2002.03.TARPA_TOPICS by TWA Active Retired Pilots Assn.

MARCH 2002

CONTENTS TARPA TOPICS THE MAGAZINE OF THE TWA ACTIVE RETIRED PILOTS ASSOCIATION FEATURE ARTICLES: A MEMORABLE TRIP by Bob Dedman

CRONKITE ' S SMARTEST MOVE by Bill Dixon

DEPARTMENTS: PRESIDENT ' S MESSAGE Bob Dedman

EDITOR'S NOTE John P. Gratz

SECRETARY/TREASURE Rufus Mosley

OTIS F. BRYAN Exerpted from USAF Oral History

COMMITTEE REPORT John Gratz

CHECKITIUS by Black Dog Davis

GRAPEVINE by Gene Richards

A QUIET REMEMBRANCE by Jim Breslin

FLOWN WEST

MORE SPEED by Doug King

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.

Otis F. Bryan

Cover Photo Courtesy: The Ed Betts Collection Back Cover Photo Courtesy: V.M. Hassler

PAGE 1 ... TARPA TOPICS

EDITOR

John P. Gratz 1646 Timberlake Manor Pkwy Chesterfield, MO 63017 (636) 532-8317 jpgratz@earthlink.net ASSOCIATE EDITOR David R. Gratz 1034 Caroll St. Louis, MO 63104 dgratz@kcnet.com GRAPEVINE EDITOR Gene Richards 221a Levelland Ln. 2 0 Modesto, CA 9535 ( 09) 49 2- 039 1 gene_richards@hotmail.com HISTORIAN Felix M. Usis III 1276 Belvoir Lane Virginia Beach, VA 2 34 6 4-6746 (757) 420 -5445 73644.3341@compuserve.com FLOWN WEST COORDINATOR John S. Bybee 2616 Saklan Indian Drive #1 Walnut Creek, CA 94595 (9 25)938-349 2 INTERNET WEBMASTER Jack Irwin 2466 White Stable Road Town and Country, MO 63 1 3 1 (3 14) 43 2 -3 2 7 2 jack@smilinjack.com TARPA TOURS COORDINATOR Jean Thompson 11 Shadwood Lane Hilton Head Island, S.C. 29926 (843) 681-6451

OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS, 2000 - 2001

PRESIDENT

FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT

SECOND VICE PRESIDENT

SECRETARY/TREASURER

SENIOR DIRECTOR DIRECTOR

DIRECTOR

PAST-PRESIDENT

Robert W. Dedman 3728 Lynfield Drive Virginia Beach, VA 23452 463-2032 (757) rwded@earthlink.net Charles L. Wilder 14 Underhill Rd. Howell, NJ 07731-2316 (732) 364-5549 clwilder@prodigy.net H.O. Van Zandt 1810 Lindbergh Lane Daytona Beach, FL 32124 (904) 767-6607 hopvz@compuserve.com Rufus Mosley Box 1871 2 1080 Foley, AL 3553 6 - 18 7 1 ( 5 1 ) 955rufus767@us.inter.net Harry A. Jacobsen 848 Coventry Street 0 68 Boca Raton, FL 334 8 7 (5 6 7) 997- 4 Rockney Dollarhide 1 Riverside Farm Dr. Crescent, MO 63025 (636) 938-4787 rdollar@tetranet.net Jack Irwin 2466 White Stable Road Town and Country, MO 63 1 3 1 (314) 43 2 -3 2 72 jack@smilinjack.com John P. Gratz 1646 Timberlake Manor Pkwy Chesterfield, MO 63017 ( 6 3 6 ) 532-83 1 7 jpgratz@earthlink.net

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PRESIDENT 'S MESSAGE Now that the holidays are past and we look forward to this year's coming events, I would like to focus on what we, as TARPA, have to do to stay a viable entity and continue to do what we have done for some time now...have fun and Conventions. I have received a few calls in response to my letter in the November Topics supporting the need for our "gettogethers" but we will need a lot more voices to "keep the choir singing". Right now, there are a dozen or more people arranging events, booking tours, researching things that will be of interest to all so, I am asking you to set aside a few days of your life to come and join us and support their efforts. As you know, I have opened TARPA to ALL TWA pilots and I hope that we will see a large increase in our membership. This is our little haven in the turbulent world of aviation. After our working TWA pilots who have some years behind them leave, our membership WILL continue to diminish until we will no longer exist. Our junior personnel will retire into the Grey Eagles as their friends and associates will be of that genre. I am still pursuing the need to start joining the Grey Eagles in our future ventures. They are wonderful people and like us they enjoy good company, jokes and a drink or two. Your voices are still vital to this process and I hope to hear from MANY of you. My wife and I have experienced the first of the new transitions, ordering medicine through the mail and I am happy to report, everything was first class. We have no complaints about the system. We have yet to experience the medical side of this "buyout" but if all is as good as the medicine delivery, I think we are very fortunate. The subject of passes keeps coming up and my answer is, has been, and will always be, lets go slow, be persistent and allow American Airlines some time to assimilate all our people and the associated problems. I still feel that down the "pike", we will eventually have the same rights their retirees do. It makes sense and will surely decrease the paperwork required to keep us as a separate entity. My whole effort this year is going to be Convention, Convention, Convention! I have mentioned in my last letter that so much work goes into making these things happen. I want as many of you to show your support for those fine volunteers that take so much of their time to give us the "final product", so, show up, participate and most of all, enjoy each other. When we read the Flown West list every year, we often think, gee, I would have loved to see John Doe and his lovely wife one more time. Well, now IS the time. We are very fortunate to have secured one of the nicest hotels in Chicago for our and yes, Chicago is expensive, but, I believe we have made a wonderful deal and all to come and enjoy it. John Rohlfing is our Host this year and I know that committees will give us the " Chicago " welcome. Please sign up EARLY so we count of noses and send your money in early as tours fill up quickly. Will update you next issue.

Bob Dedman PAGE 3 ... TARPA TOPICS

gathering, I want you he and his can get a

EDITORS NOTE The tragedies of last year affected all Americans deeply in many different ways. The effects will be serious and long lasting. For us, it caused the cancellation of our Convention in Philadelphia. That is admittedly but an inconvenience in the larger sense; still it has had an effect on our 2002 Convention as well. The problem is that the loss of the last Convention delayed all the work, from site selection to Committee organization. These things have caused a change for TOPICS to the extent that the usual Cover Photograph and sign up materials are not included in with this issue. Downtown Chicago will be the site of the 2002 Convention. John Rohlfing will be the Chicago Convention Chairman. He has gathered a group of helpers and they have been busy organizing all the many things necessary for your entertainment. John promises to post all necessary information and sign up sheets on the TARPA Webpage. The information can be read and downloaded until the July issue arrives. You will notice that this is the second issue of TOPICS printed on improved paper stock. " It is the first issue using a new font, or type style. It is called "Georgia and we believe it will improve readability. We hope that you appreciate these subtle improvements. We also have reduced the size of our Directory, which as usual includes the TARPA By Laws and our "In Remembrance " Pages. This change results in a cost saving without sacrificing any of your information. The cover story features an interview of TWA Pioneer Captain Otis F. Bryan. It was part of a series compiled by the U.S. Air Force. I received a copy of it recently from a fellow student ' from our grade school in St. Louis named Jim Schmitt. He is married to Captain Bryan s ' daughter. He also put me in contact with Captain Bryan s son Otis Junior. The interview was quite lengthy, and so we include the first half here. We plan to publish the second half in the July issue of TOPICS. As you know, we featured TWA Flight Wing One in the November 2001 TOPICS. It was a struggle to find suitable photographs. A couple of months later, we received a large number of very artistic professional photographs of the TWA Landmark as a Christmas present. We have placed just three of them here inside the front and back covers. We received a request from a young man, Brian Perry, seeking information about his 1 " Grandfather Charles Clifford " Woody Woodall. Captain Woodall was with TWA from 945 until 1973. He was a JFK 747 Captain until he suffered from heart trouble. If you can help, contact Brian at 70 3-33 8 -4 28 5 . Because of errors in the appropriate dates in the last TOPICS, this issue includes a corrected Flown West Memorial for Captain Adolph Urbas. We sincerely regret the error. We welcome, indeed solicit, your contributions of stories and photographs. The deadline for the July issue is May 15, 2002.

Photos in this issue of TOPICS courtesy of: B. Dedman, D. King and D. McIntyre PAGE 4 ... TARPA TOPICS

SECRETARY/TREASURER

REPORT

JAN. 15, 2002 As of January 15, 2002, the membership is as follows: (R) Retired: 959 (A) Active: 72 (E) Eagles: 650 (H) Honorary: 403 TOTAL: 2084 There are also 55 subscribers to Topics, and 20 who receive complimentary copies. We have added 25 new members since the last Topics, they are listed in this issue. Here is the financial report for the 4 'h Quarter and the full Year of 2001:

The 2002 dues checks keep coming in every day, thanks for sending them on time. On a personal note, thank you to the many who sent messages to me along with your dues, it makes opening the stacks of envelopes more pleasant. I forwarded the ones containing news to Gene Richards for inclusion in the Grapevine. Please note my new address for future correspondence: P.O. Box 1871, Foley, AL 365361871, Phone: 251 955-1080. E-mail: rufus767Cuu70s :inter.net . See you in Chicago-

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TARPA, INC. CASH FLOW 111101-12131101

TARPA, INC.

CASH FLOW 04 2001

Welcome New Members

Al Hufford (spouse- Glenda) 11225 E. Hedgehog Pl. Scottsdale, AZ 85 255-5 201

Warren Nuffer (spouse- Virginia) 13219 W. Saguaro Lane Surprise, AZ 85374

James Needham 26 Foxbridge Village Rd. Branford, CT 06405

Theodore White (spouse- Sonia) Box 97 Oxford, MD 21654-0097

Laurie Woollett (spouse- Patricia) Box 7782 Breckenridge, CO 80 424-778 2

Lee Magnuson (spouse- Diane) 17315 Billings Road Lawson, MO 64062

Ron Elmone (spouse- Pat) 1428 Rockie Dr. 1 Grove, OK 74344-49 0

Ben Jones 2036 San Marino Way S. Clearwater, FL 33763

Hoot Gibson 1701 Fleetwood St. Boulder City, NV 89005

Butch Lambard (spouse- Helen) 8606 Bay View Dr. Foley, AL 36535-9 0 5 1

Arden Niswender (spouse- Sheryl) 12 Olde Rd. Hampton, NH 03842

Gary Lewis (spouse- Clara) 6901 S. Adams Way Centennial, CO 80122

Bob Scheu (spouse- Pat) 76 Wentworth Dr. Berkeley Heights, NJ 07922-1765

Larry O ' Day 1700 NW N River Dr., #408 Miami, FL 33125

Bob Chapman (spouse- Vikki ) 201 Ocean Bluffs Blvd., #301 Jupiter, FL 33477

Dennis West (spouse- Althea) 2052 Lost Meadow Dr. St. Charles, MO 63303

Chuck Leshe (sp- Maryvonne) P.O. Box 301 Moose, WY 83012

Phil Pirrotta (sp- Leslie) 14215 Bridge Ct. Lake Oswego, OR 97034

Ken Hill (sp- Maxine) 25 White Birch Rd. Madison, CT 06443-2077

Robert Evans (s -Jovonne) 8478 Mexico Rd. St. Peters, MO 63376-1104

Hunter Ludwig (sp- Rosina) 4710 Cranbrook Dr. W. Coffeyville, TX 76034-4367

Steve Zimbleman (Holly Hollander) 1 35 9 Padaro Lane Carpenteria, CA 93013

Richard Saltzman th 34 W 74 St. #2B New York, NY 10023

Ron Huff (spouse- Lynn) 15803 River Birch Way Houston, TX 770 59-40 75

Ian Duncan (spouse- Pamela) 10 Edson Av. Rutland, MA 01543-1757

Tom Damitz (spouse- Margie) 2-B Ridgewood Terr. Johnson City, TN 37601-1146

Joe DeCelles Jr. (sp- Irene) 5171 Big Ranch Rd. Napa, CA 94558-1002

Ingimar Thorgeirsson (sp-Judy) 56o NW Riverfront St. Bend, OR 97701

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TARPA AA TRANSITION REPORT Shortly after the TWA Bankruptcy and acquisition was announced TWA organized an official Retirees Committee pursuant to Bankruptcy Law. That Committee was, in this case, to review Retiree Medical and Dental Insurance programs to be offered by American Airlines. TARPA President Dedman asked me to represent TARPA because he was unable to attend the organizing meeting. The Committee was made up of the existing Retiree groups and the IAM. The Committee members elected me Chairperson. As authorized by Law, the Committee engaged the services of an experienced Legal team and an Actuarial firm. The Committee and their professional advisors were subsequently approved by the Court and have been active ever since. Not long after that, when AA indicated that TWA Retirees would not receive passes, President Dedman asked me to Chair a Committee, which he called "TARPA Compass". Other TARPA members volunteered their time and efforts to confront that problem. The Committee on passes which included, Fred Arenas, Al Mundo, John Rohlfing, David Saaks H. O. Van Zandt and Mal Yarke, with the guidance and assistance of Bob Dedman has been active in formulating and implementing our response from the outset. The Retirees ' Insurance Committee took issue with the Medical and Dental Insurance as proposed by American. At issue is the methodology used in the allocation of assets. The committee petitioned the Court for approval to depose the TWA Benefits official most closely involved so that we can obtain verification of our position. The Court did approve our request but, for a variety of reasons, that deposition has not yet occurred. If information gained from that deposition supports our position and if the Court agrees, it could result in a decrease in the amount TWA Retirees are charged for Medical and Dental Insurance. We believe in our case but it will not be easily won. " Our record on Passes and OAL Reduced Rates is quite a different story. From a start of No Passes " or Reduced Rates to our current situation of Passes and a growing list of OAL Reduced Rates, it now appears that we have a much better outcome than many thought possible in the beginning of the year. Once the logjam broke, I have found the American Airlines officials most helpful. They have been making a sincere and dedicated effort to enlist as many airlines as possible to provide TWA Retirees Reduced Rates. We have quite a few now. We will get more.

Finally, in the course of conversations with Bob Baker, it became apparent that we share an interest in Airline History, and I was pleased to learn that American Airlines had been in talks with St. Louis Airport officials to secure space for a TWA Museum. Naturally, American acquired a large number of things from the buyout, which can be considered "Memorabilia". They would like to have more. In several discussions with the Curator of the American Airlines C. R. Smith Museum in Fort Worth, we have agreed to work together on the TWA Museum in St. Louis and consider American's Museums a suitable repository for longtime preservation of TWA Memorabilia. Since the American Airline ' s C. R. Smith Museum is a tax exempt institution, any memorabilia donated would be approved for a tax deduction for the donor. Respectfully submitted: John P. Gratz PAGE 8 ... TARPA TOPICS

Dear TARPA Members: As you may know, originally the 2002 convention was to be in San Antonio. The venue was changed to Chicago in late November therefore the committee for " TARPA 2002 Chicago" got a late start in setting up the convention activities and tours. Because of this late start and the "TARPA TOPICS" publication deadline we were unable to have the tours and events ready for your review in the March "Topics" issue. The dates for the TARPA 2002 Chicago are from Tuesday September 16 , 2002 thru the departure date of Sunday September 22, 2002. If you want to make reservations at the Hyatt Regency Chicago the room rates are as follows: $130 for a single or double, $155 for a triple and $18o for a quad. If you're into suites the price starts at $565 and goes up from there. All applicable taxes apply to the above prices. For those of you that have computers check the TARPA website for an update as to our progress in setting up the tours and other interesting and fun things to do here in Chicago. We expect to have those activities available on the website by the time you read this. Below is a little background information for the "TARPA 2002 Chicago" convention and we hope to see you in September. Sincerely, John A. Rohlfing Committee Chairman.

TARPA 2002 Chicago Convention Committee Convention Chairman: John Rohlfing (630) 968-8484 Co-Chairman: Dave Saaks (847) 303-1425 Co-Chairman: Fred Arenas (847) 398-1331 Registration: Terry Cummings ( 8 47) 8 37- 0 453 Banquet: Barry Craig (847) 392-0238 Activities: Jeff Hill (815) 33 8 -355 1 Check-in/Registration: Gene Corcoran ( 8 47) 68 3-4733

The Hotel: Hyatt Regency Chicago On Chicago's Riverwalk 151 East Wacker Drive Chicago, IL 60601 Reservations: 1-800- 233-1234 TARPA Convention 2002

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HYATT FACT SHEET Ideally located one-half block off Chicago's "Magnificent Mile" Near Grant Park, Lake Michigan, Chicago River Walking distance to some of Chicago's finest restaurants, attractions, theaters, shopping, night spots, sporting and cultural attractions Close to both airports Seventeen miles to O ' Hare/Fifteen miles to Midway Part of the 83 acre indoor Illinois Center complex featuring: 150 stores and services including Forty-three restaurants and parking for over 1,400 cars

LOCATION:

FACILITIES:

DELUXE ACCOMMODATIONS OFFERING THE FOLLOWING SPECIAL AMENITIES TO OUR GUEST. Guest Rooms of 2,019 Over 175 Suites Oversized baths stocked with extra soap, shampoo, shower cap, lint and shoeshine mitt Wall mounted hair dryers Lighted expandable make-up/shaving mirror In-room first run movies No-smoking rooms/floors In-room close caption television viewing Special telephones available for the hearing impaired In-room international dialing State-of-the art life safety system "Forget It" program: Complimentary amenities for the forgetful traveler Self Service bars in guest rooms Evening Turn-down service - upon request Video and voice mail check-out Valet Parking for over 900 cars Refrigerators available upon request In-house laundry and Valet Service Voice Mail in every guest room

RESTAURANTS:-

All Season's Cafe: Regional cuisine in "Glass House Lobby" Stetson's Chop House and Bar: Specializing in steak and lobster with an exhibition kitchen The Skyway: Light fare breakfast and lunch in the glass-enclosed walkway connecting the twin towers Big: A Brassesrie and Bar: Over 1,400 spirits at a 228-foot bar

SERVICES:

Concierge staff on duty Multi-lingual staff Full service Business Center Continental Air Transportation bus service to both airports Travel agents within Illinois Center complex Affiliated with the Athletic Club, state-of-art/spa facility PAGE 10 ... TARPA TOPICS

The Hyatt is located on the South East corner of Michigan Avenue, the "Magnificent Mile", ' and the Chicago ' s Riverwalk. This hotel is just minutes from Chicago s Loop, shopping, entertainment, parks, museums, professional sports stadiums and other cultural attractions. It is an ideal location to experience the best Chicago has to offer. The Weather: Reputed to be the Windy City*, Chicago actually ranks 14th for wind velocity in the U.S. Weather from June until September is near-perfect for outdoor activities, but expect a few tropically hot days with temperature and humidity both hitting 100° (38° C). By mid-July and continuing through late September, Lake Michigan is perfect for swimming. The Lake's warm waters keep the city temperate throughout September with a high of 7o° F with the possibility of some early morning lows in the upper 40 ' s F. Local weather reporters often talk of "lake effect" to indicate conditions near Lake Michigan where the water temperature and wind make summer extremes more moderate and winter conditions may be more intense. It can get a little chilly if the wind's coming off the lake so plan on that. Windy City — Nicknamed for the politicians' ranting's and ravings and not the wind. One thing's for certain there will not be a lack of people to see, places to visit, or things to do. The following is a sample of some of the proposed activities and things to do in Chicago. Garfield Park Conservatory Jens Jensen, "the dean of Prairie landscape", designed the conservatory in 1906. This 2acre enclosed garden is the largest public horticultural collection under glass in the world. Lincoln Park Conservatory Located next to the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago's largest park, this horticultural collection, including a 50-foot tall fiddle leaf rubber tree dating from 1891, expands into four greenhouses and is well worth the visit. Chicago Botanic Garden Visit the Chicago Botanic Garden with its magnificent gardens on tranquil lagoons. On 385 acres of spectacular beauty ever changing with the seasons, it is the third most-visited botanic garden in the United States. Owned by the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, the Garden is a living museum that you can stroll through daily. Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum Reach for the stars at the Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum! Discover the wonders of the Universe in exciting new interactive exhibit galleries. Embark on a voyage in the world's first StarRider Theater or explore the heavens in the Sky Theater. Enjoy heavenly snacks and meals set against the Chicago skyline in Galileo's. The Field Museum From Kremlin Gold to Star Wars to Sue - The Field Museum provides a unique and dynamic experience for its visitors.

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Museum of Science and Industry Come visit Chicago's world famous original hands on museum. From your long-time favorites to our dazzling high-tech exhibits, you'll make your own adventure. Explore the ever-changing adventure at the Museum of Science and Industry. Shedd Aquarium Water your imagination at the John G. Shedd Aquarium, a mesmerizing introduction to aquatic life from around the world. From awe-inspiring whales, frolicking sea otters and lively penguins to streamlined sharks and exotic eels, Shedd Aquarium is home to a myriad of fascinating, colorful aquatic animals. The global collection includes more than 8,000 aquatic animals representing more than 65o species. Museum of Broadcast Communications The Museum of Broadcast Communications is one of only two broadcast museums in America, housing historic radio and television memorabilia, an extensive archive collection of over 85,000 hours of television and radio programming and home to America's only Radio Hall of Fame. The museum offers state-of-the art radio and television studios; where visitors have the opportunity to go "on-the air," plus a wide array of interactive exhibits and kiosks. Architecture River Cruise Marvel at the soaring towers of Chicago's Loop from sparkling river vistas. Presented by the Chicago Architecture Foundation, this 9o-minute tour, aboard Chicago's First Lady, spotlights 53 historic and architecturally significant sites. Navy Pier Navy Pier, a Chicago landmark since 1916, re-opened to the public as a world-class 1 recreation and exposition center in July of 995 .

