent minded.

5.Some days you're the dog, some days you're the hydrant.

6.Kids in the back seats cause accidents.

7.Accidents in the back seat cause kids.

8.It is hard to make a comeback when you haven't been anywhere.

9.It's not hard to meet expenses - they're everywhere.

10.1 wish the buck stopped here ... I could use a few.

------------------------- ---------------SCHOOL DAZE TEACHER: George, go to the map and find North America, GEORGE: Here it is!

TEACHER: Correct, Now, class.

Who discovered North America?

CLASS: George!

HAROLD: Teacher, would you punish me for something I did not do?

TEACHER: Of course not Harold.

HAROLD: Good, because I didn't do my homework.

TEACHER: Ellen, give me a sentence starting with "I" .

ELLEN: I is ... .

TEACHER: No, Ellen. Always say, "I am."

ELLEN: All right .... "I am the ninth letter of the alphabet.

SYLVIA: Dad, can you write in the dark?

FATHER: I think so. What do you want me to write?

SYLVIA: Your name on this report card.

ONE LINERS Men in really great shape are generally very tired men.

God did not give us wheels instead of feet because He knew we would be getting skateboards for Christmas.

I don't understand dirty movies - some I have to watch two or three times.

Some of the early arrivals got off the boat in New York, looked around and said, "This will do find - we'll settle for this!"

That's why they are called settlers.

Some others continues west in wagons until they saw the mountains in Colorado.

They said, To hell with that! Let's stay here and build a football stadium.

----------------------------------------UGLY WOMEN She could stroll naked through a forest filled with lumberjacks and only pick up splinters.

She didn't have time to shave her legs so she put it up in curlers.

She was saving for a hope chest. I've seen her chest. There's absolutely no hope!

She said I would never make it without her. I said I was sorry I ever made it with her.

--------------------------------------------I once told my Captain that was Jimmy Stewart giving a position report over Terre Haute. He said, "What made you believe that was Jimmy Stewart? " I told him, "He was passing Indianapolis when he finished."

I won't ever believe women are equal to men. I can't think of Alyssa Milano as one of the guys!

I once saw Louis Nye in London. He was looking for a bomb shelter - ten years after the war ended.

The only time I would wish to be short was when I was dancing with Sophia Loren .

Speaking of gambling, I wonder what the point spread is on Dolly Parton.

PAGE 31... TARPA TOPICS...MARCH, 2000

Grapevine (cont'd)

Submitted by Bob and Mary Ann Matney

PAGE 32... TARPA TOPICS... MARCH, 2000

Submitted by Bob and Mary Ann Matney

PAGE 33... TARPA TOPICS...MARCH, 2000

GORDON HARGIS

Fort Worth, TX

Dear Hank, A belated "thank you" for printing the )CAT-6 pix I sent. Just wish Jim Philpott were still here to see them.

There is little to report from Fort Worth, to coin a cliche, I'm doing less and less of more and more.

However, I do need to announce that the retired pilot's recurrent training program will begin in January for annual maintenance of FAA required proficiency in "boozing and chasing".

For the real old "coots", it will be emphasized in areas such as procedures for activating and use of the elevator trim tab on L-749 Connies. Also, the electric reasons why TWA finally deactivated it (assuming any one remembers it had one).

For younger 880 `coots ' , it will be necessary to name the 26 hydraulic units using Mil-Spec 5606 RED Fluid and the available voltages from the static inverter, plus their voltages.

We will let the Ex B-707 pilots off easy if they can remember which spoiler deactivation (inboard or outboard) to use to accomplish nose-up trim on the 131 and 331 with the spoilers, plus the Mickey Mouse procedure required to fully extend only the inboard flaps before landing. They will also need to remember bug speed additives and maximum degrees of spoiler ' extension on both fan and non-fan 707 s.

For those who have trouble remembering the correct answers for all this, I suggest they try to remember where they had their FHB's so they may do a little reviewing. Believe it or not, those all are questions asked in those days by the Feds during pre-rating in oral tests.

Ed's Note: Thanks Gordie, I needed that. I'm not really sure what all of that I copied meant. I see you used the word "remember" frequently and I feel I better tell you that most of our readers have more than a little difficulty remembering yesterday. I once asked "do you remember the summer of 1982" and when the answer was yes - I said I didn't - but that was when I was a drinking man. I also note your use of technical terms, I.e. such as "boozing and chasing" which are completely unfamiliar to me and no doubt others. Among other things, I have always felt "chasing" was wasted effort, but, CATCHING, now that was something else, albeit, like everything else, that was in an increasingly distant past!

Hey guys - NOW you see why I continually bitch to have you, "Keep those cards and letters coming! "

PAGE 34... TARPA TOPICS... MARCH, 2000

EMIL SCHOONEJANS

Huntington, NY

LIFEGUARD DUTY

by Emil Schoonejans T/M2/c USS Burrfish SS 312 The submariner's war was ending in late `44/early `45 as evidenced by the scarcity of targets; the assignment to lifeguard duty was a confirmation of that fact. The enemy had almost completely withdrawn to the home islands. The fly boys were assigned the finishing touches. We were assigned to pick up those who had to ditch, a most difficult and frustrating assignment. We were to be spending daylight hours on the surface and breaking radio silence thereby exposing ourselves to airborne attacks by friend and foe alike, regardless of the IFF. When on lifeguard duty, a surreal level of tension exists surrounding the radio shack and its chain-smoking operators. Topside, the same tension is shared by the lookouts, as the captain, with a megaphone in one hand and a VHF mic in the other, is poised for rescue action. Below, the rest of the crew, ill at ease, would rather be at battle stations.

The complimentary articles by Army Air Corps veterans Dern and Harrison which appeared in the June `99 Polaris are most appreciated by this ex-submarine sailor. To most submariners, I expect this has been a first such recognition, but for me it is a second. My first compliment came after Burrfish's 5th war patrol when we were on our 2 weeks R&R at newly opened Camp Sam Dealey on Guam. Quonset hut living was not as much fun as the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. Jap snipers were heard from nightly. Baseball games and warm beer got very old after the first week. I requested and received permission from our skipper CDR. Mort Lytle to go to the B-29 base to volunteer as a gunner on a bombing mission. CDR Lytle said, "OK, and if they give you a ride, invite them to come with us on our sea trials. The Army Corps refused the bombing mission but riding on an `engine change test flight' was approved. My excitement on approaching that giant silver airplane can only be compared to my first view of a fleet type submarine. My sub training was on WW1 S boats. My observation post for takeoff was between the pilot and copilot and behind a sergeant riding sideways who I thought was the navigator. ' The entire flight crew was extremely appreciative of the submarine s role as life guard and the Aircraft Commander asked what they could do for me. I said, "I sure would like to fly," and the AC immediately had the copilot get up and I took his seat. With that, my boyhood dream of flying came true . .. I was flying an airplane for the first time in my life . . . AND . . . a B-29 at that! Is that appreciation or what?

The flight crew respectfully declined my skipper's invitation to reciprocate. I returned to Camp Dealey and our boat, to make ready for the next patrol and to share my flight experience with my Forward Torpedo room mates. (The B-29 ride apparently had a lasting effect; after leaving the navy, Mr. Schoonejans spent 36 years as an airline employee. Polaris Ed.).

Ed's Note: WOW, Emil, . . . what a helluva story. To have flown in a B-29 anytime would be a thrill but to have done so in 1945, even more so. I was on Saipan for a while and would watch them take off from Tinian sometimes. Just think, if you had gotten on the wrong airplane, you could have been on the Enola Gay! Oh yes, to back up your story about the Air Corps guys refusing a submarine ride, I never heard of any pilot that wanted to. By 1950 I had passed up a submarine ride and a PBY ride, and when a small problem arose on my first helicopter ride, l immediately found other things that I simply I had to do!

PAGE 35... TARPA TOPICS...MARCH, 2000

WALT WALDO

Kenwood, CA

Dear Hank G.: Another great convention fine food fine friends and wonderful hosts. " Thanks" Chuck and Pat.Also Ev and Jess. An organization such as TARPA needs motivators and we are blessed with some of the finest.

Meeting new people and renewing old acquaintances causes a "senior moment" when I reflect on conversations with members ... but, he said I should write about Pre-TWA experiences in the Marine Corps.

I was attending Case Institute in Cleveland, Ohio hoping one day to be an Engineer (not FE).

Also, I was flying with the Marine Reserve Fighter Squadron at Akron, Ohio. Akron had the FG-ID. Earlier I had flown the F4U-4 in VMF-311 at El Toro.

Called to active duty in October of 1950 I reported to MCAS Cherry Point, N.C. I was assigned to VMF (N) 531 which was equiped with F7F "Tigercats."

One day a Captain took me out to the F7F, had me get in, and checked me out as follows: "What did you fly before" he asked... I replied, "Corsair."

He then said "you will note the F7F has two throttles, two mixture controls and two prop controls."

"Other than that you can see that the engines can be feathered.

You should read the fuel system. It is different... Good Luck:" What I really wanted to fly was the R4Q-2 R - Transport 4 - Fourth Model Q - Fairchild A/C 2 - Second Modificatioh Then when you asked me what I flew I would in a loud, gruff voice reply: Later I flew in Korea: BEST WISHES, , Walt Waldo

PAGE 36... TARPA TOPICS... MARCH, 2000

Kenwood, CA

WALT WALDO

WHY I LOVE AVIATION SO...

A fellow walked into a bar one evening, near Orange County Airport. He sat down at the bar and asked for a beer. The bartender noticed that he smelled pretty bad as he served him.

Pretty soon, people started getting up from the bar and moving away from this guy. After he finished his beer the bartender walked over to him and as he got close, he noticed the bad smell again. It was pretty rank.

The man then asked for another beer. The bartender said, "Well, OK, but this will have to be the last one."

The man said, "I know, I know, this usually happens."

The bartender brought him the beer and said to him, "Well, tell me about it, how come you smell so bad?"

The man started telling his story. "I work over at the airport. My job is to empty the toilet tanks on the airlines after they land. I drive a truck up to the planes and I connect a hose to empty them. Sometimes the seal where the hose goes on isn't always so good, or an old hose leaks a little, and a little bit of stuff gets on me. Then even worse, on occasion, the whole hose has been known to drop off while it's draining and I just get soaked in the mess. When that happens, you just can't wash it off. You wash repeatedly, and put on clean clothes, but the smell just won't go away for days.

The bartender listened to the man (while he's wiping a glass) and said to him, "Well, that's really awful. Why don't you try to get a new job?"

The man looked at him incredulously and said, "What! And get out of aviation?"

PAGE 37... TARPA TOPICS...MARCH, 2000

WE GET LETTERS Litchfield Park, AZ

EUGENE EXUM

Dear Phil, You all are doing such a good job on every phase of TARPA and I would not like to see it hurting for cash flow so I will increase my dues to double. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Gene Ed's Note: Thanks Gene. A hundred years ago, when we flew together, I knew you were a good guy!

LE MAURIS BUTLER

Prescott, AZ

Captain Phil Belisle, Enclosing $30.00 for dues. I'm another Eagle that enjoys the TARPA TOPICS so very much. I'm looking forward to the Seattle reunion. I've wanted to go through the Boeing plant for a long time. Hope to see a lot of long time friends in Seattle.

As ever, LeMauris Butler Ed's Note: Thanks LeMauris. We never flew together but what I said for Exum goes for you and all of the rest of the dues payers whether they are eagles or not. And to the wives of those who left us, same thing.

Punta Gorda, FL

MARV HORSTMAN

Capt. Phil, You fellows are doing a great job - better than ever - how long can you keep it up?

Regards, Mary Ed's Note: Thanks Captain Horstman and former GMF/JFK. This page looks as if it will be all Eagl es and I should let every one know. I only make some slight effort to "balance" the page and I do not know from WHO a letter is from until I start entering it in the computer. Apparently, birds of a feather DO flock together.

Stratford, CT

DAVE GRIGG

Hi Phil, Just a note and dues enclosure. Happy to send in as an Eagle and enjoy the "TARPA TOPICS" i mmensely and get a little nostalgic for the old gang. I flew as a Flight Engineer 40 years {1-46 to 1-86). Am still healthy and enjoying life.

All the best Holiday Wishes Thanks Dave - you belong on this page!

PAGE 38... TARPA TOPICS... MARCH, 2000

WE GET LETTERS ROBERT BECK

Lake Quivira, KS

Dear Phil, I sent a note to Hank about the TWA 25th Bearly Open Golf Tournament, held October 4, at Lake Quivira, KS. It must have not been received in time to make the November TOPICS, or got lost in the shuffle.

Anyway, for the next publication, 74 pilots tried their luck.

Robert "Bear" Beck Ed's Note: Robert - I am sorry to say I never received anything from you regarding the tournament but my biggest sin was in not remembering that it was going to be held on October 4t and putting something in about that. My mail is not the fastest - like it takes seven days for a 33 cent letter to get from Virginia (the state - not the girl) to me.

Money

Raised

for

ALS!

$1,000.00

for

A

L

S

WINNERS: the team of DAVE FLORENCE, TOM HOSKINS, DICK NICKERSON. 2ND Place: BOB RAFFERTY, JOAN HARDING, CHRIS CHRISTOFFERSON & ART STILL. 3RD Place: GARY ORLICH, WAYNE HILDAGO & TOM HAMMACK 4TH Place: GARY HRUBY, JIMMY ADAMS, & VIC WOOLF

PAGE 39... TARPA TOPICS...MARCH, 2000

WE GET LETTERS DAVE MEYERHOLTZ

San Marcos, CA

Phil, Please accept this check for current dues and for another year I may have missed. You all do a great job with TARPA. I know it's a lot of work for which we certainly are appreciative.

Regards DEM JOHN B HAMLIN

Vandalia, OH

WE missed the 1999 convention but are looking forward to going to the SEA-2000. The last one we went to was at Virginia Beach which was really nice. My wife was an air traffic controller during WW2 and ended up in DAY as a tower operator. She has always had a private license and we once owned 1/2 of a Piper PA-24-250. We spent 9 winters in Tampa, Florida until we decided that there were too many bugs in Florida and we now make Vandalia, Ohio our permanent home.

John B Hamlin Florida bug Ed's Note: Phil advises me John is a former ground radio operator, who now lives in Vandalia.

For you newer Tarpans, long before satellites and even before ARINC, TWA had our own radio operators. In fact, I was on International when they were replaced by something. I know the " (pilots) were supposed to get "light weight head sets for the extra work load which was what we were supposed to get for the increased work load when the navigators were retired!

Los Altos, CA

JOHN BEEDE Phil, Regular dues check as usual since being an Eagle!

New Kensington, PA

I RENE B MYERS Though Russ is gone, I still want to send my dues.

Irene Myers EVELYN A ROQUEMORE

Valley Center, CA

Dear Captain Belisle, I am the widow of Captain Don Roquemore who retired in 1981. We attended several TARPA conventions and thoroughly enjoyed them. I would like to continue the membership and am enclosing $30.00 for the year 2000 dues.

If there are any forms I should fill out or anything further required, please let me know.

Greetings of the season, and my best wishes for the new year.

Sincerely, Evelyn A Roquemore

PAGE 40... TARPA TOPICS... MARCH, 2000

JOHN WITTEN

Glenview, IL

J OHN J. WITTEN 2449 Saranac Lane Glenview, IL 60025-1060 (847) 564-0315 Nov. 4 1999

Henry Gastrich 291 Jamacha Rd. Apt. 52 El Cajon, CA 92019-2381 Dear Hank, A few reverent, and some irreverent, thoughts about flying: Takeoffs are optional. Landings are mandatory!

If you push the stick forward, the houses get bigger. If you pull the stick back the houses get smaller. (Unless you keep pulling the stick back-then they get bigger again.)

Flying is not dangerous. Crashing is dangerous.

The propeller is just a big fan in the front of the plane to keep the pilot cool. Want proof? Make it stop--then watch the pilot break out in a sweat.

It's best to keep the pointed end gong forward as much as possible.

The only time you have too much gas is when you are on fire.

Flying is the second greatest thrill know to man. Landing is the first.

The probability of survival is equal to the angle of arrival.

Always remember, you fly an airplane with your head, not with your hands. And never let an airplane take you somewhere your brain didn't get to five minutes earlier.

PAGE 41... TARPA TOPICS...MARCH, 2000

A helicopter is a collection of rotating parts going round and round and reciprocating parts going up and down--all of them trying to become random in motion.

Helicopters can't really fly- their just so ugly that the earth immediately repels them.

Aviation is not so much a profession as it is a disease.

There are three simple rules for making a good landing: Unfortunately, no one knows what they are A male pilot is a confused soul who talks about women when he's flying, and about flying when he's with a woman.

Try to keep the number of your landings equal to the number of your takeoffs.

