NEW ORLEANS, HERE WE COME!

THE STEARMANS BY ED BETTS

THE ACTIVE RETIRED PILOTS ASSOCIATION OF TWA

FEBRUARY 1989

DC-4 AND CREW

TARPA TOPICS

PUBLISHED QUARTERLY BY THE ACTIVERETIRED PILOTS ASSOCIATION OF TWA

EDITORA.T. HUMBLESRt. 2 Box 152Belhaven, NC 27810919 964 4655

GRAPEVINE EDITORRICHARD M. GUILLAN1852 Barnstable RoadClemmons, NC 27012919 945 9979

HISTORIAN & CONTRIBUTING EDITOREDWARD G. BETTS960 Las Lomas

Pacific Palisades, CA 90272213 454 1068

OFFICERS & DIRECTORS OF TARPA

JOE BROWN, PRESIDENT A.T. HUMBLES, SENIOR DIRECTORLLOYD HUBBARD, FIRST VICE PRESIDENT RUSS DERICKSON, DIRECTORPHIL HOLLAR, SECOND VICE PRESIDENT BILL PROCTOR, ASSOCIATE DIRECTORJOE McCOMBS, SECRETARY/TREASURER AL MUNDO, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR

TARPA is incorporated as a non-profit Corporation under the non-profitcorporation law of the State of Nevada. As stated in Article II of theBy-Laws, its purpose is social, recreational and non-profit, with a primarygoal of helping its members to maintain the friendships and associationsformed before retirement, to make retirement a more productive and rewardingexperience and to assist those active pilots approaching retirement withthe problems that are inherent in the transtion from active to retiredstatus.

DEDICATION

To the pioneers of today'sTRANS WORLD AIRLINES

whose vision, effort and perseverancemade it all possible, we

express our sincere gratitude.

The Active Retired Pilots Association of TWA

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE December 29, 1988

The long hot summer ended abruptly on December 27th atthe Lake of the Ozarks with four inches of snow followedby bitter cold. I do hope that you enjoyed the holidayseason and that 1989 will be better than the best yearof your life so far.

John Lattimore's early mailing for the New Orleans Con-vention gives us a great opportunity for a head start onreservations. Have you sent yours in?

Lum Edward's TARPA Steamboatin' makes a perfect additionto the Convention. Did you get your reservations in on time?

The 1990 Convention is scheduled for April 7 thru 10 atHershey, PA. Capt. "Vic" Hassler will have more informationfor us at New Orleans.

The 1991 Convention site has not been determined. At thepresent time we have proposals from the Colorado Springs,CO Marriott and The Lodge of the Four Seasons on the Lakeof the Ozarks in central Missouri. Do you have any sug-gestions? The decision should be made by the Board ofDirectors at the meeting in MSY .

Several members of the Board of Directors have indicatedthat they may not be candidates for re-election. Send yoursuggestions for nominations to Harry Jacobsen, Chairman ofthe Nominating Committee, 848 Coventry St., Boca Raton, FL33431. Please be sure your nominee will accept if electedand will be at the Convention in New Orleans. It is alsopermissable to volunteer for any of these positions.

Have you paid your 1989 dues?

LET'S ALL HAVE A BALL IN NEW ORLEANS ! !

Joseph A. Brown, Jr.Pres ident, TARPA

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SECRETARY / TREASURER REPORT

At the time of writing (January 5th), all records are not yet completebut it can be reported that 1988 was another good year for TARPA.

The ' 88 Business Meeting/Convention/Reunion was a great success. TheBoard of Directors further modernized the Association's FISCAL POLICYduring the Annual Meeting in Tucson and, during the October semi-annualmeeting, approved a liaison with the TWA CLIPPED WINGS, International(former TWA cabin attendants) similar to that existing with the TWASENIORS and confirmed the intent to add to the contingency/reserve fundsetting the dues structure for 1989 at $25.00.

Overall membership continues to increase. It's give a little; take alittle. 60 were welcomed into TARPA as new Members during the year;14 were removed by delinquency or resignations; 15 transformed; 21moved into the non-dues paying EAGLE classification. Members hip rosterstands at 1572 with 1155 Retired; 178 Associate (Active); 123 EAGLESand 116 HONORARY. It could be added here that a good number of EAGLESand HONORARY Members do not adhere to the non-dues paying philosophyconsidering the $1830.00 received as contributions during 1988.

Finances in excellent shape. 1988 will show an excess close to theamount added to the reserve fund in 1987. A recent review of IRS taxcode indicates we may have a small Federal tax liability on interestearned from our investments. This matter is still under consideration.

Dues return for 1989 has been excellent to date. 73% have submittedtheir checks and the S/T wants to thank the majority who completed theenvelope flap in its' entirety. Four new EAGLES were discovered whenthey advised a birthdate for the first time.... Jake Fisher, Mac DonaldHays, C.T. Morris and Everett Wolf passed 75 during 1988 and were not.included in the list published in the November. TOPICS. A glance at thenumber of changes/corrections in the back of this issue should supportthe need for completion of these forms when requested.

Particular thanks to those of you who included nice letters and noteswith your checks. It has been one of the rewards of this job. As muchas I have enjoyed working with and for you, I feel it is time for achange. I'm proud of the accomplishments over the past four years butfeel the time has come to move on to something else. It is hoped thata replacement will come forward prior to Convention so that we may worktowards a smooth transition by April.. Computer or financial experienceis not a pre-requisite and I think you will enjoy the work. Joe Brownor Harry Jacobsen will accept job applications for the term starting inApril. but let's get started now.

Have a Good Year!

McCombs

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In Memoriam

PAUL W. MILLER

3 October 1988

VERNON J. OLSON

1 January 1989

MORE ON SOCIAL SECURITY NOTCH BABYOver 40 Congressman have indicated their support of the legislative Billsintroduced by Senator Sanford and Representative Ford to correct this inequity.Here is how your benefits would be increased;

For average retireeYear of birth Lump sum payment Yearly increase

1919 up to $1000. $6721920 $8241921 $7221922 $5961923 $5071924 $317

Ole Olson reported that an article in the Kansas City Star newspaper concerninga release by the IAM stated that TWA informed the Kansas City Star it was notwelcome at TWA's MCI property.

Of the original TAT pilots, seven are still living. Their names are; Otis Bryan,Howard Hall, Ben Hoy, Nick Laurenzana, Les Munger, Fred Richardson and MoyeStephens.

HAVE YOU SENT IN YOUR 1989 DUES?

3

EARL LINDSLY

Born 30 November 1916Died 9 August 1988

Captain Lindsly was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.He attended Louisiana State University majoring inAeronautical Engineering. He began flying in 1939at Baton Rouge. During World War II he served as aflight instructor in Army Primary Flight Trainingat Decatur, Alabama. Earl joined Trans World Airlinesin March of 1945 and was based in Kansas City wherehe served as a line pilot, line instructor and checkpilot. His retirement came in 1974.

Bee and Earl were married in 1974. They resided atLake Quivira, Kansas, until moving to Green Valley,Arizona, in March of 1988 where he was very happy.He belonged to the Old Mission Masonic Lodge inPrairie Village, Kansas, and the Masons conductedhis funeral.

Captain Earl Lindsly is survived by his wife, Bee; one son, Gary, of GreenValley; one daughter, Gaynell Meyerholtz, Washington State; two stepdaughters,Judy Schilling of Boulder, Colorado, and Monica Adlard Meyers of Green Valleyand five grandchildren.

From Gary Lindsly - We celebrate the passing of my father, Earl Lindsly,to the better life God promises us, the eternal life, free of pain and stress,as a reward for an earthly life lived to the best of one's ability. I'm surethat we are all thankful for my father's life, each in a different way. I'm thankfulfor his teaching me courtesy and respect for others. He had a strong opinionon each and every thing. There was never any doubt where he stood. I am thankfulfor his marriage to Bee. They had many happy years together.

The main theme of my Dad's latter life was helping others who were in greaterneed. I'm thankful that we never got so sophisticated that we didn't hug andkiss each other goodby. Thankful he was happy in Green Valley and that he enjoyed

visiting my sister in Washington State. The measure of a person is the breadthand height of the spirit, the legacy of compassion, love and fair play. By thiscriteria, my Dad was a giant of a man and leaves me with immeasurable wealthof his spirit. We must let go of the presence of the physical life of my Dad,but allow into our hearts the strength of his legacy.

Goodby to my father, my hero, my very good friend. Certainly if I ever seea band of angels, I'll spot my Dad. He will be leading the formation.

From Judy Schilling - Earl held his own special place in my heart. He hatedto wait, he hated taking pills and he hated not being able to play golf anymore.But there were many things he loved. He was a true "pilots' pilot" and lovedthe Connie. I never fly without wondering if the pilot is as good as Earl was.He was a scratch golfer much of his life and hard to beat at pool or billiards.You never counted this wily Cajun out until the last shot of the game. In recentyears he became a gourmet cook.

Earl was a kind, honest, reverant and spiritual man. He continually exemplifiedthe Bible command to "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see yourgood works". The one thought I know he would want to leave us with is a Cajunphrase, to send us out, not to mourn but to live and to dance. "Laissez le bonstemps rouler" - He would want us to remember him and "Let the good times roll: '

Bee said "Earl really enjoyed going to the TARPA convention in Tucson inMay and so did I."

4

WILLIAM I. SANDERS

by Ed Betts

Retired Captain William I. Sanders passedaway on October 5,1988, after a losing boutwith cancer. Bill's military and commercialflying career spanned nearly four decades,from the open cockpit pursuit planes of theearly 30's to the Boeing 707 series.

Bill was born in Chicago on August 26,1910,the son of Dr. William F. and Mrs. Sanders.The following year the family relocated toParkville, MO, which was to be Bill's "home

base" for decades to come. After attendingelementary schools in the area he spent hisfirst year of college at Park College, hisfather was now the Dean. His sophomore yearwas spent at Ohio State where he was a mem-ber of the "Pershing Rifle" unit (ROTC) andthe beginning of an illustrious career with

the Army Reserves. From 1930 to 1931 he wasagain attending Park College and then spent5 months as a "Buck Private" with the 110thEngineers doing survey work.

Bill's big break came in early 1932 when hereported to Randolph Field for training asan aviation cadet. A month before graduat-ing from Kelly Field (wings and commission), in February 1933, he experienceda couple of incidents which proved his expertise as an aviator. During a crosscountry flight between Kelly and Brady (TX) the throttle stuck at 1750 rpm. Thefuel and ignition had to be cut off, and a "dead stick" landing made on an open

patch of ground. A short time later, during pursuit acrobatics, the motor quitwhich resulted in a forced landing on an open field.

Bill was the last among a dozen members of the Class of February 1933 who wouldeventually come to work with TWA as a pilot. These include (by their later TWApilot seniority): Chet Moomaw, Leroy Rainey, Bob Springer, John George, Wilton

"Red" Miller, Frank Busch, Fletcher Grabill, Bill Ambrose, Don Smith, HenryDiltz, and Edwin Warren. After graduation Bill was assigned to the 27th PursuitSquadron, based at Selfridge Field, flying the Boeing P-12. Also members of the

squadron were Springer, Bruce Pettigrew and Curtis LeMay. Bill and Curtis dida lot of flying together during instrument practice: one would act as observer

(safety pilot) while the other was under the "hood".

In July of 1933, General Italo Balbo led an armada of 25 seaplanes on a flight

from Rome to Chicago. The 27th, with an 18-plane formation of P-12's, escortedthe Italians on the last leg into Chicago. The next day they entertained themwith some of their own stunts and maneuvers and, for their departure a few days

later, escorted them as far as Dearborn. These were the depression years whenthe Army's budget didn't permit much flying time; 25 hours a month was about anaverage for the "reservists" (the "regulars" had priority). The big opportunityto get in some flying time came with the infamous air mail cancellation (the PO

Department cancelled all contracts with the airlines for carrying the air mail)which started in February 1934. The 27th, using the single-seat P-12 biplane,was one of the first assigned to fly the mail. (see the April 1984 'Topics' for

a more complete story)

Bill Sanders

5

BILL SANDERS

This was a disastrous period in the history of the Army Air Corps as there were60 aircraft lost, and 12 men killed until the airlines resumed flying the mailon May 7th of 1934. The "probable cause" was usually given as the inexperience

of the Army's pilots flying instruments (under actual weather conditions), theygot lost or there were mechanical problems. Bill's orders were to fly CliffordBall's former mail route from DCA (Bolling Field) to CLE via PIT and Akron. OnFebruary 27 he departed with a load of mail on a P-12, ran into snow conditions

near Rockwood (Pa), and the motor quit due to carburetor ice. He was about to

bail out when there was a break in the clouds and he decided to "ride'er down"to what appeared to be a clearing which was covered with snow. The "dead stick"landing" was successful, but before he could stop the plane it hit a large snowbank that knocked off the landing gear. Bill and the mail were intact and withthe aid of a local farmer and his Model 'T' Ford, the mail was transferred for

connections by train.

During 1935 he was stationed at Barksdale Field (Shreveport, LA) flying the Al2and P-26A type aircraft. He was promoted to 1st Lieutenant (Reserve). In Octo-ber he married Jeanette Bimel, whose father was Chairman of the Board for Stan-dard Oil of Canada. At the end of the year he returned to civilian life with atotal of 1099 flying hours in the Army, over 700 in the P-12. In early 1936 hewas working for Standard Oil (of Canada) flying about Venezuela. The equipmentincluded a Douglas 'Dolphin' and a Fairchild; the destination 'airports' were aseries of oil well locations and the loads were personnel and supplies. He re-signed from this job on June 7, 1936, with a total of 1,184 flying hours...just16 short of the required 1,200 to be eligible for a Commercial Transport Pilotlicense. On 10/17/36, Bill went to work for TWA. This was the same date as hisfirst copilot trip, flying (with Alton Parker) a DC-2 from MKC to ABQ via ICT.