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A MEMORABLE TRIP by Bob Dedman I always like reading about other people's adventures, interesting flights and events so I will throw this in the pile as " pretty exciting " to say the least. Back in 1972, I was a Reserve 707 Captain at JFK and since I lived only 20 minutes away, I was very often used for last minute quick " pop-up " trips. So is the case on Novermber 1st, 1972. I received the early morning call to cover a flight due to equipment substitution. I was to ferry a B-707-131B to PHL and then fly to STL- LAX, DH return (did a lot of that on reserve). When I checked in at JFK, I met my crew who were F/O Roger Meyers and F/E Ben Gregg plus a team of four reserve flight attendants. Our aircraft was at the hanger and was N6784. I don't remember if it had just come out of a check or not but it was ready to go. Flight to PHL was routine and flown by Mr. Meyers. Upon arrival at the PHL ramp office, we were informed that the weather in STL was very marginal with low ceilings and rain. We were infromed that we would have 94 passengers so since we had lots of open weight, I added fuel so as to be able to hold upon arrival if necessary with MKC being our alternate. Dispatch called and told me that aircraft were stacked at STL so we both agreed that the extra fuel was the way to go. Departure was normal and the weather was nice until around IND when we started seeing large cells. ATC was very good at getting us around everything and they also informed us that STL was holding all aircraft due to being below limits at times. We were finally cleared to the holding fix and I requested to stay high which was acceptable to ATC. Within 15 minutes of our arrival, the "stack" was starting to thin out as aircraft were going to their alternates to refuel. Low and behold, next thing we knew we were descended rapidly and cleared for the approach, landing to the NE. Upon reading the Approach Check List, we found that we were just at max. landing weight and that called for a pretty high bug speed. Since it was also raining pretty hard and was bumpy, I informed the crew that I would fly a Flight director approach to minimums and then out if no runway. Approach went well and upon nearing minimums, Mr. Meyers called "runway". I then went visual and landing was smooth like all "water" landings. Upon selecting reverse thrust, a HUGE fire ball from #2 engine came by my side window immediately followed by the dreaded bell. (Mr. Meyers said that I called out "silence the %@ #&% bell!...Don't recall saying that). The tower also informed us that we had a big fire ball (no kidding) and asked if we could pull off on the NW/SE runway which we did. We shut the engine down and fired both bottles at the appropriate time. I could hear screams of "fire" coming from the cabin. Since the Red light would not go out, I opened the side window and looked out to see what was going on. #2 engine was a halo of fire still so remembering what happened in Rome some years back, picked up the PA mike and ordered the aircraft to be evacuated. We shut down all engines and the F/E went back to his station in the rear. He really handled the passengers well and the only one that got away was a lady who climbed out on the wing and slid down the still extended flaps...she fractured an ankle. Mr. Meyers went back to aid the flight attendants and the crew got all of the people off

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through 3 exits in less than a minute and a half. Remarkable work to be sure. Mind you, all the flight attendants were reserve crew members. I told the tower to get fire equipment out pronto and was informed that they were there. Sure enough, as I made a final check of the cabin, and got my hat (mainly for recognition by passengers), I went down the R-1 door and saw this brave fireman in a silver suit go right up to the burning engine with a foam hose and extinguish it. I tried to gather up the crew and passengers but they were moving away from the aircraft towards the hangars and terminal. I do regret not having taken the megaphone upon leaving as I could not yell loud enough to be heard over the sirens and airport noise. The port authority sent out police vehicles and pickups and gathered the passengers. I finally got the crew together and we went to the terminal. I told them "don't make any statements to the press" since they distort everything. We went to the station managers office. Then the shaking started. My legs were like jelly. We were all a mess with white powder stains (from the chutes) all over our uniforms plus wet to the bone. The Media tried to interview the passengers but they could offer little except the Captain said evacuate due to fire so the Media went on a man hunt to find the crew. They went to the Ambassador Club, Baggage room, hangar and Ops but never found us. That is why you never heard about us. It only made the St. Louis paper, not national media. I called the Company and ALPA and gave them all I knew. We then found out that someone had called in seeing an aircraft burning on final approach. Had to be us but the high bug speed did not allow the flames to catch up until we landed. We were told to go to a motel and they would contact us which we did. We also went for a couple of big "snorts" to calm the nerves. ALPA Safety was first to call and very helpful. Company was also very nice to me.. I was told that the FAA would be contacting me. Next morning, the FAA came to my motel room and asked me the routine questions, they were very courteous and told me that due to the fact that all passengers got off safely, this would be handled as an incident, not an accident. (They were not aware of the lady on the wing yet). That morning, unbeknownst to me, the Company had rounded up the flight attendants and deadheaded them back to JFK. I wanted to take them all to dinner for the wonderful job they did. The cockpit crew was told to stay around to see what would develop. I spoke to the maintenance chief at STL and tried to find out what had happened. Well, on the JFC (jet fuel control), the return line, about 1 1/2 " diameter, had backed out of the pump housing and had sprayed high pressure fuel all through the pylon and the entire engine assembly. That is why we were burning in flight. Upon reversing, enough fuel got sucked in the front and ignited and also tore a 2 by 2 ft hole in the nacelle ( that's why the bottles did not slow the fire down, it went outside). [an aside...about a month later another aircraft was found to have the same problem so there was a fix issued for all aircraft]. The aircraft was grounded for about 5 days for repairs. The next day, the company called us (3 flight deck men), and told us that we were going to work another trip since they had no crew available. I informed them that we had no uniforms since ours were a mess. No problem you are authorized to fly in "civvies". That had to be a first on TWA. We went STL-ORD-CMH-CVG-LAX. We tried to stay out of view of the passengers as much as possible but with 4 legs, it was hard to do. All was routine PAGE 14 ... TARPA TOPICS

except we sure got some strange looks when we went to the head or over to ops for the paper work. Ah, security in those days was not a problem so we meandered across the ramps to the aircraft. After LAX. it was Deadhead back to JFK. I got a call from the FAA that they were changing the incident to an accident so could I come out to JFK and fill out the necessary papers plus written statements from the other 2 crew members. It seems that the lady who jumped off the wing (against Mr. Greggs pleading for her to come back in the aircraft and go down the chute) got herself a lawyer and he called the company. I then found out that you can "break" noses, toes and fingers and that is no problem but any other fracture changes the nature of the event. Anyway, all the papers were done and the FAA told me that the handling of the whole accident was exemplary, well executed and offered us their congratulations. Believe it or not, none in TWA ever told us that. I did find out that the Training Dept. at Bld 95 used my debriefing of the whole affair as a class room guide on what to do and the importance of communications with the crew....without any names, of course. After all these years, I still look back on that event and praise all of the training and the great instructors that we were so fortunate to have in TWA. for getting me ready just in case!!! They did a fine job often working well past their scheduled times to "help" students. That is why TWA had such a fine safety record. Keep the blue side up.

TARPA President Bob Dedman Joins Farewell Gathering as Last TWA Flight

3o3 Departs

Norfolk, VA December 1, 2001.

Bob Dedman along with Norfolk Station personnel and flight crew members salute the last TWA flight from Norfolk. Bob lobbied for and promoted all the Norfolk operations from the very beginning. He was friends with all of the TWA people in Norfolk and he and his wife Ilse regret the fact the many of those friends lost their jobs. PAGE 15 ... TARPA TOPICS

WALTER CRONKITE ' S SMARTEST MOVE by Bill Dixon Most people think Walter Cronkite, the eminent journalist, spent his entire working lifetime as a reporter, announcer, and later as CBS ' s distinguished TV anchorman. In fact, he pretty much did, starting in high school. He attained his greatest fame and respect in TV, but in the late 1930s, for about one year, he worked for Braniff Airways in Kansas City, Mo. His smartest move was not staying with Braniff! What a mistake that would have been! He was working for WKY radio in Oklahoma City, and was tiring of it, when the public relations manager there for Braniff Airways suggested he should join the new airline. He ended up as traffic manager in Kansas City, Mo., not in public relations as he had expected. As Cronkite said in his fascinating book, "A Reporter's life", published in 1996, the title "traffic manager" was a misnomer. The job really consisted of selling tickets and handling reservations out of the small downtown office in Kansas City's Muehlebach Hotel. That's where I met him. I was a ticket agent in the TWA office across the hall. We were youngesters. I was 21, he was 22. Cronkite's new job did offer some interesting aspects in the 1939-40 days. Airlines were in their infancy and the DC-3 was the coveted airliner, of which Braniff had none. It struggled to make a name, and eventually became a fairly well known airline, but went broke many ' years ago when it tried to expand too much. It overloaded on Boeing 747 S. As Cronkite reveals in his book, "I scored only one publicity coup in my year with Braniff. Sally Rand had won fame dancing nude behind a fan at the Chicago World's Fair. She had moved on to using a bubble to hide her charms. Personally I was confident that she wore a very thin leotard." But he wasn't able to prove it! He approached Sally about a publicity picture. After appearing at the Follies Burlesque in Kansas City, she was leaving KC for Chicago on a Braniff flight at the awful hour of 3:20 a.m. She agreed and posed on the plane's steps holding a balloon. He suggested how she should hold it. Fixing him with a withering look, she said: "Sonny boy. are you telling Sally Rand how to hold a balloon?" Chastised he was, but his picture made the papers. A few months later he grew anxious to return to the world in which he felt most comfortable, and joined the United Press in Kansas City. In the middle of all this, he, and his wife Betsy, even took some flying lessons. After he kept leveling out too high, his instructor suggested he forget about being a pilot! War clouds were gathering over Europe, and later covering the war from Britain gained him his first nationwide reportorial and radio prominence. TV fame was yet to come. What a loss it would have been to him, the journalistic profession, and the public had he remained with Braniff. At age 85, he still appears on TV from time to time on special projects and continues to command high respect.

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UNITED STATES AIR FORCE ORAL HISTORY PROGRAM An Interview of Otis F. Bryan by Dr. James C. Hasdorff December 14 -15, 1982 in Greeley, KS FOREWORD One of the oldest and oft-used sources for reconstructing the past is the personal recollections of the individuals who were involved. While of great value, memoirs and oral interviews are primary source documents rather than - finished history. The following pages are the personal remembrances of the interviewee and not the official opinion of the US Air Force Historical Program or of the Department of the Air Force. The Air Force has not verified the statements contained herein and does not assume any responsibility for their accuracy. These pages are a transcript of an oral interview recorded on magnetic tape. Editorial notes and additions made by US Air Force historians have been enclosed in brackets - When feasible, first names, ranks, or titles have been provided. Only minor changes for the sake of clarity were made before, the transcript was returned to the interviewee for final editing and approval. Readers must therefore remember that this is a transcript of the spoken, rather than the written word. KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS: That I, Otis F. Bryan have this day participated in an oral-magnetic - taped interview with Dr. James C. Hasdorff covering my best recollections of events and experiences which may be of historical significance to the United States Air Force. I understand that the tape(s), and the transcribed manuscript resulting therefrom will be accessioned into the Albert F. Simpson Historical Research Center to be used as the security classification permits. In the best interest of the United States Air Force, I do hereby voluntarily give, transfer, convey, and assign all right, title, and interest in the memoirs and remembrances contained in the aforementioned magnetic tapes and manuscript to the Office of Air Force History, acting on behalf of the United States of America, to have and to hold the same forever. /s/ Otis F. Bryan Dec 15 1982 Accepted on behalf of Office of Airline History /s/ James C. Hasdorff

Mr. Otis F. Bryan Mr. Otis F. Bryan was born 3 January 1908, near Seymour, Indiana. He attended the University of Indiana and while there was active in the Reserve Officer Training Corps. In 1927, he received an appointment as a flying cadet, and graduated in February 1929 as a pursuit pilot. He was then assigned to the 2d Bombardment Group at Langley Field, Virginia. PAGE 17 ... TARPA TOPICS

Mr. Bryan left the Air Corps in June 1929 and became a co-pilot with Transcontinental Air Transport, later called TWA (Trans World Airlines, Inc.). TWA had the government mail contract until January 1934, and he flew the mailplanes. He was promoted to Assistant Chief Pilot for TWA and then served as Chief Pilot from 1939 to 1941. He later became vice president of TWA in charge of all war contracts. During his time with TWA, he was associated with the late Howard Hughes. During various times in his 19-year career with TWA, he was recalled to active duty. He was selected to set up the Eagle Nest Flight Test Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to train Air Corps pilots. He also set up a school at TWA and trained pilots as celestial navigators. While on active duty, he flew several conference flights taking President Roosevelt to Casablanca, Cairo, and Yalta. He also flew other prominent personalities such as General Eisenhower, General Marshall, and President Inonu of Turkey. In addition, during the war he flew numerous trips overseas carrying supplies and personnel. He received personal letters of appreciation from President Roosevelt, General Eisenhower, General Marshall, Admiral Leahy, and several others. Mr. Bryan left TWA in 1948 to go to work as vice president of Soriano and Company in the Philippines. In this capacity, he served as executive vice president of the Philippine airlines, director of Muehlbach Brewery in Kansas City, and was also responsible for other worldwide holdings. Later he went to work for General Precision in Binghamton, New York, as vice president and assistant to the president. Mr. Bryan retired in 1973 and now lives in Greeley, Kansas, where he presently is in the farming and ranching business. He is married and has two children. Oral History Interview #1(239.0512 1361 14 15 H:

To begin the interview this morning, Mr. Bryan, I ' d like to ask you a few questions about your early family life. How large a family did you come from?

I came from a family of 11 children. I was about the middle the sixth one. We lived on a farm near Seymour, Indiana. My father was, of course, a farmer and I went to grade school at a country school. Then I went to high school at a little town, Tampico. Then I went to the University of Indiana for 3 years.

What year were you born?

I was born 3 January 1908.

What particular reason made you interested in going to college then?

I had an older brother who had graduated from Indiana University. Then my older sisters had gone to universities, and I thought I'd go to the university too. So I selected Indiana University and I majored in mathematics and minored in chemistry and. did some engineering work. I might say, as far as my family is concerned, the name

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Bryan, they came from Tennessee originally. My great-grandfather and William Jennings [Bryan] father were brothers. That information was given to me by my grandmother before she passed away many years ago. The remainder of the Bryan family moved to Texas and southern Illinois. That's where William J. went to, was southern Illinois. With that background, it behooved all of us to do the best we could there and go to the university and get an education. H:

Do you keep in contact with the Bryan bunch that went to Texas?

I've met a few of them down there, and it was only when I traveled in Texas quite a bitâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;just as a casual acquaintance. They are located mainly around Bryan, Texas.

Was that named after them?

It was named after the Bryan group that went there.

It ' s surprising that you didn ' t wind up being an "Aggie " then. (laughter) What prompted your interest in aviation?

I remember that very clearly. At Indiana University, I was quite active in ROTC [Reserve Officers Training Corps]. I was one of the top group. In May or June 1927, my squadron - it was the Infantry - my company was taking ROTC training at Fort Knox, Kentucky. In those days we were treated as privates when we began our training. One of the things, among others, that we had to do was to carry a 43pound pack around on our back, a rifle, and ammunition. A good close friend of mine, A. B. Farb and I were there when the news came that Lindbergh (Brig Gen Charles A.) had flown to Paris. We were out on the field there with the temperature about 110 degrees, carrying this weight around. I decided right then and there that it might be easier to be in a cockpit flying over the ground than it would be carrying that rifle around on the ground. So I came back to the University that fall and contacted a gentleman who was the Dean of Law, Col. Paul V. McNutt. He wrote a recommendation for me to the Air Force - Air Corps at that time and recommended me for a position as a flying cadet, which came to pass with that winter.

What year was this?

This was in 1927.

Where did you take your flying training?

I took my flying training, basic training, at March Field, Riverside, California; then my advanced training at Kelly Field, San Antonio, Texas.

It was March and Randolph where .. .

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Excuse me, this was before Randolph was built. Randolph was not built until years later.

That ' s right, 1932, I think.

Somewhere thereabouts, yes.

What types of aircraft did you train in back then?

We had PT-l 's and -3 's. The PT-1 was a small biplane. with an Italian Hisso engine in it. That ' s what I soloed, and I took my first flight in that on 2 April 1928. Six hours later, I made my first solo flight on 9 April 1928; a. 15-minute flight which I'll never forget.

H:'

Did you have any moments of doubt?

No, I don't think so.

When I got You hear back then that the washout rates were tremendous. Yes. the appointment as a flying cadet, I took my physical and mental examinations at Rantoul, Illinois. There were 75 of us from Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Iowa that gathered there to take our physical and mental examinations. Of the 75, only 2 passed; I was fortunate enough to be one of them. When I took this examination, before I went in - I was only 19 and you had to be 2oto get this appointment or have your parent's written consent. Well, my mother wouldn't sign my written consent, so I automatically became one year older. I became 20 when I went there. Then we went to March Field for our basic training; 8 months. When we got there, there were 110 of us that started, and only 27 finished at March Field and went to Kelly. That was the ratio, and they called them "washouts" in those daysâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the cadets. Of course you got washed out for practically anything.

' Is there any particular reason why your mother wouldn t sign this paper?

She thought it was too dangerous back in those days for anyone to take up flying.

They did have a high attrition rate.

Oh yes, yes they did.

What was your first assignment then?

I went to March Field for 8 months and then I went to Kelly Field for 4 months and graduated as a pursuit pilot. Today, you'd call him a fighter pilot, then in February 1929 at Langley Field, Hampton, Virginia, as a pilot with the 2d Bombardment Group. In June, I became associated with the airline, Transcontinental Air Transport. PAGE 20 ... TARPA TOPICS

H: B:

Who were some of your classmates in flying school that may have reached distinction later on? Do you remember? Well, there were several. One was " Possum " Hansell [Maj. Gen. Haywood S. Jr.], General Hansell, during World War II.

I know him.

"Tommy" Power [Gen. Thomas S.] he was head of Strategic Air Command for some time. He passed away several years ago. Then there were several others, most of which became involved in World War II. I remember a wonderful fellow, "Louie" Parker [Maj. Gen. Lewis R.]. He was a full colonel, and went to Europe to get his five trips over Germany, and then he was going to be assigned a group out in the Pacific for the Pacific war. On his fifth trip, he got shot down in Germany and spent the rest of the war in a prison camp. When he came back to Washington, the first thing he did was to call me. It was, wonderful to see him. He spent practically 3 years in a prison camp. There were others; I forget their names, but here is a group. A fellow named Wallace; I think he just passed away. Hansell, Reed, Mickel, and there was a fellow named Saunders who did quite a job. Most of them were promoted to colonel and some of them were killed in World War II. I guess Power and Possum Hansell were two of the outstanding ones.

Your son notes here, following your tour at Langley, that you had a flight in a free balloon. What was the occasion for this?

I believe that must be in error. My father-in-law, my wife's father, was a colonel in the Signal Corps and he was a pilot of a free balloon. I think what my son might be referring to was a parachute jump that I made one time at Langley Field. I never have been in a free balloon, I'm sorry.

What was the parachute jump all about?

They wanted someone to jump for the movies back in those days practice jumps. They asked the last guy on the totem pole there - which happened to be me at that time, 6 - if I would jump and I said, "Sure." We had to jump tight over the center of the field, but there was a high-tension line on the east side of the field, and I had just enough drift for the edge of the parachute to hit the high-tension wires after I came down. And that was real exciting - not the jump. I forgot about jumping, but it's a beautiful thing to ride down. The high tension wires - the parachute fabric just scraped them on the way down, everybody thought I was going into them. I think that's what he probably refers to.

Did you have any aircraft accidents?

Not during that period. I've never had any real bad accidents. I had one where some engines quit and made me mess up the landing gear or something like that. I was

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with a fellow, a classmate of mine, when he was checking out on the LB-5 bomber. Both engines quit and we landed out in the woods and tore it all to pieces, It's a wonder it didn't kill both of us, but neither one of us got a scratch. I made that flight just after I'd taken a physical examination. When the commanding officer and everybody got out there, they were just amazed that we were still walking around with nothing bothering US. H:

You must have had a rabbit's foot that day.

I sure did. That's the only major accident that I had, where we had a lot of damage to the aircraft.

How long were you on active duty during this period?

From February to June that year; about 5 or 6 months.

Is there any particular reason why you left the Air Corps at that time?

Well, they were coming around hiring copilots, us younger pilots, for the airlines. The representative of the airline had just been there and several of my friends went to the airlines and I did too. I joined them. They resigned - in those days; you were ' just on active duty. You could get out at any time you wanted to. So that s how I got out - I resigned my active duty and became a copilot with TAT, Transcontinental Air Transport, in Saint Louis.

' You hadn t gotten a Regular commission?

No.

Is this one of the things that prompted you to go ahead and find work with civilian industry, that you didn't have a "Regular" at the time?

Yes, that's one thing. You could get Regular commissions down the road, but it wasn't like they did later on, where they automatically gave you commissions when you graduated.

I know in the early days of the depression that it was very difficult to get a Regular commission. Most of the young pilots served one year active duty and either reverted to enlisted status or had to get out altogether. I don't think there was a time limit on it, but today, I think three years on active duty, and then you had to get out or had to have a Regular commission. At that time there were very few aircraft, and I must remind you that the total Air Corps at that time - the total number of officers in the Air Corps - was somewhere in the neighborhood of 300. You even knew them all, or you knew them by name. It was a close-knit group.

They didn't have many planes and they didn't have funds to build planes. What we were doingâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the PT-3s and the DH's [De Havillands] we flew, and the old bombers PAGE 22 ... TARPA TOPICS

were old wartime, left over from World War I. They were scarce and there were no funds to build new planes for these groupsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;a very small amount of funds. They had Wright Field, and some companies, I guess, built a few airplanes for the Air Corps - a very few. The morale was not high. It was a case where you wouldâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;you know, here is a good job coming along. The airlines just starting up, and getting in on the ground floor. It looked rather attractive to us. H:

This company you mentioned that you went with, is this what became TWA [Trans World Airlines, Inc.] later on?

Yes. It had several changes. It was Transcontinental Air Transport, then it was Transcontinental Maddux, then it was Transcontinental Western Air, and then it was Trans World Airlines. Today I think it is just plain TWA, I think that ' s the corporate name. There were changes all through it.

Was this a pretty small company itself at that time?

Yes. We had 17 first pilots, the captain was called a first pilot then, and 17 copilots. That was the first group.

Where did you fly in particular?

Bryan, middle row 2nd from right B:

I was based in Saint Louis, and I flew mainly from Saint Louis to Waynoka, Oklahoma. I would also relieve some on vacation. Pilots would want to take time off for vacation. Sometimes- I would go to Los Angeles, or sometimes I would go to Waynoka where we had a pilot base.

What type of aircraft were you flying then?

Fords, Tri-motor Fords.

Was this an interesting airplane to fly?