Things which do you know good in aviation: Altitude above you. Runway behind you. Fuel in the truck. Approach plates in the car. The airspeed you don't have.

Asking what a pilot thinks about the FAA is like asking a fireplug what it thinks about dogs.

Andloses! to close! Gravity never

Editor's Note: Thanks John, and here are some more I received in e-mail.

A&P Rating - allows you to fly groceries Cessna 310 - two Cessna 152's (plus a Aero - the portion of the atmosphere that little) lies over Britain Cockpit - area where pilot sits while Aileron - A hinged control surface that figuring out where he is scares the hell out of passengers Crash - to bed down for the night when they see it move Cuban 8 - a family of refugees in Miami Airstrip - in flight performance by exotic Dead reckoning - you reckon correctly, female flight attendant or you are Arctic Frost - attitude shown by Deicer - de person that puts de ice on de uncooperative hostess wing Aspect Ratio - 36-24-36 Dive - pilot's lounge or cafe Barrel Roll - unloading the beer for a FAA - Fear and Alarm hangar party Exceptional Flying ability - pilot with Caged Gyro - not much more docile than equal amount of takeoffs and landings a wild gyro Flashlight - tubular metal container kept Certificated Aircraft - one that has all in cockpit for dead batteries hazardous features camouflaged

PAGE 42... TARPA TOPICS... MARCH, 2000

WHY PILOTS WEAR WHITE SCARVES

by Hank Gastrich Long ago, above the windy, North Carolina sand dunes of Kitty Hawk, a dream as old as history was fulfilled. In 1903, Orville Wright made the world's first powered flight in an assemblage of wood and fabric and ambition. Mostly ambition! The Wright Flyer left the end of a wooden launch rail and remained airborne for 12 seconds, flying a distance of 120 feet. Orville was not wearing a white scarf around his neck!

Twelve short years after the Wright Brother's success, the airplane had become a weapon of war.

The first World War saw not only the use of airplanes for reconnaissance, but as true weapons of war. Tony Fokker's invention, the interrupter gear allowed these small aircraft to mount machine guns that fired through the propeller arc without damaging the propeller. It was called an interrupter gear because, the firing mechanism of the machine guns was controlled by the position of the crank shaft and in turn, prevented a bullet from striking the plane ' s own prop.

The race for "air superiority" now transferred to the drawing boards of the combatants and in short order, Fokker Triplanes and D-7 biplanes replaced the German Fokker Eindekker. Nieuports and Spads replaced French Bleriots and across the English Channel, a fledgling Royal Air Force began building Sopwith Camels and SE-5 biplanes. Soon, high above the planet, diving, climbing, twisting, rolling, aerial dogfights, involving as many as forty aircraft took place. With guns firing forward, an aircraft with an enemy "on its tail" becomes fodder, and seldom survives. A pilot who did survive, was the pilot who best kept his tail free from attack. Survival then required his head to be constantly turning, searching, and it was this that gave birth to pilots wearing white scarves about their neck! The collars of the heavy, woolen, uniform shirts a pilot wore, created very large wounds in very short time.

"Ah cheri, mon cheri," she sighed, as her long, warm, sensuous fingers caressed the gaping wound in his neck. "Cheri, I wish there was something more for you I could do. " Rene, soothed by Yvette ' s soft touch, indeed wished that Yvette would do more. It was a wish which he had long entertained, but also one his beloved Yvette had yet to fulfill. It was spring, 1915, and Rene Moreau was a pursuit pilot in an Escadrille based near the old chateau nearby Soissons, France. It was a time of war, a time when choices were clear. When death was close, when life was more precious. A time of courage and honor, of passion and sacrifice.

However, despite confessing her love for Rene, Yvette had yet to return the passion in quite the manner which Rene wanted.

Nor had Rene found success in the skies over Soissons. He had yet to defeat a Boche pilot in battle, but then, neither had he allowed one to get on his tail. The latter was no doubt attributable to Rene's constant head turning. In the few weeks Rene had been at Soissons he had been quite alert, but the price he paid was a large, red wound in his throat. A wound put there by the constant chafing of the heavy wool collar on an army shirt.

Rene and Yvette were parked on a country lane, near a cemetery where a few of Rene's friends who had not been alert were now interred. Rene and Yvette sat close together in the small Renault, watching flashes of gunfire on the other side of the horizon. Huge artillery cannons, French and German, were firing monstrous shells at each other. Slowly, Rene let his hand slide along Yvette's leg. His fingers moved slowly along her silk-stockinged thigh, and his

PAGE 43... TARPA TOPICS...MARCH, 2000

breathing quickened ... as did Yvette's. " Voila! " he thought. "Tonight shall be the night Yvette fulfills my long denied desire."

Suddenly, " Take it off Rene,Oh yes Rene, take it off!" he heard her moan softly.

"Oui, mon cheri, oui, OUI," Rene excitedly replied.

Rene was sure his long thwarted desire for Yvette would soon be rewarded. As he took the stocking from her shapely leg, she cried out happily, "Give it to me, Oh yes, Rene, let me have it," but even as she spoke, she was rising and reaching for the stocking. Then, her fingers again sought the gaping wound on his neck and this time he felt the softness of the silk stocking, as Yvette gently used it to bandage his neck.

"There," Yvette announced happily. "My stocking will not only keep your shirt from cutting your neck, it shall be a talisman that will bring you luck. You will see, mon cheri. On your next patrol you will shoot down a hundred filthy Huns."

Dawn came early, and as Rene rose from a short sleep, he dressed for the dawn patrol. He wrapped Marie ' s long silk stocking around his neck, again feeling the solace it afforded him, but then realized, his squadron mates would surely make fun of him. "How might he hide the stocking?" he wondered. Suddenly he knew. He would take some cloth from his parachute and wrap that around his neck also. That would hide Yvette's stocking from his comrades. And so it did. Rene and the Escadrille departed and as they arrived over the trenches, they were greeted by a squadron of German Fokkers. Quickly they engaged in a huge dog fight, and Rene smiled as he saw a Fokker slide neatly in front of his guns. One last twist of his head to assure no German getting behind him, his finger closed on the trigger. It took only a short burst and his target burst into ugly red flames, and then trailing dark, greasy smoke, it dove toward the earth. Within the week Rene had shot down four more Germans and was now an ace. And his neck had almost completely healed from the old wound. The other pilots, seeing the white scarf around Rene's neck, took it as the talisman that brought Rene success in recent sky battles. Quickly, they ravaged their own parachutes and soon every pilot in the squadron wore a white scarf about his neck. Into battle they flew, secure in their mind that they would be as successful as Rene, but that was not to be. Those that were destined to survive, did, but for those destined to die, death came to them as German bullets ripped into their planes and bodies. They could not understand why they failed to have the same great success as Rene.

Finally, Rene revealed the truth. He showed them Yvette's long silk stocking and they all knew that his good fortune came not from a white scarf but from the stocking. All the young pilots quickly rushed out to get stockings from their own concubines, but again, good fortune did not come to everyone.

Rene survived the war, married Yvette, and was happily pleased to find his wait for her rewarded. It was then that Rene realized why his stocking brought him such good fortune. He remembered, when Yvette had surrendered her stocking, it had been a moonlit night, and he had taken it from her left leg. They also had parked in proximity to the cemetery and perhaps, most i mportant, Yvette had been a virgin. Now, don't laugh! All through World War II, I too wore a silk stocking around my neck , and I concealed mine with a white scarf . I took my stocking from the left leg of a southern miss Nancy Ellen. It was on a moonlit night, while we were parked by a cemetery in Memphis, Tennessee. Was Nancy Ellen virginal? She had to have been - I'm still here, aren't I?

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CAPTAIN LAWRENCE W. THOMAS JANUARY 7, 1928 - NOVEMBER 23, 1999 One of 7 children raised in a 3 bedroom farmhouse, Larry was born in a small mining town in Western Pennsylvania (which no longer exists). His childhood was spent working on the family farm and on the land that he held so dear. WWII presented him with an opportunity and he easily qualified to train as a Naval pilot (including achieving the highest fitness score to that date). Larry loved flying in the Navy and had plenty of stories about perils and close calls that he often told in a Jack London style and with a twinkle in his eye. Thanks to the GI bill he went to Duke University and then graduated from the University of Pittsburgh after the war. While in college Larry remained active in the Naval Reserve, held a variety of jobs (mostly in sales - he was always ready with a good pitch), played trombone at Carnegie Hall (in Pittsburgh, although he would only admit to that if challenged), and entertained a career in medicine. Aviation remained his first love however, and on graduation in 1952 he joined TWA and flew for the next 34 years, never regretting his decision. These years with TWA, especially the early ones, particularly fit his pioneering spirit.

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Larry's career began with the Martins and Connies. After flying out of Boston for a short time, he transferred to the New York domicile and flew out of Idlewild (JFK) for the remainder of his career. Early on he met his wife Gerry. Their first piece of furniture was a boat and this set the tone for their life together. Larry and Gerry had 3 children - Mark, Dan & Sally. Their life was an active one, with regular ski trips, boating, ice-boating (Larry was a National Champion), skydiving, & snowmobiling. His last big trip in 1997 was a snowmobile safari along the Continental Divide. Somehow Larry also found time to serve on the school board and a host of community organizations. He was playing golf with his brother a week before his death.

Larry spent the bulk of his time with TWA flying the 707, and then proceeded onto the 747 and the L-1011. He was a check captain for both the Boeing and the Tristar. After a very brief stint, Larry declined an invitation to join management and remained in the captain's seat until his retirement on October 1, 1986. Larry always had a tale to tell about this flying days. Some of his favorites included flying hijack hostages back to the US, entertaining celebrities in first class, and wrestling a Saudia 747 safely back to ground when an engine exploded over Medina. Larry & his family spent 2 years in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia during the mid-70's. This was a terrific opportunity to immerse himself in the local culture and Larry was held in great esteem by many of his Saudi student pilots. Larry had many cherished friends in the TWA community and among the closest were the TWA personnel in Jeddah at that time. Between flying and scuba diving in the Red Sea, desert excursions and hang gliding, these years "flew by".

Larry died from complications of myelodysplastic syndrome, acquired from exposure to a

By Gerry Thomas commercial pesticide. He touched many lives and will be sorely missed.

IN MEMORY OF CAPTAIN LOYD HUBBARD APRIL 24 1915 — NOVEMBER 17 1999

IN MEMORY OF CAPTAIN HARRY HEINRICH JUNE 28 1919 — SEPTEMBER 22 1999

IN MEMORY OF CAPTAIN ARTHUR SCHMIDT AUGUST 17 1914 — AUGUST 8 1999

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CAPTAIN VERNON L. LAURSEN FEBRUARY 7, 1927—DECEMBER 20, 1999 Vern Laursen was born in Marcus, Iowa of Danish immigrant parents. He grew up on a farm with four brothers and four sisters, and they all were hard working people. Vern said that he worked behind a team of horses so much that he was 18 years old before he knew the smell of fresh air.

After high school Vern served a hitch in the United States Navy. After his release at the end of WWII, he took flying lessons and instructed at Pella, Iowa and at Moberly, Missouri training GI Bill students. At Moberly in 1948 he met and married Diana Dunlop.

In the fall of 1951 Vern was hired by TWA as a co-pilot and earned his Captain's Wings in 1957.

Most of his career he worked in Transportation Training. He was an outstanding instructor and was moved quickly up to supervisor and equipment manager on the Boeing 707 and later managed the Lockheed 1011 program. He was one of the only U.S. airline pilots to fly the Concorde supersonic transport.

In the mid 70's, Vern was assigned to Saudia Airlines. On his return to TWA three years later, Vern was appointed Vice President, Transportation Training. His work in that position was so excellent that he was asked to stay past normal retirement age. After TWA, Vern served as consultant to Flight Safety International and Vanguard Airlines.

Vern and Diana had four children: Craig Laursen and Janis Davis, Luanne Brefort and Kurt Laursen (a current TWA Captain). Vern's great personality and concern for his fellow man made him many friends. I personally know that he had a belief and faith in God. One of Vern's brothers, Delmer Laursen, wrote in a tribute to him—"you fought the good fight Vernon. You were a good friend and brother. As you take the Captain's seat for your final flight, we who are left behind pray for a safe landing into the arms of our loving Savior. We look by lifelong friend Steve Pyle forward to seeing you again in God's Kingdom." Brother Delmer.

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CAPTAIN GUY E. CAPIN FEBRUARY 11, 1921 — OCTOBER 3, 1999 Captain Guy E. Capin, Fort Myers, FL, passed away October 3, 1999, after a short illness. He was born in Princeton, IN, on February 11, 1921, and raised in Mount Carmel, IL. Captain Capin is survived by his loving wife, Patricia B. Capin; son, Tim E; and daughters, Mike and Colonel. M. Patricia, Pam Davis, Kathy Reed, and Beth Heilik. He is also survived by daughter-in-law,Jan Capin and sons-in-law, Donald Reed, Tommy Davis, and LTCID Ted MacLean; seven grandchildren, Jacqueline Kevin Reed, Amy Moore and Melissa Davis. One grandson, Mitchell S. Capin, predeceased him in 1996.

Captain Capin is also survived by siblings, Helen Cobabe, Richard Capin, James Capin, and Joseph Capin; numerous nieces and nephews and the mother of his children.

A World War II veteran, Captain Capin served in the China-Burma-India Theater of Operations as a "Hump Pilot," flying C46 Cargo planes in support of American and British forces. Among his awards was the Distinguished Flying Cross with Oak Leaf Cluster for his actions in the CBI Theater.

After the war, he attended UCLA. He began his career flying for TWA in 1948 and flew until his retirement in 1981. His career ended as an International Captain, flying the L1011.

Captain Capin was a member of the TWA Active Retired Pilots Association (TARPA), the Quiet Birdmen, Staff Sergeant Pilots Association, the Hump Pilots Association, The Landings Men's Golf Association and the Southwest Florida Seniors. After his retirement, he and Pat traveled extensively, and he was an avid golfer, achieving four holes-in-one at The Landings golf course.

by Adrian Smith

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E. RAMSAY CAPTAIN NEUMAN JULY 17, 1915 - OCTOBER 14,1999 Neuman Everett Ramsey, 84, of Sun City West, Arizona, died Oct. 14, 1999. He was loved and honored by his family, and his life is celebrated by his wife Rose Marie, his son Rudy, his two daughters Shawn and Robin, his youngest brother Cecil, and 3 grandchildren.

Neuman was born in Burneyville, Love County, Oklahoma, on July 17, 1915, the second of five children, including Viola, Ray, Herschel, and Cecil. His parents were Essie Warthen Ramsey and William Beverly Ramsey, long-time residents of the county. He attended Burneyville High School and graduated in 1932; received his Bachelor of Arts from East Central State Teachers College, Ada, Oklahoma, 1936; Master of Education from the University of Oklahoma, 1939.

While working as an accountant for International Harvester, and later General Electric in Bridgeport, CT, Mr. Ramsey pursued his pilot's license, taught aeronautics ground school, and later became a commercial pilot for Trans World Airlines. Captain Ramsey was flying 747s at the time of his mandatory retirement in 1975, having completed 34 years of service with TWA. He was an avid golfer, often traveling to international tournaments with the Airline Pilots Association. He and his wife lived for 12 years in Naples, Florida before settling in the drier climate of

by Mickey Ramsay Arizona.

IN MEMORY OF CAPTAIN RAY NOLAND MARCH 15 1910 – OCTOBER 14 1999

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CAPTAIN JIM LYDIC OCTOBER 21, 1920 - SEPTEMBER 8, 1999 Captain Jim lydic was a pleasant man and it was a pleasure to be associated with him. He was born in Indiana, Pennsylvania. As a teenager he talked his mother into buying an airplane, and that was the start of his long aviation career. He bought a Kenner Bird and started barnstorming to raise money and build up flying time. The price was $1.00 per ride. Jim, with a friend started the Indiana, PA airport and Jim became manager. The name now is Jimmy Stewart airport after the actor.

In the early part of W.W.II he was flying for Graham Aviation in Americas, GA, teaching cadets to fly in PT-17 Stearmans.

Jim joined TWA September 6, 1944 and started flying out of Los Angeles and he soon started to move up with the company. The list of aircraft he flew is as follows: DC-3, DC-4, all types of Constellations, Martin 202's and 404's, Convair 880, Boeing 707, Jim then moved to 747 international check pilot. His flying period with TWA was 38 years.

He was a very active man in the OX-5 club, aircraft experimental club, and Q.B.Quiet Birdmen in Naples Florida, Naples sailing club, Naples power squadron-teaching and TWA Seniors Club.

Jim was like so many of us that would rather be in the air than on the ground and to keep flying

by Captain Chuck Tiseo west forever.