Bill continued with the Army Reserve and spent two weeks on active duty in 1937

and 1938. On 2/10/38, he was promoted to permanent 1st Lieutenant. In Januaryof 1940, he started the TWA program for upgrading to captain. Bill (Junior) wasborn in February. In March, Bill had his final checkrides with "Doc" Mesker and"Swede" Golien and by May of 1940 was flying as the most junior reserve captainon the KC-East Division (among his first copilots were George Felt, Harold Ed-dington, Bob Mueller, "Babe" Vance, Bronson White and Bill Townsend).

Shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor events happened fast for Bill and hisfamily: daughter Donna Lee was born on 2/3/42, Bill was back on active duty onMarch 16th and promoted to Captain on April 1st. Bill was among the very firstof 94 TWA pilots who were to see active duty during the war. On April 17th hestarted overseas with a C-48 (DC-3) equipped with extra fuel tanks destined forAfrica by way of Brazil and Ascension Island. Another TWA pilot (copilot at thetime) who had been in the same reserve unit with Bill and started overseas witha DC-3 at the same time was Lloyd Hubbard. Lloyd has filled in some of the de-tails about their flights overseas and eventually flying the "Hump"...they wereamong the first.

Bill's log shows he started out from West Palm Beach on to Belem (Brazil), theleg from Trinidad to Belem took 9 hrs 45 min. His first Atlantic crossing, be-tween Natal and British West Africa took 13 hrs 15 min. According to Lloyd theorders for final destination were changed several times and it wasn't until Maythat they arrived in India (by way of Accra, Lagos, Khartom, Cairo, and Iraq).Stops in India included: Karachai, Delhi, Calcutta and Dinjan. All navigationwas by 'pilotage' (what maps were available and looking out the window). There

were few, if any, radio aids or communications.

6

BILL SANDERS

The Burma Road to South China had been cut off by the Japanese on 4/29/42. Theonly possible way the USA could maintain its commitment for supplies to the Re-public of China was by air. Col. C.V. Haynes headed the Assam-Burma-China FerryCommand which was at first made up of American volunteers and commercial pilots(formerly with the Chinese National Airline). Airports in China were generallyconstructed by hand with coolie labor breaking rocks for a runway surface (hardon tires, but made a good surface during a rain). The living conditions at thebases in India could be described as miserable and the flight conditions acrossthe "Hump" as worse...the world's highest mountain range and the world's worstweather. There were no adequate navigational aids except a radio for 'homing inon' at an airbase and making an instrument approach, if necessary There wereno fighter planes for protection...a slow transport plane was a "sitting duck",the only escape was to fly into an overcast.

For an overloaded DC-3-type plane (TWA's post-war DC-3 had a max gross weightfor takeoff of 25,200 lbs, the military C-47's were usually 28 to 30,000) thiswas sometimes impossible as a minimum cruise altitude of 16,000' was necessaryto clear the "Hump". Once safely in an overcast there was always the potentialof severe icing conditions. The chances of survival and return to friendly ter-ritory were poor to nil if forced down by the enemy (or an engine failure). Asthe war progressed, and with additional flights by the newly-formed Air Trans-port Command, the route was better known as the "Aluminum Trail" with wrecks ofaircraft. If a crew bailed out or lived through a forced landing, it was a longhike through the jungles to safety as the area was infested with snakes, enemysoldiers and headhunters. It took time to educate the headhunters that if theyaided a crew member there would be a reward of salt, sugar etc. One tragic ex-ample was when former TWA copilot Warren Peterson (TWA 7/15/40) and crew weremissing: 35 years later the wreckage of the C-47 was found by some hunters in aremote section of the Himalayas.

Between the summer of 1942 and late 1943, when he returned to the US, Bill flewa total of 75 missions (a round trip counted the same as a combat mission) andabout 300 hours. Between missions Bill also instructed new pilots, and checkedthem out on later equipment such as the C-46 Commando, C-87 (cargo version of aB-24) and C-54 (DC-4). He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (after 50missions) plus the Air Medal and Oak Leaf Cluster.

Bill's first assignment upon return was to a base in Montana and later in Texaswhere he was Assistant Director of Flying, training B-17 and B-24 crews. He waspromoted to Major in April 1944, and assigned to the 503rd AAF Base Unit of theATC (based at Washington, D.C.). This unit was specially picked for transport-ing VIPs on secret flights or missions around the world. In February 1945, whenRoosevelt and Churchill met in Malta, and then flew (separate planes) to Yaltato meet with Stalin, Bill flew Gen. Summervell to the conference. Bill was thepilot for a special flight to bring Gen. Stillwell home when he was released bythe Japanese.

Other VIPs included T.V.Soong (brother of Chiang Kai Shek) on a flight from DCAto LAX. He wanted to see the Grand Canyon...Bill gave him a view from above aswell as below the rim (flying a Lockheed "Lodestar"). Another passenger was thehead of the Iranian Air Force, who gave him a beautiful engraved cigarette casein appreciation. Another flight was around the world with a large group of rep-resentatives of the Red Cross. From April 1 to May 22, 1945, Bill commanded aspecial crew to fly 20 press correspondents on a 30,000 mile trip from DCA andreturn. The itinerary included: SFO-Hickam-Kwajalein-Saipan-Guam-Palau-Leyte-Morotai-Hollandia-Brisbane-Guadacanal-Tarawa. Bill received a special letter of

commendation from his Commanding General for a job well done on this flight.

7

BILL SANDERS

Bill Returned to TWA on December 6, 1945, four years after the US first went towar. At the time, he turned down an offer to be Pres. Truman's personal pilot.In early 1942, when entering the service, Bill was #113 on the pilot senioritylist (a total of 357 on the list)...upon his return he had moved up 13 numbers,to #100. During the 4 year period TWA had grown...there were now 1,100 pilotsjunior to him. He could hold a senior 'Stratoliner' run from MKC to LGA and re-

turn. He also checked out on the 049 Connie and, against his will, was assignedto the new plane when operations began in early 1946. His son 'Chuck' was bornon 1/31/47. When the Missouri and Kaw Rivers were overflowing and threateningTWA's overhaul base at KCK (in 1951), he volunteered to ferry a Connie out be-fore the airport was flooded. One engine was inoperative, they had to start an-other and then feather the inoperative one for a three-engine takeoff.

About 1957 Bill transferred from MKC to LAX. At the time he was the #5 Captain

in MKC (behind Gene Klose, Jim Roe, Busch Voigts and Hal Neumann), at LAX therewas a lot of 'seniority' ahead of him as he was the #17 (#67 on the system). Hehad remarried and located just a few blocks from me. I had never flown with himbut we soon became very good friends. We often exchanged dinners (usually Billdid the cooking, he was an adept chef with any kind of a dish or barbecue). Healso was an avid fisherman and hunter (shotgun for birds only), and much of histime between flights was spent out in the country or on a lake in the quest ofa large bass or pheasant...there were few "big ones" that got away but he often

held the local record for the largest catch. When the fishing was poor in locallakes you would usually find Bill on a lake in Northen Mexico.

When TWA introduced the B707 jets in March of 1959, Bill was among the first to

be checked out and fly the line. His favorite flights (along with Joe Bartles,Dave Kuhn and Arnie Lundberg) was the pairing of 18 and 19, nonstop to Dulles:

over one morning and back the next evening...there was seldom a delay with air-port traffic, a relaxing ride into town and good places to dine. Wherever Billflew he soon learned the better places to eat (for the best price) and the crewwas invited to join him. Starting in July of 1966, TWA was flying the militarycharters (MAC) to Saigon and Bill bid this operation, flying out of SFO. Therewas a lengthy strike in August of that year by the IAM, which shut down most ofthe major airlines. TWA continued to operate the MAC flights. Furloughs wereby reverse seniority: Bill, after 30 years with TWA, was back to flying copilot(Dave Kuhn was the captain).

Although he had the seniority to fly the B747, when it was introduced in early1970, Bill chose to continue with the Pacific flying until he retired in Augustof that year, at age 60. At the beginning of the year 1970, Bill was #7 on thepilot seniority list, behind Larry Trimble, Roger Kruse, Busch Voigts, TommyGaughen, Ray Noland and Bill Piper. All but Trimble, Voigts and Piper retiredahead of him...he was #4 in pilot seniority when he retired. However, TWA hadgrown, there were now 4,600 pilots and flight engineers junior to him!

Retirement for Bill was the opportunity to fish as often as he wanted (and thefish would bite) in Mexico, Canada and back to his old haunts in Missouri andKansas. In November 1971, he married Margaret (Midge) Sullivan, a cabin atten-dant with 20 years seniority. She continued to fly (and is currently a FlightService Manager) and, when TWA began operating the polar trips from LAX to LHRwith the B747, Bill would often accompany her.

Bill is survived by Midge, his three children, 10 grandchildren (another is de-ceased) and 5 great grandchildren.

8

Insurance Committee ReportFebruary, 1989

Let us review our Medicare (part A) and Medicaid (part B) for theyear beginning January 1, 1989.1. Every person enrolled pays S 4.00 per month toward Catastrophe

Insurance, plus:2. $ 3.10 per month from Cost-of-living (inflation) adjustment.

This portion should be offset by increase in our Social Sec-urity payment adjustment at the same percentage rate.

3. The total amount (per person) which will be deducted from ourS.S. checks will thus be $ 31.90 per month, vs $ 24.80 in 1988.

4. This is the Good News, the Bad News comes when ever you payyour 1989 Income Taxes. See the November Report to find yourniche.

4. To paraphase Winston Churchill: "Never have so few owed so muchto so many". Here is the latest Government estimates of thebeneficiaries versus who is paying for same:

Who Benefits Under The Catastrophic Health Care Plan?Part B

Medical CarePart A

Hospital CarePrescription

Drugs

Medicare enrollees who arenot expected to benefit fromthe change in hospital benefits.

3.4%

Medicare enrollees whowould benefit from the changeto one hospital deductible andthe elimination of hospitalcoinsurance.

7.0%

Individuals who will benefitfrom a yearly $1,370 cap onout-of-pocket expenses forMedicare-approved services.

16.8%

Medicare enrollees that areexpected to meet the $652deductible in 1992 therebybecoming eligible forprescription drug benefits.

The percentages shown are based on government statistics.As you can see, the changes to Medicare will NOT benefit most people. You still need private insurance to help pay for the expenses notcovered by Medicare.

Things we are working on:

1. The elemination of all overlapping or duplication in the newprogram, that is also covered by some portion of our (or anyother) Supplemental Insurance, and have this applied somewherein areas not covered by the new Medicare Program.

2. A feasable coverage for NON HOSPITAL, HOME, or REST HOME care.The new Medicare Bill only covers this when confined in a

9

Hospital, or a very few Approved Nursing Homes. This is what al-most all the calls I have had from TARPA members have been about.We may well consider this the most important Insurance matter we .

will ever face, since the current experience-rate is this:

One of every three persons, (or spouse) will spend some time in aRest Home, with full or part time medical assistance. Compare thiswith the beneficaries in the enclosed Table.

We are hopeful that some of these uncertainties will have made someprogress by New Orleans, and that we will see you there.

Fraternally,

Taken at dedication 10 July 1988Pictured left to right;

Merrill Dubach, a friend - Peggy Lee Dubach, his daughter - VirginiaAbbott, Cliff's widow - James Abbott, Cliff's son - Virginia "Ginger" Abbott,James' wife.

Photograph sent in by Parky and was taken at the ceremony at the BaptistMemorial Medical Center in Kansas City.

1 0

EDITOR's DESK

We hope you all had an enjoyable and safe holiday season and that you willhave a prosperous and happy new year in 1989.

We appreciate the many letters telling us how much they enjoy TARPA TOPICS.You must be saying that so we will keep at it. Your editor is most gratefulto Dick Guillan and Ed Betts for we wouldn't have much to offer if it wasn'tfor their valuable contributions. And to repeat myself, please keep in touchand let us know what is going on with you all.

From Ed Hall;My compliments on your last issue of TARPA TOPICS. It's getting better

and more interesting as the years roll along. You will find it tough to keeptopping the latest issue.

Hope all is well...my best to Betty.

Ed and Barbara Hall celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary on 11 November1988. Your editor pulled a boo boo last issue, Capt. Hall did the articleon Al Clay yet I failed to show that he did for which I humbly apologize.I'm sure we all truly appreciate Ed's fine tribute to Alfia.

Dear A.T.Just reading the November issue of TARPA TOPICS and for your and Gene

Exum's information Vera Sample lives at 4114 N.E. Davidson Road, Kansas City,MO 64116. Anything else I can help you with?

George Duvall[Ed; I think Vera worked all her life in the TWA Credit Union in Kansas Cityand was always so pleasant, cooperative and efficient.]

From Capt. Ralph Harter,Jr.;Dear A.T. - Don't believe I ever met you but thought you might be

interested in some of the following.You mentioned being in the Air Force Reserve at Fairfax. I enlisted

in the Air Force in July 1947 for flight training and was initially sentto Fairfax where I spent three months as a clerk typist maintaining thepilots' Form 5's. I knew a lot of the pilots flying for TWA but don't re-member any names except Bronson White who I had the pleasure of flying withsome years later.

I completed flight training in February, 1949, and was sent to Koreain October 1950. We were flown to Japan on a Northwest DC-4 that I under-stood was leased to them by TWA. I came with TWA in 1952 and later flew co-pilot on that same airplane.