At that time it was. The Tri-motor Ford was a well-built airplane. As a matter of fact it is said that Henry Ford said that the Tri-motor Ford, if they ever built one that caused a malfunction in the air to kill anyone, they would no longer be in the airplane business. He would quit. Those Fords were really built; they were put together, and

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they were good airplanes in those days. The ones that crashed were the ones that were caused by weather, pilot error, or something of that nature. For the time, they were excellent. H:

I wonder if you could speculate why Ford didn't continue in the aircraft business.

I could only harbor a guess. You must recall now that we're talking about the period of 1929 and 1930. Right at the height of the worst depression in the world. I was 1 telling somebody recently that we think unemployment is high now, but in 933, unemployment in this country was 24.9 percent. Henry Ford was busy building Fords, Model-A Fords. To answer your question, I can only suspect that the economic conditions prevalent at that time forced, him to retrench, and he decided that he would do away with the airplanes because no one was buying any. By that time, Fokker had come along—importing tri-motor Fokkers from Holland. They were making a dent. Really, no airline was buying any airplanes, so there was really not much use for a manufacturer to be in business in those days. That's about as good as I can guess as to what might have happened.

Your son noted that you also flew the mail.

Yes.

Could you go into some detail about that?

I must generalize some things here and ramble around over the years. First thing, let me tell you how TAT came into being. In December 1926 - no, the fall of 1927, four men sat down to lunch at the Engineer's Club in New York City. They were Paul Henderson, who w as the Assistant Postmaster General. There was a lawyer named Cuthrell, and there was a man named C. M. Keyes from the Pennsylvania Railroad, and Lindbergh. Postmaster General Henderson was quite an avid enthusiast on aviation While at the table, he pulled out of his pocket an envelope, and on it he had sketched the possibility of an airline flying in the daytime—taking the train at night—from New York to Los Angeles. Take the train at night out of New York to Columbus, Ohio. In the daytime they would fly from Columbus, Ohio, in tri-motor Fords with passengers to Waynoka, Oklahoma. At night they would take the train from Waynoka to Clovis, New Mexico. Then from Clovis they would fly the next day into Los Angeles. That-would give a passenger the ability to go from New York to Los Angeles in 48 hours, an unheard of time in those days. He passed this envelope around and said, "If you think this has merit, let's discuss it. If you think it hasn't any merit, let's drop it." So they passed it around and they all started talking, they all agreed it had merit, and they all decided that they would get the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Santa Fe to put up $5 million to start the airline. They were just talking, you know. Well that finally came to pass. C. M. Keyes was made president of the corporate organization that was set up later in the next " year. He hired Paul Collins. Paul Collins was an old airmail pilot—"Dog Collins

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they called him. I don't know why he got stuck with that name, but he was a very intelligent fellow but also had a tendency to be a little bit lazy. The story goes that he was flying the mail from New York to Cleveland, across the Alleghenies. The weather got real bad and he landed at an emergency airport, called the Postmaster, and the Postmaster sent out a truck. The truck driver said, "Well you'll have to load the mail out of the plane into the truck." He said, "What?" He said, "Yes, you'll have to load the mail out of the plane into the truck." He said, " Well, to hell with it." He took off and went on through the weather into Cleveland rather than unload the mail I don't think that happened, but that's the story they told us. He was a great guy, a wonderful fellow. He set up the necessary things. He bought 10 tri-motor Fords. He built airports, he got the maintenance crew, he got the sales department, he got the rights from Paul Henderson and the government - all those things had to be done and set up headquarters in the Scruggs, Vandervoort and Barney, building in Saint Louis. When he was assembling these people that's how I came as a copilot, when he hired the pilots in June of that year. H:

What year is this now?

This was May or June 1929.

Right before the big crash?

Yes. The $5 million was gone within a year. Paul Henderson, as Postmaster General, came forward and said, "We'll give you a subsidy to fly the mail, but we will not give it on any duplicate routes. Any two airlines that flies over the same route, you'll have to merge. So, TAT, the first merger they made, was with both TAT and Western Air flew from Kansas City to Los Angeles. Of course TWA flew onto Columbus, Ohio. So they merged and called it one company, Transcontinental Western Air. That was the first merger. Then they said, as a result of that, you must get some mail planes, strictly mailplanes, to take the mail through when the passenger plane cannot fly on account of weather. So they acquired 14 Northrop Alphas. They first hired a bunch of pilots, just outside pilots, for mailplanes. The results were very bad. They crashed two or three of them the first three of four nights, so they took a bunch of us copilots off of the Fords and gave us some training, and put us on the mailplanes. That's how I got to fly the mailplane.

How did this tie in with the military handling the flying of the mail? It was a catastrophe when they got involved in it.

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We flew the mail in the Northrop and did an excellent job, if I do say so. We took up instrument flying. We flew weather, and we flew long range. These Northrop Alphas had enough range that if we were going from Kansas City to Saint Louis and couldn't get down at Saint Louis, we had enough fuel to go ahead to Indianapolis - this kind of thing. We put a lot of flights through when some of the other airlines flying different types of mailplanes didn't go through. To answer your question, we had quite a reputation then of flying the mail - the airlines did. If you recall now, we were in the greatest depression, and Roosevelt (President Franklin D.) had come on stream. Then everything changed. Roosevelt's Postmaster General (?) James A. Farley said that when Postmaster General Henderson made these airlines get together that they had collusion. They divied up what they wanted. He said that was strictly illegal. Then 19 January 1934, after we'd flown mail for 3 years, he cancelled all of the mail contracts. Farley cancelled all of the mail contracts; every one of them. He said that the Air Force would fly the mail. He had checked with some officer and he said, "Sure, we can fly the mail;" Well the Air Force was not equipped to do any night flying. They were-not equipped', they were not trained, they didn't have the equipment to fly, the radios they needed to fly by instruments and so forth, and in about the first 2 weeks they killed 10 pilots or something like that. So then they opened it all up for bids again. This time when they opened it up for bids, they said, "No more single-engine mailplanes. You have to carry the mail on your passenger planes." That's when United used to fly from Chicago to Dallas, through Kansas City and Tulsa. Well Braniff underbid them and got that route. That's how Braniff got in the airmail business. Of course it's unfortunate that they got out recently too. TWA got its routes back from New York to Los Angeles--

United Airlines received a route from New York to Chicago to Salt Lake City to Los Angeles and San Francisco. Northwest Airlines got the northern route from Chicago to Washington and Seattle. American Airlines got the southern route. Then there were other smaller airlines operating as regional air carriersâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;got mail routesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;in this new bid for airmail routes. Going back to the Air Force, it was unfortunate in a way, but actually the things that came about because of the Air Force's inability to fly the mail, really made the Air Force at that time. People began to realize that the Air Force would have to have good equipment, it would have to be trained in instrument flying, and the pilots would have to be trained in that, which evolved from all of that.

So it did have some good after all.

After all. Some of those things seemed terrible at the time, but usually there is some good that comes out of it someplace.

Did this hurt the commercial airlines during the period when the mail was taken away from them?

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No. We had to refinance a time or two. General Motors for instance had to come in with money for TWA at one time. Lehman brothers, a little after that, bought out TWA. John D. Hertz bought the company. All these changes were brought about because they were losing money. They had put in $5 million but in a year the $5 million was gone and they had to get somebody to put in more money. Of course the airlines being popular those days, we had a wonderful fellow at the head of it when TAT was merged with Western became Transcontinental Western Air, a fellow named Jack Frye was made executive vice president. And a fellow named Richard Robins was made president. Then when they had this airmail cancellation in January 1 934, Farley accused some of the presidents of being present at this meeting where the airlines divvied up the mail contracts in collusion, and he accused Robins of being present. Robins was not permitted to be in the new airline. Frye, who had been a very capable executive vice president, was made president of the company. Frye's ability—he was a wonderful fellow—promotion, foresight, and hard work, that steered TWA through the World War II era and ended up with the best routes in the world of any airline.

How were you doing in the way of promotions during these years?

I was very fortunate in being at the right place at the right time. I started in as copilot, and six months later I was made first pilot. I flew first pilot on tri-motor Fords when I was 21 years old. After the mail cancellation, I flew Fords for about a year, and then I was made a division chief pilot of the eastern division. I had charge of all the pilots flying east of Kansas City. I handled that for about 2 years and then the chief pilot wanted somebody to come in and do his paperwork more than anything else I think, so he selected me to come in and be assistant chief pilot of the whole system. In the fall of 1939, he was killed in an aircraft accident at Boeing. So I replaced him then as chief pilot of the whole company in 1939. 1 served in that position for about 2 years, and then the United States—before war was declared—was sending equipment, airplanes, to England under lend-lease. Many pilots were trying to fly from Gander, Newfoundland to Prestwick, Scotland; fly these planes over. Because of the subs, they couldn't ship them over. The results were disastrous. They weren't trained properly to fly in that kind of weather. They just picked up at random barnstorming pilots from here and there and expected them to fly across the Atlantic Ocean. They didn't have the equipment, and in those days didn't have proper radios. That's another matter. We navigated mainly by celestial navigation. General Arnold [Henry H.] came to Jack Frye in Kansas City in May 1941, and he said, "We want you to set up a school, a flight training school. You go find an airport at any Army base you can use, take some of your pilots and crews, and set up, a school and train these civilian pilots to fly across the Atlantic. Train them at least as a workable team and do what you can to get them in shape so that they can fly an airplane from Gander to Prestwick."

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Well that was not too difficult within itself if you had the basic pilot, because you could almost tell him step by step what to do; get him a book. So he said, "I want the best man that you have to head that up, because this is important. We can't do it— the Air Force can't do it—because we are not at war; we are not under lend-lease." I'm being a little immodest here, but he said, "You have, a fellow that has a pretty good reputation. I know that he's a celestial navigator and he did some work at Seattle on the Stratoliners that you built. He was up there for a while and I saw him and talked to him. I think he would be a good man for this." Jack Frye said, "Well, who's this?" He said, "Otis Bryan. If you can put him in charge of this school, I think we'll have it in good hands." So I was selected; I had no choice. So, I set up Eagle Nest Flight Center out at Albuquerque, New Mexico. We gave these people intensive training; the crews, the engineer, the navigator, and the two pilots, on B-24 ' s, a four-engine bomber, for 30 days. They got pretty decent and we shipped them up to Newfoundland where they started ferrying these aircraft across. H:

This was a contract thing?

Yes, with the US Government. That was 1941. That date when we set up the school was May 1941. I served as chief pilot from 1939 to 1941 until I was transferred to this. When Pearl Harbor came along and war was declared, we had five Stratoliners - we, I say TWA - four-engine transports, the only land planes that could fly across the ocean. Pan Am could fly their boats, but they were slow and cumbersome. We had the only land planes. So the Air Force came and bought them. They said, "We want you, Mr. President of TWA, to set up an airline from Washington, DC, to Cairo, Egypt, with these five planes. We'll furnish the fields. The fields will be there, but we want your people to take care of them, and all the work"—which was modified somewhat a little later, but basically that was it. So I was out at Albuquerque at this school working night and day. This happened just before Christmas. After Christmas I came to Kansas City to go down on the southern reserve and do a little quail hunting while I had a few days off. When I got off the plane, the President's aide was there and he said, "Mr. Frye wants to see you." I was dirty and tired. I had been riding most of the night. I said, "Well let me clean up and I'll come down." He said, "No, he wants to see you now." So I went down and he told me about selling these airplanes. He said, "We've got to get someone-to take this division over, get the-proper help and everything, and set

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this thing up. General Arnold, again has suggested you." I said, "Well I came here to go quail hunting." He said, "Well, how long are you going to be down there?" I said, "Well, 3 or 4 days." He said, "Take my plane, go down there, and come back this evening." So that was how I got into that. I set up that division at Washington DC. That later expanded quite large. We had 7,000 people there when the war was over. After the first flight of Roosevelt to Casablanca—that was his first flight—they made me a Vice-President of TWA and put me in charge of all of their war contracts. We had that and we had two modifications Centers here and then we had another unit that was doing some secret test work. I had charge of all of that during World War II. After World War II, I was made general manager, and set up the international division flying as far as India. I set that up after World War II and then problems began to develop in the company with Jack Frye and Howard Hughes, which is quite a story. Does that give you a chronological order? H:

Yes. Was it during that time that you set up this school in Albuquerque that you first came into contact with Arnold?

No. I'll tell you how that occurred. The first B-17's - you're familiar with them. Flying Fortresses were assigned to the 2d Bombardment Group at Langley Field Hampton, Virginia. "Bob" Olds [Maj. Gen. Robert], who was a full colonel then, was commanding officer of the Group. He invited me down to spend a month there on active duty and to check out on the B-17. Up to that point, I'd never flown anything but Fords and mailplanes. He knew that I had technical experience in mail weather, and so forth, and he wanted me to give him a detailed report on my observation of these planes. That was his purpose in having me down. So I did, I went there. I think it was in the month of June 1936 that I spent at Langley Field doing this. When I finished, I wrote a 15-page report on various components, how they fit in. Some were doing excellent, some were marginal, and a couple would be doubtful, which Bob Olds appreciated. These were things that he was trying to get done and I needed a little help on. On my report—and I gave a copy of this to Jack Frye. At the end of my report, I said that this B-17, if the turbo superchargers were eliminated and a different engine used, and a different fuselage, this had the possibility of being a good airline transport plane. I went on to tell why in detail. I didn't think anything more on that, and about 2 years later Mr. Frye called me up to the office—I was assistant chief pilot at the time - and said, "We're building this plane, the Boeing 307 transport," which was exactly what I had suggested. It was the same wing; same structure and everything;

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different fuselage, different engines, and they put some other things in it. They put pressure—the first pressurized job. It was a Boeing 307. He said, "I've talked to Harlan"—that was Harlan Hull, chief pilot—"and I'd like for you to go up to Boeing and take over the design and engineering of the cockpit." I'd fussed at him at times because you would get in one of those Fords, and some engineer who had never flown and never been in a pilot's position, designed where the instruments would go. He might have the turn and bank over here, and the rate of climb here, the altimeter down here. It was sort of a hodgepodge of instruments. So I spent quite a bit of time designing an instrument panel, with the basic flight instruments, and then I put the engine instruments someplace else around. The pilot had a basic panel. All he had to do was look at these six instruments to fly by instruments. While I was doing this, they were building quite a few Flying Fortresses and General Arnold came by one day to look at the Stratoliner. I showed him what I had done and spent quite some time talking to him about it. That was really my first contact with him. So when he wanted, the pilots trained to fly over from Newfoundland to Prestwick, he remembered me from that. So that was my first contact with him. H:

What about " Tooey Spaatz [Gen. Carl]?

I didn't know Spaatz too well. I just net him and talked to him at times. I think I flew him a couple of times. He was a great officer, "Tooey" Spaatz. He did a lot for us.

What was your appreciation of General Arnold?

General Arnold, to me, was the one man for that job during World War II. He was a pilot. He had an excellent personality. He had a charisma that he could get people to do things, do the impossible at times. On the other hand, he was tough and ran a tight ship and made people adhere to the rules. Then probably the most outstanding thing he had was General Marshall. He had a lot of confidence in him. You see, at that time, the Air Corps was under the Army. He was very capable. He was foresighted. He was big enough to see—so many officers in World War II had a too li mited vision. They couldn't see what was necessary, like Germany and all the things that were going on over there; the logistics, the supplies, and the personnel. After all, we had about 13 million men fighting at the end of World War II, and thousands and thousands of pilots and airplanes and so forth. So it took a man of that caliber. I don't suppose there were a half a dozen men in the Air Force that were capable of doing that.

Would you term him a "workaholic?"

Yes, I would think so. He loved to work. He didn't stay in the office; he got out in the field. He got with the men.

You know that eventually caused him some severe health problems.

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Yes. I'm a little bit familiar with that. He had a heart attack—I don't know how severe or how bad—near the end of the war. Marshall wanted him to retire, and I think Roosevelt did too. He talked them in—he said, "If I kick the bucket, that's all right. I want to finish this job." So he talked them into letting him stay in. He felt it was his duty.

Were you actually brought onto active duty yourself during the war?

Well, yes and no. On the flight to Casablanca, I was running this division. We were commercial pilots under contract to the Air Transport Command at that time, Bob Olds' old outfit. I was a civilian on that flight. On the next trip, I was ordered to active duty, and my crew was ordered to active duty. I selected my crew, and was ordered to active duty. I was a major on that trip. Then on to Yalta. I was ordered to active duty as command pilot and promoted to lieutenant colonel.

Were you actually credited with any service time for doing this?

Yes, I suppose that I 've had a total of 2 years service time, counting my training time and everything. And then active duty during some of the years after that; 2 weeks a month active duty occasionally.

Before we specifically get into these various trips you made with the President, you mentioned Howard Hughes a few minutes ago. Would you go into some detail of your association with him?

Well, let me start again, back a little bit. This may be one of those sensitive areas— some of the things I'm going to tell you. You'll have to be the judge. I trust you to be the judge on this.

Certainly.

I don't think there is anything here that is going to be obnoxious, but there might be. When John D. Hertz in 1938 owned TWA (I ' ll call it TWA) it was Transcontinental Western Air. He ran it, they said, like a car rental agency. The two top men, Jack Frye, and Paul Richter were executive vice president, a very capable man. Paul was a solid, day-to-day type fellow. Jack was more visionary, planning-in-the-future type of fellow. They worked well together. They became very discouraged with Hertz. It got to the point where they decided to resign. Without going into the details, it reached that point. So they talked and said, "Well what will we do?" Both of them had flown as pilots in "Hells Angels," when Howard Hughes made the movie "Hells Angels." Both of them knew Howard. They also knew that Pacific Air Transport, the airline that later became part of United, flying from San Diego to Seattle—a fellow named P. G. Johnson owned it—was for sale at a very good price. So they called Howard and said, "We'd like to come out and talk to you." Howard said, "Fine, come ahead." They went to Los Angeles and met in one of Howard's PAGE 31 ... TARPA TOPICS

houses. He always kept two or three extra houses around to hold important meetings, and had security around where no one could get into them, or make damn sure that no one would be overhearing what they said. They came in there one Sunday morning and talked to Howard all morning. They gave him a plan, and told him that Hertz— they were polite about it. They said, "It's his airline. He can run it any way he wants to, but we just can't stay there. We'd like to see you buy this airline running up and down the coast here, and let us run it for you." So they talked about all the details, about buying it, the price, what they could operate, the aircraft, and problems like that all morning. They finally went to lunch. After lunch they came back about 3:00 or 4:0o and when they sat down at the table the first thing Howard said was—he looked at them and said, "Why don't we buy TWA?" It took them both back, you know, because TWA was, by that time, a large company. They said, "Well we think that's possible, but we didn't think you'd want to put that kind of money into an airline." He said, "Yes, I think that would be a good idea to buy TWA." So Jack Frye came back to Kansas City—his office was here—and got the stockholders list. So they talked this over in detail and I think they had further meetings. Howard told Jack, "You buy all the stock you can of TWA. Buy it. Hughes Tool Company will take care of the transactions and pay for it and so forth. You buy it as cheap as you can, of course, but buy control." So Jack got the stockholders list. He got the names of everybody and everything, and started buying this stock. I'm not just sure how much he bought, but it was a little over 50 percent for Howard Hughes at that time. An average share, I think, cost him between $7 and $8—an average of that. That's how Howard Hughes got into TWA. I got this story from Jack Frye himself who told it to me. He told me details about this, so I know it's true. H:

How long did Howard Hughes retain these shares in TWA?

Later on, he kept buying himself and I think he finally got up to around 70 percent ownership. The Constellation was an airplane that he and Jack Frye worked on prior to World War II. They would have had that airplane flying before anyone knew it—the competitors. There were only four people in TWA that knew they were going to build the Constellation outside of Frye, Hughes, and Richter. They swore Lockheed to secrecy. At that time, Lockheed took a hangar and made two hangars out of it. You had to go through the same door to get to-each one of them. But on the right was a huge bomber. On the left there was a secret door and that was where they built the Constellation. They had it just about ready to fly when World War II came along. Of course the Air Force decided to build the Douglas C-54 for the transport during the war, and they put a stop on the building of the Constellation, until later on in the war. That airplane would have been test flown, and none of our competitors knew it was even being built. Howard and Jack Frye did most of the work on this themselves. That's the kind of a fellow he was. He was leaning toward the technical side. He was more of a technical man than anything else. After the war, or later in the war, they got permission to go ahead and build it. They built it and flew it, and it became quite an airplane after the war. I suppose they did build hundreds of them. During this period, at the end of the war, Jack Frye asked

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me to make a memo on how many Constellations we would need for the airline after the war. I prepared a rough memorandum for him and estimated that it would take about $8o million to buy these aircraft, and get them to service the parts and everything. He raised the figures to $10o million, and then went out and talked to Howard. Howard said, "Well, I think your $100 million is a little low. Let's make it $120 million." He said, "You let the company borrow $40 million from some insurance company or wherever you can borrow it, and I will put in $40 million out of Hughes Tool, and we'll issue $40 million worth of common stock. That'll give us $120 million and we'll go to town. Well, then at the end of the World War we had the pilot strike, which was distasteful to a lot of us. It cost a lot of money . Then the airlines were down just where they were recently. They just didn't have any passengers practically. So they started losing a lot of money. We borrowed $40 million from Prudential Life Insurance Company in New York. I know I was in New York at the time and I was an officer, so I signed the papers on that loan. When it came time, there was a little difference between Howard and Jack. There was a little friction buildup. Howard held up on releasing the company to issue the stock or to put in his own $40 million, and finally he decided not to do either one. That put the company in an awful bind. They were struggling and that caused friction within, and the pilot strike and everything. It caused a severance between Frye and Hughes. I'm not sure and I've never been told whether Howard fired Frye or Frye resigned or quit, but I know there was a lot of trouble there. In fact, Richter did too; Richter resigned, I know that. So several of the other officers left. Howard Hughes then started to take more of an active interest in the airline. That put Howard in a position whereâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;well, he was rather difficult to get along with because he didn't work during the day. He started his work at 8:0o at night, and worked until 5:00 or 6:0o in themorning. I asked him one time why he did that and he said, "Well I can't work during the day. If I'm out during the day, everybody wants to talk to me and I can't get anything done. If I get over there at 9:00 at night and work until 7:00 in the morning, no one bothers me and I get a lot done." Then the airline began to have problems. He started to finance this other $8o million and so forth and he had trouble doing that. He brought in and put Lamont Cohu in as president. He stayed about a year and went someplace else. Then Ralph Damon came in and he couldn't get anything done as president. He died. Then Carter Burgess came in as president, and he couldn't get anything done. This is about the late 1950s . That's when the Mellon Bank at Pittsburgh had always wanted to get a hold of - I've been told the Hughes Tool Company. B:

TWA borrowed a large amount of money from some of the banks, including the Mellon Bank. In the late 1950s, Howard then made a big order for jets from Boeing, Boeing 707 's. What actually became - the main trouble was that he got overextended and couldn't meet his obligations, even though all the money his tool company was making, the huge sums involved, not only within TWA itself, but with this commitment for these Boeing jets. At that point, the bankers moved in and made him put his stock in escrow and they took over. I think that was in 1960 or 1961.