IN MEMORY OF CAPTAIN HORACE NICHOLS OCTOBER 6 1919 — OCTOBER 11 1999

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CAPTAIN KENNETH W. RIDGWAY FEBRUARY 21, 1939 — JULY 21,1999

Kenneth Wayne Ridgway was born February 21, 1939, in Dunkirk, Indiana. He attended Indiana schools and graduated from Purdue University in 1961. He was also a veteran of the U.S. Air Force. He was hired by TWA on August 17,1964.

Ken retired on February 21, his 60 th birthday and worked a full month prior to his retirement, returning from London on F721 on February 20. He so looked forward to his retirement years and on his last trip arriving in STL, he said that his flying career has been absolutely wonderful and complete, but now is the time for us to enjoy our retirement plans, of which there were many.

He was in excellent health but experienced chest pains about 6 weeks before he passed away silently in his sleep; little did we know he had a blocked artery.

On May 1, 1999, I also retired from TWA after 31 years. We started working on our retirement plans about 6 or 7 years ago, which included moving from St. Louis out of the snow and humidity to Phoenix, Arizona the land Ken particularly loved. We accomplished this move on July 8th 1999 and 13 days later, Ken was gone. He dreamed his dreams, as we both did, and we lived our dreams to the very fullest. Ken knew at the age of 4 that he wanted to be a professional airline pilot and pursued his dream lesson by lesson one at a time in Indiana. He had the opportunity to complete that wonderful dream and had a successful career with TWA. He loved this land so much. He motorcycled through every state on his Honda Goldwing, and he loved flying through the skies, skiing every mountain and sailing the ocean waters. Ken lived life to the fullest.

This is very difficult to write but, I want to pass on my sincere thank you to each and every one who called or wrote such kind words about my husband. Through my job in the STL Operations Live your dreams every day. Please stay in Office, I know a lot of you and say to each one

by Judy Ridgway touch and God Bless each of you!

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Dorothee Miller wife of the late TARPA memeber Willi Miller arranged a very impressive memorial to Willi by making an endowment for an instructional center in his name at the Embry-Riddle Aviation University in Dayton Beach, Florida. The dedication ceremony was attended by a large number of TARPA members and others from the aviation community.

Editor TARPA vice-president, H.O. Van Zandt was our official representative.

EMBRY-RIDDLE DEDICATES CAPT. WILLIE MILLER INSTRUCTIONAL CENTER Daytona Beach, Fla., Jan. 19, 2000 -- At the request of Mrs. Dorothee Miller, a private dedication ceremony was held Jan. 17 to memorialize her husband, Capt. Willie Miller, at the Daytona Beach, Fla., campus of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

During the ceremony, Embry-Riddle's Instructional Center was named in Capt. Miller's honor as recognition of a substantial gift to the university from Mrs. Miller. The gift will be used to create additional classroom space. The Instructional Center, which was built in 1995, is a state-of-theart lecture auditorium and classroom complex.

Longtime friends gave testimonials in remembrance of Capt. Miller during the ceremony. Other speakers included Dr. George Ebbs, Embry-Riddle president, and Dr. Steven Sliwa, former Embry-Riddle president. At the conclusion of the ceremony, the signage of the new name of the building was unveiled.

Miller was a pilot with TWA for many years. During World War II, he was assigned to Air Transport Command, the intercontinental division of TWA, flying hospital ships carrying cargo and personnel for the U.S. military. The Chinese Air Force awarded Miller the Chinese Air Medal for his courage in flying the dangerous China-Burma-India run, known as the "hump" route because it passed over the Himalaya Mountains. Miller went on to establish successful aircraft brokerage companies, including Aero International Associates in New York.

Miller was a member of several aviation organizations, including Aviation/Space Writers Association, Hump Pilots Association, International Order of Characters, Long Island Early Fliers, National Business Aviation Association, OX-5 Aviation Pioneers, Quiet Birdmen, TWA Active Retired Pilots Association, TWA Seniors Club, and the Wings Club. For information about giving ' opportunities, please contact Embry-Riddle s Office of Development at 904/226-6167.

Embry-Riddle, the world's largest, fully accredited university specializing in aviation and aerospace, meets the needs of students and industry through its educational, training, research, and consulting activities. Degree programs through the master's level are offered at residential campuses in Daytona Beach, Fla., and Prescott, Ariz., at more than 100 teaching sites in the U.S. and Europe, and through independent study and distance education.

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Ralph's 100 th Birthday By The Editor Last November 7, my beautiful wife and I made a quick one-day trip to Somerset, Ohio to attend TARPA Eagle, Ralph Charles' 100th Birthday Party and Organ Concert. It was a wonderful day for Ralph, for us, for the 150 other guests and for the TV crews headed by Today Show stalwart Willard Scott. This is a familiar story for the thirty per cent of you who are on-line but, it is one well worth retelling here.

Everyone should remember Ralph Charles from previous articles but a brief recap may be useful.

Obviously, Ralph has lived throughout the Twentieth Century. The first passengers Ralph ever flew were on board the very aircraft that he hand built. He also worked at the Wright Brothers Company and had a brief career with TWA, flying Ford Trimotors out of Columbus, Ohio. After that, Ralph flew Stnson Trimotors in the Caribbean, and was a test pilot for Curtiss-Wright during World War II. After the war, his wife insisted that he stop flying. However, after his wife passed away in 1996, Ralph took up flying again and now flies his Aeronca from his backyard strip.

During Ralph's hiatus from flying, one of the things this master tinkerer did was build a very large pipe organ (559 pipes) in his basement. It became his practice over time to invite friends and neighbors for organ concerts. He put in fifty or so theater seats in along with folding chairs of all kinds. People came from all over the Buckeye State and beyond for these special events. Pat and th I had been invited before but we waited for the 100 Birthday Gala Extravaganza! It was great.

It was a sparkling clear November day in Ohio when TARPA friends Don and Nancy Peters met us at Port Columbus Airport. After a short drive eastward, we arrived at Ralph's farm to see that we were certainly not too early! Not only were there cars parked all over the yard but I counted twelve light airplanes and three helicopters. The large number of horse and buggy rigs belonging to the many Amish or "plain people" in attendance especially impressed Pat and me. They were gawking at the many colorful flying machines and, I confess we were gawking at them. We learned that around Ralph's farm were many Amish families. In fact, many others went by all day without stopping.

When we went inside, we found that all the seats were taken. So, after greeting Ralph and meeting Willard Scott, we had to mill around the yard and listen to what music wafted through the open doors. When the music stopped the feed began. The tables were groaning under the weight of innumerable appetizers, salads, meats, vegetables, breads, cakes, pies and on and on It was a real down-home country Birthday Blowout, and rightly so.

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There aren't that many 100 year old organ playing, flying, story telling country boys running around today.

We learned from Ralph's close friend and neighbor Joe Van Ballen that Ralph had flown his little antique Aeronca the day before, on his actual birthday. That flight was recorded by the TV cameras. That and Willard's interview were shown on the Today Show December 17, the Anniversary of the Wright Brothers first flight.

Ralph also appeared on the Dave Letterman Show and was feted by the networks and shown the sights of New York where he was a guest at the Wings Club, and Washington, D.C. where he was a guest at the National Air and Space Museum. The NBC Network has invited Ralph to be their guest at the next Space Shuttle launch. Everyone who comes in contact with Ralph testifies that he is a very down to earth guy, his many hours of flying to the contrary notwithstanding.

Ralph Lang Charles is a special person, a gentleman for whom we all wish many happy returns. left, Ralph with Curtis Helldiver on carrier Intripid in New York.

below, Ralph with AAL CEO & CAL CEO at the Wings Club in NYC.

below, Ralph with David Letterman "staff' in the Green Room in NYC.

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First Flight as Captain by Jake Rast Most pilots see their careers as being unique in some way. I'm no exception. I flew some very special and interesting aircraft in terms of aviation history. The B-47 was once described by a USAF instructor at McConnell AFB as "the biggest flying test-bed ever put into actual service".

To be sure, we learned there was a lot about that steeply swept dry wing design that was not well understood. I also flew the history making B-25; the venerable old "Gooney Bird", or C-47 or " DC-3; four versions of the famous "Connie " , including the 1649A; the Boeing "Stratocruiser and "Stratotanker", with its two outboard J-47 jet engines; the tactical cargo delivery marvel, the C130 "Hercules"; and, of course, the famous and fabulous old passenger workhorse, the Boeing-727. My only regret was that I never flew the L-1011.

Like any pilot, I can tell a variety of stories about any of these airplanes, but there is one that really stands out which I've been asked to write down. This is a true story and the data referred to is not from memory but from the actual data cards and dispatch releases retrieved from the trip records contained in the original flight dispatch envelop. I was given permission to retain the envelope, subject to any investigation that might be called for later. It never was. Some pilots may have likewise experienced events similar to those described below but I believe it to be sufficiently unique to relate it as at least unusual. I later referred to this trip as a...

Baptism of Fire Check Captain Bill Bauman was smiling thinly. He spoke rather carefully as we walked past gate six toward the TWA flight operations and crew scheduling office at the south end of the airport.

The hot noonday sun of August 23, 1969, softened the black asphalt on the tarmac of Kansas City Municipal and the scorching heat was making me perspire noticeably as Captain Bauman began to recount the check ride I'd just completed.

He noted that it wasn't a perfect final captain checkride, recounting the landing at Indianapolis as being too high and too hot, but pointed out, I had handled the engine power very well under the circumstances, not touching down with the throttles closed. Perfection wasn't what made a good captain anyway. What makes a good airline captain, he emphasized, was being able to discern and correct a deteriorating situation before it becomes unmanageable, to recover from small mistakes quickly before they become serious problems. He felt that after watching me fly a 727 for two days that I had demonstrated that I could do this to his satisfaction and he was recommending me to Captain Tom Graybill, General Manager of Flying, for upgrade to captain for TWA. I was suddenly ten feet tall! There ' s no way anybody could measure the excitement I felt as Bill Bauman shook my hand and held out a brand new set of TWA captain wings!

My name appeared on the October bid sheet listing me as a new 727 MKC reserve captain. It was hard to believe that I'd be in command of the next flight I would take out. Congratulations came from a lot of people, mostly pilots. The senior guys were quick to caution, however, that my first flight would probably be one of those flights where everything went wrong, a " baptism of

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fire", Randy Abbott called it, and one you'd never forget. Pilots seem to have a curious sense of humor though and it was easy to write this off as just another amusing effort at friendly intimidation.

At 4:50 AM on October 3, 1969, it was still dark when the phone by the bed rang. The crew scheduler didn't apologize for the early hour. He simply said he needed a 727 crew to dead-head from Kansas City to Chicago on Flight 104 at 0710 AM, substitute a 727 on a Convair 880 pairing and fly to Philadelphia, Dulles, Denver, back to Chicago and dead-head home tonight. I was the 'first call for a reserve and could I take the assignment? No problem I told him, I`d be at the airport ASAP. Walking into the crew scheduling office at 10 Richards Road I saw Gill Watson, whom I'd flown with before. It was 5:00 AM and he was already sipping coffee and chatting with the schedule clerk. Seeing the two stripes on his jacket sleeve, I first thought he might be the flight engineer for Flight 104 to O'Hare, but he explained he was my first officer. He said he had just gotten his first officer bid and hadn't had time to get a third stripe sewn on. This was his first flight as co-pilot, he said. But now he was confused, too, by the three stripes on my jacket and the fact I had "eggs" on my hat bill. I explained it the same way, just been too busy to get it done. Just then Bob Cook, our real flight engineer showed up. He was the only crewmember with the correct number of stripes, two. We thought it funny that altogether we only had enough stripes for a DC-9 crew!

In Chicago, Gil went to work on the flight plan for Flight 190, my very first trip as captain in command. Bob preflighted aircraft number 7849 at Gate 8, I filed the flight plan with ATC and things seemed to be going pretty routine. We departed ORD on time and flew a flawless pattern until we got to Dulles. At Dulles, there was a curious discrepancy between the Denver area terminal forecast and the station forecast. The terminal forecast for Denver showed 6,000 scattered, high overcast with light rain moving in about four hours after we would depart Denver later that day. The regional forecast showed light rain beginning before we arrived with a ceiling of about 4,000 feet and northwest winds and possible snow.

Checking Salt Lake City weather, the biggest station northwest of Denver for comparison, I noted it was already affected by low ceilings and light rain mixed with snow showers.

Company weatherman Dave Garner advised by phone, that Denver would likely be closer to 6,000 broken and good visibility, but they would SelCall us if there was any significant change. I was a little skeptical about his optimism but since we were only 2,000 pounds short of having a full load of fuel already, I accepted the release for Denver with 46,000 pounds of fuel. Flight 469 departed Dulles for Denver at 2:00 PM, on schedule.

We were right on flight plan as we went abeam of Indianapolis and getting a nice ride at 35,000

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feet. Flight attendant Lana Rubley had just brought three cups of coffee to the cockpit when the SelCal rang. Cook picked it up. He said it was about the weather. Garner was calling from meteorology in Kansas City to tell us Denver was now getting light rain and a northwest wind.

He said the front between Denver and Salt Lake was moving much faster than forecast and we should be alert for a significant deterioration of the destination weather. Why was I not surprised?

Thirty-five minutes later we passed over St. Louis and I asked Cook to call dispatch and see if anything had changed at Denver. It was about the same only the ceiling was coming down with northwesterly winds.

The day was sunny with clear blue cloudless skies and the ride still as smooth as a baby's behind.

Somewhere over Kansas about halfway between Salina and Hayes the SelCal began to ring again.

This time I knew it was probably dispatch and took the call. Gil said he ' d keep an eye on the airplane, watch for traffic and an ear out for Kansas City Center while I conversed with the dispatcher and the weatherman Charlie Garner. The news wasn't good. Garner said Denver was getting rain mixed with sleet and was now forecast to get several inches of snow before we got there, which by now was a little less than an hour. What happened to the 6,000 foot scatterd forecast, I jibed? (Always fun to gig the weather guys) But seriously, how low will the ceilings be? I wanted dispatch to be aware of our situation as a restricted crew. Our minimums were -a 100 feet and a half mile higher that those of a fully checked out crew because I had less than a hundred hours in the left seat. Dispatch acknowledged this and asked about our fuel situation.

Cook was listening and quickly advised we had a little under 25,000 pounds now and would have about 18,000 pounds at Denver. I quickly estimated that with about 8,500 pounds for Albuquerque and 4,000 pounds reserve we had about twenty-five minutes of holding at Denver if we had to go to Albuquerque. Dispatch signed off with a request to keep in touch if plans changed. Roger that!

Denver Center started us down and was about to hand us off to Stapleton Approach. Cook handed us the latest weather on ATIS with the landing data card. Denver, he related from memory, was now showing a ceiling of five hundred feet, visibility at less than a mile but the RVR was still at 5,000 feet in light rain, light snow and strong northwest winds gusting at 20 to 25 knots, temperature of 31 degrees and altimeter of 29.90, and expect ILS approach to runway 26L. Gil looked over at me. He observed that it was getting pretty close to our minimums for the approach, a conclusion we'd all drawn by then!

We changed frequency to approach control but before we could call they advised TWA 469 to proceed to Sky Ranch and hold and they would call back momentarily but they were dealing with a light aircraft currently on approach to 26 with a radio failure. We entered holding at Sky Ranch at 12,000 feet while approach control worked the nordo aircraft until they observe the aircraft turn south and away from the airport. Approach then advised we were number two on the approach to 26L and our EFC time was 0116Z and the time now was 0036Z. They explained we were behind a Continental flight and were now cleared to descend to ten thousand feet.

Continental was soon cleared for his approach and changed to- tower frequency. TWA 469 was assigned 9,000 feet and told to continue holding.

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I asked Bob how much longer we could hang on before having to depart for Albuquerque with enroute and reserve fuel. He'd already figured it to be maybe ten minutes max at this altitude. I told Gil to advise approach of this problem. They changed us to tower immediately and we were advised that the nordo had missed his approach to 26 and was circling to the southwest apparently to set up for an approach to 35R. Myriad snowflakes streaked past the cockpit window, magnified by the landing lights. The heated front window panels kept the stuff from sticking to the glass but not the wiper blades which, by now, were loaded with ice. Gil was ready to call out "Marker inbound" when the tower called with "Cleared to land." and the new RVR which had now dropped to 3,400 feet, below our restricted minimums. Gil was looking over at me and about to set final flaps. I said ask the tower if the RVR was rising or maybe variable but tower replied it was steady at 3,200 to 3,400 feet. I pushed the throttles forward, pulled up the nose to start a climb, called for "fifteen flaps", and initiated the missed approach. As Gil pulled up the landing gear handle we glimpsed the ground and the runway lights briefly but too late; we were on our way to Albuquerque!