1 1

EDITOR'S DESK

Harter continued;Also, I worked for TWA at municipal airport for a few months in the

winter of 1944 before going in the service the first time. My job was cleaningand polishing airplanes, mostly DC-3's. Remember one night stripping theTexaco logos off Jack Fry's airplane so it could be painted in TWA colors

Keep up the good work. TARPA TOPICS is great.Ralph Harter

[I don't believe Bronson White was in the Air Force Reserve or am I mistaken?TWA used Fairfax a lot for three bounces and such so maybe that is how Ralphhappened to meet Bronson.]

From A.E. Fritts;Hi A.T. - Been a long time. Must give all of you a pat on the back for

a job well done.Following retirement from TWA my uncle was killed in the oil fields

and the next fifteen years were busy. It was a very pleasant and rewardingtime and met a fine group of people. Uncle Sam bought the field and it'snow at the bottom of Longview Lake in Lee's Summit, MO.

My hobby of 1955-56-57 T Birds has also been a busy one. We have showsall over the U.S. and Canada.

Thought you might have a smile about the enclosed article, "He Wantsto be a Pilot". The best to you & yours, Happy Holidays.

Eddie Fritts[Amos Edward Fritts, Ed Betts and I went to work for TWA the same day. Eddiegave me my 727 simulator plus a sumptious meal at his home. Our best to Nancyand Eddie.]

Here is the article referred to. I imagine most of you have read itbut maybe some of your grandchildren haven't.

HE WANTS TO BE A PILOTI want to be a pilot when I grow up...because it is a fun job and easy to

do. That's why there are so many pilots flying around today. Pilots don'tneed much school. They just have to read numbers so they can read instruments.I guess they should be able to read lots of maps so they can find their wayif they get lost. Pilots should be brave so they won't be scared if it isfoggy and they can't see. Or, if a wing or motor falls off they should staycalm so they will know what to do. Pilots have to have good eyes to see throughclouds and they can't be afraid of lightning or thunder because they aremore used to them than we are.

The salary pilots make is another thing I like. They make more moneythan they can spend. This is because most people think plane flying is dangerousexcept pilots don't because they know how easy it is. There isn't much Idon't like...except that girls like pilots and all the stewardesses wantto marry the pilots, so they always have to chase them away so they don'tbother them. I hope I don't get air-sick because I get car-sick and if Iget air-sick I couldn't be a pilot and then I would have to go to work.

* * * * * *Dear Readers - You may be interested to know I had this letter above in myfiles showing it was by Tommy Tyler, 5th. Grade, Jefferson School, Beaufort,SC submitted by Dwight Cross, scribe for Charlotte Hangar Nevertheless,I have my doubts. Probably written by some passenger agent?

1 2

Top, left to right

Dean PhillipsFormer TARPA Treasurer

Reggie PlumridgeFamous tennis player

Picture on left

Ulie Derickson & HusbandUlie was guest speaker

at the RAPA convention inMiami and Brooks Johnston,President of RAPA, reportedthat it was the highlightof the function.

Also, on December 6she was presented with theNavy's highest recognitionof public service, the Dis-tinquished Service Award!

Russ is alriqht too.

COMPLAINTFORM

Please write yourcomplaint In box

below. Write legibly.

1 3

EDITOR'S DESK

From R.W. Goldthorpe;Dear A.T. - When we heard reports about the series of twisters bouncing

across North Carolina I immediately thought of you folks. But, as the radioand TV reports centered on the Raleigh area and knowing you live near thecoast, I thought you were well away from the storm. But I was wrong!

Today's newspaper said the tornadoes hit 17 locations in 9 countiesand, on looking at the map, I see that although Belhaven is in Beaufort County,which was not listed, Pamlico County is just south and both Hyde and Darecounties a short way east of Belhaven so that it could well be you felt theeffects at least.

We certainly hope there was no injurys or property damage in your immediateneighborhood. Those twisters can be vicious, unpredictable and, in this case,unreported!

Isn't it rare for tornadoes to hit North Carolina? Now, in the KansasCity area they sort of come with the territory like having to make a circlingapproach over the dike at Kansas City Municipal, but North Carolina! Hurricanes,yes but tornadoes No!l

I really enjoyed the November issue of TARPA TOPICS. Your photo coverageof the Tucson convention was great and I personally knew almost every oneof the pictured retirees.

Also enjoyed the "Save A Connie" dedication described by Toni Fitzgibbonin Dick Guillan's TARPA GRAPEVINE. I believe the "Star of American" was thesame Connie (Plane 803) that we flew on the around the world survey tripin November and December of 1952. The captain was Joe Carr, First OfficerCharles Shewey, Flight Engineers Louis Proctor and Jerry Zerbone, Navigatorthe late Ed Schuett. I was the Flight Radio Officer. Other Flight Operatonspersonnel included Bob Springer, "Kenny" Kennyhertz, Ed Minser and Roy Davis.

I thought Bill Dixon's "TWA Highlights of Yesteryear" was great. Itbrought back many memories. yes, I would definitely like to see the "Highlights"continued as a series. Capt. Dixon does nice work.

As usual, Capt. Ed Betts' articles were very interesting and informative.He is an excellent historian and author and TARPA TOPICS is fortunate tohave such a professional contributor.

In closing, if Joe McCombs asks, I'm sending in my 1989 TARPA dues pronto,I wouldn't want to miss even one issue of the TOPICS!

Very best regards, Goldy Goldthorpe

[Goldy, for your information, North Carolina is hit many times during the yearwith tornadoes and those of us living on the coast also have hurricanes tosweat out. Our pier on the Pungo River and Intracoastal Waterway has beentaken up twice by hurricanes. I could write a book on the weird things tornadoeshave caused. For instance, a neighbor had a 300 pound sow (female hog forthe edification of city folks) that was lifted up by a twister and depositedon the second floor of a packhouse (tobacco storage barn for the aforementioned)one mile away! Luckily the recent disaster didn't hit near us.

Golf is a lot like taxes - you drive hard to get to the green and then windup in the hole.

Don't despair. The only man who ever got all of his work done by Friday wasRobinson Crusoe.

1 4

Top Picture, left to right;John Lattimore, Cliff Davis, Frank Smith & Bob Early

BottomEdna Searle, George Searle, Millie Kelly & Paul Kelly

Hear Paul is flying a Boeing B-17 around!

1 5

EDITOR'S DESK

From Jack Robertson;Dear A.T. - Enjoyed your article on non-rev travel. As you may know,

on UAL any retiree receives a higher pass classification and with full seniority;ours is clearly unfair, especially when competing with college kids etc.who did nothing to earn the pass.

I tried very hard through ALPA and TWA management to get ours changedso that we kept the same identical pass after retiring but nobody was interested.

Since you're the editor and therefore the boss of our publication I'llenclose a copy of a tract I sent Ed Betts re the Martins. It's the firsttime I've written anything for TARPA.

Best regards. Keep up the good work. Sincerely, Jack Robertson[Jack, enjoyed your Martin article and I am sure Ed Betts will be able touse in his upcoming work on the Martin era. Jack says he had 5,000 hoursin that type. Thought I was pretty high time with 4,100 hours.]

As for retiree passes on United, when we were returning to New Yorkfrom our Holy Land tour there was a retired United Air Lines agent and hiswife who resided in San Franciso along and they said they had no sweat gettingout of JFK as they had postive space!

From Dennis Taylor;Since I am still on the Board of Directors of TWA's Credit Union, I can

respond to your item on Page 20 of the November TARPA TOPICS regardingVera Sample.

Vera retired in September, 1982, after 41 years with TWA and the CreditUnion and lives in Kansas City.

I saw her yesterday at a TWA Seniors' get together and she is haleand hearty.

One of Vera's responsibilities at the Credit Union was the pilots'Mutual Aid (PMA) and when I told her I was going to write to you she saidto tell you "the TWA pilots were a great group to work with and she reallyenjoyed it".

Kindest regards, Dennis Taylor[ Editor - I know most of us remember that Don (Snuffy) Smith was the fatherof our Pilots Mutual Aid plan as mentioned above. Snuffy spent many longyears shepherding that plan and if you flew co-pilot with him you had betterjoin PMA if you wanted a leg.]

From Larry Fauci;Thanks for the photo of myself, Tom Carroll, Lew Thompson, Jack Harpster

and Paul Kelly. Also the picture of the pins. I forgot to mention one thing- the way the cost of postage, insurance and packaging has increased haveto charge $1.50 per shipment up to 8 pins - $2.00 over.

Sad to see the notice of old Moe Hansen passing away and the one onJohn Vovolka really shocked me - had a few Polars with him not that longago.

Anyway, have a wonderful holiday and all the best.Thanks again, Larry Fauci

1 6

Left

Ben & Didi Young at Tucson

Back about 1947 your editorbought an old Model T Fordfrom Goody Lyon and tradedit to Ben for a power mower

Bottom

Bartender is Terry RagerCustomer Harry Ward

Where is the tip jar?

1 7

PEGGY SCHEMEL &Dick Guillan

That tree farmer fromwestern North Carolinamust go for Peggys.

BUSCH VOIGTS & HAROLD NEUMAN(Photos by Ed Betts)

1 8

EDITOR'S DESK

From Joseph P. Carr, 435A Newport Way, Jamesburg, NJ 08831;Dear A.T. - You probably will receive several letters about this from

the"Old" Eagles (as opposed to us plain Eagles) but I wanted to get thisoff before I forget. I believe the "unknown" in the back row of the photographon page 48 of the last TARPA TOPICS was Steve Welsh.

Howard Hall, Ted Hereford or Larry Trimble could probably confirmthat if they were prompted a little. In the late 40's or early 50"s Welshdeveloped a heart problem and was taken off flight status. He went to Parisas a Dispatcher and died there after a short period in that position. Trimblewas in charge overseas about that time.

The "unknown" in the first row could have been Frank Niswander. Thereproduction in the TARPA magazine is a little fuzzy but close inspectionwith a magnifier, plus the fact that Frank and Dick Hanson were side-by-side (they were close drinking buddies), re-inforces that impression. Again,some of the older Eagles could be used as sounding boards.

Though the photograph predates my service with TWA by a few years,it brought back a flodd of memories (most of them pleasant) since I flewwith each one of them at various periods. I flew co-pilot for Bill Dowlingin a DC-2 out of San Fransico which brings to mind a small correction toEd Betts' story on that airplane.

In March and April of 1940 I was sent on vacation relief to San Francisco;that base operated several DC-2's like a seperate airline through Fresno,Las Vegas, Boulder City to Phoenix. The only connection with the main linewas at Boulder City. The airplanes had the infamous "electric" props butthe gear and flaps were still operated by the co-pilots' muscle power viathe long handled hydraulic pump (the good guys would leave the gear downfor the short hop between Las Vegas and Boulder City). My logbooks arein my Florida home so I can't provide the names of everyone I flew withbut Andy Andrews, Bill Dowling, Rudy Truesdale and Lex Klotz come to mind.I also remember having a trip with Ida Staggers during that period butthat has been re-inforced numerous times as we joked about it on subsequent

trips over the North Atlantic. I believe my old Navy friend, Frank Saylor,was permanently based at that domicile.

On a recent teaching assignment in the Denver area, I managed to gethold of Joe McCombs and during the phone call we hashed over old time --some dating back to the early ICD days. Joe remarked that I had come fullcircle since he recalled that I had also taught instrument ground schoolin 1942-43 to some of the pilots who were being hired without that ratingduring those war years. Unfortunately, my tight schedule prevented us fromgetting together for a little elbow-bending but I have promised to maketime on my next trip.

Dotty and I had hoped to be in Florida by now but my wife has developeda medical problem which may require lengthy treatment. Tentatively, wehope to be in the warmer climes after Christmas but the timing will bedictated by the treatment she is to receive.

I want to thank all of you involved with the production of TARPA TOPICSsince it has provided me with many hours of pleasure and I read it cover-to-cover as soon as it arrives. Please keep up the good work.

Best regards, Joe[I had the pleasure of flying with this gentlemen once myself. Thanks forthe pat on the head, Joe, and will pray your wife makes out okay. ED].

1 9

EDITOR'S DESK

From Bob Flett;Dear A.T. & Betty - This is Bob Flett. Haven't seen you in years but

always enjoy what you have in TARPA TOPICS. I long to see you again.I have kept very busy since retiring and have seldom been able to schedule

an appearance at our meetings. But I am glad the rest of you can go and keepthings alive.

My most recent binder was in teaching for two years in a private highschool -confining!

But, now, I plan to marry and to change my address to 668 Blossom, WoodlandPark, CO 80863. Telephone 719 687 6638.

That is only 20 miles beyond COS so would love to see you if you canget out our way.

All the best, Bob Flett

[Due to his age, Bob Flett was the senior man in our co-pilot class of Aug. 45]

From Willis Patterson;I would like to report the passing of Don Hawley at the Sun City West

hospital on 17 November. He retired a few years ago as Director of OperationalPlanning (NYC) after some 40 years of service to TWA. A reference in thelast TARPA TOPOICS mentioned his receiving a 10 year pin in 1948.

His wife, Peggy, is a Clipped Wing and they met on a DC-2 flight in 1940.When I read the very interesting story by Ed Betts on the refurbished DC- 2I re-read the letter from Peg Hawley sent last August, part of letter follows;

Don continues to improve and we are going out quite a bit. Matter offact today was a fun day. I had read in the paper that there would be a DC-2at Deer Valley Airport so Dean (Durfer) , Ila, Don and I went to see it.It was a real nostalgia trip. It was restored and paid for (partially?) byHoneywell - had the old logo on the nose and "The Lindberg Line" on the fuselage.We got a lot of pictures and since channel 10 had a camera crew there, Ilatold the guy I flew one regularly in 1941 and Don and I met on one. theyinterviewed us and we ended up on TV Tonite!