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At this point, the new management came in. Ernie Breech came in, I think, as chairman of the board. They had friction between Hughes and the management. I think it even went so far as suits were filed. To settle-it all, Howard, I guess, decided to sell all of his stock. The stock that Jack Frye had bought for him in 1938 at $7 or $8 a share, he sold for right at $l00 , a share in 1961 or-1962, and got out of it. H:

Was Hughes a poor judge of character in naming these various presidents that you have mentioned?

I don't think Hughes was a poor judge of character. He had a man that worked for him that assumed a lot of responsibility named Noah Dietrich. Noah Dietrich was a financial man. He wanted to run everything. He ran the board of directors even to the point where they all looked at him as to which way a director should vote. This fellow would make these recommendations to Hughes. He was sort of the chief executive of the company. Then Howard would acquiesce and they'd elect them.

No background in that sort of thing.

No. I don't think it was Howard, I think it was Dietrich. It got to the point where Hughes, later on, fired Dietrich. Dietrich wrote a book about it, and put his best foot forward, of course.

Did Hughes show any signs of the recluse he was going to become later on?

I can't answer that. The last contact I had with Howard would be probably in the early 1950s. I did have a contact with him in the late 1950s, just by telephone. To talk to him would be the early 1950s. My understanding is that Howard Hughes got arthritis very badly in his hands and fingers. He was a very proud fellow, and he did not want to be seen with arthritis. His physical condition caused him to become a recluse. That's the most plausible story. You heard all kinds of stories, but that's the most plausible one and Jack Frye told me that. Still he had this problem, but he maintained contact with Hughes.

His hearing went too, I understand.

I don't know about that. See, I'm talking about what kind of a fellow he was when I knew him in the late 1940s and early 1950s. He was a pretty wonderful fellow. A little bit unusual.

bid you ever meet Dudley Sharp [Dudley C.] during these years? He grew up with Howard Hughes in Houston and he later became Secretary of the Air Force. No, I don't recall him. Robert Lovett [Robert A.] was Secretary of the Air Force in World War II.

This was sometime later, under Eisenhower [President Dwight D.], that he was Secretary of the Air Force.

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No, I didn't know him.

He told some stories about Howard Hughes in his early days that were quite interesting.

I talked to Howard at length. We flew together sometimes, the latter part of the war, in the Constellation. I've got some pictures of him. He was reticent. He didn't trust people. He was a very plausible person to be around. If he were sitting here, you would enjoy talking to him the same as this, but he was suspicious of people. He'd been taken so many times, and he didn't trust many people. His first reaction when somebody he didn't know was, "What does somebody like this fellow want?" That could give people the wrong impression of Howard Hughes, which many of them had. He didn't like newspapermen, media people.

During your early years with what became TWA, you lived in various places. Your son notes, for example, that you lived in Kansas City and Clovis, New Mexico. Why were you in these particular places at that time?

Kansas City was headquarters of TWA; that's-where I was located most of the time. When I was in Clovis, New Mexico, and Waynoka, Oklahoma, I was there on temporary assignment for a few months to relieve pilots. I think we got a month's vacation each year, and if you had four pilots flying out of Clovis, New Mexico, and they decided to take May, June, July, and August off, I would go out there on the 1st of May and stay there the 4 months and relieve each one of them for a month. It wasn't really a permanent thing; it was sort of a temporary thing in Clovis, Waynoka, and Columbus, Ohio. My main home in the early days was Saint Louis, and then later I was moved to Kansas City.

When did you meet your wife?

I met her at Langley Field when I was with the 2d Bombardment Group there in 1929. Her father was stationed, there.

Is she from a military family?

Yes, her father was a colonel in the Signal and Air Corps for 39 years and retired just before World War II.

What grade did he retire at?

B: H:

He retired as a full colonel. Promotions were hard to come by in those days. He did very well. Your son has a note here about the Northrop Alphas. What type of plane was this?

The Northrop Alpha was the mail plane we used when we got the mail contracts; single-engine, all-metal planes. You carried the mail; carried about 1,000 pounds

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of mail. A Wasp engine that would cruise around 140 miles an hour. You sat in the back—open cockpit—and on a parachute. H:

Did you get a little cold in those things?

Oh yes!

Your son has a note here also. When did you get to see or fly the first DC-1, 2, & -3?

The DC-1? Let me back up a-minute. After TWA and Western Air merged, Jack Frye became executive vice president. Dick Robins became president. They made plans to build a new aircraft called the DC-1. The Ford was the tri-motor Ford and carried 10 passengers and 2 pilots. They wanted a plane that would carry at least 10 passengers, have a retractable landing gear, and cruise at 165 miles an hour. The Ford would only cruise at 100. So they surveyed—I've got a copy of a letter someplace we sent out for inquiries on this particular plane. He talked to various manufacturers, and finally they decided for Douglas to build it. One of the things this plane had to do was to be a two-engine, was to take off at Winslow, Arizona—which is the highest field west of the divide-and on takeoff, after he got airborne, cut one engine and fly with a full load on one engine across the hump to Albuquerque, New Mexico. That was the requirement. So they built the DC-1 and it did. When they got to looking at the DC-1, it carried only 10 passengers. They decided they wanted 14 passengers. So there were several other changes they wanted to make in it after they test flew it. So there was only one of those built. Then they went into building a, DC-2. That was the second; that was the main plane. The DC-2, the first two or three were delivered when Farley cancelled the airmail in January 1934. That was the airplane that put TWA in business, and they made money for a while—paid a dividend—based on the DC-2, because they actually did cruise around 16o to 165 and carried 14 passengers. Following that, when they got bigger engines-, the DC-3 was developed. Douglas built the DC-3. It had larger engines than the DC-2 and the DC-3 would carry 21 passengers, a twin-engine plane. That was the stage. First the DC-1, which they built one and learned these things. Then they built a number of DC-2s. Then when they got larger engines developed and so forth, then they built the DC-3s. DC-3s came along in probably the late1930s . Of course as chief pilot, I flew them. I have several hundred hours on each one of those.

I see in a note here that you had a reputation as a wild flyer in the early days.

I don't know where he got that. I didn't tell anybody that. (laughter) I think I earned that title with my airmail flying. I was very much interested in instrument flying, and I was leader in that area. Of course, pilots in those days flew by the seat of their pants; they flew by looking out. Watch the horizon, and if you couldn't see the horizon, you were in trouble. So when I speak of instrument flying, flying by the

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instruments through clouds and so forth, you couldn't see anything. I probably was the leading one in that area in the airlines. They probably interpreted doing that kind of work a "wild pilot." H:

Were the affairs going on in Europe of any concern to you during this period?

Before World War II?

Yes. Did it appear ominous at that time?

Slightly, yes. I had some-friends from KLM [Koninklijk, Luchtvaart, Maatschappij], a Dutch airline—chief pilots—come over and visit with m and fly the line and get acquainted. We would exchange ideas. They told w then, right prior to World War II, that the Germans had one of the finest fighter aircraft—and I being trained as a fighter pilot, pursuit pilot—in the world. He said it was called a Me-1o9. He said that the top speed of that thing was almost 300 miles an hour. We didn't have anything that would go over 150 or 175 - not over 200. He talked about that at length. Then we sent the vice president of our company, Tommy Tomlinson, who was a Navy pilot and a wild one, over to Germany - now there was a wild guy. He was invited over there to give a lecture or something and he went over to Germany. When he came back and he was just excited about the military strength in Germany; the aircraft, the tanks, the infantry, the artillery, and everything just ready for war. Of course when Lindbergh came back from Germany and said the same thing, they took his commission away from him for saying that. These things were disturbing when Hitler went through the Low Countries.

He went into Poland first.

He took Belgium. France. I think that was in September 1 938.

In 1 939 .

Then when they had Dunkirk—the evacuation of Dunkirk—this began to alarm people. Particularly so, when the President and everybody took up for the allies and lend-lease came along. Churchill (Sir Winston] came over and said, "We don't want any soldiers, we just want pieces of equipment. We'll do the fighting." Those things had an effect. Of course the school I started out there, we started moving these airplanes across. They'd get shot down occasionally by a sub [submarine] laying on the surface. Those kind of things were disturbing, to answer your question, yes.

You mentioned that we weren ' t keeping up in comparison to what was going on in Europe in the way of aircraft development. This same thing, of course, held true in World War I where we didn't have anything.

Now there I was speaking of military aircraft. This country was the leader and has been, historically, in the airline aircraft department. In France recently, with the

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Concorde, they've done something—the A-300-but always the European airlines bought from Boeing or Douglas so that their airlines had airplanes. We were the leader in that field. Where we were not the leader was in the military field. The Germans were ahead of us. The British Spitfire was a faster plane than what we had. As you probably know, that during World War II, any plane that, the design of which started after war was declared, 7 December 1941, * never reached combat during World War II - Not one. The B-29 was the closest, but it was well underway when war broke out. You take the only one that probably got fairly close was the "Shooting Star," the jet Lockheed. It was close. That there tells you something about our development. Fortunately we had planes like the P-51 and the Lockheed "Lightning," twin-engine planes, and another fighter or two. H: B:

P-47's. P-47 , but the main thing we only had then was the P-4o and P-39, which were cumbersome, slow planes. But fortunately, we did have these others we could put in production. Everybody started building. That brings a little history—during Dunkirk, the Germans thought they'd go over there in a day and clean them out. Well what happened was that the Spitfire defense—the Germans had their twin-engine bombers. They lost almost, I think, 3,000 of them in that period of the Battle of Britain to maybe 700 or 800 Spitfires. Because the twin-engine bomber could not stand up to the fighter. So General Arnold, right after that one time—Jack Frye and I would go over to his office occasionally—said that that brought forth the thing that they must build a fighter and build the four-engine bombers with armor plate to protect themselves against the fighters. That's when they settled on that. They built the fighters and the B-17 ' s with the armor plate, and then the B-24's. Of course, they had a few others. They had the B-26 twin-engine North American, and the A-2o, which was a Douglas twin-engine observation plane. I was in England. I flew Mr. Lovett over to England. When the B-26—they were going to use them some in England. They sent ten B-26's in at low altitude across the channel, staying under the radar, and they sent them into France for just 5 minutes, dropped their bombs on the target and came back out; 5 minutes in, 5 minutes out. Ten of them. Just to test the pilots. They sent them all in and not a one came out. They were jumped by these Me-109's. So all of that just strengthened this, "We'll build big bombers, armor plate, and fighters." During World War II they built over 300,000 airplanes in the United States.

Backing up a little bit, this fellow Hertz that you mentioned earlier, is he the same one that got into the car rental business?

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Yes, that ' s the same one, John D. Hertz.

You also mentioned this difference of opinion between Jack Frye and Hughes. What was the nature of this?

It revolved around the financial area I discussed with you. Jack felt that Howard should put up the $40 million and let them sell the $40 million of-stock and go ahead. Howard said, "No, you're losing too much money. I think they had lost $8 million dollars in 1946, or something like that. "We just can't do it. Even Hughes Tool Company couldn't stand that." So this was the air which caused the trouble. It was not the operations'â&#x20AC;&#x201D;not the operating of the airlineâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;it was a financial matter that created the difficulty.

It wasn't a personality thing?

No. Jack liked Howard, and Howard liked Jack. They were very friendly. It was simply financial.

In another note here, it says to ask you about the testing of the Stratoliner and the freezing of the elevators above 23,000 feet. Would you like to discuss that?

It's always been amazing to we how simple some of our problems are in development work, but yet are completely overlooked. Let me give you a couple of examples. I spoke previously about the pressurization of the Stratoliner. All that means is that all we did was to put an air pump, and put 5 pounds air pressure in the passenger cabin. They built the plane so that it would hold air. They put 5 pounds of pressure in there. That would let us fly the airplane at 20,000 feet, but as far as the passenger was concerned, with the added 5 pounds pressure, he was down at 20'000 feet which is the maximum limit. That gave us a lot of latitude in flying. Any college, sophomore that's ever studied physics knows about Boyle's law. Boyle's law says that if you take a volume of gas, hold it constant, put it under pressure, that the temperature will rise. But these engineers that did this decided Boyle's law only applied on the ground, I guess. When I brought the first Stratoliner in from Seattle to Kansas City, it was a huge thing. Everybody was out to see it; several hundred people out there watching it. All the employees and everything, because it had all this history and so forth. Again, as soon as I got out, the president had his aide there and said held like to see me. So I went to his office after the hullabaloo died down a little and he said, "I've invited about 40 people to take a flight tomorrow, to have lunch with me, and then take a flight in this new airplane. I'd like for you to get it ready and you fly it and take us on a flight around town, so this would be a first. This is going to be a signal occasion. This is going to make history." I said, "Well, that's all right jack, but I haven't been able to check the pressurization. I've had a lot of other tests to run on the way down here from Seattle, and I haven't checked this thing out thoroughly. I

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think you might be better to wait a few days and give me a chance to check it out and make sure "No," he said, "We'll just take a short flight. It's all laid on. I can't change it now. " Well it was a hot summer, day. Everything was just so-so, and he got his martinidrinking group after lunch, got them in the airplane, and I took off and went up. I was going up between 5,000 and 6,000 feet, bringing this pressurization in gradually, you know, and the hostess came running up. She said, "Mr. Frye wants to see you. " I said, "Tell Mr. Frye I'll be back in a few minutes. I'm busy with this pressurization right now." She went back and told him and here she came rushing up and said, "Mr. Frye wants to see you now." I said, "All right." I got out and told the senior copilot, "You hold the controls and hold this here until I get back." Just as I went through the door I looked at the thermometer and it was 128 degrees in the passenger cabin, all because of that pressure you see. Everybody was perspiring and sweating as they would in the humidity, and stink from those martinis they had had. (laughter) It was a very simple thing. All you had to do was to take this pressure, put it up to 5 pounds pressure, and put it out and put it in a cooler where the cold air could blow through it, and cool that pressure, and then dump it in there, and control the temperature. They didn't think of that when they put it in. Getting back to what you said there. This Stratoliner also had boost controls. The reason the controls themselves - they were so heavy and so large on this large equipment that it's difficult for the pilot to pull the wheel. So they put on a little booster—a little hydraulic cylinder booster - that whenever you'd move the control a little bit, the booster would help you move. Am I making myself clear? They'd have a little cylinder on each elevator and each aileron. I took it up one day, the first one, up around 23,000 feet, and the controls locked. They absolutely locked. I couldn't move them. The temperature there was about 200 below zero. So I finally got it eased down, and I got down closer to the ground, and when I got down into a little warmer atmosphere, it began to work all right. What happened then, we found out, was that these cylinders—pistons they used—that coefficient expansion of the piston was different than the coefficient expansion of the cylinder. When it got down real cold, the cylinder would lock on the piston. You couldn't move it. That's what he is referring to there. H:

Did they redesign them?

They put in a different cylinder. Someone just didn't think about those kinds of things, you know. They were simply little things, but they could have caused - you could have taken off on a flight where it was 200 below zero, you could have had a terrible crash and no one would have ever known what happened, because you couldn't move the controls. Well it's a good thing you didn't panic in that situation.

H: B:

No, as a test pilot, I've done a lot of test work. Really you don't think about things— the danger—when you're in working with things. You're too busy trying to handle things and figure out things. PAGE 40 ... TARPA TOPICS

How did you get tied in with flying Roosevelt around? What was the occasion for this?

I was running this division flying from Washington, DC to Cairo [Egypt]. I was in my office one Sunday morningâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;I'd been gone. I had just come back from Africa. I had been up through Casablanca and up through that area up to Tunis, around in there across the Sahara. General Arnold's aide came over and said, "The old man wants to see you." He always referred to the general as the "old man." I was just in sort of sport type clothes on Sunday morning and I said, "Well when does he want me, tomorrow?" He said, "No, he wants you now." So we went over to see him, and he talked a little bit. He was very friendly. He said, "Otis, the President"â&#x20AC;&#x201D;no he didn't. He didn't say the President. He said, "A very i mportant person is going to take a very important trip overseas. Pan American will handle the flights over water, but I want you to handle the rest of them. I want you to fly him over the land and into the combat zone at Casablanca." He didn't say Casablanca. He was very careful about that because he said, "He's going to take an i mportant trip and I want you to be ready to go, to handle it." Just the day before we got started, well he called me back and told me exactly what we were going to do.

General Arnold called me in and told me exactly what we were going to do. He said, "General Marshall and I are going over to Casablanca first. We want you to take us over there. He's going by boat down to Trinidad, and Pan American will take him over to Bathurst. You pick him up at Bathurst and fly him into Casablanca. Then you will fly him back to Bathurst and Pan American will take him from Bathurst to Natal. Then you get to take him from Natal back up to Trinidad. Then he will come by ship from Trinidad back to Washington. That was how that was laid on. I flew them over, and had my crew and everything, and then came back and picked him up at Bathurst. The President being in the physical condition he was, we had to build a ramp to roll him up in a wheelchair to get him in the airplanes. H: They built a special elevator in .. . B: In the Sacred Cow, the last plane we had, yes. H: I understand that he was partial to going by ship, that he only flew as a last resort. Is that correct? B: Yes, that's true. He liked ships. I think that was exaggerated a little. He always seemed to enjoy flying. I think the reason he wanted to go by ship was because he had so much pressure put on him at home during these

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things that when he got in the ship it would give him a time to relax. I think that was mainly it. He was always very interested in flying. On the second trip to Cairo and Tehran, I flew him over theâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;he always liked to know what he was doing. We had a window fixed by that time in the plane. I told him that I had a couple of places I'd like for him to see over there and he said, " Wonderful, fine. " I said, " One of them, I ' m going to circle the city of Bethlehem at a fairly low altitude. I'll circle so that you can see it. Then I'm going to circle the area where the Euphrates joins the Tigris River. " In early days that was supposed to be, as far as we know, the Garden of Eden. H:

Cradle of civilization.

So I did that. He was excited about that. When he came home, he started his speech to the nation. He started it out and he said, "On such and such a date, at an altitude, I circled the beautiful city of Bethlehem." He spent 2 or 3 minutes discussing that. He couldn't do thatâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;he didn't really dislike flying. I think the relaxation he would get from resting on a ship was what he liked.

Some people attribute this to his early association with the Navy. I think he was an Under Secretary of the Navy during World War I. They think he developed a partiality at that time.

I think so. He was Navy-minded. There is no question about that. Of course he had quite a bit of Navy people around him. He had Admiral Leahy [William D.], the Chief of Staff of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who made all major decisions. Then he had Admiral Ross McIntire, his doctor, and then two or three other naval people around him. About the only one he had from the Army was "Pa" Watson [Maj. En Edwin M.]. "Pa" was his aide, a likable character.

The first flight you went on then was the Casablanca flight?

Yes.

Could you give me a little detail about that?

Well, I picked the President up at Bathurst, which is on the west coast of Africa, and flew him about 4 or 5 hours northeast, up to Casablanca. We stayed there, I think, 4 or 5 days and then I brought him back from Casablanca to Bathurst. Then he caught the Pan American plane at Bathurst and they flew him across the south Atlantic to Natal. Then I picked him up at Natal and flew him to Trinidad. At Trinidad he took a, surface vessel into Washington. That was, in essence the itinerary of that flight.

At the Casablanca conference, is this the first time that you encountered Churchill?

Yes.

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Could you give me your first impressions of this gentleman?

My impression of Churchill then, and is now, was that he was a very intelligent, foreseeing individual in international affairs. He had an excellent personality if he wanted to charm you. He was a delightful person to be around, when he wanted to do that. He was normally sort of a grouchy type of individual. He was very vain. Before held get off of an airplane, held get his hat just right and then get that new unlighted cigar in his mouth, and then step off. That kind of thing. He was probably the most intelligent man I have ever met on international affairs. If we had listened to him and done some of the things he wanted us to do in World War II, I don't think we would have had all the problems we had at the end of the war. If you recall, he wanted us to go in through the soft under-belly of Europe, through Greece, Turkey, and that way, to eliminate what Russia did when Russia took over those eastern European countries. He saw that. He wanted to avoid it. But we took the position where strictly militaryâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;our job was to win the war and get out. He was a pleasant fellow to have around. President Roosevelt told me one time that he spent about three-fourths of his time when Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin [Joseph] were together, keeping Churchill and Stalin apart. They were bitter enemies, they hated each other. Churchill hated Stalin for the 20 million people he killed prior to World War II, and Stalin never for-gave him for it. He said, "That creates a real problem." That came from Roosevelt himself.

Some historians allege that Roosevelt got too "buddy-buddy" with Stalin during that period.

I don't think that's true. He may have, but I don't think it's true. Roosevelt was proper in his conversations, and he was very careful of choosing his words. I don't think he got "buddy-buddy" with anyone, you know, real friends. I think he was more of an intelligent man than that. That could lead to disaster, you know, if Churchill thought Roosevelt was tying in with Stalin on things. That could lead to international disaster.

After the Casablanca flight, what was the next flight that you took Roosevelt on?

This was the one to Cairo and to Tehran. When General Arnold told me about this one he said, "He's going to take the cruiser Memphis to Oran and you pick him up at Oran and fly him to Tunis, where General Eisenhower is." Then he said, "Go on to Cairo, and then up to Tehran." Which we did. I picked him up at Oran and we flew up to Tunis. Then the next night we flew on to Cairo. One of the problems I had in those days, you see, was when we would fly we would always be escorted when we were within range of the German Air Force by a group of P-38's, fighters. They were awful difficult to control. On this trip from Oran to Tunis, `we had I the fighters, and one group missed us and I had to wait for them. All this kind of trouble. So when we I went from Tunis to Cairo, I suggested to the PAGE 43 ... TARPA TOPICS

commanding officer that I go at night, go out over the desert, and stay away from the Germans, out of range of them, and there would be no problem. So we did that. That was one of the thingsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;in taking the President on a flight like that, every regional commander wants to get in and be a part of the show or something. Those are problems that just naturally existed. H:

According to the book, The Flying White House, you developed hydraulic pump trouble in a C-54 during your approach to Malta. Could you describe that incident?