Gill advised the tower we were on the "go" and flying the missed approach. Tower edged and asked if we wanted vectors for another approach but Gil saw me shaking my immediately advised them we wanted vectors for J-13 and a clearance to Albuquerque. told to climb to 12,000 feet, fly straight out and change to Denver Departure and they'd clearance for us.

acknowlhead and We were have that

Departure Control picked us up right away and instructed us to fly a heading of 220 degrees and climb to flight level 240. Gil repeated our request to join J-13 and we were given the OK. We broke out on top of a low undercast at about 14,000 and began to experience turbulence. The aircraft was climbing toward another overcast layer of what appeared to be a line of lenticular cloud banks overhanging the front range of the Rockies for as far south as you could see. At about 18,000 feet we were climbing into the base of this layer when the turbulence became severe. The aircraft was very difficult to manage so I engaged the autopilot with the altitude hold `off and told Gil to give the cabin attendants six bells.

As we climbed through flight level 200, the turbulence was becoming so severe that it was impossible to read the instruments any longer. Stuff was suddenly flying all over the cockpit and I told Gil to advise center and request a lower altitude. Denver Center acknowledged and re-cleared us to 18,000 feet, advising flight level 180 unusable due to the low altimeter. A frantic call on the interphone alerted us to the fact that a passenger near the center galley was having very bad chest pains. Flight attendant Marilyn Keeney informed us they were administering oxygen to him in the aisle. I told Gil to have them page the airplane for a doctor and move around by crawling along the floor and holding on to the seats as best they could.

We were almost breaking out under the overcast and it seemed as if the turbulence would smooth out if we could get clear of the clouds. Gill advised Denver Center but Denver replied 18,000 was as low as they could take us unless we went VFR. I told Gil to tell Denver we VMC below the clouds and cancel IFR. Denver immediately cleared us VFR to 16,000 feet noting the altimeter was 29.81.

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Below the bases of the lenticular deck, the turbulence disappeared as if by magic and the Tide immediately smoothed out. The weather below the clouds was crystal clear with great visibility.

The sun was just below the cloud base over the San Juan range to the southwest and was pouring into the valley on the western side of the front range now to our east. From this altitude the brilliant gold and orange fall foliage of aspens and hardwoods was absolutely spectacular!

With the ride smoothing out Bob checked with the cabin team on the condition of the passenger.

Marilyn said they had found a nurse on board, a Mrs. Doris Kiger, RN 4806, of Alexandria, VA, and the passenger was currently stabilized on oxygen but they were still scared after the severe turbulence. I told her the ride should be OK now and they should resume normal duties as much as possible. I asked Gill to advise Denver of our predicament with the passenger and that we requested priority handling. They instructed us to fly heading 195 degrees until reading Albuquerque VOR and go direct. I then asked Bob to get dispatch and suggest they contact the company ramp at Albuquerque and have them prepared to provide assistance. I then spoke to the passengers assuring them everything was fine now. They wanted all the details but I advised I'd explain things on the ground.

The lenticular layers were lowering again toward the south. Level at 16,000 feet, the aircraft approached the bases of the clouds and the turbulence worsened again. Denver Center requested our flight conditions and I told Gil to tell them we were still VMC and approaching the bases again and ask for 14,000 feet to clear the clouds and avoid the turbulence. It was approved.

With the great visibility to the south and west, we soon had Albuquerque in sight. As we approached the airport, Albuquerque tower cleared us to land straight in on runway 17. They requested we clear the runway and stop on the parallel taxiway and the paramedical team, which was already on the airport, would come out to the aircraft. We said this was fine with us. After stopping on the taxiway, we completed our checklist and Bob went back to assist in lowering the aftstair while I spoke to the passengers requesting their cooperation in deplaning the ill passenger.

The paramedical team was parked behind the airplane and came on board right away to assist the passenger off the aircraft. A Mr. George Schroeder, age 58, was now in their care, still alive and stable when their vehicle pulled away headed for the hospital. We never knew what happened to him after that.

At the ramp office, I called dispatch to bring them up to date on the events of the past few hours.

Dispatcher Husak advised the weather at Denver still called for snow but the visibility and ceiling were improving slightly. There had been a plane crash near the airport but it had not affected operations so far. Also runway 26L had been closed soon after we missed the approach and was being plowed. They proposed to be opened again about 0000Z or 5:00PM Denver time.

Planning wanted to know how soon we could get going back to Denver and I said right away.

Husak replied the release was on its way with a departure time of 2315Z. The time was 2240Z or 4:40 PM in Albuquerque.

We were now down to only twenty-eight passengers as nine others beside the one taken ill had decided they'd had enough of flying in bad weather for the day and stayed in Albuquerque, thinking it preferable to going back to Denver with the weather the way it was. At nineteen

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minutes past five we were off the ground headed for Denver again with 32,000 pounds of fuel, enough for a round trip with reserves, plus holding fuel for about an hour.

About thirty minutes later, Albuquerque Center was about to hand us off to Denver Center. They instructed us to change to Denver Center but "don't call them, they'll call you". We all looked at each other with the same quizzical look and sharing the same thought...what now?

Gil dialed in the new frequency. We didn't have to wait long to figure out what was wrong.

While we waited to be called by center it became clear they were dealing with a Continental flight operating with major radio problems. Bob announced that ATIS was carrying the same broadcast as center and before long we discovered tower and most of Denver's published frequencies were doing the same. Deja vu!!

Denver finally called us about thirty-five miles south of the Denver vortac and asked us to squawk ident. Gil obliged and their response was a clearance to begin descent to flight level 240 and proceed direct to the VOR, fly outbound on the 090 degree radial to the 10 DME fix, and hold until further advised. The controller immediately returned to the problem with Continental. This was a clearance? We looked at each other in absolute amazement! No hint of an EFC or any other time. We'd never do this in the simulator, Gil noted.

Some two or three instructions later, Continental was cleared for the approach to runway 35R and given a frequency for the tower, which, at that point, was somewhat ironic and funny under the circumstances. At least we got back the full attention of Center who advised that we were over the VOR and turning eastbound. At least we were satisfied they could hand us off to Denver Approach, which they did.

Approach Control advised us to descend to 12,000, fly a heading of 100 degrees and expect vectors to runway 26L. Bob was finally able to get the weather from Denver ATIS and handed up the data card. Gil set the EPR's and read out the weather, Denver information Alpha. The airport was now 400 overcast with 3/4 mile visibility, light snow and fog, temperature of 34 degrees, wind 300 degrees at five knots and the altimeter at 29.81. Braking poor! Great, I thought! Kind of makes our day!

By now we had been flying in the airplane for more than eight and a half-hours. Back in the clouds again and with the sun long below the mountains, I began to feel the fatigue of the day rapidly asserting itself on me. I could not clearly see the instruments in the dim cockpit lighting and I could feel my instrument crosscheck getting rough. The autopilot was engaged and doing a nice job but I wanted Gil and Bob to know I felt rather tired. Gil had a strange look but he finally ventured the question: did I want him to fly the airplane? I said I thought it would be better for him to fly the approach with a coupled autopilot and I would keep an eye on the operation and look out for the runway. In the future, this procedure would come to be called a "monitored approach", but at this point in time it just seemed to me to be the safest way to get things done under the circumstances.

Tower cleared us to land just as we passed the marker and noted the RVR was better than 4,500.

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We were just about at weather minimums and looking out I could make out the approach lights.

I let Gil know with a loud "Got the lights!" He asked if I wanted the airplane but I said take it down a bit more. At 200 feet, most of the runway was visible but the snow had covered the surface again and it sure did look slickery. "Runway in sight... I've got the airplane", I called out loudly. Gil responded with a loud "You've got it!. " 1 punched off the autopilot.

Landings don't come any smoother than that one. Denver 26L was always an easy landing because the runway slopes away from the descending airplane making for a smooth landing almost any day or night, but with a coating of snow it was like grease. Spoilers and reverse thrust were deployed as soon as I could be sure we were firmly on the ground. Brakes were slowly applied but were worthless until the airplane was almost at a complete stop. The airport was already a wonderland of swirling white but it was starting to snow again with flakes the size of silver dollars. By the time we were parked at gate D-5 the airplane was covered with the white stuff.

Twenty-eight tired passengers were glad to be in Denver, snow or not. I was pretty happy, too, until I went into the ramp office and saw the ops clerk holding the phone out to me. It was planning. They wanted to turn the aircraft on its original pattern and send us back to O'Hare right away. I explained that we were pretty well exhausted and had flown for about nine and a half-hours already that day. He reminded us that we were still legal to finish the trip and they didn't know if there would be another flight out of Denver that night since Flight 366, a 707 inbound from San Francisco, may decide to overfly Denver. I reluctantly agreed to take the airplane back to Chicago if it could be turned in half an hour. I looked at Gil, he looked at his watch. The time was 6:40PM local Denver time.

The ramp outside was a mess. Snow was falling faster than it could be removed, baggage carts stuck, deicing trucks shooting glycol on a few airplanes hoping to depart, fuel trucks sliding around in the slush which was a foot deep in places. Gil had the ATC flight plan to O'Hare ready to file so I signed it and the dispatch release and we headed back to the plane. Bob said the airplane already had been deiced and was ready to go and we had 34,000 pounds of fuel but had no bags in either cargo bay. The agent came into the cockpit while we were adjusting our seats and I informed him of the arrangement to turn the flight in thirty minutes. He said no problem because he only had fifteen passengers and they were already boarded. Lana came into the cockpit about then and said they were ready to go and meals were being loaded in the galley.

At exactly 7:20PM the thirty minutes was up when the agent re-boarded and asked if we could take fifteen Continental passengers whose flight had cancelled. I said it was fine if they were ready to go. In fact, they were already standing in the Jetway. With the new passengers on board I expected the front door would be closed immediately and we'd get out of town but that was not to be.

Ten minutes or so went by while the Jetway never moved and snow continued to fall and turn the ramp into a picturesque mess under the bright ramp lights. It became apparent that we'd now need another deicing. I told Gil to call downstairs to the ramp office and find out what the delay was about. The bags for O'Hare were lost temporarily and they were holding us for them to be

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loaded. I told Gil to advise ramp operations we needed to be deiced again. There was a pause and then a response that we'd be next after the Boeing at gate D-1. Sure enough the deicing crew was finishing the big 707 and headed over to our aircraft. The agent came back on about then and advised that Flight 366 was holding over Denver and would soon be on the ground. He wanted to know if we were ready. Bob explained we were going to be deiced again. He said OK and left, closed the forward main door and pulled the Jetway away.

The slush flew in all directions from the cockpit windscreen as glycol pelted the airplane. The deicing didn't take very long. In fact, it was a little too quick and I asked Bob to check on the reason. He called maintenance and they said they'd get the deicing crew to talk to us. About five minutes later the Jetway returned and the crew lead of the deicing crew, covered in his dripping yellow rainsuit came on board. In the cockpit, he said they hadn't finished because they ran out of fluid before they got to the rear fuselage and stabilizer. How long to finish the job, I wanted to know? About forty minutes, he said, due to road construction at the glycol tank and a big backup around the entrance.

I asked Bob to step out onto the Jetway and look at the top of the stabilizer and I began to rotate the nose trim full down. As the stabilizer reached the full nose down position, Cook came back to say what looked like fifty pounds of snow and slush slid off the left side crashing onto the number one engine and ramp below. That was the last straw! I was tired and had had it with all the delay. Very calmly I told Gil to call ramp operations and advise them as of this moment the flight was canceled due to crew fatigue!

I advised the passengers on the PA what was happening and why. Just then the agent appeared again in the cockpit and informed us that 366 was on its approach and was planning to continue to O'Hare. I told him to tell the people in the back cause we were getting off ASAP, or as soon as I could find my wedding ring. I had removed the ring to relieve the pressure from holding the yoke so tightly with my left hand. It slipped to the floor of the cockpit and rolled under the rudders. It was no where in sight, however, and maintenance was notified. They later searched for it for several hours, but to this day, it has never been found.

In ramp ops I asked the supervisor to call the hotel for us while I talked to planning and dispatch.

Dispatch had no argument based on my conclusion the crew was too tired to continue. Planning was surprised at first but said they wanted to ferry 7849 back to O'Hare at 10:00AM giving us about ten hours rest. I argued that it wasn't enough based on our actual duty time to this point which was nearly eighteen hours. But he said I was incorrect in my computation of the duty day.

I knew he was wrong but decided to get everybody to the hotel and argue about the rest later.

About 7:00AM next morning I was wide-awake and decided to call planning and get an update on crew disposition. They said the ferry flight was still planned to depart at 10:00AM so I got dressed and went for breakfast. In the coffee shop there were several morning newspapers piled near the cashier station. I picked up a Denver Post and sat at a vacant table set for breakfast. The paper was full of stories about the early and unexpected snowstorm.

The headline story was about the aircraft accident that killed seven people.

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Apparently a

Beech-18 commuter from Pueblo was caught in the storm, got iced up and tried to land at Lowery AFB, whose runways had been closed for several years. The plane hit a fence that blocked a former runway, flipped over and burned. There was a small story about the Continental flight, which had lost one of its radios on its way to Denver and was only one column and about two inches. The story didn't sound nearly as dramatic in print as the event we had gone through.

The real story was in the big photograph in the center of the front page. The photo showed several people standing under the wing of a Cessna 172 at Jefferson County Airport. Uniformed officers appeared to be dragging the pilot out of a Cessna-172 in a blinding snowstorm. The caption explained a lot but the story was even more unbelievable.

The pilot was a young man who had just received his instrument ticket in September. The weather had been beautiful throughout the month and he wanted to test himself in real instrument conditions. When the storm developed, he tried to rent an aircraft from Jeffco Airport. No one would rent a single engine airplane to a pilot of his limited experience, valid license or not. They all turned him down. Undaunted by these rejections he solved the problem by stealing an airplane and flying approaches around Stapleton in the snow and rain anyway. Remembering the conditions of the previous afternoon, I could only marvel that he had survived to be arrested and suffer the humiliation and certainty of an emergency revocation of his certificates by the FAA! Our ferry flight was delayed until after I :00PM Denver time while they dug a 707 out of a snow bank and pre-flighted the aircraft. During the delay planning called the ramp office and admitted they were wrong about their duty time computations and we were being released to deadhead back to Kansas City on the 707 ferry flight. I had been vindicated. As small as the victory was, it was my `first' as a new airline captain and I felt pretty good about it. Looking back, over those two days, there seemed to be an awful lot `firsts' for such a new line captain. I thought back to an observation made by my friend Randy Abbott, who once had referred to his first trip as a "baptism of fire" and claimed most first trips are. Guess he was right.

Back in Kansas City, I knew I'd have to report some of this to my GM-F, Captain Graybill.

Patiently, he listened to my "baptism of fire " unfold. A few times I thought I saw a kind of knowing twinkle in his expression. He wanted to know more about that last approach at Denver, asking if I still thought that was the right way to handle it. I simply said I felt it was the safest way under the circumstances. He mused about the whole trip, including the lost wedding band with his final comment being simply "you got the job done safely and there's no argument with that".

I asked if I could keep the dispatch envelope and submit another in its place that explained the location of the original envelope. He said that was fine. Unless somebody had a question or complaint about the flight it would never be missed anyway. If there was, then I'd have to return it. I explained that I'd keep all the material safe and write up a narrative about it later. "I`m not sure anybody would believe it anyway", I said as I turned to leave. "I think you're probably right, even about the ring", he said, a big grin covering his face.

The events of this narrative are factual. The names, dates, times and other data are based on the information contained and preserved in the original flight dispatch envelope for MKC DHD 190, October 3, 1969, and no details have been altered in any way.

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MOSCOW BASEBALL --57 RUNS, MANY ERRORS!

By Bill Dixon With the 1999 baseball season behind us, here's the story of an unusual baseball game in a field adjacent to Lenin Stadium, Moscow, Russia, on July 2, 1974. Diehard baseball fans might find it a bit amusing -- or maybe see it as disgrace to the noble game!

The contest was between presidential U.S. Air Force crews on one side -- they were there with President Richard Nixon -- and Trans world Airlines and Pan American White House Press crews on the other. I was the captain of the TWA charter aircraft; a B707 equipped with all first class seats. The audience consisted of five Russians who had never seen a baseball game, which was just as well.

This epic event was the result of a challenge from the crews of the three presidential planes (for extra limo, Secret Service, etc), led by Colonel Ralph Albertazzie, the pilot of Air Force One, to the TWA/PAA crews for a seven-inning soft ball game. The AF furnished the baseball equipment and the transportation, picking up the airline group at the Intourist Hotel at 1330 on July 2nd in two buses (courtesy of the Russian government).

We were on the second day of 5 days in Moscow. It turned out to be Nixon's last visit overseas.