A.T., our families have been close through the years and we have visitedeach other often. Don will be missed.

Sincerely, Willis (Pat) Patterson

From Edward J. Elliot;Saw this article in our local paper today. Thought maybe some of the

TARPA Eagles who were in Kansas City might have known her.I'm busy doing real estate appraisals here in San Jose. See you in New

Orleans next year - if God is willing. Bud Elliott

Mary L. McCoy Dougherty, 74, Nurse, Stewardess Dies

Funeral services were held in San Jose, CA, for a former TWA hostess,Mary Lee McCoy. A Registered Nurse she became a TWA hostess in 1937. for3 years she flew out of Kansas City and in 1940 transferred to New York becomingchief hostess of TWA's eastern division.

She spent the first few years with TWA flying between Kansas City andNew York and later worked as an instructor at the Air College in Kansas City.

20

EDITOR'S DESK

Hostess McCoy continued;As Chief Hostess in 1944, Miss McCoy flew the first flights of the huge

four-engine Lockheed Constellation, described by the press at the time as"the largest and fastest land-based transport plane in the world". HowardHughes and TWA President Jack Frye acted as co-pilots on the Constellation'smaiden transcontinental flight, navigating the country in six hours and 57minutes.

Mrs. Dougherty was born in Creighton, MO, and was a graduate of LibertyHigh School. She attended Missouri State Teachers College, later graduatingas a nurse from Trinity Lutheran Hospital in Kansas City.

She moved to San Jose in 1960 and worked as a housemother at O'ConnorHospital School of Nursing until it closed. She continued to work at theSan Jose Hospital until retirement in 1981.

She is survived by two daughters, Kara Lee Dougherty of San Jose andDeborah Tilbury of Moorpark, a son, J. Michael Dougherty of San Jose; a sister,Claudine Baldus of Missouri and a grandson.

Chuck Tiseo, Rt. 2 Box 38, Summerland Key, FL 33042;Hello A.T. - Hope you had a good Christmas. We were sorry to have missed

the Tucson party but I had to cancel and have my fourteenth operation. Lookingforward to New Orleans in April.

The reason I am writing this letter is to give you a little more aboutAl Clay.

In the spring of 1942 I was an instructor at the Gate City Flying Serviceat Chambers Field (Atlanta airport). My boss was Pete Clay and he was teachinginstruments in a gullwing Stinson. Al was getting his instrument rating(Clays were not related). Al and I both were nineteen years old. Even atthat time he had that big "teddy bear smile".

I went to work for TWA-ICD 14 August 1942. The next time I saw Alwas sometime in the 50's when he was in Boston and we met on the line.

To show you how small the world is, Ed Gruber was one of my studentsand I know he knew Al. Charlie Rice soloed me in May of 1941.

Have a good year and we will see you in New Orleans. Regards, Chuck.

Ed Hall, 14931 David Drive, Ft. Meyers, FL 33908;We had dinner with the Howard Halls the evening of 16 December and

I suggested that he write to you regarding Dick Heideman who is in a nursinghome as of this past week. Dick was very popular on International and isnow is bad shape. Doesn't know anyone and sleeps all the time.

George Hinton has been in and out of the hospital and seems to be progres-sing okay.

Regarding credit for Al Clay's memoriam, it isn't important. I didit for you and especially for Al since we were so close these past fiveyears. It was an honor to be asked.

Also your compliments on my writing didn't go unnoticed. I appreciateit since Barbara is writing novels and I have it to show her to dig hera bit. She isn't the only one who can spell. Seriously, I would find itdifficult to come up with something interesting but will put it on the backburner if an inspiration ever comes through this aging noggin'.

2 1

EDITOR'S DESK

Ed Hall letter continues;I am happy to hear that Betty is doing so well. She made quite an impression

on me at the convention two years ago. Good sense of humor. I like that.In closing, may you have a healthy and joyous holiday...Santa is very

nice to bring you a new Town Car. Most sincerely, Ed

Russ Day, 3 Heather Drive, Northport, NY 11768;Dear A.T. - Life is filled with good intentions that are never realized

and I fit into that category. I have been meaning to write and send someart work for over a year now! Your last letter has been staring at me onmy counter in my new studio and I keep hiding from it.

Anyway, now that my retirement is slowly falling into some sort ofroutine and the dead of winter is upon the northeast, I promise to sendyou some sketches of boaters, tennis players, golfers etc. that you askedfor so long ago. Also, I will try to make the TARPA convention in New Orleanscoming up in April.

I retired in March and, really, I don't miss the flying that much. Thehassling by ATC, being number 47 for take-off at JFK, fighting the FAA andlistening to all the Icahn rumors kind of made leaving not too hard. I domiss the crews, the various "offices" in Europe and, of course, the actualtake offs and landings flying those big beasts. But not much else.

Since March I have been keeping busy doing all the projects we promiseour wives we'll get around to but now have no excuse to postpone. Also,I am into boating so we did a lot of sailing during the season. Also, Iam working part time for a good friend of mine in a stationery store heowns. Kind of interesting since I never had to deal with the public directlybefore. Kind of an eye-opener but not all bad since a lot of the stationerystore items relate to my art field.

We did go down to North Carolina as I said we were thinking of butdidn't come near your neck of the woods or we would have advised or warnedyou. I have an old Navy buddy we stay with who is retired and living inthe DC area so that makes a nice stop over going and coming from Long Island.

We did buy a plot of land near Pinehurst on a lake being developed.We are quite excited about it and my wife is happy she will eventually bemoving back to the State she lived in for many years.

I never realized how big a State North Carolina was, but when we dofirm up our moving plans we'll have to plan a trip to your neck of the woods.In the meantime, hopefully, I'll make the New Orleans affair and I'll seeyou there.

Hope to have some art work soon after the holidays. Let me knowif you have any specific one you want and I'll try to do it up pronto.

Hope you and your wife have a nice holiday season and I'll try to learnto talk like a Carolinian so we can understand each other.

Regards, Putnam (you always called me that), Russ Day.

[Your editor and Putnam Russ Day flew together quite a bit on the Martinsout of that little but loud domicile of Newark. He added to the pleasurewith his constant cartoons about the operation, the other characters etc.Will look forward to what I know will be a valuable addition to TARPA TOPICS,Putnam. Thought I would have room on this page for a drawing on his stationerybut he was too long-winded so will put it on the next page]

22

P. Russ Day

[Following are exerpts from some reminiscences of our famous friend withthe red drawers, the Honorable Gordon (Parky) Parkinson. Editor]

There was a want ad in the Chanute Tribune which read; Situations WantedMale, 28, will mow yards in return for sexual favors. 431-2997 after 5. AndJohn Mishler said that while the ad ran just one day he had calls all dayand all night for a week and when he said all night he meant 3,4 and 5 a.m.Also, there were a few who were serious but 90 percent were like, Ha! Ha!Who are you? Turned out the newspaper was to run it for three days but afterthe calls they cancelled it and said next time they would be more carefulas they didn't run those kinds of ads.

Thought back years ago when we were having another cutback on TWA andmany were being laid off. I was telling Tommy (John) Tomlinson about a practicaljoke that I had read about in Paris. A couple of fellows with note book,tape measure etc. went into a fancy restaurant on the Champs and startedmeasuring off the front end facing the street and would make comments, doorhere, pissorie here etc. and the Manager got real excited. Finally calledthe City Hall or the Mayor and found out it was a practical joke.

Then Tommy and I got a clip board and tape measure and started measur-ing off the office on the east side of the lobby at old 10 Richards Road,making comments about new partition here, new doors etc. and we had theplace in an uproar. Industrial Relations was there and it was one of thesections that was being furloughed. It was fun then but as I look back atit today it was kinda cruel. Don't know why Tommy and I didn't get firedbut we didn't.

However, those were the days when a lot of things happened. I rememberback one fourth of July before Cliff Abbott became Division Superintendent.At that time he was a Flight Dispatcher and along about midnight Cliff hadsome firecrackers, I mean they were big, about 8 inches long. We had a tunnelfrom the boiler room to the west end of the building and some of the airconditioning was piped in this tunnel. Eventually, the air conditioningran up to Uncle John Collings' office.

By midnight the janitors had left and they had cleaned up Uncle John'soffice. Cliff lit the firecrackers and dropped them into the tunnel. Well,there was a lot of dust and dirt in that tunnel and Uncle John's officelooked like a storm had hit it. So many memories!

One day the airline was shut down in the east. Joe Bartles was Superintendentat Port Columbus, Ohio. The snow was heavy all over the east and Uncle John

EDITOR'S DESK

23

EDITOR'S DESK

Parky's memories continued;came in from NYC on the Pennsylvania Railroad and got off at the old PortCMH RR terminal, picked up the phone and called Joe to ask how the airlinewas doing and Joe said, "Fine". Collings asked him where the flights wereand he said, "On the ground". John said,"I thought you said it was fine"and Joe said, "yes they're all on the ground,no problems".

I could go on about the old days...the 38 automatics the pilots woreto protect the mail...the incidents that happened with them. I was meteorologist,dispatcher etc. and also handled the mail for the night flights and wasgiven one of the guns to wear. Only problem was that I wasn't allowed bullets.One could get hurt. Doubt if I could have fired it anyway but I alwaysfigured that if the robbers came to get the mail they would shoot the onlyman carrying a gun, ME! and I wasn't very happy about that.

Handling and loading the mail in the old Northrups also makes me thinkof packages getting beat up, etc. by the post office department. We usedto get fined a thousand dollars if we didn't carry out all the mail. Sometimes,in the Christmas rush, we'd operate two Northrups but most of the time justone and the capacity wasn't too large. Anyway, if we weren't going to getall the mail in, I would get up on top and stomp it down until we couldload a few more sacks in. We never knew anything about weights, we justloaded all we could get in. Parky

Fellow TARPANS - I am going to excercise my privilege as editor of yournews magazine and praise one of our officers for his extreme dedicationand hard work on your behalf. I just don't believe most of you realize justhow hard McCombs works in our behalf. When you mailed in your 1989 duesit wasn't much trouble, was it? But, at the other end of the line McCombshad to process over 1500 names and other data into the files. Can you imaginehow many hours Joe McCombs must spend at the computer board all the time asyour secretary/treasurer? Joe also keeps minutes at Board of Directors mtgs.and is so conscientious as to accuracy he records every word and belch. Alsokeeps the minutes for our convention then while we go home to rest up he goeshome to type all the stuff up in our computer and arranging additions andcorrections to By-Laws and policies. Minutes and changes are then sent toall members of the Board for their scrutiny and approval. He keeps trackof address changes, status changes and deaths and provides this to me foreach TOPICS issue. Although I am shown as in charge of our directory, itis he who keeps it up to date and when we are ready to get out another onesends me the whole thing ready to go to the printer.

By now you must realize just how many hours he must spend working in hisoffice shepherding our whole operation. If we had a Meritorious ServiceAward surely Joe McCombs would be the prime candidate and Miss Jean deservesa vote of appreciation for her patience, understanding, help and tolerance!

An elected official quite often finds that he is first sworn in, and thensworn at.

24

RETIRED AIRLINE PILOTS ASSOCIATION

By Russell G. Derickson

The RAPA convention was held at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Miami,Florida, on November 3-5, 1988. 25 members were in attendance, I was theonly TWA pilot. 11 were voting members. 75 People were at the banquet.

The following officers were elected:President Brooks JohnstonSr. Vice President George CorbettVice President Raymond MerrittSecretary William RootTreasurer Mel Keuhn

At the request of Brooks Johnston, I agreed to serve in one of theappointed positions, as Regional Vice President of Arizona.

Brooks is a strong and able President. he runs a good meeting, movesthe agenda along, keeps a firm hand and sticks to the issues.

He was most adamant in changes that had to be made before he wouldserve another term as President. One of these changes was the RAPA fiscalpolicy which was completely reworked and is now patterned similar to ourown TARPA policy.

The RAPA Board of Directors discussed a memorial to their past President,Captain Al Clay, Jr. I was requested to select a suitable gift to presentto Jo Clay. Johnston and I agreed on a Champagne lead crystal vase whichwe mailed to Jo a few days before Christmas with this engraving:

In honor of Al ClayPresident RAPA 1986-87

Jo Clay was very appreciative of this remembrance by the Retired AirlinePilots Association.

The RAPA Board members have a deep concern about the future of SocialSecurity benefits as well as medicare and medicaid.

News Flash! From the 4 December New York Times; Alyson Flournoy of Princeton,New Jersey, is Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Florida. Herfather is Rich Flournoy, a retired TWA pilot.

Our Secretary/Treasurer asked us to remind our members that dues and contribu-tions to TARPA are not tax deductible according IRS ruling.

From Dick Guillan;3 Jan. Hi A.T. - Hope you all had a nice Christmas and a good New Year

with your family. Ours was the best ever with all of my family. Also a greatreunion with Peg's relatives in Georgia. Got home New Year's day.

Hope this GRAPEVINE is to your satisfaction. I have done better butwhen under less stress.

Christmas tree sales far exceeded my expectations. Am really buildingup a reputation as a Choose and Cut operator with 90% being repeat businessand referrals. I do no advertising. You should come up and see my place sometime.

Am leaving Thursday for New Orleans and expect to get back Monday orTuesday Tuesday, depending on whether I fly or drive back with my kids.

See ya! - Dick

25

THE TARPAGRAPEVINE

FEBRUARY 1989

As I start my section for February, am sitting in thekitchen of my farmhouse here in the North Carolina moun-tains gazing out on the first measurable snowstorm ofthe season and it is absolutely beautiful. My Christmastrees are covered with a blanket of snow which wouldmake a good Christmas card picture. Expect there will bepeople in to buy inspite of the weather. And we will nodoubt have more' snow before this goes to press.