Yes. When we started to put the landing gear down to land in Malta, the hydraulic pump failed. Usually you would pump it up and down. The hydraulic pump failed, so we had to pump it down by hand as an alternative. We got the landing gear down, but then we couldn't get the flaps down. So I told the President that we would land there, but we would land 20 or 30 miles an hours faster than we normally would. He said, "Well go ahead, take all precautions, and we'll all have a good time." He was that kind of a fellow. So we did and we landed. Of course Malta had been bombed and bombed, and the runway was pretty rough. But it worked out all right. We landed a little faster, and stopped all right. No particular problem, just landing fast on a bombed-out airport. It could have caused some trouble, but it didn't.

Were you able to get maintenance there?

Yes, we fixed the pump. It was a small item. The flight engineer, who was a welltrained mechanic, went back and did some work on the pump. I forget now just what it was. It was some item they had to change on the pump that broke. We put a new one on and went on.

You also, during that period, were dispatched to Turkey to pick up the Turkish president. Would you discuss that a little bit?

Yes, that was a little hair-raising. President Roosevelt, at Cairo, wanted President Inonu [Ismet] of Turkey to come to Cairo for a conference. President Inonu, you can understand, being neutral, wasn't very anxious to come. I suppose he thought the Germans might retaliate. So he said that he couldn't come. The President said, "If you'll come, I'll send my own personal plane and pilot after you to bring you down here. " So he agreed to that. Once more we had the problemâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the Germans had fighter aircraft on Crete within fighter range of Turkey and so on. There we had the problem, again, of taking the P38 fighters with us or not. They wanted to send the fighters up with me. Well I knew that if they sent the fighters up there and the Germans picked them up on radar, then we sure would have problems. They'd send all the fighters in the country out there. So I suggested that we go alone and I would go out east of Cairo, over the eastern end of what is now Israel and up the river there, until I got even with Turkey, and then fly west to this airport where I would pick up the president of Turkey, which was at Adana, Turkey. I would land at Adana between sundown and dark. He

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was to be there at 3:00 the next morning. Then we'd take off before daylight and come back to Cairo. We'd stay low so that the enemy radar couldn't pick us up. I felt, and the commanding officer felt, that was the best thing to do. The fighter pilots and their commanding officer thought that was ridiculous. I thought that was the only way to do it, because if you ever got in trouble, and the German fighters attacked, hell, they'd knock an old C-54 out of the sky in nothing flat. So we did that. I landed at this airport between sundown and dark, about 10 minutes after sundown. I taxied over and the Turkish commanding officer met me. I parked the plane and he took me over to the Officers' Club to have coffee—awful coffee, that Turkish coffee—and a bite to eat. We hadn't been there 15 minutes till the whole room exploded. The radio was on. Lord Haw Haw had come on and said, "Col. Otis F. Bryan, American Air Force, has just landed at Adana and is going to pick up President Inonu and take him to Cairo tomorrow morning." About 15 minutes after we had landed - all the work we had gone through to keep this secret. So the commanding officer almost fainted. What happened was—we got to thinking. We wondered how in the world that ever occurred. What happened was that they apparently had a spy in the control tower, the Turkish control tower. The Germans did. All he had to do was go out to wherever his transmitter was, tell Berlin, and they phoned it over to Haw Haw and they put it on the air. H:

Who was this Haw Haw that you are talking about?

Don't you remember? . He was the famous, Englishman that broadcast out of Berlin for Germany. He spoke in English mainly to the allies from Berlin, broadcasting for the German Air Force. And some of the stories he would tell! That was a bit exciting. Then the next day, the President didn't come there until 8:00 the next morning and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. So I took off with him anyway and we went east and went around there. He was a very nice fellow. He sat up in front in the copilot 's seat most of the way. He had been a colonel in World War I over that area, and he showed me battlefields where he had been in fights.

He spoke English?

Yes. So that was my trip to Adana.

But the Germans didn 't give you any opposition then?

No, I never saw a sign of them. Come to think of it, I think the military had it overexploded, overextended. When you think of it, the Germans aren't going to knock down any neutral President. They want to keep on his good side just as much as he wanted to stay friendly, or stay neutral. They had the ambassador who was the greatest crook in the world there, Von Papen [Franz]. Does that ring a bell? He was a master at spying stuff like this and getting information. After I thought it all through and thought about it several times, I thought that they just didn't want to interfere. Had they done it, that would have created a terrific amount of cohesion among the

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allies. They would have put every effort they had then to wipe the Germans out and so forth. Something like that—and it wouldn't have done them any good. What if they'd knocked him out? It wouldn't have affected anything. Because he was at the top, somebody else would have moved right in. I just felt that they knew about it, but didn't want to take any action. H:

According to the note here, in addition to the President of Turkey, you also flew both Eisenhower and Churchill.

Eisenhower several times, but not Churchill. Churchill had his own plane and had his own pilot, who was a good friend of mine, an American pilot who flew him. I never did fly Churchill.

When did you fly Eisenhower then?

Read the note. [Hands note to Dr. Hasdorff]

That was my first one. He flew with us several times.

Dwight Eisenhower.

He had one star when I took him over.

What year was this?

This was in March 1942. 1 had quite a load on that trip. General Arnold called me over and said—as he did—"We've got a load of brass going to Prestwick. Can you take them personally?" I said, "Sure." You always had to say, "Yes, sir." On this trip we had Harry Hopkins; Averell Harriman; Mark Clark [Gen. Mark] W.1, who had one star; Eisenhower, who had one star; Admiral Towers [John H.] Hoyt Vandenberg [Gen. Hoyt] who was only a colonel and later Chief of Staff and a couple of other i mportants. All on this flight.

According to the note here, in addition to the President of Turkey, you also flew both Eisenhower and Churchill.

Eisenhower several times, but not Churchill. Churchill had his own plane and had his own pilot, who was a good friend of mine, an American pilot who flew him. I never did fly Churchill.

When did you fly Eisenhower then?

Read the note. [Hands note to Dr. Hasdorff]

To Captain Otis Bryan, my first trans-Atlantic pilot, and my friend. With lasting regards."

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"To Captain Otis Bryan, my first trans-Atlantic pilot, and my friend. With lasting regards--"

That was my first one. He flew with us several times.

Dwight Eisenhower.

He had one star when I took him over.

What year was this?

This was in March 1942. I had quite a load on that trip. General Arnold called me over and said—as he did—"We've got a load -of brass going to Prestwick. Can you take them personally?" I said, "Sure." You always had to say, "Yes, sir." On this trip we had Harry Hopkins; Averill Harriman; Mark Clark [Gen. Mark W.], who had one star; Eisenhower, who had one star; Admiral Towers [John H.]; Hoyt Vandenberg [Gen. Hoyt S.], who was only a colonel and later Chief of Staff; and a couple of other importants. All on this flight. I took them over. We ran into bad weather right off the coast of Greenland. The plane got iced up. I had to take them back and lay overnight at Gander. We didn't want to take off from Gander until later in the afternoon. We shot skeet while at Gander. I was a pretty good trapshooter. I think I got 24 out of 25. That was the top score. I beat General Eisenhower. If I had it to do over again, I'd never do that. (laughter) But he got a big kick out of that. He was with us on several of the Presidential trips. He flew with us on the trip from Oran to Cairo.

How did you appreciate his personality?

I liked him immensely. I think Eisenhower was one of the finest men this country's ever produced. His strength was in—we're all intelligent in certain ways, entirely different fields. I can best illustrate that by a Kansas City reporter. One of the top papers in Kansas City during my early days with TWA—he thought pilots were dumb, and I agreed with him. I wouldn't argue with him against that. He got a little obnoxious about it. One Sunday morning I had to test flight one of these Stratoliners. It was a very easy plane to fly. If you would just leave it alone, it would fly straight. So I invited him to go along. He said, "Sure, I'd like to." So I got him in and we took off. I did my test work and I said, "Here, you fly it." He was in the copilot's seat. He took over the wheel and I got up and went back in the passenger cabin. The first thing he did, he started to over control. He got the plane going like this. He started sweating and I was standing over there looking over his shoulder. If he had just taken his hands off, it would have straightened out. When he looked like he was going to get in trouble, I went up and slapped his hands and said, "Just hold it steady." (laughter) He did, and of course the plane leveled out. I said, "Surely a man as intelligent as you should know more than a dumb pilot, to hold that wheel steady." (laughter) He laid off of us after that.

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Getting back to Eisenhower—we all have our knowledge in certain fields. A doctor's a good doctor, and a hell of a poor lawyer. A lawyer's a good lawyer, but some think they know a lot about everything, and it sometimes gets them in trouble. Eisenhower, his ability was to get people to work. He told me one time, he said that when he went to London—first with the British—there was quite a cleavage between British and American soldiers. He said, "My biggest job was to get American officers and British officers working together." So he said, "Whenever I had a vacancy to fill, I had to put a colonel in some place, I would put a British colonel and an American colonel together, and assign them both to the job." He said that they would start working together and in a few days they found out they we're a lot alike and they'd become close friends—no problem. He said, "I took care of that. That's the way I got around a lot of little things." His ability was in the areas probably best described-as the chairman of the board, to get people to work together. He had an excellent military mind. You will recall on the invasion when it looked bad, and he wrote his speech out there on the beach. He said, "This disaster was my responsibility, and mine alone." That's the type of man he was.

This oral history is based on interviews from 1982. Captain Otis Bryan passed away in 1989. Editor

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A couple of months ago my computer club put on a program about personal digital assistants (PDAs.) I listened intently and left the meeting thinking maybe I would investigate this PDA thing. I investigated by mulling it over in my mind and deciding that the little paper book that I have used for 35 years did just fine. There are a lot of crossovers and strikeouts and some of the pages are taped in but each little flaw has meaning. I can track my kid's lives by the crossed out addresses and phone numbers. Old friends that I haven ' t seen in 25 years are still there. There is a note to pick up medicine for a sick dog that died years ago and took a piece of my heart with her. The 1972 calendar isn't much good but there is a circle on it where I took my oldest daughter out to dinner when she completed junior high school. So the pocket notebook was safe until this Christmas when I queried my step son as to his favorite electronic gadget. I questioned him because he is one of those boomers that are more than somewhat knowledgeable about electronics. He programmed the first VCR he ever saw and from that I knew he had potential. At any rate, he was quick to say that the one piece of electronics that he uses most is his PDA. Many other things give him more

pleasure or do more work but the PDA sits right on his hip and is used a dozen times a day. My wife and I have a very good arrangement concerning Christmas gifts to each other. We are at an age where we have most everything we need and now it's just things we want. Trouble is, beyond diamonds, I have no idea what she wants. And she doesn't know what to get me except sweaters and I have enough sweaters. So we each shop for our own gift, wrap it nicely and put it under the tree, and on Christmas we are each utterly surprised at what the other has bought. This year she got her diamond and I got my PDA. I am enthralled and amazed at what this handheld computer can do. It came equipped with a Magellan Navigator and I'm driving around town on 99â&#x20AC;&#x201D;cent gas just to watch it work. So far it's gotten me to Safeway and Costco without a hitch. I have downloaded a 1000 page book so I can amuse myself while my wife shops. There are attachments that make it a telephone or a camera. What I could have done with this thing in my working days! ! My greatest fear is that I may die before I get all of the toys and how sad that would be. Maybe I can get them to do that program again. I think this time I ' ll pay more attention.

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AT INTERSECTIONS LOOK EACH WAY A HARP SOUNDS NICE BUT IT ' S HARD TO PLAY Burma Shave

Cont'd

From Jack Koughan Jack writes: For the last decade of my retirement from TWA I have composed a poem for Christmas which you see here. I have never had them published, but according to Bob Dedman , you could use more material. Here it is Jack, and a good one too. Jack notes that we live in the same area code. He in Clements where he lives with his daughter on a horse ranch and me a few miles south in Modesto. It's time we get together. GR When the season's last apple has fallen to Earth And the last pumpkin has grinned it's demise, We are accustomed to try to sweep the world dry And prepare for a festive birth,

What the World saw was beyond any law, Was cruel and horrible, too. And the nations agreed to challenge this creed That threatened a civilized view.

All Nature is cheering the ripened grain And the riotous red of the leaves, But nobody notes the dissenting votes Whispered to the wind overseas.

So as we approach the hallowed Host And burst forth with joyous Noel, We glance once more at the burgeoning score And the proximate vistas of Hell.

Soft as a sigh, with completion nigh, Before they sought glory in death, They burst on the World, their scheme unfurled Without even taking a rest.

We slowed the marching down the road And made the world safer, we shout, We welcome the Fall and Christmas and all, But keep a sharp eye and LOOKOUT!!!

From Lew Whitaker I really enjoyed reading your Grapevine column and decided to respond to your request for "thoughts, stories, hopes, and fears" by relating one of our recent adventures. On September 11th my friend Joan and I had just crossed into northern Pakistan from western China via the Karakorom Highway and were staying in a small hotel in the Hunza valley. Although not one to watch much TV while traveling I somehow got the urge to see if I could make the remote control work the strange looking set high up in the corner of the room. When the picture came on my first thought was "I want the news not a movie" and it took a few seconds to realize that what I was seeing was video only a couple of hours old! We now all know how the world

reacted with shock to the attack, but what a surprise it was then to have so many people in that remote corner of the world offer their condolences to us as America's representatives. They were as heartbroken as the rest of us. During the next six days we continued on to the Swat Valley, Peshawa, and Islamabad without any problem before flying out to Bangkok right on schedule. You might be wondering why one would want to go to such unusual places when there are plenty of nice beaches around the world. The answer is " The Silk Road". Some years back I realized there was a lot of history I had not been exposed to in school so I set out to see for myself. If you are curious I recommend the first twenty-five pages of Peter.

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PASSING SCHOOL YARD TAKE IT SLOW LET OUR LITTLE SHAVERS GROW

Cont'd

Hopkirk's Foreign Devils on The Silk Road as well as his. The Great Game for interesting reading. We really haven't avoided going to some of the world's beaches. There is the stony one on Baffin Island at 73' N where we went snorkeling, the sandy one in the

Indian Ocean that is good for Scuba diving, and the volcanic one in the Antarctic that is only good for a quick dip. The adventures go on and on lots of fun and I must admit I don't miss the drive to work at all. Sincerely, Lew Whitaker Class of ' 64

Well Lew, I was going to write a piece about throwing rocks into the Stanislaus River during high water, which is somewhat adventuresome, but I'll hold that for another date. Keep up the good life. from Bob "Bear" Beck ALS gets $1500 from TWA golfers Thanks in part to your notices in TARPA we had a large turnout for the 27 th Annual TWA Bearly Open Golf Tournament. 85 Pilots and sons, showed up and raised $1500, with the help of our TWA cabin attendants in the Beer carts. This years winners: t

1S place Gary Hruby Jimmy Adams Rick Molinario

2nd place Wendell Rone Brent Rone Tom Hammack

3rd place Jerry Healy Rod Bentson Paul Palmer

Derby winners John Harding J. T. Harding Jack Machette

See you next October for the 28 th Bearly.

Bob lives at Lake Quivira, KS, so that must be where the golf was played. Not many tournaments can boast about 27 straight years and you know that ALS certainly appreciates the help. Who would have thought that Wendell Rone could swing a golf stick? Bob also notes that he has many relatives in Hughson, CA, which is just a good almond throw from me. GR

From Teddy Holden My husband, Verl Holden, passed away on November 3. Although I was offered a free membership, I know Verl would want me to pay the Eagle membership fee, and I do wish to continue receiving the TARPA magazine

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ONE WHO DRIVES WHEN HE'S BEEN DRINKIN' DEPENDS ON YOU TO DO HIS THINKIN' Burma Shave

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From Norm Cook Thought you might enjoy seeing this photo of Jud Goodspeed taken at the tip of the Palos Verdes Peninsula during the Whalewatch season. (You can tell by the hat, he hasn't forgotten TWA.) For the last 16 years Jud, along with other members of Whalewatch, has worked on the annual whale census, counting the whale population as it travels from Alaska to Mexico and back each winter. He's been a guide, as well, on the local Whalewatch boats. Jud also works as a docent at the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium here in San Pedro, patiently guiding school children around the aquarium one day a week. Recently he won the Margie Frank Award, which I've been told is the aquarium's equivalent of the Oscar's Lifetime Achievement Award. From Derrell Merrill Thank you for taking over the job Of "Grapevine Editor". I enjoyed the "flying boats of World War II article by Dave Richwine. I flew co—pilot for many PBY pilots and I believe that Frank Timosheck flew a "Mars" at the end of the War. A surprise attack on the Naval base at Ceylon by the rampaging Japanese fleet was foiled by a Canadian PBY's radio report. They were shot down, with half of the crew being killed and the others captured, but they denied sending off a radio—alert to the British base. Subsequently, the Hurricanes were ready for them and put up a good fight. Churchill honored these brave PBY crewmen for preventing a "British Pearl Harbor. As an ex—fighter pilot (F—102 ), I thought 105 knots for fifteen hours would not be my cup of tea, but have since changed my mind. Three years ago, we fell in with a small group of airline pilots that fly Cessna 185's on amphibious floats. We take three to six aircraft and fly around Montana, Northern Idaho and British Columbia. We camp out on the beaches, fish, etc.. Having both water and land capabilities, we have more options in case of forced landings, as well as being able to land on airports to get 100 octane fuel, avoid rough water landings and moorings. The aircraft are slow (105—120 knots in

cruise) look ungainly on land, have high insurance rates, high maintenance, etc, but provide a unique flying experience. About the most fun that you can have with your clothes on. During the Summer, we keep our plane on a ramp in front of our home on Flathead Lake. It makes a great `lawn ornament' and it is convenient to be airborne in ten minutes to fly to a lake or river playground. (picture enclosed) Joyce and I Chartered the "Far West" cruise boat for a party for all of our friends and neighbors that were retired or wanted to be retired. Of the 6o that attended, seven were TWA captains, In the picture, they are from left to right: Tom Maher, John Zaeske, Larry Ashcraft, Pat "Hap" Smith, Ray Russell, Dick Immel and Darrell Merrill. Over 95 pilots from different airlines live in the Whitefish, Big Fork, Lakeside and Glacier Park area of Northwestern Montana, at least part time. I cherish the good times and the good people of TWA, but I don' t miss the last fifteen years of broken promises and shattered dreams. But all of that is runway behind us and we all are trying to live for today and tomorrow by having as much fun as possible, before that final `flight west'.

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DON' T LOSE YOUR HEAD TO SAVE A MINUTE YOU NEED YOUR HEAD YOUR BRAINS ARE IN IT Burma Shave

Good to hear from you Darrell. Guess what? I was a PBY pilot too. Spent two years flying around Asia and between Japan and Korea during the Korean War. Nice to look back on but at the time I remember them as cold in the winter, hot in the summer and a wet cockpit after water takeoffs. At one time I held a dubious record for popping 22 hull rivets on a water landing. GR From Bill Dixon Looking back into my memories of early TWA, I shall never forget the mosquitoes inhabiting Newark, New Jersey Airport in the late 1940s. I flew into there as a copilot on DC—3 cargo planes from Kansas City and we were proud of our fair—sized, aggressive Missouri mosquitoes, especially those in the Ozarks, but Newark's were something else. After sitting out all night on the mosquito infected airport --it was surrounded by swamps -- we would have to open the cockpit windows on takeoff early the next morning to suck out dozens of the huge insects. The story around the airport was that the males thought they could mate with the DC—3s! They were big, mean, flying devils, and when they bit you, you knew it. Some felt the big nightly influx were female mosquitoes, thinking the DC—3's were super—studs! Today's pilots don't know what pioneering is!

Notes and letters enclosed with dues and sent to Rufus Mosley

From George Tittinger Enclosed find cheque for my dues, and a little bit more. The memories that TARPA TOPICS evoke are worth so much more than this small sum; and, when I think of all the hard work so many do to bring this magazine to us. Might have paid my dues just to read the article by Dave Richwine in this issue; but do not tell Dave, he might decide he is an author and write more. And, I want to wish you and yours, a Happy, Healthy, Holiday Season. From Jack Mateer Just a short note to let you know that we left Sparta, NJ, after 33 years! Moved to Goodyear, AZ, and am renting in Pebble Creek until our home is built here in approximately 6 months. As noted, only our address will change.