He resigned two months later. Everyone on the trip, including the numerous members of the media, wondered how he functioned so well under the tremendous pressure he was undergoing from the Watergate investigation. I was able to attend his one major press conference in Moscow.

We airline people furnished refreshments, which were supplement with soft drinks by the director of Lenin Stadium, who watched the game. The AF crews showed up in sweat suits with baseball shoes and an obvious skill than came from practice.

The poor TWA/PAA assembly sported a mixture of slacks, tennis shoes, shorts and pretty flight attendants. The latter subsequently saved the airline team from a disgraceful defeat. The airline side did not obtain a single run in the first two innings and by the end of the fourth, AF led 19 to 4. It was shaping up to a disaster for us civilians! The PAA captain and I decided something drastic had to be done. Our pitcher and catcher were pulled and substituted with female cabin attendants. They also were placed at short stop, second base and one in the outfield.

To make a long, but fascinating story short, the Air Force men were so shaken by this startling development, our team got 13 runs to their one in the 6th inning, and 13 more in the 7th and last inning.

Lt. Col. Lester McClelland, copilot on AF one, who was selected as the new pilot two months later by President Ford, played first base. An excellent pilot and gallant baseball player as well, if he hadn't dropped the ball every time one of our girls got a hit, we wouldn't have got anybody by first base! For the glory of the Air Force, the presidential team won 29 to 28! A great time was had by all, but the Russians watching may still wonder "What is that American game called baseball?"

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MARRIED TO HIS PIPE by Charlie "Black Dog" Davis Ben Mosby wasn't the most senior captain on the airline but he certainly looked it. He sported a rumpled thatch of gray hair that topped a weather-beaten face, and the eyes were buried deep in pouches of wrinkles. His hands had become gnarled and callused long before the airways took him on. Ben had worked long irregular hours as an airplane mechanic, during his youth, to save a few dollars along the way so that he could occasionally pay for flying lessons. This system was erratic and took years for the aspirant to qualify for commercial airline flying. Probably because of the time involved, and the rigors encountered along the way, many of these old timers had acquired dispositions and habits that were definitely eccentric. All of the crewmembers were familiar with these characters, and a good deal of time was spent discussing them on layovers and elsewhere. I was a recently hired first officer and had not flown with Captain Mosby, but had been fully briefed on his quirks.

There were really only two. First, his pipe, smoldering or not, it rarely left his mouth. Secondly, he never spoke. When the checklist was read he would respond with a grunt or a gesture. He'd intersperse these with a nod, and on rare occasions would remove the pipe from his mouth and point it at an instrument.

I had been scheduled to fly with him a few days before, and had made a secret wager with myself that I would crack his shell and get a few peeps out of him.

When I entered the operations office I spotted him immediately, bent over the weather maps, pipe clenched firmly between his teeth. I made my way over and thrust out my hand. "Good morning Captain, My name is Carey Edwards." My hand remained outstretched and empty. The good captain merely lifted his hand an inch or so off the map, fluttered it and nodded without turning his head.

Walking out to the airplane, I decided it was high time to commence my "get acquainted" program. I had been trailing a step or two behind, in deference to rank, a habit I had not been able to break, as yet, since I had just recently been discharged from the Air Force. I drew abreast of Captain Mosby and said, "Where do you live?" and added, "Near the airport?" I felt that this direct query would require a vocal response. The gnarled hand rose and the pipe was drawn slowly out of it's permanent abode. I subconsciously patted myself on the back. Words would be forthcoming now, or so I thought. There was an unusually loud cough, a rather guttural hacking sound and the pipe was waved in the general direction of North. This was obviously where he lived. l made no attempt to open the conversation until we had reached the cockpit, buckled ourselves in, and readied the instrument panel for the checklist. I cast a side-glance at my captain, and was rather surprised to note that THE PIPE had been transferred from mouth to shirt pocket.

Now the lips would part and words would be uttered to acknowledge the checklist items.

"Gear lever."

He looked down at the gear lever and nodded.

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Next was the flap handle. He cleared his throat.

For battery switch, "ON", he coughed. In a way it was remarkable. There was a subtle difference between each one of his responses whether they were physical or issued from his throat. In answer to one item he merely shrugged, to another he slapped his knee. However, I had a strong feeling that he was checking each instrument and switch very carefully. I am still a little confused about one thing I read and the manner in which it was acknowledged. I believe it was cowl flaps. He removed a handkerchief from one of his pockets and blew his nose. When I hesitated he looked at me questionably, apparently in anticipation of the next checklist item.

Within minutes after takeoff, Captain Mosby had stoked up the old briar and was puffing contentedly away. We were flying along in a DC-3 so our cruising altitude was only a few thousand feet above the terrain. Subsequently, cities, towns, mountains,rivers and other geographical landmarks were all clearly visible. Occasionally, I would bring one of these to the captain's attention in a conversational manner. "Well, there's Flagstaff going by up there all nestled under old Mt. Humphrey." A nod accompanied by a fresh exhalation of smoke curling up was the only rejoinder. "Ever been there?" An impatient shake of the head. I surrendered unconditionally.

Silence between parties usually makes the time drag and in this case, being finally convinced that any vocal exchange between myself and the captain would never occur, I had decided to study the panel and test my memory as far as temperature and pressure limits were concerned. Not only would this make me a more knowledgeable copilot, but also it would keep me alert and the time would literally fly by.

All of the dials have a "red" and a "green" sector. This makes it much easier to recognize any discrepancies that might occur in the various systems. Of course, all of the indicators are supposed to remain in the "green". The copilot is required to keep a sharp eye on all of the instruments, including the captain's. Any change that occurs, no matter how small, must i mmediately be brought to the captain's attention. Another thing I had been warned about was annoying Mr. Mosby with minor concerns, for instance: A smudge of oil on number one nacelle, a few hairline cracks in a side window, inclement weather along the route and so on. There was no blot on the captain's escutcheon as far as his flight record was concerned. His reputation as a safe and competent airline pilot was secure. He simply didn't want to be bothered with minor details.

Engine instruments can have a hypnotic effect on flight deck crewmembers. "Did that cylinder head temperature go up a degree? Or, did that hydraulic pressure needle drop a couple of pounds?" "It's possible to find yourself staring fixedly at one instrument, trying desperately to convince yourself the indication is the same as it was before. But I was getting a little bit nervous over the number two oil pressure gauge. The small arrow was not poised in the center of the

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green area where I was positive it had been before, but drooping slightly down toward the red area. When this sort of thing happens, and you're not absolutely sure, the next step is to glance away for a moment or two, then take a peek from the corner of your eye.

The pressure was definitely dropping. I looked over at the captain. I would have sworn that he was asleep except for the little jets of smoke that were being regularly sent forth from the bowl of his pipe. It was time to speak out. "Captain, we have a definite drop in the number two oil pressure gauge, at least three or four pounds." I wanted to be specific.

The only visible reaction to this announcement was a slight widening of the eyes from slits to half mast and perhaps one skip in smoke emission. I looked down at the needle. It was almost in the red. "We're at the bottom of the green now and it's still dropping."

This statement must have really startled him because he removed the pipe from his mouth and looked out his window. After watching the scenery go by for awhile he swung his head around, closely examined his pipe, placed it in his mouth and calmly commenced puffing again.

My feelings, at that moment, were said, sternly, but with a touch of now." Not knowing exactly what to in question so that he wouldn't have

a mixture of awe and disbelief but duty called. "Captain," I nervousness. "You'd better have a look at this, it's in the red expect, I placed my forefinger directly below the instrument any difficulty spotting it if he cared to look.

This time he did react. He took the pipe out of his mouth, and gently tapped the tobacco out of the bowl into the ashtray. Then without even a glance in my direction, he reached across with the pipe, and using it as a small hammer or mallet knocked the glass out of the instrument.

Transferring the pipe to his other hand, he took the needle between his thumb and forefinger and bent it up into the green sector. Shrugging back into his seat, he casually refilled and lit his pipe, and proceeded calmly to drop into his former routine.

I was transfixed for the moment and could only stare at the bent needle. Needless to add, the engine ran in a normal manner all the way to our destination, and after a thorough going over, it was discovered that only the instrument was at fault.

Walking out to the airplane the next day Captain Mosby suddenly stopped, turned, and placed a hand on my shoulder. He eyed me for a moment, cleared his throat, made a few guttural noises, (pipe still firmly in place) grunted, swung around and continued walking. I will never know for sure, but I can only conclude that this was a full explanation of the incident that happened the day before, including the reasons behind his unusual remedy for correcting the problem.

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No Fun Line Check by A.T. Humbles I have often wondered what criteria was used back in the old days on Trans Continental and Western Air for choosing instructor and check pilots. In some cases it certainly wasn't for their personality, ability to instruct or competence. Rich Flournoy was a sardonic but sage observer and I once remarked as to why a certain person was made a check captain and Rich said the Company likes to have some of those to keep us in our place and strike fear in our hearts. One will certainly admit there was a great improvement in the training department when Ray Rowe took it over.

In 1946 I was in transition training for captain checkout when we had our strike. Then in 1948 I had completed ground school and transition and went out on my first line check. This man was uncouth, impolite and incompetent and through the years I don't think I ever saw him when his uniform didn't look like he had slept in it, shoes in need of a shine and dirty finger nails due to his running a machine shop in his off time. If any instruction was needed he certainly wasn't one to provide it. We were west of Harrisburg heading east when he loudly proclaimed what are you doing flying down the middle of the airway, don't you know you are to fly to the right? I said I am to the right of the radio range beam. He said see that town of Chambersburg which was to our right, you could be over that town and be on the airway. I said no, that is off the airway. He snatched a dirty well-worn map out and said see there is the right edge of the airway running through Chambersburg. My reply was your map is two years or more old for the airways were changed from twenty miles wide to ten miles wide two years ago.

After a layover in Newark we flew the DC-3 to the first stop, Philadelphia. Weather was lousy with a low ceiling and poor visibility but I was on the downwind leg cleared to land on a certain runway with it in sight when he grabbed the controls, chopped the throttles, did a wingover and landed on another runway. What a thrill it must have been to the passengers. On taxiing in and parking he was screaming in a loud voice and cursing that you have to get on the ground as quick as you can. However, I told him not to curse me anymore in a firm voice and he didn't Out of Philadelphia bound for Pittsburgh I had leveled off and set up for cruise when he said don't you know we are running late, get some power on and pushed the throttles up about five inches above recommended. (Remember that old ratio of manifold pressure versus rpm?) About five minutes later the right engine almost blew off the airplane and I throttled back. He looked out at the engine and told me a piece of cowling had blown off and what was I going to do about it. I said land at Harrisburg and have it looked at. He said do you mean you would take a co-pilot's word that a piece had flown off and I said yes I would. He then asked did I know why it happened and I said yes you had way too much manifold pressure.

On final approach to Harrisburg airport he thought I was too low and slow so shoved the throttles up and we very nearly overshot the runway.

We were taught to land the airplane almost three point with the tail wheel touching on very close

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shove it on the main wheels and hit the brakes so as I was landing at Dayton just seconds before touch down he tried to shove the throttles up but as I was stronger in my right hand than he was with his left the throttles stayed closed and about the smoothest ever touchdown resulted.

Then later on in the flight he had asked me some question about the hydraulics and I couldn't give him the answer he wanted so he kept prodding me as to what I would do so I finally said I would get on the radio and ask for a mechanic to which he screamed do you mean you would ask a lowly mechanic when you are an airline captain.

The foregoing is merely some highlights I remember for there were more. When we got back to Kansas City he told me, "I'll let you by this time but if you don't shape up you won't make it". I went in to see Bob Jones, head crew scheduler, to tell him I didn't want to fly with this nut anymore but before I could say anything Bob said I have you set up for your line time with Wren McMains and just thought I would let you have a trip with this fellow while waiting for Captain McMains. I said thanks Bob and went home.

Incidentally, I wonder how many know Bob Jones had a wooden leg or how he got it. He was a B-17 pilot during World War II and had to bail out and on the way down the Germans shot him and caused the loss of his leg.

Well to end this story I went home and got to thinking about it and told myself I knew I could manipulate the controls of an airplane so the only way I could trip up would be the books so I sat down and memorized all the books. I was blessed with a fantastic memory so from then on 1 welcomed any question on the regs and could even quote page and paragraph numbers for most of the stuff.

This was back in the old days when a co-pilot had no voice and a half vote in ALPA so if you bit the dust trying to check out to captain you needn't look to the captains' union for help.

Incidentally, the fellow I was talking about above later changed altitude without air traffic control clearance or knowledge and was fined. He also couldn't hack it when the jets came along.

And for a last laugh, after I completed checkout in 1948 I received a letter from Frederickson congratulating me on my checkout to captain but followed one month later by a letter addressed to First Officer A.T. Humbles which read congratulations on completing the preliminary stages of your checkout to captain, we hope in the near future you will be able to complete the final stages.

I kept those letters for a long time but evidently discarded them when we moved. So some in my similar situation had already sewed on captain stripes on their epaulets and had to take them off.

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The following article, detailing a tumultuous series of events in the early days of TWA International Operations, was written originally for the TWA Skyliner in 1986, but never published.

The author, a TARPA subscriber sent it to Phil Belisle who sent it to Topics. Unfortunately, the name of the author was lost in the mail. All we have is his signature "Jack." Topics regrets the faux pas. Editor

Cairo Evacuation Thirty years ago, a group of TWAers were witness to events that changed the TWA International operations drastically. Cairo, at one time, was the largest overseas domicile on the system, as headquarters for the Middle--Far East Division. By 1956, the entire International Division had been consolidated into one, with headquarters in Paris and Larry Trimble was director of International Operations. Cairo still had flight crew supervisors. In 1956, Neil Lytle and Swede Golien were pilot supervisors. Swede had just returned from Addis Ababa, where he had built a viable operation for Ethiopian AirLines.

Gamal Nasser had nationalized the Suez Canal and his saber—rattling and belligerence towards the English and French caused great concern among the foreign communities, which at that time was large in Cairo. The American Embassy recommended the evacuation of families. Many of the TWA families departed and the summer of 1956 was a tense one. TWA and other carriers operating into Cairo occasionally delayed or rerouted because of general civil strikes that caused a complete breakdown of communications and air traffic services, making it impossible to operate into Cairo. By the end of September, the situation appeared to have cooled down enough that it was considered safe to return the families. Most families did return in time to start the new semester at the private schools that catered primarily to the various foreign groups. My girls went to the English school in Heliopolis.

The pleasant weather of Cairo had returned and it appeared that we were going to enjoy another glorious fall season. October and November are beautiful in Cairo. For the first two weeks in October everything was fine, but the situation with the British was deteriorating, and by the end of the month, we were all on the alert again.

The Israeli forces struck first, the exact dates I do not recall, but on October 29th, the embassy notified all Americans to prepare for evacuation. None of us made any hasty plans, assuming that the fighting would be confined to the Sinai area. On October 30th the Egyptian authorities closed the airport. We had hopes this was temporary and that the airlines would be able to operate during daylight hours. All hope of getting out by air was. lost when the British bombed the airports.

A motor convoy was assembled at the American Embassy at 8:00 A.M., Thursday, Nov. 1st, and at 11:00 A.M. the convoy finally moved out of Cairo. The final count in the convoy of 50 cars consisted mainly of the American families and a group of United Nations vehicles. The normal drive to Alexandria via the old desert road in those days was about 3+ hours, but it took double that for several stops along the way. We arrived in Alexandria about 7:00 P.M., just in time. for a

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blackout due to an air raid. Finally, we got to the Beau Rivage Hotel and enjoyed good nights' sleep. The night before, we had all been up packing in between air raid blackouts.

Friday, November 1st, we were up early and cleared through immigrations and customs formalities without any trouble. We left our cars on the dock in the customs area, then were taken by bus to an embarkation point, where the U. S. Navy and Marines took over. They really did an excellent job. LST's were used to transfer us to a Navy attack transport, the U.S.S Chilton, which was one of three ships from the Sixth Fleet that had been ordered into Alexandria for the evacuation. It was disclosed later that the Marines were prepared to come and take us out of Egypt by force, if necessary. The sailors and marines were wonderful to all of us. Except for the operating crew, most of them gave up their quarters and bunks. There were 1200 evacuees, plus the Marine attack force of 600, in addition to the normal crew.

The last evacuees were taken aboard about 2:00 P.M. and at 5:00 P.M. we sailed our of Alexandria harbor. Most of us felt greatly relieved as we moved out, but also sad as we waved goodbye to the Egyptians. They had been pretty good to us.