********

Our S/T has sent me many notes and letters which havecome in with dues payments and I have received many let-ters as well. I shall try to incorporate as many as pos-sible into the GRAPEVINE. I thank you for your responseand contributions.

********I received a couple of items too late to include in theNovember issue so will insert them now. RUDY TRUESDALE(Eagle) wrote that he had just mailed in his 1989 dues,and a bit more for the Foundation. He also had just re-turned from a trip to Kerrville,TX in his Mooney forthe annual Mooney Homecoming at the factory. He saysthat at 82 he is barely older than HAROLD (Neuman) butflies right side up and never more than 60 degree banks.Even though he passed a 1st class physical last May, noairline has offered to hire him. He stopped in to over-night with Bernie Lloyd on his way to Texas. Bernie livein Douglas, AZ. RUDY also stated he appreciated the goodwork that TARPA does.

********

GORDON HARGIS had sent along with his account of his"longest trip", a postcard picturing the P-51 that heflies about once a month at Hollister, CA. On the re-verse side was his amateur radio operators"QSL Card"

which we'll reprint here for you "Hams" who mightlike to try and contactGordon. He combines histwo retirement hobbies,"Ham" and pleasure fly-ing, also belonging toNavy Dallas Flying Clubat Hensley Field, wheremonthly he "bashes"therunway several times ina T- 34B.

*********

3

26

Our S/T has asked me to remind you all that non-payment of dues byMarch 30th results in delinquency. So if you want to continue toreceive your copy of the TOPICS, be sure to send your dues prior tothat date. ********

Many have sent in short notes with their dues payment and have ex-pressed appreciation for the work that the TARPA board and othershave done. These words of encouragement are very much appreciated.We still need the contribution of articles and news of members to besent to the Editor, A. T. HUMBLES or myself. It has been suggested thatwe seek volunteers to act as local reporters who would send in materialsuch as activities, illnesses, death of spouses, etc. Anyone inter-ested? The pay is lousy but the personal satisfaction of contributingto this publication is gratifying.

********

JOE CARR, who for many years has been traveling the country conduct-ing Instrument Ground School Courses for AOPA, was recently in Denverand had the opportunity to contact JOE MCCOMBS and enjoyed a long run-ning conversation about the "good ol'days". He has taken up the gameof golf again, having started in the fifties in Cairo, but due to abad back had let it go for many years. Now he is beating the youngerguys at his club (those in the sixties) and hopes to go for the over-all club championship. His wife, Dorothy, has had some medical prob-lems but he says he hopes all goes well and they will be able to getback to Fort Myers for Christmas.

********

LEON PIERSON, extends an invitation to all TARPANS traveling throughSouthern Oregon to stop by and say hello. He says his new bride, Bonnieloves to have company. He also enjoys a great deal of fishing with'about five lakes within an hour of his house and in his spare time heworks as a volunteer at the Airport Information Center and at-the Cham-ber of Commerce Information Center, which is where he met Bonnie.

********

GORDON JOHNSON says that other than a problem with "Mr.Artheritis ",he is still above ground and manageing to play some golf thanks to adrug the same as Mickey Mantle uses for his arthritis. He can't hitthe ball as far as MM does but it at least gives him the chance toplay.

********

A note from DON DORMAN says he is staying busy trying to finish build-ing an airplane (from scratch) before he gets too old to fly. At 69can still pass a physical and fly a little.

********

A nice note from ALTA NELSON (Mrs Arthur Nelson) thanked our SIT forhis message of condolence and for the contribution made to the TWAPilots Retirement Foundation in Arthurs name. She said also that shelooks forward to receiving the TARPA publications.

********

27

Have you ever viewed from the ground all those beautiful places yousaw from the air while going back and forth across the country allthose years? HARRY CLARK (better known as Snorky) did just that thispast summer, fulfilling a long time desire, plus the opportunity toattend his 50th High School reunion in Bridgeport, West Virginia.Dates for that event were August 5th through 6th so he left SantaMaria, CA in plenty of time so as to visit Yosemite, Mono Lake, Tono-pah, Ely, Salt Lake, Cheyenne and Mt. Rushmore. He had been remindedthat the EAA shindig in Oshkosh would be in full swing about that timeso included two days at that affair. He lucked out on accomodationsby making a reservation the morning before he arrived whereas othershad made theirs a year or so in advance. Says he ran across some TWApeople at the airline tent as well as some at the OX-5 tent.

From Oshkosh he swung on down to IND and CMH where he had memories ofMartin days, including an FBI shootout at Monument Circle and an enginefailure at CMH. RUSS HAZELTON was his co-pilot on the latter incident.

It was now getting close to 50th reunion time so he headed to Bridge-port, WV., arriving the day before the scheduled event. Although hesays he was the youngest in his class, and not seeing many of his form-er classmates for 50 years, he "sure didn't remember that they werethat old". After spending 9 days visiting old friends and relatives heheaded for Warrenton, VA and Roanoke again to visit old friends andthen down to Atlanta, GA where he paid a visit to Max and ShirleyWETHERBEE. Max, he reports,is in poor health and in a nursing homenear Marietta, GA.

Not quite ready to head Westward, he visited with an old flying buddyin Sanford, FL and after an overnight stay, headed to Denver to see hisson Chris and wife. From there he took in the Great Dunes, Durango,Mesa Verde, Shiprock, Four Corners, Monument Valley and the Grand Can-yon. Then it was on to Barstow, CA and to Santa Maria. It was goodto be home and enjoy the good Santa Maria climate after over a monthof the hot,muggy weather throughout the U.S.

All in all he drove about 8700 miles, alone, as his wife Lee, learningof his itinerary elected not to accompany him. Quite a trip, I wouldsay. ( Isn't that about the distance to Athens, Greece and return?)

Thanks for your interesting account, Snorky.

Can anyone top this?

********

JOHN HENDRICKSON says that he enjoys the TARPA magazine and is savingthem all as a historical record for his sons who are pilots for UALand UPS. See you in New Orleans John.

********LYLE HUNTLEY writes that he and Rosella are fine and do alot of travel-ing in their motorhome in the summer but stay at home in Sun Lakes, AZin the winter. They hope to make New Orleans

********

KATIE BUCHANAN (Mrs BUCK) and the Conventions official "Bar-Keeper"sent in a check to our S/T for whatever. Says she's very proud to be amember of this Association and would hate to lose her job as "Bar-Keeper". We'd hate to lose her too as she does such a terrific job.See you in New Orleans, Katie!

28

FAYE GOSS writes that LEW GOSS has been in the Veterans Hospital inLa Jolla, CA. for a couple of months--primarily heart and a hipproblem. He sends Best Wishes to all members of TARPA. Perhaps acard from many TARPANS would help improve his day.

********

Our S/T received a nice letter from Margaret Sanders wife of BILLSANDERS who passed away last October, thanking him for the contri-

bution made to the "Foundation" in Bills name. She has returned towork as a FSM effective in November, and considers it an honor to bemade an Honorary member of TARPA, which Bill loved so much. Hopewe'll see you at the next convention MIDGE.

********

We love to hear from Subscribers too, especially when they say nicethings about our publication. HELEN BOLES is one of those who saidshe eagerly awaits the arrival of the TOPICS as its like a "dear oldfriend". Helen was for many years a Teletype Operator in Chicagoand JFK during the "good old days" when each flight received pages ofWX,Notams and other pertinent data. Helen always dispensed this mate-rial with a smile.

Another Subscriber who looks forward to the TOPICS is E.PAUL BURKEwho says that"the great thing about TARPA is that it serves to per-petuate what we remember and preserve the history of a great andproud group of people that built it with pride". How true!

********

EDDIE FRITTS writes that he is still restoring 1957 T Birds. He hasa 1st prize winner which he has taken to many shows in the U.S andCanada. Also he is involved in the 97th Bomb Group (B-17) reunions.He says when he winters in Scottsdale, AZ he goes out to Falcon Fieldto see the Sentimental Journey and PAUL KELLY.

********

Although he just retired last February, CHUCK W. ANDERSON says he isreally enjoying it and doing pretty much what they enjoy most. He isplaying golf, fishing and took a cruise last August with the RIDEOUTSup to Alaska. He recommends the Alaskan cruise for scenery and enjoy-ment.

********

Good 'ole smiling BOB WIDHOLM said that he and Fay had just returnedfrom a GREAT trip to Germany (11/22/88), their first since retirement.They were above average tourists--didn't run out of money until thethird day. He said the most excitement was: mmmmmm.....mmmmmm then:Vah-Room....Vah-Room.....followed by; Beep-Beep.....Beep-Beep. What'sthat, you ask? Wellll....mmmmmm is that Mercedes cruisin' on the Auto-bahn about 120 to 130 mph. He's followed by the BIG truck right on histailpipe....then Beep-Beep is that lil' of German lady trying to passthem all.......Is that really true Bob? See you in New Orleans.

********

DAN RICHTER says the very first wise purchase he made with his 1st "A"plan check was paying his 1989 TARPA dues.

*********

29

The following letter was received by me with a request that it be con-sidered a "Letter to the Editor". Our illustrious TOPICS Editor saidto go ahead and print it as it may get a few chuckles. So here goes:

December 7, 1988

Richard,

You are well aware of the punctuality demanded by the Editor of TARPATOPICS in the past. When he has set a deadline for material, he wantsthe stuff on or before that date or else.......mayhem!

You will recall that he was going to get the November TOPICS mailedbefore the first of that month. As is my usual procedure, the S/T hadprepared and mailed the labels well in advance and started calling A.T.around the 27th of October to advise address corrections. When therewas no answer to morning and evening calls through the followingWednesday, I started to get worried and called the printer to see if hehad picked up the magazines. Negative! Capt. Humbles was going out oftown and was supposed to pick up the stuff Thursday, November 3rd.

When calls remained unanswered by Saturday, I really became concerned.A.T flys airplanes; water skis; he ain't as young as he used to be.Maybe he busted something; maybe he bought it! Now Jean and I werereally worried but who to contact in Belhaven, NC. Then I recalledthat one of his sons flew for USAIR but how to obtain a contact fromtheir offices since it was a Saturday?

Capt. Frank Petee, a TARPA Member, left TWA way back when and ended upretiring from USAIR after a long successful career. Maybe he couldsurmount the barriers and give me a contact for A.T.'s son. By phone,Frank advised his doubts considering the time of day and all of the newpersonnel hired by USAIR since his retirement. As we all know,Schedulers are not cooperative with strangers.

Frank called back within a short time and gave me a contact for therecently checked-out Capt. Jeff Humbles. Petee was pleased thatsomeone had remembered him and I was pleased that now I might find outwhat happened to the illustrious, but elusive Editor.

When someone answered my call by "Jeff's Bar & Grill", it was realizedthat I had made contact with a junior crew member who had (1) failed tohave a member of his family answer the phone and (2) assure that thecaller was not the scheduler implementing move-up on a week-end. Oneof the guests was "guess who" on his way home from a visit with Betty'sfamily. The S/T was accused of using unethical techniques to locatethe culprit. Naturally, we were all relieved, particularly Joe Brown,upon learning that he would not have to go to Belhaven to handle themailing.

My point......now that we know what cooks in the mail department inBelhaven, I want all to know that the next time that fellow starts tobeat on any of us, we can remind him that he occasionally fails to meethis own schedule which is completely unforgivable in any quarter.

30

LARS LUNDSTROM writes to our S/T and tells of his pleasure in brows-ing through the Directory, which brought back many fond memories. Lastfall he made a trip to Finland, his parents homes, and learned muchheretofore unknown about his"family tree". He says he keeps busy in"Cabbage Patch" town and does a bit of ghost writing for the localpoliticians, something he learned as S/T at KIDL FEIA.

********

Many EAGLES continue to send in dues or make other contributions tothe TARPA kitty. CHAUNCY (JACK)DAVENPORT says he lives alone with hisdog but has fun with RC airplanes and checks in now and then on the"Save a Connie". ROGER DON RAE says he and Frances are holding theirown healthwise and financially(?). They plan on making New Orleans.BOB MCREYNOLDS doesn't see much of the TWA gang but enjoys readingabout them in the TOPICS.

BOB BROWER claims our S/T made an error listing him as an Eagle sincehe's been telling people he was much younger. But after taking anotherlook at his birth certificate admits there is a possibility he may be-RUSS BOWEN says he has difficulty accepting the fact he has been re-tired for 16 years and reached Eagle status. To somewhat assuage hisfeelings, he enclosed dues for the full year. And then there is ARKYAINSWORTH who couldn't find his category on the dues payment envelopeso started a new category called "none of the above" and sent in duesanyway. BOB MIDDLEKAUFF sent in dues 'cause it is worth every pennyto get all the dope on who is where , etc. And JACK LACLAIRE justwanted to add to the TARPA income.

All of us thank all of you gentlemen for your generous support and forall the kind words. To quote our S/T--"Hang in there gentlemen."

********

When it comes to cheerful and optimistic letters,noone does a betterjob of it than BILL MCMINN. Since moving to Ft.Smith, AR from Floridaten years ago he says that things have been good for them and that lifethere is great. He has nothing but praise for the entire northwestsection of the state and wonders why more pilots have not retired tothat area. He does alot of traveling around with the TWA Seniors Toursand has trips planned for 1989 and 1990. Bill says that every monthhe gets to see RUBY GARRETT at the QB meetings. Ruby and a couple offriends drive 162 miles each way every month without fail to attend themeetings and always stop in at Bills first. He and Marianne are stillenjoying good health, they love there place in Ft. Smith and "all inall life is great".