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PASSING CARS WHEN YOU CAN'T SEE MAY GET YOU A GLIMPSE OF ETERNITY Burma Shave

From Katie Buchanan May we all remember the meaning of Christmas, especially this year when or world is so troubled. May we each pray in our own way for peace and love to be restored to our beautiful life, here on earth. May we show kindness to our family, neighbors and friends this is my wish to you for the holiday season. God bless. From Laurie Woollett Since I retired I have been doing some volunteer work (nonâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;flying) with an international relief organization called Food for the Hungry International (FHI). I got involved with them when my daughter was working for them in Rwanda and the Congo. She asked if I would come over to the Congo in 1997 and help her for a few months. Couldn't say no to my daughter so I ended up spending 3 months in the Congo. A town called Goma right on the Rwanda/Congo border. In 1999 they asked if I would go over to Albania to help with the refugee situation so I spent 6 weeks there then, when the bombing stopped, moved over into Kosovo. I spent 6 months their helping to rehabilitate houses. In the spring of 2000, and again in the spring of 2001, I went over to Mozambique to help in getting food to displaced people after bad flooding, and this fall they asked me to come to Tajikistan and Northern Afghanistan to help with the war refugees. At first we had planned to help displaced people but by the time I got here the war front had moved south so fast that all the displaced persons along the Tajik/Afghan border went gone home so we are working with the Afghans who live in Northern Afghanistan. These people have suffered from a bad earthquake, war, and now a 3 year drought. We are doing work supplying clothing for the winter and then agriculture/irrigation rehabilitation this spring. I haven't flown an airplane since I retired in 1996 and haven't missed it a bit. The only Atlantic crossings I have made as crew has been delivering yachts (twice). They each took 14 days instead of 5 hours. I have really been too busy doing this work which is very satisfying. My coâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;workers often point me out saying, " see that guy, he used to drive a 747 and now he drives a Russian made truck. " 747's sure were easier to drive. Keep up the good fight for our rights and don't let the bastards get you down. I thought airline flying was an adventure but some people save the best for last. I've never met Laurie but I sure want to. GR

From Ron Rubler Here are my dues. What a wonderful investment. Have a very merry and enjoy your retirement. This is a memo from a great airline. (Written on the yellow memo pad that we all remember so well.) GR PAGE 54 ... TARPA TOPICS

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HANDS ON THE WHEEL EYES ON THE ROAD THAT'S THE SKILLFUL DRIVERS CODE Burma Shave

From Jean E. Urbus Thanks to everyone at TARPA—Adolph's article was so very nice. How could I get a second copy for American Airline captain Bob Urbas? I sure miss Adolph. I think even he would be surprised at the depth of my missing him. I've always felt so grateful to TARPA for DAP. That would have been gone. I still sell real estate and buzz around in our 172. just got TPAS—Now I know how many airplanes are out there around me on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. I'm also treasurer of the 99's till next August. Thank God for computers to keep those dues, addresses, etc. straight Most sincerely, Jean E Urbas

From Robert D. McMillan On reading Bill Dixon's 41 years of memories, I thought about my career with TWA. I was in the First SKY SCOUT TROOP, which was sponsored by TWA in 1936 and went to work for TWA as an office boy. I delivered mail to Bill at 10 Richard's Road, KC.MO I moved into dispatch office and started to learn to be a link instructor. In 1941, when TWA was given the contract to train Bush Pilots for the British Ferry Command I went to Albuquerque, with the EAGLE NEST FLIGHT SCHOOL until May of 1942 when the Army took over the school. I then returned to Kansas City for a few months, then was sent to NY as the Eastern Region Chief Link Instructor. In 1943 I flew as copilot in NY, 1944 I left TWA and obtained the approved school rating for Airway Flight Service, Kansas City, Missouri, and was flight director until I had my arm broken by a bad ignition switch on a Ryan PT 1 7. During that time I was teaching instrument flying for commercial pilots and sending them to TWA. As I was about to get married I returned to TWA in Flight Dispatch and was dispatcher in Kansas and NY until my retirement in 1983 . I joined Civil Air Patrol; USAF Auxiliary December 1, 1941 in Albuquerque, NM and then was with Missouri, New York and Kansas Wings in various assignments. In 1985 we moved to Texas. I have been with the Texas Wing of CAP since. I am presently Director of Safety for the State and my wife is Public Affairs Officer for the state. She is also a private pilot. We have two programs on Time Warner Cable TV (one program is for CAP.) We both still work a 70 hr week and enjoy it immensely. DON 'T EVER RETIRE! With fond memories of TWA and the wonderful life it gave us we still work with aviation. I still want to see airliners with the AMERICAN/TRANS WORLD AIRLINES logo on them—in the sky. Robert D. McMillan, Lieutenant Colonel, CAP Director of Safety Texas Wing Headquarters

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AROUND THE CURVE LICKITY—SPLIT IT'S A BEAUTIFUL CAR WASN' T IT Burma Shave

From Thelma M. Dyer Enclosed is my check for 2002 dues. I am the spouse of Capt. J Willard Dyer. I am interested in all your efforts toward TARPA. Chic's payroll #24063. Thank you.

From Ev Green Thanks for all you work. It appears TARPA is alive & well for now, even though we are an endangered species. We will keep the TWA name alive.

From Francis A. Harland We are all sad for the passing of TWA as an operating airline. We still have thousands working. Many thousands of retirees still have passes—also thousands with medical. Without AA's help there would be thousands walking the street looking for a job in a market glutted with layed off airline employees. From Gordon Hargis This is just a "cover sheet" for my check. Do have a request, though. Since I'll be 8o on 12—25—01 should I "go west" during ` 02 request the last 2 or 3 BULLetins be sent to my son Phillip E Hargis. He will get my 20 year collection of bulletins. It was hard to give up flying, but I ' ve done it. Last flight was C—172 FTW—NATCHEZFTW for my 60th high school reunion. (request duly noted) From John Malandro, Navigator Age 79 has come and gone, I'm now awaiting the big 80. My health is still well enough that aging is relative only to the calendar. Please note that my dues contribution refuses to acknowledge Eagle status. While visiting Alaska last year, I saw a few Eagles and have decided that I'd rather be a Falcon. Or maybe an Owl but I can't stay up that late any more. Staying busy brings me the pleasure of looking forward to most days. I get them one at a time, so I live them as they come. I teach computers at our local college in the Senior Ed program. Also serve as a docent at a nearby Air museum. In between those I do a bit of engineering drafting for local steel fabricators. Keeps me in pocket change and off the streets. I've recently enrolled my son John in TARPA. His name is the same as mine, John W. Malandro Jr. His status is MD80 Captain with TWA LLC. So I guess you should have someone add a Sr. after my name and a Jr. after his when you revise the TARPA roster. I guess I'm making the differentiation to keep the sheriffs and police after the correct Malandro rapscallion. Life is kind. I think we are aging well. My bride still spoils me rotten and I reassure PAGE 56 ... TARPA TOPICS

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A GUY WHO DRIVES A CAR WIDE OPEN ' IS NOT THINKIN HE ' S JUST HOPIN' Burma Shave

her I deserve every bit of it. Mostly it's those Pecan pies and Cheese cakes that keep her in my good graces. Now if I can get this letter in the envelope before she reads what I've just written. Keep up the good work, I read the TARPA Topics cover to cover while nostalgia just fills my cup to the brim. The only part I read with sadness is the Flown West section. 1 flew on TWA's International routes in Connies with the most capable pilots, bar none! In each issue I find one more old friend has taken that last long trip west. My very best to all of my old friends from TWA.

From Bud Powell Enclosed is my check for the dues for 2002. You guys are doing so well I would not dare to cut my dues payment. I hope TARPA will go on for ever. The new issue is a great one. Keep up the great work. My utmost respect.

From Darrell Merrill All is going well here on Flathead Lake in Montana. " The last gasp is gone from old TWA — not encouraged in regard to "American but appreciate the medical. Do you remember my room—mate form Craig AFB, George W McKellar? Well, I wrote to him about trying to help us get reduced rates. George is past Chief Pilot and is presently the president of American's Gray Eagles. He said that they would do all that they can, however, he is not encouraged by a long history with their Human Relations department. Take care—happy holidays. From June and Leo McFarland Thank all for the past years enjoyment derived from the TARPA magazine; the history, current updates, interesting experiences—all resurrection wonderful memories. I thoroughly enjoy reading each and every one to Leo and look forward to the continuance of TARPA—surely on of the wonderful condiments for our "mature years."

From John Schulte Thanks Rufus for all the work you will be doing as secretary/treasurer for TARPA. I retired at the end of 1987. We sold everything we possessed and moved west in 1988. We ended up in Las Vegas, purchased a building lot, designed and built our home and started to teach the locals how to play poker. My wife is in poor health so we do not go out anymore. Thanks again, Rufus. PAGE 57 ... TARPA TOPICS

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CAUTIOUS RIDER TO RECKLESS DEAR LET'S HAVE LESS BULL AND LOTS MORE STEER Burma Shave

From Dick Grod You re enjoying retirement I'm sure — I am — lots of golf, Harley riding, and just kicking back. I'm real glad I don't have to put up with this American deal. A few friends still flying aren't very happy to finish their last couple of years dealing with the mess. Oh well, good luck and enjoy. '

From Frank Ruege, Jr. Just a note—my dad is now living in Naples, FL, He is 84 years young—would love to hear from fellow crew members. Frank Ruege 1000 Arbor Lake Dr Apt 235 Naples, FL 34110

From Lew Bevan Here is my dues for 2002. Have a good year. I'm trying to keep up with the TWA news thru Senior Club and web site. Seems that retirees are just suppose to fade away. We have a nice group here in South West Florida. I'll see a few at our xmas party.

From Louis Barr As an eagle I know my dues are only $30, but I thought I'd kick in a few extra bucks

From Carol Fallucco Thank you for the article about Sal. What a huge contribution he make to the airline industry. We miss him terribly. From Le Butler Just a note to let you know I appreciate the work you are doing for TARPA! I feel so bad for all the board members for having to cancel the convention. I know it had to be done. Oh for the good of days when we worried about simple things , ie, crew scheduling. Keep up your positive attitude. God Bless America!

From the preceding comments it appears that no one wants TARPA TOPICS or TARPA to do anything but just keep pluggin' along. Well, it works for me. GR PAGE 58 ... TARPA TOPICS

CHECKITUS by Black Dog Davis "Look up at the overhead panel," the check captain orders. "What do you see?" "Things." "What about a little red guard?" "Got it." "What's under it?" "A switch." "If you actuate it, what happens?" "Water squirts down on the captain's forehead and wakes him up." The response to this witticism is a glare. The climb to eight thousand feet only takes a jiffy. "Give me a simulated auto approach." Select frequency and monitor airspeed. Descent, and the thrust levers move steadily to relevant positions. Flaps. As they travel out and downward the airplane lurches up slightly, and the yoke begins shaking. A sharp vibratory sound fills the cockpit. "What's that?" the check captain yells. "What's that?" "I guess it's my stomach. I should have shied away from the garlic last night." Adam Wycliffe woke up with a start. Same dream, always the same dream, and he always forgets to adjust the air speed. Adam knows why. It ' s a warning, a subconscious happening that makes him fully aware of his affliction - Acute Chronic Checkitus. The plague has been with him for twenty years. Twenty years, that is, since the drastic Buddy Club shakeup. When he first went with The Company, instrument and line checks were sort of like visiting. He didn't just jump in the cockpit and start yaking. He engaged in a bit of research in advance of each period if the session was with a pilot he hadn't flown with before. This involved a brief discussion with someone who had. It wasn't only, "What kind of a guy is he?" He wanted specifics - mainly his interests and activities when he wasn't aloft. "You say that Bledsoe is a farmer?" "Yep. I had a ride with him last week and he had just bought a brand new John Deere tractor. That's all he talked about the whole trip. You want the specs? I could tear one down and put it back together again. Adam went to a farm equipment outlet and picked up some John Deere literature and memorized the contents. "Captain, is yours the one with that new synchromesh transmission? Launched. Every time Captain Bledsoe would start to wind down Adam would bring up a particular and they were off and running. "Nice trip," Captain Bledsoe said at the end of the trip. "Keep up the good work." "Bridge?" "You didn't know? Contract player. Wins tournaments. Take along a deck of cards." Adam rushed down to the library and spent hours studying the rudiments of the game. Right after takeoff he looked over at the check captain and said, "Auction never appealed to you?" That's all it took. By the time they got home he had acquired a full knowledge of bridge, a game he loathed, and a severe headache. It wasn't all smooth sailing. When he got wind of Captain Muncy's prime diversion he nearly called in sick. "What?" "That's right. Harmonize. And when you step into that cockpit that'll be the first thing he'll ask you, `do you harmonize?' and you better by God come

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up with an affirmative enthusiastic "YES! And if you want to pass the check ride with flying colors tell him it's your main hobby." "But I can't even carry a tune." "Doesn't matter. He blasts away so loud the passengers in the rear can hear him. Don't worry about the lyrics just make some kind of racket. Adam had two round trips with Captain Muncy, and since he wanted desperately to pass the check ride, engaged heartily in all the vocals. After the last ride, Captain Muncy patted him chummily on the back and said, "If you get bumped back to copilot bid my flight and we can do it all over again." Adam knew he would not lose a wink of sleep over this projected arrangement because if it did happen he would bid out of the domicile. Instrument checks were pleasant and even enjoyable. Those pilots endowed with this supervisory position were top of the list granddaddies. They were mellow, patient and kind. "What would like to do today? I don't want to be too hard on you." Adam's favorite was a real old-timer who sold real estate on the side. His preamble was unique. As they moved away from the ramp (especially on the first ride with the gentleman) he said, "I can tell taxiing out if a pilot has what it takes. We got to get the time in though, so might as well take it aloft. I want to look at some property north of town any, way. Then there was Captain Wesley, a true nonconformist. Adam asked around. "What's his angle? How do I prepare?" "There's no preparation. He'll do most of the flying and you might even be amazed and even entertained." After leveling off Captain Wesley looked over at Adam and said, "What do you want to do, fly or visit? If you don ' t want to practice I 've got my annual duty to perform. " Adam, totally puzzled, said, "OK by me. Better get it out of the way." In minutes they were at deck level and approaching an aux-military field that was used for training. Captain Wesley was scanning the terrain adjacent to the field and suddenly issued a firm command: "Land." On the approach and touchdown Adam noticed a mature stand of corn edging up to within a few feet of the taxi strips. For the next thirty minutes, and at Captain Wesley ' s insistence, "Move it over! Move it over! You've got plenty of slab!" Adam guided the airplane around the perimeter taxi strip with the starboard prop cutting a flawless arc two-thirds of the way up the corn stalks. He was speechless and Captain Wesley gave him an impatient look and said, "Well?" Adam gulped and said, "Pretty damn impressive I'd say." But the idyllic period was drawing to a close. He was scheduled for one more instrument check before the new regime moved in and that would be like a swan song. Knowing that this specter was hovering and ready to pounce had put him in a traumatic state. Rumors had filtered through the system from other domiciles where the vast change had already taken place, and the alien procedures the "students" were being subjected to had caused his mind to reel. He was having a good deal of trouble concentrating. Since he had not flown with Captain Pegler before he still proceeded with his research effort. He was building a house on some acreage in the suburbs and was about halfway

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along. Walking out to the airplane Adam said, "Understand you're in the throes of house construction." "Throes is right. My first and last." Captain Pegler said. "You being diddled by a general contractor or are you subletting?" "Oh, subletting. I pick and choose and I'm going to save thirty or forty percent. " It was like opening the coffers of a dam. Captain Pegler's rhetoric didn't even include punctuation. He covered the whole effort in one garbled blast. Pausing to catch his breath he managed a concise sentence. "I'd like to check on the roofers if you don't mind, and we can do a little air work afterwards." "Suits me," Adam said. "I'd like to see your place anyway." Captain Pegler performed several forty-five degree banks around the construction site and slid the window back once and stuck his head out for a few seconds. "Still got a way to go. Shakes all over the place. Big waste." He glanced at his watch. "Say, I got another instrument check. We better do something. Feather a prop. After throttling back Adam reached up and tapped the red button and the blades came to a halt. During the maneuvers with no need to concentrate on air work, he had dwelt on his dismal future and the initial qualms of the grim malady to be had dulled his senses. He barely heard Captain Pegler say, "Unfeather it and let's get back." Still contemplating the horrors of his next ride he reached up and punched the other button. When the vibration stopped it was dead quiet. Captain Pegler appeared to be in shock and the only thing that Adam could think of to say was, "Check list" This brought the captain back to full consciousness and he mumbled, "Hope we got a hot battery. No problem there and when the props started churning he grabbed the controls and said, "I better fly this leg and what say we keep this little happening on the QT? " Even though Adam's next instrument check was a year away a line check was right around the corner. Prior to this initial engagement he had commenced his usual preliminary. "What about Cameron?" The "student" had just gotten in from his first encounter and appeared to be shaken. "What do you mean? What about him?" "Did you visit? Any hobbies? Pastimes? You know, like the Old Guys." "Like the Old Guys. Hah!" "Doesn't he even talk?" "Talk? He never shuts up. The pre-flight oral was transferred right up to the cockpit. Nothing you do is right. We had instruments into La Guardia and he blabbed the whole time. I had to keep asking approach control to repeat. And remember, it's his way or no way. Adam felt a chill. "What's this pre-flight oral bit?" "When your scheduled you'll get a note in your mail box requesting that you arrive at the airport an hour and a half before departure so he can see how much you know." "Did you pass?" "Who knows?"

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Numbness and a great surge of Checkitus attacked Adams entire system. As usual hot and cold flashes began and then his sweat glands began to generate. This was followed up with vertigo and a need to sit down and weep. The torture had begun almost immediately. Cameron spent a good five minutes arranging manuals, charts and unfamiliar looking documents on top of the table. Adam had a sudden brain cloud and the paraphernalia became a fortress with the snouts of huge cannons pointing directly at him. During the interim he fantasized what would be a novel response to whatever Cameron would lay on him. "You don't seem to be very familiar with the contents of these manuals." "Do tell." "Do you consider yourself competent to execute the duties that are required in the cockpit of a commercial airliner?" "Hell no." "What do you suggest I do about it?" "Get lost." Adam was shaken out of his reverie when he realized that Cameron had made eye contact and folded his hands in front of him. "I assume that you are familiar with the contents of these manuals, but over a period of time I've accumulated a good deal of facts, pertinent to the operation, that are touched on lightly in the book or not at all." Adam tasted old pennies. For the rest of his life if there were any pronouncements or statements that would stay with him forever, it was, "Do you know that ...? Or, "Are you aware of ...? The oral lasted the full hour and a half and he didn't, "Know that ... or was "Aware of hardly any of it. He did a lot of nodding and the only thing he could think of to say when there was the usual pause after the "know that" and the "aware of' was, "I didn't know that, thanks." During the first hour of the line check there was silence and Adam figured held have one shot at a "visit". "Where do you live?" The ensuing quietude lasted a full minute and then Cameron said, " Are you going to bother tuning in the next station? " Dwelling on the infinite number of check rides that he would have to be subjected to before his retirement date began to get to him physically. There were the usual symptoms, constipation and the opposite, insomnia, and of course, gas but a new one popped up in the form of a rash. Itching and burning were the chief symptoms and pubescent eruptions began to appear on his face. He visited a dermatologist and after a brief examination the first words he uttered were, "Are you under some kind of stress?" Adam had definitely planned to weather the ordeals and make it to retirement age but with his health starting to deteriorate he began to reconsider. When he started experiencing dizzy spells he decided to have a chat with the chief pilot and maybe call it quits. The door to the chief pilot's office was open and Adam could see him at his desk. He was on the phone so Adam found a chair and sat down. He began to ponder whether on not his request would be the right move when his name was called out from the inner sanctum. "Wycliffe, been trying to get a hold of you. Step in here a moment. Got an offer you can't refuse. Grab a chair and see if this appeals to you. Adam sat down, nervously wondering what was about to be proffered.

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' We ' re losing our check pilots. Cameron s going uptown and Byron is already on his way to run the International Division. You've got the seniority and if you're interested there's a pay raise guarantee and you can pick your flights. Have to know right now. " Adam was transfixed. His first clear thought was to ask for a repeat. How could his luck have changed so radically for the better? The chief pilot began to fidget. "Gotta know right now." Heaven. The pay raise was substantial and it was goodbye red eye and no departures before noon. His health improved immediately and the sandman was providing him with eight to ten hours of deep slumber every night. Check pilot fretting was history. Also, the "substantial" gave him extra funds to play the stock market, something he had always wanted to get involved in, but never had the extra funding for that kind of investment. He went whole hog, attended seminars, purchased volumes of financial publications and was on every stock market mailing list. Alongside his nav kit in the cockpit was a brief case that would be snapped open during a ground delay or a tediously long flight. With knitted brow and pursed lips Adam would intently peruse some document, occasionally shaking his head or nodding. "

After a few months of enjoying his new role of check pilot and investor, he was assigned a pilot he had never checked before. His name was Jack Mullins and as they were reading the checklist the cockpit door opened and an agent advised them that there would be a short delay due to baggage transfer. Mullins opened his nav kit and withdrew some market reports. Adam looked over and said, "What do you have there?" "These are yesterdays. I got up too early to check the numbers this morning but I picked up some dope on the radio on the way to the airport." "You did?" Adam said, as something strangely familiar began to infiltrate his brain. "IBM.'s holding steady. Airlines are down. I won't even mention Silicon Valley. I'm thinking of going for the money market until there's some action." Adam looked out of his side window and had mixed emotions.