After two nights on the Chilton, we rendezvoused with a regular troop transport in Suda Bay, Crete. It took all day to transfer all the evacuees and baggage to the General Patch. The crew of the Patch was not as friendly and helpful as the sailors and marines had been on the Chilton, but we had better accommodations From Suda Bay we sailed to Naples, arriving Tuesday, November 6th, 1956. A Navy band greeted us, along with George Koch from Paris Industrial Relations and Dr. Dye from Kansas City. TWA had taken rooms at the Excelsior Hotel for all the TWA families. We spent the next three or four days resting and sightseeing in colorful Naples.

Saturday, November 11th, we moved to Rome, where we lived in the Hotel Mediterraneo for two months. The following Monday, the 13th of' November, Jack Britain and I flew to Basra, Iraq. TWA flights to Bombay had been rerouted due to the initial war situation in the Canal Zone and restrictions imposed by the Egyptians and Israel over our former routes east of Cairo.

Flights to Bombay now operated out of Athens, up over Turkey via Istanbul, Ankara, Lake Van, then into Basra and resuming our normal route, Basra —Dhahran —. Bombay. Jack and I were to set up a temporary Flight Dispatch office in Basra. We spent ten days on duty in Basra, living at the airport hotel, which was rather crude, but sufficient. We then moved back to Rome for ten days -- Jim Huggins and Steve Lyons rotated with us. By the end of December it was determined that this arrangement was not desirable and flights into Cairo had resumed operation.

The evacuation from Cairo marked the change in TWA operation overseas. It was the last International overseas domicile for flight crews. We all returned to Cairo in February to close our homes and move our household goods.

Flight crewmembers were all moved back to domestic domiciles. The flight dispatch group was moved to Athens, in hope of establishing a dispatch office, but that was aborted after a short try.

We were permitted to stay in Athens until June, so the children could finish the school term. Bob Wheeler and I transferred to LaGuardia, Jim Huggins and Steve Lyons moved to Kansas City and Jack Britain went to Gander.

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TWA resumed operations through Cairo by December 1956 and a small group of Maintenance and sales supervisors returned to Cairo. To my knowledge, in 1996, the only one from the former Cairo domiciles still active with TWA was Jack Britain. Jack was General Manager, Egypt after two tours of duty in Bangkok.

I have visited Cairo several times in recent years, and it was great to visit again -- but it isn't the place to live now. We enjoyed our 7+ years there, when the living was easy, but inflation, overcrowding and the political situation make it less desirable now, although the Cairenes are still a warm and friendly people.

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Think Red by Felix M. Usis III Our History...

Some time ago my chief pilot, Hugh Schoelzel approached me and asked if I knew anything about the color RED. I had not thought much about it except that it was one of the primary colors and a 'neat' color in a rainbow. I reflected on his question later that evening and far into the night - it finally dawned on me: it was the color of the brilliant sunrise and the inside of my eyes for having been up all night. But now I ask you, the reader, to 'THINK RED.' Yes! I asked you to THINK RED! Not the color of your eyes after surviving flight 882 to Tel Aviv, the red-eye from San Francisco to St. Louis, or even flight 778 from Las Vegas to Kennedy. Remember the color RED - the color on the side and tail of our aircraft? Today, every tail of our aircraft is emblazoned with a RED 'T W A' on a white background or the reverse. Each one of our airplanes has been distinguished with RED along its side from almost the beginning.

The history of the color red goes back through Trans World Airlines (T.W.A.), past Transcontinental & Western Air, Inc. (T.&W.A.) to the very origins of the company.

Trans World Airlines can trace its roots back through the history of commercial aviation further than any other airline in the United States. T.W.A. (or rather one of its predecessors) made its inaugural flight (i.e. official birth date) on April 17, 1926, thereby becoming the first sustained scheduled commercial route for both mail and passengers flown in this country.

Tracing the genealogy of T.W.A. back to the beginning takes us to Sacramento, California on Monday, July 13, 1925, when three Los Angeles civic leaders incorporated Western Air Express (W.A.E.). Their idea was to establish Los Angeles as an air center. Although incorporated on July 13, 1925, not until the following year on April 17th did the fledgling airline, with a fleet of six single engined Douglas M-2s, take to the skies for the first time with 256 lbs. of mail. The route was from Los Angeles (Vail Field) to Salt Lake City via Las Vegas. By year's end, W.A.E. had completed 90% of its scheduled flights, suffered 38 forced landings, carried 209 passengers (at $60 for a one way ticket) and turned a $1,029 profit. And by October 1927, W.A.E. became the first airline in history to pay a cash dividend to its stockholders. In less than two years, W.A.E. was operating with a fleet of three-engined Fokker F-10s. Little did they know that they had planted the seed that would grow into one of the world's most presigious airlines.

Not only did 1925 witness the appearance of T.W.A.'s earliest direct ancestor but it was also the year in which the airline industry as a whole received what might be called its 'birth certificate' commonly known as the Kelly Air Mail Act. Passed by the Congress on February 2, 1925, it was designed "to encourage commercial aviation and to authorize the post-master general to contract for . . . air mail service." The successful operator-bidders were to be paid up to four-fifths of the postal revenue. By thus assuring an operator a sufficient income to break even on his equipment purchases, salaries and other expenses, the Kelly Bill opened the way for U. S. privately operated scheduled airline operations. At the time of its passage there was only one passenger carrying airline in the country, Pacific Marine Airways.

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On June 29, 1928, W.A.E. purchased Pacific Marine Airways, which had been organized in 1919

by Foster Curry, a vacation promoter who helped to make Yosemite National Park an attractive tourist destination. He had started operations near the end of 1920 with flights from Wilmington, California (opposite San Pedro) to Avalon (on the island of Santa Catalina) with a Curtiss HS-2L flying boat. Some historians even claim this date as the earliest date for T.W.A.'s roots, but factual support is not strong enough. If it were accepted, T.W.A. would be the oldest commercial airline in the U. S. Jack Frye Then late in 1929, W.A.E. acquired control of West Coast Air Transport, a small company operating a San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle route. By May that year, passenger service was extended from Los Angeles to Albuquerque and Kansas City. W.A.E., which was the first to use a four- engined airliner, enjoyed one final fling at expansion before its aerial empire was nearly dismembered. W.A.E. purchased Standard Air Lines in May, 1930 but ownership was not of long duration, for Standard was re-sold to AVCO (later American Airlines) later that year. The significance of W.A.E.'s brief ownership of Standard is that it brought William John 'Jack' Frye into the fold - the man who would one day become "Mr. T.W.A.."

The next element of what was to become T.W.A. was founded on May 16, 1928, under the name Transcontinental Air Transport (T.A.T). On July 7, 1929, T.A.T., using ten Ford Tri-Motors, began transcontinental service with rail and 'plane to cross the country in the then unbelievable time of 48 hours coast-to-coast. Because of this unheard-of speed in coast-to-coast travel, T.A.T. quickly became the airline of choice for actors, businessmen, and dignitaries, all for the cost of $337 to $403 (meals and movies extra) equivalent to about the cost of a ticket on Concorde from Kennedy to London today.

As early as 1929, Postmaster General Walter F. Brown wanted to take advantage of this rapidly developing mode of transportation, but in trying to establish an airmail postal system, he was not satisfied with the level of mail service which had become the financial backbone of these airlines.

Brown wanted to contract transcontinental mail routes with single carriers because he felt that postal customers would benefit from faster service, but he wanted to avoid transcontinental carriers competing with each other over the same routes. He insisted, therefore, that before he awarded a transcontinental mail contract to an airline, any fragmented route system would have to consolidate.

Responding to these economic and political forces a carrier of substance was born on July 19, 1930 when T.A.T., parts of W.A.E. (the remaining parts became Western Air Lines and merged with Delta in 1986), and Pittsburgh Aviation Industries Corporation (P.A.I.C.) combined assets and consolidated their parallel routes to form Transcontinental & Western Air, Inc. - T.W.A.. The Post Office had effectively forced this merger by initially denying mail contracts for the Kansas City / Los Angeles sections of the transcontinental mail service to T.A.T. or W.A.E. because of the duplication. W.A.E. brought to the merger a fleet of 21 Fokker F-10s and 2 Fokker F-32s.

Earlier in the same year T.A.T. had purchased Maddux Airlines, which was the world's largest operator of the Ford Tri-Motors, with a fleet of 15. Maddux had been formed by a Los Angeles

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car dealer on November 2, 1927. Maddux began flying passengers from Los Angeles (Rogers Airport) in the morning to San Diego (Mahoney Field) and return in the evening for $15 one way.

Service became so popular, especially when there was racing across the Mexican border at Tijuana, that soon two round trips were scheduled daily. At the time it was absorbed by T.A.T., Maddux was flying from Los Angeles to San Francisco, San Diego and Phoenix, AZ. With all these pieces in order, the commercial carrier that was to take the technical lead in the aviation industry for the next quarter of a century was born. Each aircraft was clearly painted with a RED TWA on the side. So the next time you look up and see the red on the side of your airplane, you can appreciate the history that put the color RED there.

Now consider the contributions which members of the TWA family made to the aviation industry over the last 70 years. Reviewing those contributions would keep us busy for quite some time, so for now we will limit our focus to the upper atmosphere.

This edition starts with a discussion which occurred the while I was relaxing with my crew during an overnight. The Captain was relaying a story about a flight he had in the early 1970s when he was a First Officer. It seems that there was an aircraft substitution (it even happened back then) on a west bound transatlantic flight. The schedule called for a Boeing 747-131 but due to unavailability the aircraft used was a Boeing 707-331B. The flight took off from Athens and 40 headed to New York's Kennedy International Airport. A little past 30 west and a little before west, while the Captain was visiting with the passengers (this was before the locked cockpit rule), the flight engineer brought to the First Officer's attention a discrepancy between the fuel consumption per nautical mile and the distance yet to go. It was becoming apparent that Kennedy was just at the far limit of their now decreased range.

The flight crew concluded that dispatch had not computed the winds aloft correctly, as actual winds were almost twice the projected velocity. What this flight had encountered in the early 1970s was the 'Jet Stream'. Today all the world knows about the Jet Stream, that tremendous current of air that circles the globe at heights of 30 - 50,000 feet, and all the airlines routinely program their aircraft to fly over routes and at altitudes that take best advantage of it. But 60 years ago the composition of the upper atmosphere was not well known.

Actually, throughout the history of airline travel, TWA has been at the forefront of discovering what was aloft. TWA's pursuit of high-altitude flying was largely the result of many years of creative research into this unknown environment by Captain D. W. "Tommy" Tomlinson. In 1936, Captain Tomlinson was appointed TWA's Chief Engineer. His mission was the exploration of the unknown for TWA. Before Captain Tomlinson joined TWA, he had been a Lieutenant and Naval Aviator attached to the United States Navy's Light Bombing Two squadron. As the Executive Officer, he had formed an unofficial low-altitude aerobatics team. The team called the "Three Seahawks" was chosen to represent the U. S. Navy in the 1928 National Air Races in Los Angeles. Flying Boeing F2B-1 s, they demonstrated low altitude dive bombing against the U.S. Army's team the "Three Muske-

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teers." He then joined Maddux Air Lines where he rose to the position of operations manager and chief pilot. Through its union with TAT, Tomlinson ultimately joined TWA but as a lowly co-pilot.

To support Captain Tomlinson's experiments, TWA made a flying laboratory out of "Old 300," as TWA's DC-1 was affectionately known. New Wright-Cyclone F55 engines were installed to raise the plane's absolute ceiling to 30,000 feet and permitted cruise operations up to 20,000 feet.

Further high altitude efficiency was gained by increasing the high pitch setting of the Hamilton Standard propeller in order to hold engine speed at cruise limits. Other performance enhancement equipment included a special device to accurately control the fuel-air mixture, a vacuum system for the gyro instruments, and a carburetor pre-heat system to warm the sub-zero air a high altitude and insure freedom from ice accumulation.

The DC-1 was unpressarized and supplemental oxygen was provided to the crew members via oxygen masks. Tomlinson and his men concluded that for an aircraft to successfully utilize the upper atmosphere, it would have to be pressurized since oxygen tanks with a sufficient supply for passengers and crew would require too much space and weight. Furthermore, gaseous oxygen (more practical than liquid) had to be heated to preclude the cold vapor from causing dental fillings to contract and drop out.

Another aircraft was later added to the TWA experimental fleet. Jack Frye had ordered the Northrop Gamma, a high-speed single-engine plane, to replace TWA's Alpha mail planes. But when the airmail contract cancellation interrupted this plan, one of the two Gammas (NC-13758) delivered to TWA became available for Tomlinson's experiments. The TWA team borrowed a turbosupercharger from Air Corps experimenters at Wright Field (Dayton, Ohio), then appropriated from Wright Aeronautical a special engine with a special carburetor and intercooler. When there still wasn't enough exhaust flow at 30,000 feet to spin the supercharger turbine, Tomlinson' team fitted special pumps to increase the fuel pressure.

Once they got the bugs out of the propulsion systems, Tommy Tomlinson flew the Gamma daily into the stratosphere. Between 6 July 1936 and 24 January 1937, he logged more time (40 hours 10 minutes) above 30,000 feet than all other pilots together up to that point. His daily adventures into the stratosphere provided information so new that each flight proved to be a bonanza of high altitude flight data.

TWA's high altitude pioneers kept a constant log of the weather and the effects on the airplane and its performance. Tomlinson concluded that 95 per cent of weather problems ended at 16,000 feet and by 30,000 feet it was generally smooth with few icing problems. Once in a while Tomlinson and his team encountered a new phenomenon above 30,000 feet - strange streaks of ribbon-like winds with extremely high velocities from the west - northwest. When further investigation reported these stratospheric winds in excess of 150 miles per hour, TWA meteorologists Ed Minser and Parky Parkinson threw up their hands; they were at a loss for an explanation. As Tomlinson said later, "I was the first pilot to hit the jet stream." But in 1936 it was a mystery.

Perhaps the most important research effort conducted after Tomlinson's experiments occurred

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during World War II by TWA's Intercontinental Division . ICD conducted research on "pressure pattern " flying. This meant long-range flights departed from the usual great circle course (shortest on a map) to take advantage of more favorable winds to shorten the flying time. These alternative tracks could also be used to find better flying weather and avoid storm systems. TWA's ICD operation soon held the distinction of averaging the highest speed and heaviest payload in monthly statistics of all U.S. Army Transport Command (ATC) during WWII. The discovery of the Jet Stream and subsequent research in high altitude flying by a TWA Captain and his team is important to TWA's history and even to our uniform. Each day we place our caps on our heads and walk out the door, we display our history. If you examine our cap emblem, you will notice that it consists of a globe with a sideward Y or V floating over the globe. This sideward Y or V represents the Jet Stream that Captain D. W. 'Tommy' Tomlinson found and explored in 1936.

Our cap further shows the pride in the discovery of the Jet Stream in the bill of each Captains hat.

The symbol presented there is again representative of the Jet Stream researched so many years ago by members of the TWA team and family.

The next time you place your cap upon your head think about the history we wear each day at work. Then look up and see the hat emblem of every other TWA pilot or the bill of a TWA Captain's hat and remember, you are glimpsing the past and proud history of TWA. Lockheed's Star: The Constellation Concept, Secrecy, and Development Trans World Airlines announced that on 6 April 1967, Flight 249 would pass through Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Louisville on its way from New York to St. Louis and Kansas City. With Flight 249, the last Lockheed Constellation (L-749A, c/n 2658) retired from passenger service and TWA became the first all jet, pure jet domestic airline.

There was little sorrow over the change at the time. Perhaps a little nostalgia by the flight crews and a few passengers, but the age of the jet had arrived. The new 600 mph jets made the trip with more comfort and speed. And speed is the name of the game. It was the desire for speed that created the Constellation over 25 years before.

In 1938, Lockheed Aircraft Corporation had begun studies for a new airliner with seating between the fourteen seat Model 18 and that of the original Douglas DC-4 (a triple tailed aircraft, later re-designated DC-4E, which accommodated 42 passengers). Excalibur, Lockheed Model 44, was initially proposed for 21 passengers and a top speed of 241 mph. Discussions with Pan American Airways in 1938, led Lockheed to increase the seating and speed to 32 passengers and 250 - 275 mph with a gross weight between 36,000 and 40,000 pounds. Lockheed publicly revealed the four-engined Excalibur in April 1939. A contract with Pan American was signed in June 1939 for the Model 44.

Howard Hughes, the majority stockholder in Transcontinental and Western Air (TWA), wanted an airliner faster with greater capacity than the 33 seat, 246 mph Boeing 307 Stratoliner TWA had on order. Howard Hughes in May 1939 initially considered the Excalibur as that transconti-

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nental airplane. In June 1939, Howard Hughes and Jack Frye, President of TWA, called for a secret meeting with Lockheed in Burbank to discuss TWA ' s requirements for a pressurized transport with non-stop coast-to-coast capability. It was desired to emphasize high-speed, nonstop transport between New York and Los Angeles in luxury. Howard Hughes asked that Lockheed develop an aircraft based on four Wright R-2600 engines, capable of a 6,000 pound payload, maximum range of 3,500 miles without payload, a speed greater than 250 mph, gross weight between 52,000 and 55,000 pounds. The aircraft had to fit in its existing hangars. The Model 44 could not meet these specifications.