********

TUDOR LELAND says hes still kicking although hasn't been active inTARPA affairs. He enjoys hearing through TARPA what his old friendsare doing. He keeps busy maintaining two properties with two houseson each and eleven acres to landscape and repair, let alone trying tobring his 38' fisherman back after being sunk by parties unknown. Hewould like to know if anyone knows the whereabouts of Ken Doherty. Cananyone help him there?

********On the subject of "missing persons", BERT HACKLEY asked me sometimeback if I knew the whereabouts of Eddie Meehan. I didn't so here isanother request if you can supply it. Send it to Bert or me.

31

DAVE WADSWORTH reported that he went through five hours of surgeryfor prostate cancer a short time back and although the operation wassuccessful an infection set in which he has been battling ever since.He is on antibiotics but,as he puts it "from here on its all uphill."We wish you a speedy recovery,Dave. Keep us informed.

********

JIM GILMORE says he hopes to make the next convention, having missedTucson. Says he is enjoying golf and fishing and living up in theMother Lode country.

********

MILDRED BOWEN (Mrs "MO") identified the "unknown" person standing between Walt Seyerle and Ted Hereford on page 48 of the Nov. TOPICS asSteve Welsh. Steve, she reports was also Supt. of Pilots until theearly '50s when he retired. Thank you Mildred.

********

We wish LARRY WELSH well as he reports he is having a bit of hearttrouble and can't do muchas gets short of breath. He also sent ourS/T an update form.

********

IDUS INGLIS sent in an extra $5 with his dues to help pay for the"wrist" watch which was presented to our outgoing President. Seemsthat years ago he and Al Clay complained bitterly to the NEC about hav-ing to pay for the watch pocket in the TWA uniforms so a "certain in-dividual" could carry a pocket watch. Gosh--Gee, Idus, they appreci-ate the donation and I hate to tell you this but RUSS was presentedwith a Pocket Watch.

********

To the many who sent in short notes with your dues payment, we want tothank you. The general feeling on all these notes was one of appreci-ation and thanks to the officers of TARPA for the job they are doing.The following sent in such notes (not in alphabetical order):

ARBY ARBUTHNOTADOLF URBASOLLIE HALLBERGLYLE HINCKSFRANK EDWARDSFRANK STUMPFBOB ADICKESGEORGE SEARLE

GENE RAMSEYDAVE GRIGGRAY GOSENBILL GREERBILLY TATEGENE EXUM

**********And now a message from that dirty old man from San Clemente whoseinitials are RICHARD H. BECK :

Youth -- TRI WEEKLYMiddle age -- TRY WEEKLYRetirement -- TRY WEAKLY

********

32

8101 E. Naseem Tr.Scottsdale, AZ, 85258Jan. 5, 1989

TARPA TOPICSEDITORA. T. HumblesRT. 2 Box 152Belhaven, NC 27810

Dear A. T.,

For years I have promised to make an offering to the" Topics " and I have honored that promise as much as the "vow ofsilence" I have taken before every TARPA business meeting. Oneyear it set a record of seven minutes.

But who wants a gathering of clams? We may not makemuch sense but we make a lot of noise.

Speaking of noise, I love the annual gathering of vener-able eagles but wish the hospitality room could have a more spaciousarrangement for such a large group to ameliorate the noise and bodyheat levels. We have held it in a patio-room set-up a couple oftimes which is better I think. It seems there should be a coupleof corners providing quiet conversation. I find my vocal cordsstrained in attempting to be heard over the noise level. Admittedlymy hearing abilities are also impaired but I think that is endemicamong senior citizens with aviation backgrounds. I'd be interestedin seeing some "Topics " discussion on experiences with hearing aids.I tried a couple of them two years ago for 30 days and then gaveit up, at least temporarily. The noise level seemed to increasewithout matching improvement in understanding. I heard at the timethat good work was being done on aids that screen enough backgroundnoise to permit the closer conversation to filter through better.

I must say that the noise and speeches at the Tucson ban-quet did not bother much because your snoring drowned out everythingelse. (I've always admired your relaxed attitude.) I was in theprocess of helping our other table-mates Mickey Wind and Larry Girardto fashion a safety harness out of napkins to keep you from fallingout of your chair when you came back to life.

I would like to suggest that all the golf, tennis, skeet,bridge, etc. awards are made following the matches and just readoff the names of winners at the banquets, - then bring on the danc-ing girls and the sword swallowers. That'll keep you awake. Metoo. (The little dance band never had much opportunity to show theirstuff.

I wonder if a "Health Corner " in the "Topics " would notbe of general interest and which would encourage our memebers toshare their experiences, good and bad, with doctors, hospitals,insurance, etc. This could be of much more help than the brochureofferings of various health and medi-gap plans.

33

As Neuman Ramsey's article points out, by the way, thenew Medicaire is going to be very expensive but I can't understandwhy the Medi-gap premiums are not dropping drastically with theirdecreased exposure.

Also we might be very surprised to learn some of thestatistics just within our own group on heart problems and particul-arly the number who have required angioplasty and/or by-pass sur-gery. I wonder, for example, what the average time has been beforethe necessity for repeat procedures due. to renewed blockage.

I have been very fortunate with my health except for sev-eral instances of prolonged arrhythmmia (atrial fibrillation).Mostly self-correcting but once had a very successful electro-cardioversion (Zapped with the paddles) and, with a recent incidentafter four years of no arrhythmmia, put back on track with aboutfour hours of IV drip with procanimide and heperin. For severalyears I've taken nothing except a little aspirin but now I'm backon Coumadin and Enkaid. I hate medicines and hope to ease off themagain.

Another surprise could be the number of our people whohad prostate surgery. Some benign but that and colon cancer arehigh frequency threats. Blood profile and Sigmoidoscopy are recom-mended bi-annual watchguards. I also understand some great advancesare coming along in treatment of cataracts.

We Winter in Scottsdale and get together with a numberof other TWA retirees who live nearby so it probably provides abetter than average opportunity to view a cross-section of healthproblems among our comrades. There is much to be learned and sharedfrom their experiences.

Among folks I see regularly, Larry DeCelles (who has justreturned from a banquet in Australia where he received the 1988Flight Safety Foundation award for his years of work in All WeatherFlying) has had both angioplasty and heart by-pass surgery in thepast year. Dick Lee who is still active in the American FighterAces Assoc. went through surgery for polyps on the bladder. ClayWhitney has been through by-pass surgery (as has Art Phillips) andcancer of the spine for which he still gets occasional treatmentat the NIH in Bethesda, Md. He maintains a fantastically positiveattitude. George Searle just had surgery for cancer of the prostateand will have further radiation sessions. He has some good insightsto offer.

We should let our people know that they are important tous and we want to hear what is going on when trouble comes along.It is amazing how much it helps to know that someone cares.

34

This reminds me that Boston's Council #41 had a reunionin September, 16 years after the domicile closed, and 150 peoplefrom all over the country were at the banquet. Among them was GeorgeHinton who was still recuperating from quadruple bypass surgery andthough never a member of Council #41, knew that he would be in deeptrouble if he didn't get there with his lovely wife Amy, who isPresident and Founder of Council #41's favorite charity, " Volunteersfor Mentally Retarded Adults". She gave a beautiful speech aftera presentation of flowers and a check for VMRA.

I may be particularly turned on to this subject becauseof your memorial article and cover picture of Al Clay in the lastissue. I loved that man. He was a true gentleman of dignity, com-passion and strength. I've been worried about his health for yearsbut his sudden death of a heart attack last May just before theTucson gathering was a shock. He was only retired about six years,and I can quickly think of several others who went as suddenly withonly a year or two of retirement such as John D'Albora, Bernie Dunn,Al Perraud, George Flathers, etc. What could have been done to avertthese early deaths?

I did not begin this epistle with any particular subjectin mind. Mostly I wanted to say "thank you " to you and Betty forthe many years you have devoted to the TWA pilot group. Only a fewknow as well as I do the number of activities in which you have en-gaged on our behalf. We started off fighting but became good friendsin spite of your being a curmudgeon because I am so loveable.

The "Topics" is the least of all the pilot-support en-deavors that have stolen your personal time through the years butto name a few of the essential men who have made TARPA a viableorganization, you lead the list along with Al Clay, Dave Richwine,Joe McCombs, Russ Derickson, etc. I am also thankful to all themany contributors to the "Topics" who have recalled so many memor-ies and given me so much enjoyment with their experiences and anec-dotes but above all to Ed Betts whose dedication is legendary.

Also to all you guys and ladies who have worked to makeour annual gatherings a success, my deepest thanks.

I have read several accounts of the beginnings of TARPAthat credit me with starting the endeavor while chairman of NY Int'lCouncil #24 by chasing Dave Richwine to stir up some interest in aTWA Retired Pilot's organization. This is true but behind all ofthis was Roy Van Etten. He is truly the one and only Father ofTARPA. Other names mentioned such as mine or Cliff Abbott orPhares or Chic were only supporters. Roy carried the ball fromthe earliest start to the first convention and By-laws then insistedon stepping aside so it wouldn ' t be a one man organization. (ThankGod, because I fight with him even more than with you.)

35

Dave Kuhn's article in Nov. about the St. Louis hub cameto mind as I enjoyed the unavoidable pleasure of transiting St.Louison our way from PHX to BOS just before Christmas. On push-backat PHX there was a bang which seemed to be almost beneath our seatsin first-class. With my usual pessimistic outlook I said to Fran,"If somebody has over-looked a baggage cart, we may have just wipedout the flight" but the pilot came on and said " the tow bar brokeand they are seeking another". Shortly push-back was completed buton engine start the pilot announced that an instrument needed tostart engine #2 was inop and we would return to the gate for repairs.

When we finally got under way, I was despairing of makingthe Flight 810, 13:35 connection to BOS but tremendous tail windsgot us to STL in time, but, of course, when we arrived 810's depar-ture was pushed back to 14:57. Nobody ever announced the reason.At 14:57 boarding was delayed about another hour due to "mechanical rea-sons " . After we sat onboard for a couple of more hours, the flightwas eventually cancelled. There had never been a word of explanationfrom the cockpit but I asked a deadheading flight engineer if heknew the reason. He said "APU " . I asked if it was needed to goover to BOS. He said "Nope". They then combined that 1011 loadwith that of the next flight, a DC-9 and we got the last two seats.Pretty good economic planning.

Though 810 never moved a wheel, my daughter who I hadcautioned to always check res. for an ETA before driving the hourto the airport to provide us with transportation, was advised that810 was off STL enroute. She was at BOS for an hour with the monitorshowing "delayed" before it showed "cancelled " . We arrived fivehours late.

The TWA pilots are truly a "band of brothers". I cannever thank them enough for the support they gave when I acceptedthe job of starting the Foundation and for the five years that I waspresident. Some of the Foundation contributions still come to meand I am happy to be remembered as I forward them on.

The open-handed, open-hearted support given on behalf ofAl Mundo last year was truly warming. My deepest thanks to allthat participated.

Al Mundo has worked on behalf of countless benefits. Atpresent he is helping in a number of areas on behalf o Jim MacQuariewho was flying Pan Am 103 that came down over Scotland. \ They wereclose and had named each other as executor of their estates. Jimwas God-father to Al's son.

Jim of Scottish descent used to kid about wanting to beburied back in the auld country. He was master chairman of thePan Am MEC a couple of times.

36

MacQuarie's childhood included a period in the "NewEngland Home for Little Wanderers", a wonderful orphanage thatI' ve supported for years. In lieu of flowers donations may goto them in his name at:

850 Boylston St.Chestnut Hill, Ma., 02167

Happy crabbin',

Harry

P.S. I hope Betty's back problems are fully recovered. I remem-ber the five months I suffered with a herniated cervical disc in1966 as the most prolonged painful period of my life. Worse thanchildbirth. (Fran just uttered an unspeakable expletive).

P.P.S. I also look forward to seeing you at the annual conventionsso I can keep current in the latest fashions in "T" shirts.

37

HIS AND HER COMPUTERS KEEP ASHCRAFTS BUSY!By Bill Dixon

Ruth and BillAshcraft

Not too many wives and husbands own personal his and her computers butretired Captain Bill Ashcraft and Ruth do just that!

They bought two Apple 2+ computers seven years ago and since then haveaugmented these with another for their condo in Hololulu. On the occasionswhen Bill goes there alone on business, they communicate with daily electronicletters. The electronic mail box is located in McLean, VA. They query itand if a letter is waiting, they are informed that "Unread Mail" is on hand.

Bill uses his computer for many things, including brainstorming anddecision making. Examples of other things; Access the Airline Official Guidefor schedules and availability, news, stock market prices, checking accounts,bills, ad infinitum.

Ruth utilizes her computer primarily for the research and writing shehas done compiling genealogy charts for both families. She has traced herfamily tree back to 1100 and Bill's to 1700. It is also useful for her clubwork, bookkeeping and much more.

She is a retired schoolteacher and during her career wrote four bookson early childhood development and education - kindergarten thru 6th grade.She keeps her computer in the kitchen so "everything is handy".

They live in San Jose, California, have two children and three grand-children. Their son, Bill Jr., has been a TWA pilot for 19 years.

* * * * * *

Overheard: "My wife is bisexual. Every time I mention something sexual,she says, 'Bye'."

A man is never too old to be intoxicated by a beautiful woman. But he'sa lot safer if he just smells a rose!

38

EDITOR'S DESK

The Retired Eastern Pilots Association (REPA) held their convention inJacksonville, Florida, in late September. Bill Malone is now their presidenthaving worked for years in other capacities such as editor of their newsbooklet called the REPARTEE. They have all glossy pages and absolutelybeautiful picture reproduction.