PILOTS You see them at airport terminals around the world. You see them in the morning early, sometimes at night. They come neatly uniformed and hatted, sleeves striped; they show up looking fresh. There's a brisk, young-old look of efficiency about them. They arrive fresh from home, from hotels, carrying suitcases, battered briefcases, bulging, with a wealth of technical information, data, filled with regulations, rules. They know the new, harsh sheen of Chicago's O'Hare. They know the cluttered approaches to Newark; they know the tricky shuttle that is Rio; they know, but do not relish, threading the needle into Hong Kong. They respect foggy San Francisco. They know the up-and-down walk to the gates at Dallas, the Texas sparseness of Abilene, the Berlin Corridor, New Orleans' sparking terminal, the milling crowds at Washington. They know Butte, Boston, and Beirut. They appreciate Miami ' s perfect weather; they recognize the danger of an ice-slick runway at JFK. They understand about short runways, antiquated fire equipment, inadequate approach lighting, but there is one thing they will never comprehend: complacency. PAGE 63 ... TARPA TOPICS

They remember the workhorse efficiency of the DC-3 ' s, the reliability of the DC- 4 ' s and DC-6 's, the trouble with the DC- 7's. They discuss the beauty of an old gal named Connie. They recognize the high shrill whine of a Viscount, the rumbling thrust of a DC-8 or 707. And a Convair. They speak a language unknown to Webster. They discuss ALPA, EPR's, fans, mach and bogie swivels. And, strangely, such things as bugs, thumpers, crickets, and CATs, but they are inclined to change the subject when the uninitiated approaches. They have tasted the characteristic loneliness of the sky, and occasionally the adrenaline of danger. They respect the unseen thing called turbulence; they know what it means to fight for self-control, to discipline one's senses. They buy life insurance-but make no concession to the possibility of complete disaster, for they have uncommon faith in themselves and what they are doing. They concede that the glamour is gone from flying. They deny that a man is through at sixty. They know that tomorrow, or the following night, something will come along that they have never met before; they know that flying requires perseverance. They know that they must practice, lest they retrograde. They realize why some wit once quipped: "Flying is year after year of monotony punctuated by seconds of stark terror." As a group, they defy mortality tables, yet approach semi-annual physical examinations with trepidation. They are individualistic, yet bonded together. They are family men, yet rated poor marriage bets. They are reputedly overpaid, yet entrusted with equipment worth millions. And entrusted with lives, countless lives. At times they are reverent: They have watched the Pacific sky turn purple at dusk. They know the twinkling, jeweled beauty of Los Angeles at night; they have seen snow up on the Rockies. They remember the vast unending mat of green Amazon jungle, the twisting silver road that is the father of Waters, an ice cream cone called Fujiyama. And the hump of Africa. They have watched a satellite streak across a starry sky, seen the clear, deep blue of the stratosphere, felt the incalculable force of the heavens. They have marveled at sun-streaked evenings, dappled earth, velvet night; spun silver clouds, sculptured cumulus: God's weather. They have viewed the Northern Lights, a wilderness of sky; a pilot's halo, a bomber's moon, horizontal rain, contrails and St Elmo's Fire. They have learned to accept these challenge in everyday, they have realized a complete removal from earthy attachments, and they have reveled in a sense of high suspension. Only a pilot experiences all these. It is their world. Submitted by Gary Huss and Mal Yarke PAGE 64 ... TARPA TOPICS

IN CAPTAIN

MEMORY

ADOLPH

MATHEW

URBAS

JUNE 22, 1915 - JANUARY 24, 2001 Born June 22nd, 1915 in Youngstown, Ohio to Austrian immigrants, Mathew Urbas and Frances Rapus, Adolph Mathew Urbas passed away on January 24, 2001 at Rockford Memorial Hospital (Illinois), with his family at his side. Adolph suffered during much of his life from ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, enduring intravenous feeding for seven years and dialysis during the last seven months. Undaunted by that and other struggles, he nonetheless lived a vigorous and courageous life filled with the joy of flying. Adolph's first airplane was a Travelaire that he and Clarence Graether, who later became an FAA accident investigator, owned. George Tabraham, their high school machine shop teacher, loaned them $500 to purchase the plane, made it a class project to make it flyable, and then turned it over to them. The Depression forced Adolph to join a Civilian Conservation Corps camp near Trout Lake in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Most of his meager earnings were sent home to support his parents. But when he returned home, PAGE 65 ... TARPA TOPICS

he discovered his parents had saved all of that money. They gave it to him to continue his flying career. He had started to take as many lessons as he could afford while he was in an aeronautical program at Cass Technical High School in Detroit. In 1 933, at the tender age of 18, he soloed in a 1929 Waco with an OX5 90 HP engine. Adolph was always very proud of his early OX5 number: 10 11. Very early in his career, he taught flying from dawn to dusk, seven days a week, at the Triangle and Wayne County airports near Detroit. That ' s where a TWA scout found him, and he was hired on August 1, 1940. Adolph flew DC2s, DC3s, and DC4s on a Delta interchange and on international over the Alps, and Martin 404s. By 1950, he flew all of the dolphin sleek tri tailed Constellations on domestic and international routes to Europe and the Middle East as a Captain. He had checked out in less than 2 years. During 1954, Adolph broke a speed record flying a Lockheed Constellation between Lisbon and New York, which still stands today. By the time of his retirement in 1974, he was flying the four engine Convair 88o jetliner. Adolph also maintained and flew his own planes: first a Stinson Voyager Station Wagon, later a Cessna 182, and finally a Cessna 172 owned with his son Bob, which his wife Jean, a private pilot, continues to fly. He taught his son, an American Airlines pilot, and his daughter, an environmental lawyer and champion rower, to fly. Adolph supported and inspired his wife to fly. Several months before his death, on a mutually satisfying flight, Adolph landed his little Cessna softly and said to Jean, "This is one of the last good flying days." Although he had lived in Medinah, Illinois since 1957, when he retired Adolph built a house on Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, where he enjoyed many years of boating, tennis and downhill skiing. As a TWA Captain, Adolph was dedicated to furthering the careers of the co pilots who flew with him. Many of those pilots have written to us to express their gratitude and to tell us that he was always helpful and a great joy to fly with. No other compliment would have meant more to Adolph. We miss him every day. by Jean, Bob and Susan

MEMORY

RICHARD

HELLAR

MAY 11, 1913 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; DECEMBER 24, 2001

MEMORY

CAPTAIN PAUL F. RATHERT JULY 7, 1923 - NOVEMBER 16, 2001

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MEMORY

CAPTAIN VERL M. HOLDEN JUNE 21, 1922 - NOVEMBER 3, 2001 Verl Holden, a long-time resident of Los Altos, died on November 3. He was 79 years old. Holden, a retired veteran of 35 years as a pilot with TWA, was born in Oklahoma City. He joined the Army Air Corps in 1941, and graduated Class 43-A from George Field, IL. After C46 training and duty in North Africa, Holden requested a transfer to ICD, and was transferred to Luliang, China, where he flew the "Hump" through the rest of WWII. After separation from the military in 1946, Holden began his commercial flying career with TWA, progressing from DC-3 to B-747 over his career, and flying both international and domestic assignments. In 1948, Holden took a six-month leave of absence from the company and returned to active military duty, in order to fly the Berlin Airlift. He completed over loo missions before the end of the blockade. Among his many interests were photography, golf, and a life-long love of jazz music. He was also an avid Bay Area sports enthusiast.Holden is survived by his wife of 51 years Helen ("Teddy"), his two sons, Clayton and Brent, Brent's wife Cheryl, their two sons Trevor and Hunter and his two sisters, Gladys Sigman of Ardmore, OK and Ex'Mae Naylor of Dallas, TX. by Teddy Holden

MEMORY

CAPTAIN JOHN J. KIEFFER JUNE 4, 1910 - DECEMBER 17, 2001

IN HARRY

MEMORY W.

JOHNSON

DECEMBER 9, 1919 - DECEMBER 19, 2001

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IN CAPTAIN

MEMORY NESTOR

OF PETLAK

DECEMBER 29, 1934 - OCTOBER 14, 2001 Nestor Petlak died peacefully in his home at Danien Connecticut on October 14, 200 1. His wife Manuela survives him. I was privileged to speak at his memorial service. These are the words I said. It was a cold winters night in the mid ninteen thirties. With only two days left before New Years Eve a cold Canadian winter had descended across Saskatchewan with all its fury. There were rumblings of war in Europe and the remnants of the great depression still left its mark on the Canadian west. It was on this blustery winter night that Nestor began his Journey through life. Twenty two years later as a young 19 year old flight cadet, I was assigned to a two year flight training school as part of my Officer Training for the Royal Canadian Air Force. Our heroes there were the cool, confident and chauvinistic young flight instructors who would guide and mold us for the next two years. Nestor was one of these instructors. After three Years as a flight instructor Nestor was assigned to the VIP transport squadron in Ottawa. Their mission was to transport the Canadian Prime Minister and high ranking government officials. The Canadian equivalent to Air Force One. After six year in the RCAF Nestor received an appointment to the Department of Transportion as an aviation inspector. He was given his own government issued air plane and flew around the country inspecting and evaluating aviation facilities and issuing pilots licenses. After three years of this the airlines beckoned and Nestor headed south. It was in September 1964 that I found myself sitting next to Nestor in a Pilot New Hire class at TWA. That was the beginning of a long and close friendship. Soon after, Nestor would meet the love of his life, Manuela a TWA flight attendant and a thirty-year love affair was the result. Nestor went on to fly and Captain every airplane that TWA flew. He was a man's man, an avid skier, golfer and world traveler, but most of all he was a good friend. Always there when there was a need. Always cheerful. Always full of hope. Always willing to listen. Always ready to help. How do you find words to praise such a life. This poem is a gift to my friend. by Neville Fryling PAGE 68 ... TARPA TOPICS

A piece of Life, Taken away A vision of hope is gone today Nestor, Nestor, Come out and play. ' I can 't he said, I ve gone away. I've had this friend for forty years. We'd talk and laugh and have some beers. And ski and fly and feel life's tears. Nestor, Nestor, come out and play. He can 't come out, he 's gone away. Whenever I called he'd answer my plea, Whatever I needed, he'd be there for me. Nestor, Nestor, I know your free. But can't you come out and play with me.

He's taken a flight to see his God. He's flown where only angels trod. He wheeled and soared then left the earth. And we're left here to honor his birth. Nestor, Nestor, come out and play. There was no answer, he 's gone away. Larry is there, and his mom and dad, And his sister and all of the heroes he had. At the head of the table pouring Champagne Is the Captain himself and he's glad he came. Nestor, Nestor come out and play. There's only silence, he's gone away.

MEMORY

by Neville Fryling

JAMES R. SHERARD FEBRUARY 13, 1923 - JUNE 9, 2001 Jim was born in Seattle, Washington on a date that he learned later from an autobiography by Chuck Yeager was also the birthday of the renowned test pilot. Growing up in the home of Boeing Aircraft Company, Jim was drawn to the idea of being involved with airplanes. His mother complained of his taking over the dining room table to make his airplane models which were mostly carved from balsa wood and some even flew. After graduation from Queen Anne High School in 1940, just before United States ' entry into WWII in 1941, he worked for American Express delivering messages via bicycle in the heart of Seattle. A slight inheritance from his grandparents gave him a chance to go to a technical school in Spokane, Washington to learn to be an aircraft mechanic. He took a job with Boeing Aircraft which was too boring and repetitive for an inquisitive mind. In 1 943 he took a job with Pan American Airlines as an aircraft mechanic thinking he would soon be drafted into the military. But soon after that, Pan Am arranged for its employees to be enlisted into the Navy Reserve; as PAA had many contracts with the government. He spent WWII with Pan Am as an aircraft mechanic in Seattle, Juneau, Anchorage, Fairbanks, and San Francisco. On a trip 50 years later with his wife, Barbara, and TARPA, he retraced his old haunts in Alaska and shared memories. As he told it, thinking he would be drafted after the war was over, he went to the island of Wake with PAA. On returning no one was interested in drafting him. His last years with Pan Am were spent in San Francisco where he met his wife, Barbara Trousdale, and settled down in Redwood City for some four-years before joining TWA as a flight engineer. By this time they had two girls Lynn, 2, Nan, 6 weeks. The trip to Kansas City, where he was to be trained as a flight engineer, took place in his 1949 Plymouth with a homemade wooden box filled with essentials on top and his family within, was quite an adventure. PAGE 69 ... TARPA TOPICS

After training he was assigned to New York and immediately to International flights which was a dream come true for him. Over the years, while in the home they bought in Oakdale, Long Island, three other children, Mary, Paul and Alice, were born.. Jim took flying lessons at a local airport, courtesy of TWA and the Federal Feinsinger Report, prepared to insure a third man in the cockpit with piloting skills, This agreement was developed after the light engineers struck to fight for their jobs. Jim achieved a commercial pilot license. After this, he returned to being a third person in the cockpit since his age precluded his going on to become pilot and captain as some flight engineers were able to do. Later, in his time off which was considerable, he added on to his house to accommodate his growing family. He became an avid jogger when not working on his house. He fulfilled another dream when he purchased a telescope with which he, his family and friends viewed the rings on Saturn, the moons on Jupiter, the craters on the moon and, at one time, the collision of a comet into Jupiter. Astronomy: reading and viewing was his avocation. In later years, discussions with his son, a MS in Physics, on astronomy and physics was a great pleasure. . Jim retired in 1986 after 32 years with TWA. His plans to not retire until age 70, which he could do as a flight engineer, changed when Icahn took over TWA and caused much almost daily jogging in local parks until his feet insisted he slow down and then he walked each day always in a park. He actively maintained and patrolled various trails established by the Greenbelt Trail Conference in Suffolk County. Though his children have lived all over the country, his pass privileges with TWA allowed him and Barbara to visit them and their grandchildren often. A good life: a grown family, six grandchildren, ages 19 to 21/2, (the 19 year old in college studying to be a pilot), a job he loved, an appreciation of the beauty of the earth and the sky, all add to our memory of him. by Barbara Trousdale Sherard

MEMORY

CAPTAIN JOHN W. NIVEN NOVEMBER 1, 1914 - SEPTEMBER 9, 2001

MEMORY

BRUCE

MCGLASSON

FEBRUARY 11, 1935 - AUGUST 31, 2001

IN CAPTAIN

MEMORY

GEORGE

SHANK

MAY 2, 1920 - SEPTEMBER 28, 2001

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IN CAPTAIN

MEMORY

THEOPHIEL

OF H.

WIDMAYER

NOVEMBER 19, 1918 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; DECEMBER 18, 2001 Ted was born in Missouri, the second of 6 children His father was a German speaking Minister, so the family moved occasionally to parishes that needed him Ted grew up in Missouri, Iowa, North Dakota and Michigan where he graduated from high school. He then attended the University of Dubuque. His wanderlust took hold and he migrated to California, where he worked as a busboy and packing raisins for Sun Maid. With his savings, he purchased a 40 horsepower J-2 Cub and learned to fly. When World War II began, he enlisted in the Army. In 1943 he was transferred to Phoenix where he was a pilot-instructor of Cadets in the Stearman biplane. This group of Thunderbird Pilots formed the "Last of the Helmet and Goggle Boys" and had reunions in Arizona for many years. Some former Cadets and some of their offspring from Britain and Taiwan always attended. After the war, Ted went with TWA for thirty-three years, based in Boston and New York, flying Domestic and International. He met his wife Jane Carque, a TWA Hostess in New York. They were married in 1947 and had 54 wonderful years together, during which time, they traveled extensively courtesy of TWA. Ted was a Mr. Fixit. He loved fishing, music and his big vegetable garden, which he eventually had to give up. Ted had successfully battled lymphoma and prostate cancer, but Parkinson's finally grounded him, and from1999 on he became less and less mobile. He never complained about his lot even when he could do nothing for himself. He was truly a gentleman and a gentle man who will be missed greatly by his family and friends. He leaves his wife, son Stephen and grandchildren, Michelle and Don. by Jane Widmayer IN

MEMORY

CAPTAIN RONALD A. HECKMAN JUNE 6, 1920 - DECEMBER 14, 2001

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MEMORY

CAPTAIN JAMES A. MCINTYRE OCTOBER 10, 1927 - NOVEMBER 19, 2001 Capt. James A. McIntyre, 74, formerly of Deerfield, NH, died Nov. 19, at the Elliot Hospital in Manchester after a lengthy battle with lung disease. Born in Norwood, MA Oct. lo, 1927. He lived most of his life in Deerfield, but recently moved to Waterville Valley. He graduated from LaSalle Academy in New York City in 1945 and was accepted as a Navy V5 student attending Tufts College for two years of engineering studies prior to Navy flight training at NAS Pensacola, FL. He subsequently flew with the Pacific fleet and then returned to Columbia University to earn his degree. Hired by Pan American World Airways in early 1952, he flew to Africa, South America and the Caribbean. He then joined TWA and flew their U.S. domestic and international routes before retiring as a Boeing 747 Captain in 1987. During this time Capt. McIntyre stayed affiliated with Naval Air Reserve and was called to active duty with the U.S. Navy for three years in late 1961. He flew with the Fleet Tactical Support Squadron assigned to the Pacific Fleet and rejoined the Reserves afterwards. He also retired as a Navy Captain. Capt. McIntyre was very active in air safety work throughout his career. Awarded the Air Line Pilot Association Air Safety award in 1985, he continued his air safety efforts in retirement. He was President of the U.S. Society of Air Safety Investigators (ISASI) and chaired the ISASI Human Factors Working Group. In 1 999, Capt. McIntyre was presented the prestigious Jerome P. Lederer Award in front of 130 delegates from 35 nations for his lifetime devotion to aviation. Jim also served as Town Moderator in Deerfield for 18 years and was the Director of the Deerfield Fair Publicity Dept. for over a quarter of a century. His wife Anna of 48 years, a daughter Mary Ames, three sons, James, Jeffrey, Christopher, and brother Harry survive him.

PAGE 72 ... TARPA TOPICS

MEMORY

CAPTAIN JACK ROBERTSON NOVEMBER 7, 1922 - NOVEMBER 19, 2001 Jack was born November 7, 1922 in a very small town in Alabama, called Edwardsville. Times were hard. He grew up with just nickels and dimes but he was fortunate and received a scholarship for flying at Anniston, Alabama. Soon, he was hired by TWA at age 19 and flew out of Detroit City Airport During World War II, Jack served in the Navy flying transports across the Pacific. After the war, he returned to TWA and at first, was based in San Francisco. He was then sent to Detroit where he received his Captain checkout. He later became a Check Pilot and during that time, he was assigned to write a report on Saudi Arabian Airlines. He was transferred to Paris where he spent three years. One of his jobs there was to fly the C-82 Fairchild Packet, which was dubbed "Ontos" Greek for "thing". The C-82 was used to carry good engines to replace Connie engines that had failed anywhere on the International System. He also made many trips to JFK and back, checking the Doppler Navigation System. Jack's next assignment was as Chief Pilot in Chicago. One of his favorite memories there was the " Go Program " . His next job was Chief Pilot in San Francisco. His high there was flying the press for President Ford's trip to Vladivostok, in the Soviet Union. In 1983, after two years flying the line, primarily the LAX to London Polar Flights, Jack retired. Jack passed away November 19, 2001 at his home in Scottsdale, Arizona. He leaves his wife of fifty years, Phyllis, and three sons John, Don and Jim and four Grandsons. As Jack always said, "Who gets the girls?" by Phyllis Robertson

IN CAPTAIN

MEMORY JOHN

OF MORRISON

MAY 14, 1915 - NOVEMBER 18, 2001

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A Quiet Remembrance by Jim Breslin "Grampa, what are heroes?", the little boy wanted to know. "Yeah Grampa", his sister was just as eager to learn, "what are heroes?" Their sudden curiosity caught Grampa off-guard, and quite unprepared as he reached for the first thought that come into his head. "Well most of all", he explained, "heroes are very special people among us. " "Could I be a hero some day Grampa?", his grandson wanted to know. Grampa reflected on the words he'd just spoken, and then reluctantly had to concede, "Well yes, I'm quite sure that you could." "And me too Grampa?", his granddaughter wanted to know. "Yes, and you too. And you would be called a heroine.", he repeated with the same cautious reluctance. (And then he caught himself quietly praying, "But I ask God to keep you safe always.") "How Grampa? How can we become heroes?", they both wanted to know. "Well that's not so easy to answer. You see, it's not like wanting to be a nurse or a doctor, or a policeman or a fireman, or a pilot, or a teacher, or anything like that. You have to go to school to learn all of those noble professions, and if you study hard, you can become anything that you want to be. " "Heroes and heroines come from all of those professions, and others as well, but to be a hero or a heroine starts from something much deeper within you. If you're kind to animals, and if you're respectful of all those around you, regardless of race or of creed, and if you're willing to share all that you have with those who are less fortunate than you are, and if you strive to live your lives by the Commandments, then you might very well be called upon to become a hero some day, and you'll respond without ever thinking about it. It's called having the Right Stuff." "When Grampa? When do you think we can be heroes?" " Well, that's not so easy to answer either. See, heroes and heroines are much like the stars in the heavens. When it's sunny and bright all around us, we can't see the stars, can we? Still, we know that they're there all the same, just waiting for the darkness to set in so that they can shine brightly in the heavens above us. And that's the way that heroes and heroines are." "We never know who the heroes or heroines among us are going to be until darkness sets in, and that's when they shine their brightest as well, making life safer for all of us. So you see, heroes and heroines are very much like the stars in the heavens." PAGE 74 ... TARPA TOPICS

"Come, I'll show you. Let's go outside on the porch." "See up there in the heavens - see that brilliant cluster of stars shining down on us? Well, there are more than 400 of them now, and do you know what's so special about them? They all got their call on the very same day." "When Grampa?", both children were anxious to learn. "On September 11, 2001. And even though it was a beautiful Tuesday morning starting out, it became suddenly dark and God needed their help to save thousands of people moms and dads, and brothers and sisters, and uncles and aunts, and cousins, and friends - people they didn't even know." "And there's something else that's very special about heroes and heroines. They never think of themselves as heroes or heroines, even while we salute their unselfish sacrifices. They believe that they haven't been anything more than good neighbors. So what do you think about that?" "Cool Grampa!" His sister gave him one of those admonishing looks as only big sisters can do, while Grampa reached over and playfully pulled the boys cap down over his eyes, smiling down on the young boys unrestrained innocence, while wistfully musing, (Hmmm Cool? Yeah, maybe. I'll have to give that one more thought") "Well now that we are all looking up at that brilliant cluster of stars in the heavens, what do you think if we all join hands and say THANK YOU? Thank you for giving so many thousands of families their Merriest Christmas ever." "Were all deeply saddened for the families who had one vacant chair at the Christmas table this year, but just think how much sadder this Christmas would have been if it hadn't been for their courage and their unselfish bravery - if they hadn't been heroes and heroines at all." "Does that help explain what heroes and heroines are?", Grampa wanted to know. "Yes Grampa. It's just like you said in the beginning. Heroes and heroines are very special people, and we should never forget their unselfish bravery." Grampa smiled down on them warmly, satisfied that they understood as much as they needed to know about 9/11 for now.