Initially under the direct supervision of C. L. `Kelly' Johnson, Hall Hibbard, and later a team led

by Don Palmer, Lockheed began design work to meet TWA's requirements. Kelly Johnson told his design team, to "come up with something." The initial study revealed that it was impossible to build the proposed airplane around the suggested powerplant and at the proposed gross weight.

Captain D. W. `Tommy' Tomlinson, TWA's Chief Engineer, had information on a new unproven Wright engine being developed for the B-29, the R-3350. Johnson and Tomlinson determined that it would be much more desirable to build an entirely different airplane, based on the Wright R-3350 engine, having a projected gross weight of 68,000 pounds. Kelly Johnson argued "why built an aircraft to carry 20 passengers when for very little more effort and money it could carry 100 in the same space." Johnson won his argument with the ultimate winner being the airline passenger.

The plan was to use the airfoil designed by Lockheed for the P-38 fighter and the LockheedFowler flap arrangement. This provided high-lift, high-speed characteristics coupled with minimum take-off and landing speed capabilities. Special attention was paid to drag. This resulted in 13% less drag than the Douglas DC-4. The requirement for pressurization necessitated a circular cross section for the fuselage to maintain a cabin altitude of 8,000 feet when cruising at altitudes up to 20,000 feet. A perfect circular cross section dolphin-like airfoil shape fuselage was selected to get better aerodynamic efficiency and added three mph to its speed. It also lowered the nose which also shortened and strengthened the nose gear. A triple-tail was used to allow clearance inside the existing maintenance hangars as TWA required. Hughes and Frye agreed that the design, although larger than they had considered for their purpose, was suited to TWA's requirements.

As a side note: when the Constellation was finally on the line, it was discovered that it still did not fit inside the TWA's Kansas City downtown hangar on Richards Road. This hangar was also TWA's Flight Operations building for many years.

Lockheed felt that an aircraft meeting TWA's requirements would be even more attractive to Pan American than the latest Model 44 proposal. Thus the Excalibur project was dropped in favor of a new design, the `Excalibur A', Model 49. Howard Hughes insisted that the development of the aircraft be carried out with the greatest possible secrecy. He proposed that even the engineers working on the aircraft were not to be told the customer's name and that all reference to the airplane be made to the `Excalibur A' since a considerable amount of information regarding the Model 44 had already been made public under the name Excalibur. Hughes wanted a contract between Hughes Tool Company and Lockheed in order to maintain greater secrecy as to the

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ultimate user of the airplane. To further maintain total secrecy, D. W. `Tommy' Tomlinson suggested that his wife, Marge, a former court reporter, type the contracts to purchase 40 Model 49 Constellations for Hughes Tool Company. Hughes even suggested that Pan American just be told that Lockheed was working on an upgraded Excalibur.

Early in 1940, in spite of the efforts on the part of Lockheed and TWA to maintain secrecy of the new aircraft's development, Pan American, through outside sources, acquired information about the project. Pan American asked Lockheed for details of the airplane and the opportunity to place an order. Lockheed refused to discuss the matter with Pan American and called this to the attention of TWA. Shortly thereafter, since Pan America's operations were in no way competitive with TWA's, and Pan American's endorsement of the type was deemed desirable, TWA agreed to allow Pan American to purchase a Constellation-type airplane. Pan American's operational requirements differed radically from those of TWA and required particularly long range and certain other features. The design was accordingly modified to incorporate these changes at increased costs. The changes finally became so extensive that the long-range version desired by Pan American was given a different model number in the Constellation program, the Model 149.

During the design phase, improvements in engines allowed a gross weight increase to 72,000 pounds. Two power plants were offered, either Pratt & Whitney Double Wasp or Wright Double Cyclone, both rated with 2,000 hp.

With either power plant, maximum speed was estimated at 360 mph, cruising at 20,000 feet, a service ceiling of 35,000 feet; it was anticipated that the Constellation would climb faster on three engines than the Douglas DC-4 could with all four. The Constellation was projected to outrun the front line fighter aircraft of the day. The then current front line fighters in the world included: the Supermarine Spitfire (top speed 357 mph and service ceiling 37,200 feet); the Messerschmitt Bf 109E-3 (top speed 348 mph at 14,560 feet); the US Army Air Corps (US Army Air Force after 20 June 1941) Curtiss P-40 Tomahawk (357 mph at 15,000 feet). Wind-tunnel models and design refinements resulted in further design efficiencies that permitted a gross weight to 77,500 pounds.

War and Military Involvement As early as the summer of 1940, it became evident that Constellation production would have to be curtailed in lieu of other Air Corps military productions. On 4 May 1941, Lockheed was authorized to proceed with the construction for the Air Corps of three prototype Constellation aircraft originally ordered by TWA, provided the construction did not interfere with other military or priority orders.

On 20 December 1941, a comparison report based on the estimated performance between the Douglas DC-4 (C-54) series aircraft and the C-69, which was the Army Air Force type designation for the Constellation, indicated a greater weight, higher speed, and larger payload for the C-69. Thus towards the end of December 1941, the Air Force realized the need for fast, long-range transport to provide logistic support to forces operating world-wide and increased cargo-type aircraft production. The Constellation was released for construction.

TWA and Pan American assigned the rights to their Constellations to the government, and the Air Force was to procure additional Constellations as combat transports. The Army would contract

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with TWA and Pan American to fly and maintain the Constellations until the end of hostilities when the airlines could buy them back. This order was modified on 20 September 1942 to turn over TWA's Constellations to the Air Force as C-69s. Nine days later the Air Force placed an order for 180 more C-69s to be furnished to full military standards.

But Hughes wanted to maximize his investment in the Constellation. He made a deal with the Army. The agreement was that Hughes would pay for the prototype aircraft, take delivery and then sell it, at cost, to the Army. Later the order was changed to have three aircraft built, with Hughes getting delivery first. Thus TWA was to fly the first Constellations until they were " formally "accepted" by the airline. Once the aircraft was "accepted it would be turned over to the Army for testing and evaluation. This permitted TWA to complete proving runs before it was "accepted."

After this full endorsement by the Air Force, the program moved rapidly and, by December 1942, the first aircraft (C-69-LO, Air Force serial number 43-10309 - Lockheed c/n 1961) was completed. Painted in a dull, military, wartime camouflage but with a civilian registration (NX25600), it was first flown on 9 January 1943 by Edmund T. `Eddie' Allen, a Boeing test pilot on loan to Lockheed, with Milo Burcham, Rudy Thoren, Dick Stanton and Kelly Johnson on board. Allen was unfortunately killed less than two months later in the crash of the second Boeing XB-29 due to an inextinguishable fire started by an R-3350 engine. The prototype Constellation was officially accepted by the Air Force in July 1943. It was returned to Lockheed for further testing, and then scheduled for delivery to Wright Field in Ohio.

Out of Uniform The first production C-69 (Air Force serial 43-10310 - c/n 1962) was test flown in August 1943 and was used by Lockheed staff for a series of `test flights' before delivery was set for the military by way of a Hughes/TWA team. A special team from TWA, all with TWA's Intercontinental Division (ICD) international experience, was assigned to the factory for a complete checkout on the airplane, systems, and components. Later Howard Hughes and Jack Frye were flight checked, too.

Unlike the prototype, this aircraft was unpainted except for TWA's two red stripes on the tails and The Transcontinental Line plus TWA's logo on the fuselage. From the outside it looked just like the luxury airliner TWA had originally ordered. The interior was spartan: a small galley, two toilets, a series of padded benches for 62 men or 22 litter patients. The aircraft was put on display for all TWA personnel to see in the Burbank area. " Taking full advantage of his authorization to fly before "accepting the aircraft, Howard Hughes decided to fly the first production aircraft to Washington D.C. At 3:56 AM on the morning of 17 April 1944, Howard Hughes and Jack Frye as the pilots, R. C. Loomis as First Officer (if either Hughes or Frye needed relief), Dick DeCampo and R. L. Proctor as Flight Engineers, Ed Bolton as acting navigator, Charles Glover as radio officer, Ed Misner (TWA's head of meteorology) and 9 others on board departed Burbank Airport enroute to Washington D.C.

The aircraft was still painted in TWA's colors. Six hours, 57 minutes and 51 seconds later the

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Constellation landed in Washington and in the record books, having broken the transcontinental speed record for any type aircraft at an average speed of 331.54 mph.

That performance shattered all then-existing transcontinental speed records for either racing or transport aircraft. The existing record, set ten years earlier in 1934, was ten hours 23 minutes by a single-engine American Airline's Vultee.

A huge crowd of about 2,500 was on hand in Washington when the Constellation landed. Hughes showed off the performance of the Constellation to the airlines, the public, and thus the world. It was also reported that these actions infuriated Army General H. H. "Hap" Arnold. He and other Army officials felt that the flight, in TWA colors, glorified commercial purposes during wartime.

Then Hughes and Frye spent several days displaying the aircraft to high government officials and the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB). All this was before the Army was even able to fly "their" new aircraft.

The aircraft was finally `accepted' and ferried to Wright Field, Ohio where it was turned over to the Army and scheduled for more test flights. On 26 May 1944, Orville Wright was the honored guest in the right seat for awhile. One of his comments was that the 123 foot wing span was greater than the distance of his first flight in 1903.

The C-69s had initial bugs common to most completely new aircraft designs. It had a new and unproven powerplant, new hydraulic boosted flight controls, and long spindly landing gear. The Army directed over 480 different modifications to the C-69s. This heavy military involvement finally paid off and the aircraft was beginning to demonstrate the promise that Howard Hughes, Jack Frye, and Kelly Johnson had dreamed of 5 years before. Army testing continued. C-69s were eventually cleared for flights out of the country and, on 4 August 1945, a Constellation made its first transatlantic crossing when it flew nonstop from New York to Paris in a record time of fourteen hours and twelve minutes. Early in the Constellation program Lockheed proposed a bomber version, Model 249, to the Army, which was designated the XB-30. Due to Army advances, the original Pan American Model 149 was superseded by the Model 349. Then as the Second World War became a single front war, Army orders were scaled back. When the war came to a close, the orders for the C-69 were canceled and Lockheed turned to the airlines for purchases.

Of the 22 aircraft built, 15 C-69s had been accepted by the Army and seven were still on Lockheed property. Lockheed kept the seven and paid the Army for them and then purchased many of the C-69s back to convert them over to the civilian L-049 specifications.

War's End and Commercialization In addition to the initial 22 C-69s another 66 civil L-049s were built after the war. Eighty-two of these went to the airlines. TWA was the largest L-049s user with 40 aircraft and Pan American had the second largest fleet with 20 airplanes. Pan American and TWA forced the issue of speed and pressurized comfort with the Constellation such that most of the leading airlines both foreign and domestic were forced to buy Constellations. The balance of the original L-049s were delivered to American Overseas Airlines (AOA), British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC),

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KLM, Intercontinental US, Air France, Capital, and Lineas Aereas Venezolanas.

TheConstellation Spreads its Wings TWA began proving runs with the Constellation over the North Atlantic on 25 November 1945.

Pan American actually introduced the Constellation across the North Atlantic three weeks ahead of TWA on 14 January. TWA inaugurated New York to Paris Constellation service on 5 February 1946 with `Star of Paris' (NC86511 - c/n 2035). That Paris flight was via Gander, Newfoundland and Shannon, Ireland and took 19 hours and 46 minutes. Five records were smashed by this historic flight. The U.S. had its first scheduled air service to Paris and TWA was christened as an international airline.

AOA became the third U.S. international Constellation operator over the North Atlantic on 23 June 1946. BOAC opened its trans-Atlantic service between London and New York on 1 July 1946 with `Bristol' (G-AHEJ - c/n 1975). TWA commenced regular transcontinental flights between New York and Los Angeles on March 1. TWA extended its routes to Cairo on 1 April, and the New York - Lisbon - Madrid route was added on 1 May. In 1946 there was one basic class of service and the L-049s carried 57 passengers across on transcontinental flights and 47 across the Atlantic. The reduction in passengers was due to a portion of the cabin being reserved for a crew rest area.

Even though Pan American introduced Constellations before TWA, TWA was in a better position than any other American airline for it could operate both domestic and international services under a single name and management, unlike American Airlines (domestic) and AOA (international) or Pan American, which was international only.

When the last of the original Constellation series, the L-049, was retired by TWA in January 1962, each aircraft had averaged over 40,000 hours in the air.

Continued Development The Constellation's proven performance records put the L-049s far ahead of any competition.

The `pressurized' DC-6s and Boeing 377 Stratocruisers were still 18 months behind. Although the Model L-049 was an exceptional aircraft, Lockheed continued to develop the airplane.

Models 449 and 549 were proposed but never built. The first true peacetime version of the Lockheed Constellation was the L-649. Only fourteen were manufactured. They entered service with Eastern in May 1947. A few of these would later find their way into the hands of other operators such as Chicago and Southern.

The next variant, the L-749s, became the most numerous of the Constellations. Basically similar to the L-049, they featured increased fuel capacity and permitted nonstop transatlantic flights although not when fully laden. On 17 June 1947, Pan American inaugurated the first regularly scheduled around-the-world service from New York eastward with "Clipper America" a L-749 Constellation (NC86530 - c/n 2528). Thirteen days later it arrived back at LaGuardia after stopping at seventeen cities in eleven countries with a flying time 102 hours 50 minutes. The L-749A model incorporated stronger landing gear and allowed higher operating weights.

A total of 119 L-749s/L-749As had been built when Constellation production ended in 1951, in

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favor of the Super Constellation. TWA again was the largest user with 41 L-749s/L-749As. Lockheed proposed Models 849 and 949 powered by four 3,250 hp Wright Turbo-Cyclone compound engines, with exhaust-driven turbines but neither went into production.

The Super Constellation The high seat-mile cost and the need to increase capacity caused Lockheed in 1949 to make major modifications to the original Constellation airframe (NX-25600 - c/n 1961). The new airframe, the L-1049 (Super Constellation) was given a new serial and registration number (NX67900 - c/n 1961 S).

First flown on 13 October 1950, it had an 18.4 foot fuselage lengthening. The Super Constellation had 35 per cent more passenger capacity, 40 per cent more payload. The previous circular windows were changed to rectangular ones. The power available to the new variant did not, however, offset the increase in size and weight and thus only 24 were built. Fourteen were purchased by Eastern Air Lines and placed into service on 7 December 1951. TWA introduced the first of ten L-1049s on 10 September 1952.

Lockheed continued further development after the L-1049B, a military model. The next civilian version was the L-1049C. The first L-1049C, destined for KLM (PH-TEP - c/n 4501), was first flown on 17 February 1953.

This aircraft introduced 3,250 hp Wright Turbo-Compound piston engines, which increased speed and allowed higher takeoff weights. To handle the extra weight, the wing was strengthened affording greater wing fuel capacity. Forty-eight L-1049Cs were manufactured for 8 airlines. The L-1049D was a freighter and only 4 were constructed, for Seaboard & Western Airlines. Only twenty-eight L-1049Es were built, which were essentially L-1049Cs with the weight increases of the L-1049Ds. The L-1049F was a military model.

The most successful version of the Super Constellation, the L-1049G, or "Super-G", was first flown on 7 December 1954. The "Super-G" was essentially an improved L-1049E airframe married to larger 3,400 hp Wright Turbo-Cyclone engines. This model of the Super Constellation was intended for long-range use. A total of 101 "Super Gs" were built, with TWA accepting 28 directly from the factory. And on 1 November 1955, TWA began scheduled non-stop transcontinental service with the "Super-G." [The author was privileged to be aboard a "Super-G" on 13 November 1955 with Captain John E. Harlin in command].

The "Super-G" was followed by the final Super Constellation variant, the L-1049H. A passenger/ cargo convertible model of the "Super G," 53 L-1049Hs were built, the last being delivered to The Flying Tiger Line in November 1958.

Starliner Lockheed continued work on the Constellation through the L-1149, L-1249, L-1449, and the L-1549 models with new engine and fuselage development. The L-1349 model was skipped for, as Lockheed said, superstitious reasons. Then, in the mid-1950s, to meet the challenge of the Douglas DC-7 series, Lockheed developed for TWA the ultimate Constellation, the Starliner.

The first Starliner (N1649 - c/n 1001) flew on 10 October 1956. The fuselage was stretched 2.7

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feet over the Super Constellation and an entirely new, longer, thin-section wing (with straight taper instead of the earlier curved trailing edge) of greater fuel capacity for true intercontinental range was added. All forty-four Starliners were delivered in 1957 and 1958 to TWA, Air France and Lufthansa.