I note that they have the atheletic activities such as we have and thatthe tennis players said that they would end up being pallbearers for thegolfers.

Now I will quote directly from their magazine; The guest speaker of theevening was with us as a result of the most extraordinary circumstancesand had they not occurred exactly as they did, he would have been long dead.He is the sole survivor of Torpedo Squadron 8 from the Aircraft CarrierHornet. His story was chilling. He described how it was to see each of hissquadron mates shot down and plunge into the sea ahead of him. Althoughhis own plane was severely damaged by the attack from the rear by JapaneseZero's, he was able to complete his run, make a turn and fly away fromthe stern of the enemy ship. After crashing in the sea, he freed himselffrom his sinking plane. Miraculously, his life raft floated up alongside.He was almost run over by the Japanese Task Force and managed to concealhimself by hiding under some debris. While floating in the water he waswitness to the battle of Midway, the most decisive battle in the war. Hesaw our dive bombers sink two of the largest enemy carriers. The explosionscared the sharks away. The salt water kept his wounds clean. The sea wasglassy smooth enabling the PBY to spot him and effect his rescue.

It was a thrilling story by George Gay and a thrilling convention.

[Maybe some day we can get our own George Gay to speak to us at our annualget togethers?]

* * * * * *

Parky says - A great many of the old timerswill remember Eldon Frye. He illustrated withcartoons many of the Skyliner stories, trainingmanuals etc. He left MKC forty years ago andwent with Convair where he retired. Now hedraws cartoons and sells them. Here's someon golf might want to use some time. (See left).

Eldon remarks in his last letter; I have 5oil portraits in the San Diego Aero-Space Museumand Hall of Fame in Balboa Park. I've done40 Fighter Ace portraits including aerial action.The Aces invited me to their golf tournamentand gave me a 36 handicap. Naturally I wonthe trophy. They called me "The Three IronKid".

And, Eldon signs his name Eldon "No relation"Frye.

You still hunting that ball,June? June, June, where areyou?

39

Dear Ed Betts:Have wanted to write you for months to express my appreciation for

TARPA TOPICS. Have really enjoyed it!Am sick in bed with a cold and thought this would be the opportune

time to have a little fun.Could you possibly print this little poem just as copied from my album

of priceless memories? The author should know the occasion and year. Ifit is unclaimed another clue will follow.,

Will be watching for it if and when there is room to print it.In haste and thanks,

[How about a clue to you? Above unsigned and no return address.]

THE COPILOT1/19/43

I am the copilot, I sit on the right,It's up to me to be quick and bright.I never talk back or I have regrets,But I have to remember what the Captain forgets.

I make out the flight plan and study the weather,Pull up the gear, stand by to feather,Make out the mail forms and do the reporting,And fly the old crate while the Captain is courting.

I take the readings, adjust the power,Put on the heaters when we're in a shower.Tell him where we are on the darkest night,And do all the bookwork without any light.

I call for the Captain and buy him cokes.I always laugh at his corny jokes,And once in a while when his landings are rusty,I always come through with, "By gosh, it's gusty."

All in all I'm a general stooge,As I sit on the right of the man I call Scrooge.I guess you think that is past understanding,But maybe some day he will give me a landing.

* * * * * *

Cartoon from Bob Ford, Madrid, SpainBob retired from TWA in Madrid and stayed there teaching for MarylandUniversity at the U.S. Air Force base near Madrid.

40

A (TRUE) LOVE STORY ... by Ed Betts

The above is a photograph of an oil painting which I recently acquired, and isnow hanging on my den wall. The subject is a B-25J ("Mitchell") medium bomber,which made a lot of history during WW II . There is a story about the painting.

My overseas outfit, the 310th Bomb Group, had been flying the original B and Cmodels until late 1943 from bases in North Africa. It was re-equipped with theG and H models, which had the solid nose full of machine guns and a 3" cannon.In early 1944 we began operating out of Corsica on low-level type missions, butthis didn't work out too well against targets in Italy or ships in the Mediter-ranean. Once again we re-equipped, this time with the latest J Model (the glassnose and upper turret behind the cockpit). I had volunteered for a second tour(50 missions) about the time I was assigned the first "J" delivered to our out-fit, and had the pleasure of selecting a title and artwork to be painted on thenose section. The usual theme was a beautiful and sensuous "Varga" type pinup,but I chose to use the title "Bettsie" and the dancing cow copied from a BordenMilk ad from that period (I was an "udder man").

"Bettsie" and I flew together for the first time on 4/19/44 and our last was on8/25/44 for a total of 24 missions. On 10 of these our Crew Chief, Pete Helm-sing, and I found a few flak or bullet holes upon the return. We led the groupon all of these missions and some were memorable such as the beachhead at Anzioand the invasion of Southern France. On my last mission we were hit from belowby a burst of flak (several pieces wound up in my butt), but "Bettsie" got ushome safely. The Crew Chief and his assistants did a great job of "restoring"the plane overnight as "Bettsie" was in the air the next day with another pilotleading the group. In turn, three pilots took over "Bettsie", had their namesprinted under the cockpit window, and completed their tours flying her. She hada tragic ending, however, as she and the crew were lost on a mission over Aus-tria on 4/4/45..."Bettsie's" 150th mission and just a month before VE Day.

Last year I was contacted by a Confederate Air Force unit in Minnesota who wererestoring a B-25J (a three year project) to flying condition. They wanted to dothe "nose art" and title of "Bettsie". They were also able to locate the origi-nal artist, Jack Kowalik, living in Texas. Through the CAF, I was able to con-tact Jack and an agreement was made for him to do the painting for me. Natural-ly the black and white reproduction in the 'Topics' doesn't capture "Bettsie's"beauty (she is brown and white with a red ribbon on her head). You will have todrop by the house and see her in person...my first love! Well, maybe the third.

4 1

Dear A. T:

A few notes from my mail bag.

Several members wrote to identify two of the pilots marked "unknown" in thegroup photo of one of the first domestic Connie classes. This was on page 48of the November issue of the 'Topics'. Between Walt Seyerle and Ted Herefordis Steve Welsh, between Dick Hanson and Harry Campbell is Frank Niswander.

I had a call from Gordon Brion last night (December 22) and the former TWA 049Connie "Star of Geneva" is still parked at a remote corner of the FortLauderdale Airport. Earlier in the year the Airport Manager had issued anultimatum that the pile of junk had to be removed by end of 1988. This waspart of the airport beautification program in time for the "Super Bowl".Emmet Condon (brother of Jerry) sent a couple of snapshots. One is the 049and the other is the 1649A that was flown out and had all of the mechanical(and other) problems.

"Burk" Burkhalter wrote about another DC-2 which is still flying in the US. Itis owned and flown by Colgate Darden (born into both the Colgate and DuPontfamilies). He has is own airport located near Columbia, SC, as well as afleet which consists of a Lockheed 12, a Spartan Executive and a Meyers OTWbiplane. He also owns the only Douglas "Dolphin" amphibian and a modern Cessna172. All are flyable.

I am currently researching for a future 'Topics' article (or series) withregard to the Martin 202A/404 operated by TWA. As with other articles aboutformer TWA aircraft, I want to include as much input from the TARPA members aspossible. Quite a few men have written or called with interesting accounts orstories about their experiences with the planes. There is always room formore so drop me a line. In case your directory isn't handy: 960 Las LomasAvenue, Pacific Palisades, CA 90272.

(Ed Betts)

The "Star of Geneva" minus propellers, but complete witha radar dome parked at the Fort Lauderdale Airport.

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MORE ON THE PLIGHT OF A 1649A CONNIE

by Ed Betts

In the November 1988 issue of the 'Topics' I wrote about the unhappy saga of a1649A Connie originally owned by Lufthansa that had sat at the Fort LauderdaleAirport for 12 years. It was ordered out by the end of 1988 as part of the air-port beautification program. The plane had been purchased in 1985 for $1,000 bya Maurice Roundy who intended to use it for a museum of airline transportationto be located in Maine. I was quoting from a number of newspaper clippings sentme by Gordon Brion.

It took 3 years to get the plane in flyable shape to ferry it to Maine. Shortlyafter the takeoff the #3 engine failed and the nosewheel wouldn't retract. Theymade an emergency landing at West Palm Beach, 35 miles away. A month later thesecond attempt was made and 45 min out all hell broke loose: a runaway prop, afuel pump failed and a severe oil leak...all three problems were with differentengines. An emergency landing was made at the Sanford Regional Airport, (nearOrlando). I ended the story as follows: "The landing was routine, although the

local police searched the plane with a drug-sniffing dog..just in case. The de-parture is on an indefinite advice time, pending the raising of funds for nec-essary repairs."

Gordon sent another news clipping, dated 10/5/88, which adds to the plight ofthe Connie. (quote): "On top of that, the plane's former owner, Maurice Roundy,is serving an 11-year sentence in a federal prison camp in Pennsylvania fordrug trafficking.

"Roundy bought the 31-year-old Constellation in 1985 for $1,000, in hopes ofparking it with two others on his front lawn in Auburn. He transferred owner-ship to his childern. Now he will have to wait, as the Constellation's fate isup in the air."

A letter from Ernie Pretsch tells more about this particular Connie:

PS: Ernie enclosed a newspaper clipping (don't know the date) where he was thepilot on the first nonstop California-to-Germany flight (Burbank to Hamburg),

which set a record of 17 hours 22 minutes. There was a crew of 8, 17 passengersand 6,000 pounds of cargo.

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MORE CONNIE INFO

Most of the TARPA members have appreciated the humorous writings and wit by ouresteemed Dave Kuhn ("Seniority, Sex and Salary" etc.) and the famous letter byHarry Campbell to the Chief Pilot accounting for the passenger with the bloatedbladder. Not so well known is a letter Frankie Parent received during the earlyConnie days complaining about the cockpit temperature (or lack of) control. Atthe time, Frankie was the Supervisor of Flight Engineers (I think at LAX, I annot aware of the date of this letter. Jane gave it to me). Quote:

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Captain Joe Brown, President of TARPA, and Ralph McClenahan, President ofthe TWA Seniors Club, were conferring on matters of mutual interest at theSeniors Executive Board meeting in St. Louis, September 26-27, 1988. Joewas invited to attend the session by McClenahan. Close coordination betweenthe two groups is being maintained for the mutual benefit of all TWA retirees.

(Photo & caption by Bill Dixon)

TWA'S FIRST ALL CARGO FLIGHT BY PARKY

We had converted a few of the Fords into cargo planes and the firstflight was to leave Kansas City for STL, etc. to NYC at 7 P.M. Jack Fryedidn't want to come down to the airport to see it off because National BellasHess, a mail order firm then in KC, had the whole plane, but National BellasPresident had insisted that Frye come down for pictures. Frye knew thatthe Kansas City Star wouldn't cover it because National Bellas Hess didn'tadvertise in the Star.

Anyway, seven o'clock came and the flight didn't leave. The stationoffice was just in back of the ticket counter and the usual city employeesused to hang out there. Steve Welsh was Division Superintendent and he toldWes Bunker, TWA's station manager, that he should keep them out so he tookthe bottom half of the Dutch door and locked it closed so no one would comein that way, you could get in from the field side.

Anyway, Frye went back to call Ted Weaver who was dispatching to findout what was holding up the flight. He couldn't get the door open so hepromptly shook it out from the framework and he was MAD!

Memphis Cole had only been promoted from ship cleaner to ticket agentfor a short while so he crawled through the counter where the baggage waspushed through and ran into the Union News Restaurant (where he first workedwhen he showed up in KC barefooted) and got on a white coat. He didn't wantFrye to know he worked there. Finally, the flight got out about 7:30 P.M.

PARKY

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MARILYN GENZ, TWA HOSTESSSweetheart of the 1st Air Cavalry Division, Vietnam

I know that there are a lot of us that know Marylyn Genz, Flight Attendant,from Elgin, Illinois. The above picture was taken at her parents' home inElgin in June 1969 before her first trip to the jungle. Follows is an articleabout her.

Freedom Bird Hostess in Vietnam'Sweetheart of the First Cav'

Phuoc Vinh - A petite "Freedom Bird" hostess from TWA stepped froma combat helicopter onto the rocky, mortar-chewed clay of a jungle firebaseand won the hearts and smiles of 1st Air Cavalry Division troopers.

She is the 1st Cav's new "Sweetheart",Marilyn_ Genz of Elgin Illinois,who's been flying the California-Vietnam MAC/PAC route with thousands ofsoldiers for the past three years.

Her tour of 1st Cav landing zones (LZ's) in July was the realizationof her longtime dream-and a a heartening treat for hundreds of combat veteranswho hadn't seen a pretty girl in . . . well, too long.

She calls herself "The Hardware Collector" and wears a dress literallycovered with the rainbow colored glints of unit brass insignias which she'scollected from soldiers both heading for and returning from Vietnam duty.

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Sweetheart of the 1st Cav

The dress, covered with metal and memories, weighs in at 11 pounds. Oneof the soldiers who noticed Miss Genz's "hardware" dress while aboard aTWA MAC/PAC flight to the States was Major General E.B. Roberts. The generaland Miss Genz started talking.

Miss Genz told General Roberts that she had been flying soldiers intoVietnam for several years and was extremely interested in learning how andwhere they lived while fighting the war.

General Roberts told her that when he returned from his leave at homehe would be commanding the 1st Air Cavalry Division and if she were stillinterested in seeing Vietnam to write a letter to him.

The letter was waiting for General Roberts when he arrived at the MACpassenger terminal at Travis Air Force Base, California, after his leave.He promptly initiated plans to have the pert hostess visit the 1st Caw.

The conversation and correspondence culminated when Marilyn got a firsthandview of how Cav troopers lived under combat conditions.