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More Speed Fellow TWA ' ers, In response to a diminishing number of requests I have compiled this continuation of the 2000 diary of my travels through the world of Land Speed racing. To give a quick overview of this form of motor sports racing, it began in the mid to late 1930's in an area called Rosamond Dry Lake in the Mojave Desert of California. Hot rodders from the Los Angeles Basin would travel the 2 hrs. to the dry (in the summer) lakebeds that now are a part of Edwards Air Force Base and race against each other. Soon an umbrella organization made up of the various Los Angeles area car clubs was formed to organize these impromptu events. This organization named itself the Southern California Timing Association (SCTA), invested in a set of timing devices, established rules dividing the competing cars by engine displacement, type of fuel used (gasoline or unlimited), and the body used (coupes, roadsters, special construction, etc.). At that time the racecourse was standardized as a 1.3 mile acceleration strip with the 132 ' timing trap at the end. This format is still in use today. The advent of World War 11 put these monthly races on hold and sent many of the youthful ' competitors into military service. In addition, the USAF took over the SCTA s playground when they opened Edwards AFB in the early 1940's. When the war was over and the young men returned they resumed their races at El Mirage Dry Lake, several miles to the southeast of Rosamond. Since that time the SCTA has annually conducted 5 one-day meets plus one two-day meet during the months of May through November at El Mirage. El Mirage has its own set of records in several hundred SCTA classes of cars and motorcycles based on the guidelines mentioned above. Cars must pass a rigorous safety inspection and fit into one of the many classes. The driver must attend a rookie orientation session if he/ she is new to El Mirage, plus make their first run down the course at less than full power. In 1949 the SCTA realized that the post-war technology had progressed to the point that a longer timing course was needed to accommodate the emerging overhead-valve engines and the speed technology that was spawned by World War 11 inspired innovation. At this point the search for a new "speed" home led the SCTA to the Bonneville Salt Flats, 120 miles west of Salt Lake City on the Nevada-Utah Border. The Bonneville Salt Flats had been used for automotive endurance testing for many years using improvised oval courses on which cars could be run for 24-48 hours. There had been some limited private straight-line speed testing by England's Sir Malcolm Campbell and John Cobb, but never a "grass-roots " event such as had been operating at Rosamond and El Mirage. The first Bonneville Speed Week was the 1949 meet, with approximately 50 racecars entered in a handful of classes. Top speed of the meet was probably between 150 & 175MPH. The 2001 Speed Week had approximately 320 entrants, 2 separate race courses (one 5 mile for cars over 175MPH and one 3 mile for the cars under 175MPH), and top time of the meet . was 470MPH Anyway, back to the subject at hand. The King$ Ran$om car is what is called a "Modified Roadster", meaning that the body must be based on a roadster between 1923 and 1938 of PAGE 76 ... TARPA TOPICS

American origin, and can be streamlined and modified from the original windshield line forward and the original bottom of the body downward. In addition, the roll-bar area and the parachute mounting areas may be streamlined. Our engine class is restricted to Ford Flathead -(pre-1954) V-8 engines with aftermarket overhead valve conversions and superchargers. We alternate between the gasoline class and the unlimited class that commonly uses a combination of methanol and nitromethane for fuel. In 2000 we ran in the normally aspirated (no supercharger) class. In 2001 we added a "Roots" type supercharger borrowed from a GIVIC diesel bus engine. Speed Week at the Bonneville, Utah Salt Flats was our first outing of 2001. While Bonneville operates under the same basic SCTA rules, the course has a 2-mile acceleration followed by 3-one mile timing traps for a total distance traveled of 5 miles. There was an existing record of about 165MPH in our class. My son Brian did most of the driving this year and had the privilege of making the first pass of the meet and creating the first rooster-tail of powdered salt behind the car as it approached 200MPH . Unfortunately I had the straight-methanol tune-up a little lean and he turned out just before the first timed mile when the engine started complaining. We richened the fuel injection setting a "click" and made a second pass in mid-afternoon of 219MPH in the first timed mile, qualifying us to make a backup return record run the next morning. After going through Impound inspection we got in line again, but the meet was called because of poor traction conditions when we were #2 to run. The November El Mirage was our final event of the year. This time we switched back to the Supercharged Unlimited Fuel class, running against a 195MPH open record minimum. Despite the engine being only 26o cubic inches in a 325 maximum cubic inch class I felt that we could go 200MPH on straight methanol, without the addition of the always potent (and hard on engine parts) nitromethane. I arrived at the lakebed early afternoon on Friday, rolled the car out of the trailer, and got through the technical inspection with the help of some fellow racers. The crew, consisting of my son Brian and several friends from the SF Bay Area, started arriving after dark Friday, taking up residence in their pickups and 20' enclosed trailer/bunkhouse that we transport the race car in. Saturday morning we were #46 to run out of about 100 cars registered, mainly due to setting a record in October. Brian ' s first pass at about noon was 198MPH+ on straight methanol, not quite what I wanted, but a record is a record. We made some minor tune-up changes and got back into line. When the first day of the meet was called at 3:00PM to give the staff time to move the course and do a course-walk inspection for foreign objects that could puncture tires, we were far back in line. Our position in line, however, got us a pretty good starting spot for Sunday morning. Saturday night we held the 3rd annual King Pot-Luck Bar-B-Q, attended by no less than 9 people. Afterwards we sat around the fire lying to each other about our speed prowess, the power of our tow-vehicles, our various health concerns, and our PSA readings. During the course of Saturday evening a fellow racer suggested that we "sweeten" Sunday's methanol PAGE 77 ... TARPA TOPICS

fuel with a little nitromethane "just to make the sparkplugs easier to read" and put a little higher gear in the rear axle. I had some 13% nitromethane, 87% methanol mixed that I didn't use during Bonneville Speed Week, so we dumped that in the tank first thing Sunday morning, exchanged the 2.7:1 rear axle gear for a 2.58:1, richened the fuel injection setting, and got back in line. Shortly after the starter waved Brian off on his first run Sunday AM, I knew that the fuel injection setting was somewhat lean. The engine "shot ducks" (backfired loudly) all the way down the course, but managed a 200MPH+ clocking, good enough to "bump " the 198MPH record he had set the day before, plus earn induction into the El Mirage 200 MPH 20MPH Club. It was reported that the meet had to be shut down while all the waterfowl carcasses were cleared from the course. I still felt that the car had more potential than it had shown so far during the meet. We had time for one more run, so we richened the fuel injection and got back in line at about 1:00PM . This time the car launched perfectly, made enough power to keep the traction loose and elusive through low, second, and the first part of high gear, and turned a 210MPH+ . 20psi After the run the supercharger pressure "tattle-tale" readout gauge showed over boost (close to 500HP), quite a bit for a 50 year old engine block that Ford originally designed to produce 100 horsepower. It seems that the only thing the hemispherical combustion chambered Ardun cylinder heads like more than nitromethane is supercharged nitromethane. In 2002 we may back off a little regards LSR. Brian and his wife Camille are expecting our first grandchild in late April. In that we have just about done everything with the supercharged motor that we set out to do I may re-install the normally aspirated Ardun/ Mere and run against our 2000 181 MPH Bonneville gas record, try to improve our 2000 Bonneville unlimited fuel record of 210MPH, and run against the El Mirage 178MPH normally aspirated gas record, the only one in our engine and body classes that we have yet to try for. Thanks for reading this far, Doug King TWA/SFO-LAX 1966-1990

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King Photos and Notes

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Aviator Quotations A man can criticize a pilot for flying into amountainside in fog, but I would rather by far die on a mountainside than in bed. What sort of man would live where there is no daring? Is life itself so dear that we should blame one for dying in adventure? Is there a better way to die? - Charles A. Lindbergh Life expands in an aeroplane. The traveler is a mere slave in a train, and, should he manage to escape from this particular yoke, the car and the ship present him with only limited horizons. Air travel, on the other hand, makes it possible for him to enjoy the `solitary delights of infinite space.' The earth speeds below him, with nothing hidden, yet full of surprises. Introduce yourself to your pilot. He is always a man of the world as well as a flying ace. - Early French advertisement for airline service, quoted in `The Airline Builders,' Oliver B. Allen. Science, freedom, beauty, adventure: what more could you ask of life? Aviation combined all the elements I loved. There was science in each curve of an airfoil, in each angle between strut and wire, in the gap of a spark plug or the color of the exhaust flame. There was freedom in the unlimited horizon, on the open fields where one landed. A pilot was surrounded by beauty of earth and sky. He brushed treetops with the birds, leapt valleys and rivers, explored the cloud canyons he had gazed at as a child. Adventure lay in each puff of wind. I began to feel that I lived on a higher plane than the skeptics of the ground; one that was richer because of its very association with the element of danger they dreaded, because it was freer of the

earth to which they were bound. In flying, I tasted a wine of the gods of which they could know nothing. Who valued life more highly, the aviators who spent it on the art they loved, or these misers who doled it out like pennies through their antlike days? I decided that if I could fly for ten years before I was killed in a crash, it would be a worthwhile trade for an ordinary life time. - Charles A. Lindbergh, `The Spirit of St. Louis. '

I think there is something exhilarating in flying amongst clouds, and always get a feeling of wanting to pit my aeroplane against them, charge at them, climb over them to show them you have them beat, circle round them, and generally play with them; but clouds can on occasion hold their own against the aviator, and many a pilot has found himself emerging from a cloud not on a level keel. Cloud-flying requires practice, even if you have every modern instrument, and unless you keep calm and collected you will get into trouble after you have been inside a really thick one for a few minutes. In the very early days of aviation, 1912 to be correct, I emerged from a cloud upside down, much to my discomfort, as I didn't know how to get right way up again. I found out somehow, or I wouldn't be writing this. - Charles Rumney Samson, `A Flight from Cairo to Cape Town and Back,' 1931. An airplane may disappoint a good pilot, but it won't surprise him. - anonymous Any girl who has flown at all grows used to the prejudice of most men pilots who will

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trot out any number of reasons why women can ' t possibly be good pilots. The only way to show the disbelievers, the snickering hanger pilots is to show them.

all over the world. Now they are flying a war. Tomorrow they will be flying a peace, for, regardless of the world's condition, flying is their life.

-Cornelia Fort

- Ernest K. Gann, forward to `Island in the Sky,' 1 944 .

Beware of men on airplanes. The minute a man reaches thirty thousand feet, he immediately becomes consumed by distasteful sexual fantasies which involve doing uncomfortable things in those tiny toilets. These men should not be encouraged, their fantasies are sadly lowrent and unimaginative. Affect an aloof, cool demeanor as soon as any man tries to draw you out. Unless, of course, he's the pilot. - Cynthia Heimel The pilots life is founded on three things: sex, seniority, and salary, in that order. - Dr. Ludwig Lederer, corporate physician American Airlines As the years go by, he returns to this invisible world rather than to earth for peace and solace. There also he finds a profound enchantment, although he can seldom describe it. He can discuss it with others of his kind, and because they too know and feel its power they understand. But his attempts to communicate his feelings to his wife or other earthly confidants invariable end in failure. Flying is hypnotic and all pilots are willing victims to the spell. Their world is like a magic island in which the factors of life and death assume their proper values. Thinking becomes clear because there are no earthly foibles or embellishments to confuse it. Professional pilots are, of necessity, uncomplicated, simple men. Their thinking must remain straightforward, or they die - violently.The men in this book are fictitious characters but their counterparts can be found in cockpits

Who was the best pilot I ever saw? You're lookin' at ` im. - Gordon Cooper in the movie `The Right Stuff,' 1 983 . The thing is, helicopters are different from planes. An airplane by it ' s nature wants to fly, and if not interfered with too strongly by unusual events or by a deliberately incompetent pilot, it will fly. A helicopter does not want to fly. It is maintained in the air by a variety of forces and controls working in opposition to each other, and if there is any disturbance in this delicate balance the helicopter stops flying; i mmediately and disastrously. There is no such thing as a gliding helicopter. This is why being a helicopter pilot is so different from being an airplane pilot, and why in generality, airplane pilots are open, cleareyed, buoyant extroverts and helicopter pilots are brooding introspective anticipators of trouble. They know if something bad has not happened it is about to. -Harry Reasoner, 1971. What is it in fact, this learning to fly? To be precise, it is `to learn NOT to fly wrong. ' To learn to become a pilot is to learn â&#x20AC;&#x201D; not to let oneself fly too slowly. Not to let oneself turn without accelerating. Not to cross the controls. Not to do this, and not to do that. To pilot is negation. -Henri Mignoet, ` L'Aviation de L 'Amateur; Le Sport de I'Air,' .1934

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Pilots take no special joy in walking. Pilots like flying. - Neil Armstrong Nowadays a businessman can go from his office straight to the airport, get into his airplane and fly six hundred or seven hundred miles without taking off his hat. He probably will not even mention this flight, which abare twenty-five years ago would have meant wearing leather jacket and helmet and goggles and risking his neck every minute of the way. No, he probably wouldn't mention it - except to another flier. Then they will talk for hours. They will recreate all the things seen and felt in that wonderful world of air: the sense of remoteness from the busy world below, the feeling of intense brotherhood formed with those who man the radio ranges and control towers and weather stations that bring the pilot home, the clouds and the colors, the surge of the wind on their wings. They will speak of things that are spiritual and beautiful and of things that are practical and utilitarian; they will mix up angels and engines, sunsets and spark plugs, fraternity and frequencies in one all-encompassing comradeship of interests that makes for the best and most lasting kind of friendship any man can have. - Percy Knauth, `Wind on my wings, ' 196o.

I had that morning gone to say my farewells to Broadhurst and to the RAF. I had made a point of going to HQ at Schleswig in my `Grand Charles'. Coming back I had taken him high up in the cloudless summer sky, for it was only there that I could fittingly take my leave. Together we climbed for the last time straight towards the sun. We looped once, perhaps twice, we lovingly did a few slow, meticulous rolls, so that I could take away in my

finger-tips the vibration of his supple, docile wings. And in that narrow cockpit I wept, as I shall never weep again, when I felt the concrete brush against his wheels and, with a great sweep of the wrist, dropped him on the ground like a cut flower. As always, I carefully cleared the engine, turned off all the switches one by one, removed the straps, the wires and the tubes which tied me to him, like a child to his mother. And when my waiting pilots and my mechanics saw my downcast eyes and my shaking shoulders, they understood and returned to the dispersal in silence. ' - Pierre Clostermann, `The big show, 1951.

It is now possible for a flight attendant to get a pilot pregnant. - Richard J. Ferris, President, United Airlines. A pilot lives in a world of perfection, or not at all. -Richard S. Drury, `My Secret War.

The engine is the heart of an aeroplane, but the pilot is its soul. -Sir Walter Raleigh You've got to land here son, this is where the food is. - Unknown landing signal officer to carrier pilot after his 6th unsuccessful landing. I could be president of Sikorsky for six months before they found me out, but the president would only have my job for six seconds before he'd kill himself. - Walter R. `Dick' Faull, test pilot.

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Sometimes I watch myself fly. For in the history of human flight it is not yet so very late; and a man may still wonder once in a while and ask: how is it that I, poor earth-habitituated animal, can fly? Any young boy can nowadays explain human flight â&#x20AC;&#x201D; mechanistically:... and to climb you shove the throttle all the way forward and pull back just a little on the stick. One might as well explain music by saying that the further over to the right you hit the piano the higher it will sound. The makings of a flight are not in the levers, wheels, and pedals but in the nervous system of the pilot: physical sensations, bits of textbook, deep-rooted instincts, burnt-child memories of trouble aloft, hangar talk. -Wolfgang Langewiesche, `A Flyer's World. '

office that most people would never see. At times it terrified me, yet I could always feel at home there. It was my place, at that time in space, and the jet was mine for those moments. Though it was a place where I could quickly die, the cockpit was a place where I truly lived. - Brian Shul, ` Sled Driver; Flying The World 's Fastest Jet, ' 1992 The facts are that flying satisfies deeply rooted desires. For as long as time these desires have hungered vainly for fulfillment. The horse, and later the motorcar, have merely teased them. The upward sweep of the airplane signifies release. -Bruce Gould, ` Sky Larking, ' 1929

Basic Flying 1:Try to stay in the middle of the air. 2:Do not go near the edges of it. 3:The edges of the air can be recognised by the appearance of ground, buildings, sea, trees and interstellar space. It is much more difficult to fly there.

Ladies and gentleman, this is your captain speaking. We have a small problem. All four engines have stopped. We are doing our damnedest to get them going again. I trust you are not in too much distress. -Captain Eric Moody, British Airways, after flying through volcanic ash in a B-747.

- anonymous If God had meant for men to fly he would have made their bones hollow and not their heads.

The worst day of flying still beats the best day of real work. clichĂŠ -

-cliche If you're faced with a forced landing, fly the thing as far into the crash as possible. - Bob Hoover The cockpit was my office. It was a place where I experienced many emotions and learned many lessons. It was a place of work, but also a keeper of dreams. It was a place of deadly serious encounters, yet there I discovered much about life. I learned about joy and sorrow, pride and humility, fear and overcoming fear. I saw much from that

Flying is inherently dangerous. We like to gloss that over with clever rhetoric and comforting statistics, but these facts remain: gravity is constant and powerful, and speed kills. In combination, they are particularly destructive. - Dan Manningham, `Business and Commercial Aviation ' magazine.

But what I could never tell of was the beauty and exaltation of flying itself. Above the haze layer with the sun behind you or

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sinking ahead, alone in an open cockpit, there is nothing and everything to see. The upper surface of the haze stretches on like an endless desert, featureless and flat, and empty to the horizon. It seems your world alone. Threading one's way through the great piles of summer cumulus that hang over the plains, the patches of ground that show far far below are for earthbound folk, and the cloud shapes are sculptured just for you. The flash of rain, the shining rainbow riding completely around the plane, the lift over mountain ridges, the steady, pure air at dawn take-offs. It was so alive and rich a life that any other conceivable choice seemed dull, prosaic, and humdrum. -Dean Smith, `By the Seat of My Pants ' The air is annoyingly potted with a ultitude of minor vertical disturbances which sicken the passengers and keep us captives of our seat belts. We sweat in the cockpit, though much of the time we fly with the side windows open. The airplanes smell of hot oil and simmering aluminum, disinfectant, feces, leather, and puke the stewardesses, short-tempered and reeking of vomit, come forward as often as they can for what is a breath of comparatively fresh air.

I have flown in just about everything, with all kinds of pilots in all parts of the world British, French, Pakistani, Iranian, Japanese, Chinese - and there wasn't a dime's worth of difference between any of them except for one unchanging, certain fact: the best, most skillful pilot has the most experience. -Chuck Yeager A pilot who says he has never been frightened in an airplane is, I'm afraid, lying. - Louise Thaden Pilots track their lives by the number of hours in the air, as if any other kind of time isn't worth noting. - Michael Parfit, ` The Corn was Two Feet Below the Wheels', Smithsonian Magazine, May 2000. Son, your wife's legs have more time in the air than you do. -welcome to a new co-pilot from an old captain.

-Ernest K. Gann, describing airline flying in the 1930's. Beware of men on airplanes. The minute a man reaches thirty thousand feet, he i mmediately becomes consumed by distasteful sexual fantasies which involve doing uncomfortable things in those tiny toilets. These men should not be encouraged, their fantasies are sadly lowrent and unimaginative. Affect an aloof, cool demeanor as soon as any man tries to draw you out. Unless, of course, he's the pilot. Submitted by Ed Toner

- Cynthia Heimel

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Dear John, I was flattered and mildly surprised reading the poem "Flying West" in the November edition of TARPA TOPICS. (Author Unknown) Apparently, Captain Thad May has forgotten his old co-pilot he nicknamed, "Hawkeye." This poem was written in 1991 and first published in February 1995 in the ALPA magazine, attributed to me and dedicated to Captain Edward R. (Buddy) Boland, who passed away in 1991. This poem along with The Aviator, War Stories, and Reno Races is included in a new aviation poetry anthology published in November, 2001, by McGraw-Hill, entitled "Because I Fly" edited by Lt. Col. Helmut Reda, USAF. (www.geocities.com/becauseifly) And now, as Paul Harvey would say, "The rest of the story. " It seems that Captain May, F/O Larkin and his fiancee, Hostess Kay Cullison, were flying the B-7o7 from Kansas City to SFO, then down to LAX in the summer of 1971. (Flight 95). Ms. Cullison opined many times that Captain May was the epitome of how a TWA Captain should comport himself. His professional demeanor and quiet `southern gentlemen' charm were, in her opinion, the epitome of Captainhood. Unfortunately, few of these attributes rubbed off on her future husband. En route from SFO to LAX, Approach Control called to ask if we had an aircraft in sight, 12 o'clock, ten miles. I answered, "Yes, we have the United 727 in sight." (I could tell by the flashing white tail light it was a 727, I was guessing that it was UAL). After a pause, Approach called back and asked, "TWA, how can you tell that's a United 727 ten miles away?" I answered, "Well, you have to have good eyes to be a pilot." Approach Control laughed, then handed us off to LAX Tower, and they asked, "TWA, do you have the field in sight?" I looked way out south towards Orange County, saw nothing, and replied, "Negative." The field was right under our right wing. Captain May said, "Tell them we have it." I did...and he did, we were cleared for a Visual Approach to 26 Right, and we landed. Afterwards, Captain May asked, jokingly, " How can you see a United 727 ten miles away, and not the LAX airport 5 miles away? " From that day on, I was known as " Hawkeye " by Captain May! Michael J. Larkin Captain TWA (Ret.)

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FLYING

WEST

I HOPE THERE ' S A PLACE, WAY UP IN THE SKY, WHERE PILOTS CAN GO, WHEN THEY HAVE TO DIE. A PLACE WHERE A GUY COULD BUY A COLD BEER FOR A FRIEND AND COMRADE WHOSE MEMORY IS DEAR. A PLACE WHERE NO DOCTOR OR LAWYER COULD TREAD, NOR A MANAGEMENT TYPE WOULD E ' RE BE CAUGHT DEAD! JUST A QUAINT LITTLE PLACE; KIND OF DARK, FULL OF SMOKE, WHERE THEY LIKE TO SING LOUD, AND LOVE A GOOD JOKE. THE KIND OF PLACE WHERE A LADY COULD GO AND FEEL SAFE AND PROTECTED BY THE MEN SHE WOULD KNOW.

THERE MUST BE A PLACE WHERE OLD PILOTS GO WHEN THEIR WINGS GET TOO WEARY, AND THEIR AIRSPEED GETS LOW. WHERE THE WHISKEY IS OLD AND THE WOMEN ARE YOUNG, AND SONGS ABOUT FLYING AND DYING ARE SUNG. ' WHERE YOU ' D SEE ALL THE FELLOWS WHO D FLOWN WEST BEFORE,

AND THEY ' D CALL OUT YOUR NAME, AS YOU CAME THRU THE DOOR, WHO WOULD BUY YOU A DRINK, IF YOUR THIRST SHOULD BE BAD AND RELATE TO THE OTHERS,

HE WAS QUITE A GOOD LAD!

AND THEN THRU THE MIST YOU ' D SPOT AN OLD GUY ' YOU HAD NOT SEEN IN YEARS, THOUGH HE D TAUGHT YOU TO FLY.

HE ' D NOD HIS OLD HEAD AND GRIN EAR TO EAR, AND SAY

' ' WELCOME MY SON, I M PLEASED THAT YOU RE HERE!

FOR THIS IS THE PLACE WHERE TRUE FLYERS COME WHEN THE BATTLES ARE OVER, AND THE WARS HAVE BEEN WON. THEY ' VE COME HERE AT LAST TO BE SAFE AND AFAR FROM THE GOVERNMENT CLERK AND THE MANAGEMENT CZAR, POLITICIANS AND LAWYERS, THE FEDS AND THE NOISE, WHERE ALL HOURS ARE HAPPY, AND THESE GOOD OLD BOYS, CAN RELAX WITH A COOL ONE, AND A WELL DESERVED REST! " THIS IS HEAVEN, MY SON. YOU ' VE PASSED YOUR LAST TEST!

CAPT. MICHAEL LARKIN, TWA PAGE 86 ... TARPA TOPICS