The Starliner was known as the "Jetstream" by TWA, the "Super Starliner" by Air France, and the "Super Star" by Lufthansa. Many of the earlier Constellation models were used by both the Navy and the Air Force, but the L-1649 Constellation Starliner was used exclusively as a commercial airliner.

The Starliner was the thoroughbred of Lockheed's Constellation family. It was the largest, the fastest, and had the longest range. It was considered by many to be the "Queen of the Sky" in the airline industry. The Starliner had a gross take-off weight of 160,000 pounds and carried up to 40,000 pounds of cargo and 101 passengers, at speeds up to 350 mph at a 22,000 foot altitude.

With 9,600 gallons of high octane fuel and 245 gallons of oil, it was capable of flights over 6000 miles lasting 24 hours.

Each Starliner had four piston-powered Wright Turbo-Cyclone, turbo-compound engines, producing 3,400 horsepower each. They had two-stage super-chargers, direct fuel injection, manual spark advance, an auto-feather system for the propellers and three power recovery turbines on each engine, which, in effect, made the engines hybrids - part piston powered and part turbine powered. It was one of the most powerful and advanced piston engines ever built.

To reduce cabin noise, these Turbo-Compound engines were mounted 5 1/4 feet further outboard than those of the Super Constellation and drove slower turning propellers of increased diameter.

The flight crew consisted of a pilot, co-pilot, flight engineer, sometimes a radio operator and navigator, plus several stewardesses. On flights that went non-stop from the west coast over the North Pole to Europe, there was an extra crew on board due to the length of the trip. It took 18 to 20 hours and each crew would fly part and sleep part of the trip.

Among the records set by the Starliner was a 29 September 1957 speed mark, Los Angeles over-the-pole to London, in 18 hours and 32 minutes. A TWA Starliner still holds the record for the longest nonstop, commercial passenger flight in terms of time aloft - 23 hours and 19 minutes - on the inaugural London to San Francisco TWA service, 1-2 October 1957.

Speed and more speed In 1958, the Starliner could not compete with what turned out to be its real nemesis, the Boeing 707. As luxurious as they were, the 377 mph Starliners could not out run the Mach .85 plus jets entering the aviation arena. The jet eventually killed all big piston engined transports. As it was with the original Constellation, SPEED was again the name of the game.

By 1960, the Starliners were stripped of their plush interiors and converted to cargo planes with the addition of two cargo doors. The coming of the jetliner meant the end of the line for all of Lockheed's beautiful Constellations. All were retired from front-line service during the early 1960s, although many survivors flew on as fast freighters.

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Epilogue The Constellation was a remarkable design that matured with age and experience. Before Lockheed closed the books on the Constellation's production line, 856 of them were built for the airlines and the military. The Constellation was the most graceful and, perhaps, the best known of all the post Second World War piston commercial transports. It surpassed every other transport in the world in almost every aspect of performance. It was introduced with a package of advanced features such as cabin pressurization, hydraulic power-boosted controls, reversible pitch propellers, and high lift Fowler flaps. The L-1649 model was the longest range airliner of its day in the world.

The Constellation was first to operate non-stop across the North Atlantic. It was first to fly non-stop transcontinental US services. It was first to fly on round-the-world service and flew to and from six of the seven continents (Antarctica was not visited). It was the first four-engined aircraft to provide scheduled service to Alaska. The Constellation assisted in pioneering non-stop over-the-polar routes between the west coast of the United States and Europe.

The Constellation was used by the major airlines until the advent of the jet era and then relegated which had been converted to all-cargo. The last scheduled Constellation flight on the North American continent was Western Airline's flight 1 on November 26, 1968 which terminated at Anchorage Alaska. Ironically, Western Air was the parent company of both Western Airlines and Transcontinental & Western Air (TWA). Today a few Constellations can still be found flying cargo. to smaller airlines and cargo. TWA closed the chapter on the Constellation with flight 591 on May 11, 1967 from Newark to Kansas City. The aircraft was a Starliner (L-1649, c/n 1017) Of all the post-Second World War transports the Lockheed Constellation, from the original Model 49 to the L-1649, is still regarded with reverence by all who flew on her. Her passengers will always remember the grace and speed she offered air travel in her prime. The Constellation proved, "It took a Lockheed to beat a Lockheed."

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Continuing the theme of interesting historical articles, we present the following excerpt on the Military use of the venerable Lockheed Constellation. It is from the upcoming book, "Remembering Connie" by Peter Barrett and sponsored by Save-A-Connie, Inc. They are encouraged by the chance of receiving additional support from the Lockheed Martin Corporation.

Their book has already made substantial use of articles by TARPA Historian Emeritus, Ed Betts and articles from past issues of TOPICS. Pete is seeking additional stories about Connies from TARPA members at large. We know that along with the many Members who flew Connies for TWA, many others flew Connies in the Military Services as Early Warning pickets and Military Transports. If you send your best stories, you will have a chance for immortality. Send whatever you have, including photographs, to: Peter Barrett, 9136 Hall Drive, Lenexa KS, 66219. Editor

WV-2, A COLD WAR CONNIE An excerpt from "Remembering Connie" A WV2 (spoken as: Willy Victor) is what ancient mariners (old US Navy salts prior to 1962) referred to when discussing what you youngsters refer to as an EC-121. An EC-121 is, as everyone knows, is a pregnant Slick Connie. Slick Connies, of course, are also known as R7Vs (by ancient manners), as C-121 s (by youngsters and the other military flying club), and as Super Gs by the civilians. Did everybody follow me there? Good.

So how did Slick Connie get pregnant, you may well ask? By artificial insemination of an APS-20 long range search radar. Right between her wide spread landing gear. Racy stuff, eh? Also, about 30,000 lbs. of electronic equipment, an extra fuel tank, and other assorted external antenna and doodads designed to drive the Russians nuts, save straying airborne innocents, and generally saving the world, IF, we could get her into the air. Final score: she did, she did, she did, and SHE DID. Russians went nuts, innocents were spared, we even saved the world from thermonuclear holocaust one night, AND she did get into the air. Every 3 hours, around the clock, fair weather or foul, the rock would rumble. The rock being NAS Argentia, and the rumble being 4 giant windmills being twisted by four 3350s, 72 pistons pumping, 144 spark plugs (usually) sparking, and 12 screaming PRTs, all intending to pull 154,000 lbs. of severely overloaded flying machine, and 23 bead-fingering, prayer-muttering, sweaty browed young men, dow 8,500 feet of packed snow that some people referred to as "a runway", AND reach a velocity that would cause heavier-than-air flight to occur, as opposed to "heavier-than-water-swimming" to occur.

You see, from 4,000 down the "runway" there was no "abort" procedure, because there could be no stopping before swimming commenced. I have heard more sincere praying in a Willy Victor takeoff roll than I have in 100 churches. Sometimes the prayers would get very loud, trying, I suppose, to drown out the clown cheerfully shouting over the intercom, "Fire, Fire, Fire in #3 Engine, fire bottle #1 deployed!"

I mean, did it matter why, or which, big round motor/thing wasn't going along with the program?

Besides, engine shutdown on takeoff wasn't an option either. Turning, burning, or otherwise. The Navy brass, bless their pointy little heads, didn't see fit to remove the debris of previous unsuccessful attempts from the embankment at the end of the runway and shoreline. Lots of Willy Victor bones to look at as you rolled off the end of the runway. Notice my choice of words. We

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did not "rotate", then "lift off". No, we rotated, then continued rolling off the end of the runway with an excellent angle of attack. Sometimes you would have daylight under the mains at runways end, but reports of this occurrence are sketchy, and have generally been disregarded.

Now, I kid around a lot, but by now you may be picking up some kind of emotion or feeling that we who rode this flying machine felt about her, pregnant and all. Actually, there was, and is to this day, a strange mix of emotions. Fear? Certainly, the crashes/lost on patrol were infrequent, but we were always at the edge.

Sadness? Yeah, the saddest day of my love affair with the Connies happened one week before my first training flight. My best friend was going up on his first flight, and I went with him to the flight line to take pictures. He was so proud, I took pictures all along the roll and takeoff, until #2 started smoking, then burst into flames, then the ship began settling and disappeared below the southern pines. Three dull thuds, then a column of black smoke began a sadness undiminished after 40 years.

Pride? Yes, nothing I did, I just did my job to the best of my ability, but pride in the men, the machine, the men who built the machine, the whole team, and now the people who are keeping the last few left alive.

Met a man a couple of years ago, a little guy; I asked what he did for a living. He said he was retired from Lockheed. Just being polite, I asked him what he did while at Lockheed. When he got to the part where he worked inside the wing...building wings for Super Constellations, because he was little. I wouldn't let the poor man go until he told all of the details of how to build them. He said that no inspector could get in there to check his work, so he had to be extra careful to do it right. With an attitude like that, you can't help but get a good product. Yeah, we should all be proud of men like that.

Love? Is it possible to love an inanimate object? Personally, I have no problem with that. Number one, complex machines have quirks to the point that it seems they have individual personalities, but love, is that being too strong? If not love, then explain the emotion underlying the following recollection.

For 550 times that the rock rumbled, I was internally involved with the object doing the rumbling.

My emotions during those periods were obvious and easily explainable. Apprehension/fear depending on how well things were progressing/digressing. Exhilaration/anticipation, etc., that everyone experiences at the beginning of an adventure. However, somewhere around 3000-4000 times that the rumbling commenced, I was eating, sleeping, having a beer, etc. and I noticed that everything paused as the rumbling began. Conversation stopped. Mechanics bent over an engine, stood up still holding their wrenches, and silently listened. At the end of the runway a small group would stand silently, watching the takeoff Even beers being lifted to lips would be set down and joke telling/laughter would pause.

I always attributed these phenomena to a variety of reasons, from noble: "Yeah, Joe's going out now, and he told me a great joke yesterday. 15-18 hours from now I could find out he will never

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tell another." Or; "That's old triple nickel rolling, its got some sick engines. Sure hope they're running OK now." To reasons ignoble and ghoulish like: "the only reason guys stand at the end of the runway is they hope to see a crash."

The real reason was made clear when there was an accident by the ground crew pushing a Connie backwards in the fog, and they backed it into another Connie (I know there is supposed to be wing walkers, but it was a cold, soaking, drizzling fog, so they were walking under the tail and wings). So, a crew from Lockheed came up, fixed the damage, and even though the two Connies were pronounced airworthy, the decision was made to fly them to Arizona to be mothballed.

I was saddened by that decision. I had flown on both of them, thought they were good planes, and hated to see them come to an untimely end. So I made the decision to go to the end of runway the day they were flying out, just to give them a proper good-bye on their final flight. I didn't tell anyone that I planned to do this, for fear of others misinterpreting my sadness at the loss of two "loved ones", and to say good-bye in my own private way, it was, as far as I was concerned, too difficult to even talk about. I also hoped that no one would even see me there.

There were about 8,000 men stationed on The Rock then, and as I walked to the runway end, I saw most of those 8,000 men also walking towards the runway. Try to imagine, if you can, what would possess the majority of any population of people to independently, spontaneously congregate, stand silently (I never heard one word spoken) for a couple of hours in very frigid, windy raw weather, watch two aircraft takeoff until they disappeared in the distance, silently turn and walk away, and (to my knowledge) never speak of it again. I believe that what I felt and saw was grief and mourning.

The Willy Victors were our tools. Tools so we could get our assigned job done. Men do not mourn the loss of a tool unless it was a very special tool.

The Willy Victors were inanimate objects. The Navy worked our butts off, we logged 250 hours a month, and that's wheels-off to wheels-on. Add preflight, postflight, and collateral duties, and it's obvious we didn't have time to reflect on the finer points of life, such as: "does a Super Constellation have a soul, and if so, where?" or: "can a love affair with an inanimate object bring lasting happiness?" The actual answer is that we simply are in love with the old birds.

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TWA - An Airline and its Aircraft A new book by R.E.G.Davies As part of our 75th anniversary celebration, TWA employees will have a pre-publication opportunity for discount purchase of an exciting new history of our airline. The new pictorial history book is being produced by the specialist publisher Paladwr Press, acclaimed for its successful "Great Airlines of the World" series.

The author of the upcoming book is R.E.G. (Ron) Davies, recognized as one of the world's leading airline historians and publisher of 22 books on airlines and air transportation. His partner, ' Mike Machat, is a pre-eminent specialist in airliner artistry. The publisher s project will be supported by TWA's own archival sources and by many other knowledgeable and authoritative associates and contributors.

The result will be a book that will combine the best qualities of a "coffee table"-style publication, with superb illustrations and a factually accurate and thorough book of reference. It is sure to be a fascinating story of the great achievements of one of the oldest continuously operating airlines in the world.

TWA - An Airline and Its Aircraft will contain, in addition to the complete narrative of our great history, Machat-produced illustrations, more than 100 photographs, two dozen maps, complete fleet listings and other technical data. Hard-bound in cloth, the book will be printed in full color, including metallic silver throughout.

Publication is scheduled for November 2000 and will retail for $35. Paladwr is now taking orders from employees, retirees and others who are interested in purchasing copies of the book. TWA active and retired employees are being offered a special pre-publication rate of $25 per copy.

Those interested in ordering copies should send their check or money order to: Paladwr Press, 1906 Wilson Lane, #101 McLean, Virginia, 22102.

(Include your TWA Payroll Number)

Publication of TWA - An Airline and its Aircraft will depend upon receipt of a sufficient number of orders to finance the project. Your payment will be held in escrow until a commitment to publish the book is made and will be refunded in full if the book is not published.

Ever since my first meeting with TARPA Historian Emeritus, Captain Ed Betts, I have been interested in studying the History of TWA and my predecessors. Many years after our first meeting and many telephone conversations, Ed and I struggled to produce "The Making of an Airline". I have enjoyed all of Ed's stories in TOPICS and those of many others who have made contributions through the years. We know from your feedback that you share our interest in these things. Now, we have an opportunity to support the production of another fine book in th conjunction with the 75 Anniversary of TWA. I am very familiar with the work of Ron Davies and his illustrator Mike Machat. For your information we are reprinting herewith two recent editor SKYLINER articles with complete details.

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75th

Anniversary Book on TWA to be 10 th in "Great Airlines of the World" Series Plans by R.E.G. "Ron" Davies to produce a new book later this year celebrating the upcoming 75 th anniversary of TWA make it the tenth in a series that Davies has titled "Great Airlines of the World."

Davies, easily one of the most noted commercial aviation historians of the world, who has been Curator of Air Transport for the National Air & Space Museum in Washington, D.C., since 1983, launched the first of nine specialized airline history books with the publication of "Pan Am: An Airline and its Aircraft" in 1984.

"I had written a book for Continental Airlines and, as I completed it, I realized that each chapter seemed to be associated with a particular airplane," Davies said. "I thought to myself, `Why not have my friend Mike Machat produce a specialized drawing of each aircraft for every chapter?'

As our plans progressed, we realized that we could produce books about special airlines that would include detailed drawings; lots of data; fleet lists, which the pilots like; and my text for the aviation history buffs — something for everyone."

The Great Airlines of the World series "combine the best qualities of coffee table books, and more specialized technical publications," Davies said. "I wanted to develop a product that would be something a true aviation buff would proudly display at home or at the office, and at the same time provide a valuable industry reference source."

Although Davies first worked with independent publishers to get his books produced in the mid-1980s, he eventually established his own firm, Paladwr Press, in 1989. The company is named after his home town in Great Britain, although that name has not been used to identify that city for hundreds of years.

"As I was thinking about what to name my new publishing company," Davies said, "I recalled the history of my home town of Shaftesbury, which is located about 20 miles west of Salisbury. That is a Saxon name, but the Romans inhabited the area before them. Even before the Romans, however, the ancient Britons referred to our town as Paladwr, which is reputed to have been founded around the year 800B.C., although that may be an exaggeration!"

In addition to the Great Airlines of the World Series, Davies has produced a great many other books, including a recent pictorial history of Charles Lindbergh.

Current and retired TWA employees now have the opportunity to purchase one or more copies of the planned TWA book for a discount price of $25 each, which represents $10 off the cover price of the publication. Clip out the coupon below and fill it out, making sure to include your employee number, and send it in to the address for Paladwr Press below.

In the February issue of Skyliner, TWA will examine Davies' personal history and his involvement with organizations such as McDonnell Douglas and the National Air & Space Museum.

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"Pat and Chuck Hasler on one of the many cruises that they arranged for TARPA TOURS. As they mentioned on page 17 they are looking forward to less demanding pursuits.

Hank Gastrich has worked tirelessly as Grapevine Editor for many years. This letter of Congratulations proves that Hank has been working equally as hard on his higher education.

Good for you, Hank.