From the "Huey" helicopter that settled in a swirl of dust just outsideLZ Ike, 31 miles northwest of Lai Khe, she was escorted inside the concertinawire perimeter.

She walked, smiling , into view of the troops who were shirtless, seatingfrom the constant work on a LZ. At first one by one, and then as the wordspread across the LZ, the men in two's and three's and finally in largegroup stopped what they were doing, dropped tools and weapons, climbed upout of bunkers and stood and looked, Just looked.

The movement and noise on the LZ dwindled. Rifleman, artillerymen,engineers and mortarmen nudged the fellows next to them. "He, look. A girl.An American girl." The LZ was quiet.

Under the circumstances, she could hardly say,"Coffee, tea or milk?"so the hostess broke the ice by walking over to a cluster of five oglingGI's and saying, "Hi fellows, how's it going?"

Then the questions started. The soldiers wanted to know how thingswere back home, "back in the world". She worked her way around the LZ perimeter,talking to as many troopers as possible. The hard, battle-proven "grunts"at first stood somewhat ill at ease around the woman. But with each groupof men the unsure feeling soon melted in smiles and laughter ... and moreeager questions about home.

The same scene lighted Marilyn's arrival at four more landing zonesin the space of two days. At one stop she met a soldier who lived not farfrom her own hometown. She took his name and promised to call his parentsthe next time she was in Chicago. While talking with the soldiers, she learneda good deal about their way of life at the LZ's, and about their hot, wetwork in the jungles and fields of Vietnam. And she sampled some of theirjobs: with assistance from a soldier she shouldered an almost full fieldpack ... an artilleryman,s steel pot sat low on her head as she pulled thelanyard of a 195 mm howitzer to send its shell hurtling skyward ... she handledthe M-16 rifle and a captured enemy AK-47.

She met company and battalion commanders, received briefings beforelarge wall maps with troop positions and movements marked in colored tape;marveled at the flurry of activity, ringing field telephones, and men intenton the business of war in an underground tactical operations center.

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[Marilyn says, "Getting ready to fire the "Vulcan", the old gattling gun,3000 rounds per minute and I hit my down range target on the third pullof the triggers! Find my head, it's under the helmet."]

Dream of the "Bird"But above all, she met hundreds of soldiers. The grunts, PFCs, SP4s,

sergeants, lieutenants, captains - the men she will probably see sometimesoon aboard one of her return flights to the States, when they finish theirlong year in "Nam" and finally board that beautiful TWA "Freedom Bird".

At one landing zone Marilyn noticed three soldiers, begrimed and unshaven,boarding a Huey. "Who are those men and where are they going?", she askedan officer. He told her that they were grunts leaving the field for good,leaving their company after 11 months of humping in the boonies to beginout-processing. They were going home. The three troopers were wearing allthat they owned; their packs and their rifles and wide, happy smiles. Whenthey waved to their buddies, Marilyn also waved back returning that casualbut meaningful salute.

The chopper rose slowly and as it pitched slightly forward to climbout of the LZ clearing some twenty men close by cheered for their friend'sdeparture. It was no show for their feminine guest. They were cheering inanticipation of their own departure as well.

And the girl in that memorable dress called after the rising helicopter:"Be sure to get on my TWA flight, MAC/PAC ..." And she said it not so muchbecause she is hostess with TWA, but perhaps because after two days of being"out there" with the troops - where very few civilian men and even fewerwomen venture - she had a special bond with the "grunts."

After those two days TWA will have to get used to sharing Marilyn Genzwith "the Cav."

She may be a TWA hostess when she's flying, but she's the Sweetheartof the Cav around clock.

Jerry Cosley

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Bob Cooper, retired 1st Air Cavalry trooper with Marilyn Genz at Las Vegasreunion in 1986. She says "last night I wore the dress."

49

FROM TOM ASHWOOD, TWA ALPA MEC CHAIRMAN

"EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN"

So go the words of an old song from the 30's.

It is indeed an honor to be asked to write a piece for TARPATOPICS but at the same time there is a certain irony in it.

The irony exists because you, the readership I address, wentthrough the "robber baron" phase in your early days on ourairline and here I am, all these years later, fighting with allmy might to preserve the very gains you were able to wrest fromthose greedy hands.

The fight for control of TWA began in the spring of 1985. CarlIcahn bought 20.5% of TWA's stock and proposed a merger. It soonappeared that he would lose to Frank Lorenzo, the airline pilots'Darth Vader. Lorenzo had bid more for TWA and had the TWA BODlicking his boots.

In the bitter struggle which followed Icahn gained a valuableally: the TWA pilots. On August 5, 1985 they agreed to supportIcahn's bid with their own money, 300 million dollars of theirown money. In return, Icahn promised the pilots many wonderfulthings including but not limited to:

An ESOP worth approximately 7% of the CompanyExpansionProfitability and a share in itNew hubsNew aircraft

As of the date of this writing, little or few of these promiseshave been kept.

On August 13, 1988 when Icahn filed privatization with the SEC,an analysis revealed the true nature of what he had in mind forTWA's future: a debt-ridden empty shell with a mere 150 millionin liquidity, an old and continuously aging fleet, 2.4 billion inhigh interest debt and a low-paid demoralized work force. Hardlya formula for success you may surmise. Well, we surmised thesame and found that Icahn had broken his covenants with us and inthe process, a few laws as well.

After intensive sessions of fruitless negotiations and at thedirection of the MEC, we filed a lawsuit in the NY State SupremeCourt. The trial finished on December 20, 1988 and as of thattime the consensus among all involved on the pilots side was thatwe had done what we were obliged to do. We had done it as wellas we could possibly do it and that we could take comfort inhaving represented our pilots effectively with pride and dignity.

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As you doubtless noticed, we eschewed any vulgar displays ofpublicity and avoided "trying" the case in the media. We mayknow the outcome by the time you get to read this.

Where do we go from here? It's really up to Carl Icahn for if wewin the case he has to determine if he wishes to stay or go. Ifhe stays, is he willing to bring his considerable talents to bearon TWA's problems? If we lose the lawsuit Icahn has to decidewhether to live under an uneasy, armed truce or sue for peacewith a goal of cooperative success of our airline.

Whatever the situation, we are prepared with specific contingencyplans, devised and approved by the TWA MEC.

We are unified, we are right, we are prepared and we aredetermined to do whatever is necessary to preserve the airline welove.

You left us a legacy and we will fight to preserve it so we mayhand it on to those who follow us.

* * * * * *

Re the foregoing: Your TARPA TOPICS editor has read everything available concerningthis problem. The TWA pilots figure that in order to keep Lorenzo away theygave back to I Con 100 million dollars in pay, work rules, vacation time andother concessions per year and thought they had a good faith contract in return.Incidentally, you may recall that the old board of directors gave Lorenzo28 million dollars because they couldn't give him the airline.

Now they say with privatization Icahn stands to walk away with 665 million dollarsand leave TWA a hopelessly debt-ridden shell. Aren't there any laws to protectthe stockholders and employees from the ruthless tactics of corporate exectivesand financial manipulators with their golden parachutes, takeovers, mergersand so on through the maze? It is the TWA pilots' contention that I Con hasgone back on his word and contract with them

So, I asked Captain Ashwood, as Chairman of the ALPA MEC, to let us know whatis going on from the pilots' standpoint.

His answer; Thanks for your letter and kind words. Herein is a sincere, albeithastily written, piece for the TARPA TOPICS.

We appreciate your interest and that of our retired brothers. Your supportis most helpful.

Please give my love to Betty - Warmest regards, Tom Ashwood.

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Left to right, standing;

Bob Wendel, Les LaurinEmil SchoonejansJack Moss, B.K. StuessiPilot Bill HillmanGeorge Manley

Kneeling;

Lum Edwards, Earl Heinrich

Bill Dixon says enclosed is a photo I took on the Fall Foliage Mississippi QueenTWA Seniors tour led by retired Captain Lum Edwards. It left St. Louis onOctober 16 with 34 retired TWAers and arrived in Minneapolis on Oct. 23.It was a great trip.

Photo is of flight crew members on the boat (400 feet long paddle wheelerbut called a boat on the river), after a fascinating visit to the pilothouse. Navigation is by visual pilotage, intimate knowledge of the riverand radar. We passed through 28 Locks. There are no locks south of STL.The Mississippi north of STL is an impressive collection of lakes whichserve to maintain a 9 foot channel, primarily for the heavy barge traffic.

[Your editor and wife took this some boat on a cruise out of New Orleans.Lum Edwards has set up a cruise especially for TARPANS departing New Orleansthe day after our reunion. We highly recommend you go on it.]

* * * * * *

Dick Guillan says by letter of 1 November - Trying to finish up a 24X36 two storygarage and get my Christmas trees ready for sale. My tree sales start Nov. 25thand last through 18 Dec. On the 20th we start the arrival of family for the holi-days and for the first time in many years we are going to have our entire clanwith us through the 31st which includes a trip to Georgia where we will allhelp celebrate Peggy's mother's 88th birthday. Then from 6 Jan. thru 9 Jan.I'll be in New Orleans for the semi-annual Hardware Show. Did someone saywe were retired? Wish me luck in getting it accomplished.

Found Ball: An extra golf ball discovered while you are playing. It cannotbe considered a found ball until it stops rolling!

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TWA HIGHLIGHTS OF YESTERYEAR

By Bill Dixon

20 YEARS AGO; Following are some events that marked 1969!

TWA authorized to serve Central Pacific, enablinground-the-world service. It was termed the biggest CAB routecase in history. Would be nice if we had held on to it.

Earnings for 1968 announced, including Hilton - 21 million,down from 41 million in 1967. Because airline earnings far belowexpectations, 600 employees to be furloughed... Captains BuddyHagins and Jim Walker complete 35 years.

TWA orders 15 B747s, with first 2 to be delivered inNovember. Trans-atlantic operations to Hongkong boosted to dailyservice from 4 weekly. Start--up date for transpacific andround-the-world service delayed. TWA seeking Japan stop(nevergot it!)...TWA praised for its 23 years assistance to EthiopianAirlines.

100 passenger and 10 cargo TWA flights operate daily thruSTL, which ranks 4th In passenger boardings. Training formonster hub?. .. 6, 000 people at JFK stranded in huge snowstorm,nearly half finding refuge at the TWA Flight Center and hangar.

Charles Tillinghast states in annual report that "1968 was,in balance, a disappointing year. ". . . Peak 1969 Atlanticschedules to total 188.

Flight Deck crewmen of the year were Captain Paul McCarty,F/0 Stan Braman, and F/E Don Leslie... New dispatch centerestablished in Hongkong.

TWA's satellite flight training center at JFK, receivedaward from Queens, N.Y., for architectural "excellence in designand civic value." Too bad we never had time to notice!

Retired: Captain Bill Townsend, John Guy, TWA's residentmanager at Boeing, Captains Bert Cooper, Jack Schnaubelt, GeorgeDuvall, Myron Smith, Roger Don Rae, Floyd Valentine, JohnGraham, Charles Pinel, Jack Southard, Ted Hereford, Frank Jones,F/E Charles Wooley, V. P. s Ray Dunn and E. O. Cocke, and OpsPlanning Supt. Gordon (Parky) Parkinson, organizer of the TWASeniors.

TWA celebrates 40th anniversary of coast--to-coast air-railservice, which slashed transcon travel time from 100 to 48hours...Training begins for 140 cockpit crews for 747s. EdFrankum, V.P. Flt Ops, says will cost minimum $55,000 per crew.

Flight 840 hijacked on Aug. 29, over Italy and forced to

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land at Damascus, Syria. After passengers and crew wereevacuated, nose section was destroyed by bomb. Cockpit Crewmenwere Captain Dean Carter, F.0 Harry Oakley, F/E H. C. Tomlinsonand an ACM, R. W. Davis. Plane later was repaired.

Credit Union declares all-time record of 6.25 percent foryear ending Sept. 30...Northwest and Northeast Airlinesmerge...First 747 simulator installed at JFK..Captain VernonLaursen and F/E Gene Manning fly SST Concorde as part ofevaluation team. Pronounce it no problem.

Domestic Flight 85, flown by Captain Don Cook, F/O WenzelWilliams and F/E Lloyd Hollrah, hijacked by AWOL marine.Captains Billy Williams and Dick Hastings board at JFK and flyaircraft from New York to Rome... Flight 54 was highjacked toCuba on Dec. 2, with Captain Clyde Nixon, F/O Stuart Balka andF/E Gary Thelen. It was TWA's 6th highjacking, a record no onesought.

Some things haven't changed much in the past 20 years !

END

Al (past President of TWA Seniors Club) and Edna Wollenberg were in no hurryto hit the chow line at Wickenburg Roundup.

Fashion on the golf course - Never wear a madras plaid Nehru jacket, eventhough a golf course is a place where adults wear clothing they would be ashamedto wear any other place on earth.

There are those who will attest to the fact that the above rule does not applyto our illustrious President!

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CORPORATIONDear A. T.,

Your fond memories of the "old TWA days" bring back many pleasant thoughtsand I commend you for taking the time to keep those days alive for all ofus

Eight years of retirement have passed in a flash, but I frequently seeseveral of our old friends, many of whom are associated in our joint AVTEKventure. These former TWA pilots include Vern Lowell, Stuart Nelson and manyactive TWA pilots including Bob Honeycutt, our Director of Marketing. Bobhas done an incredible job and created a backlog of over 100 aircraft soldfor deliveries at the end of 1990.

Stuart is President of AVTEK Atlanta and Vern is head of our distributionin the southeastern USA and the Caribbean area. We also have several pilots,including Fred Hazlett, who is our director for the Far East.

I have attached several news stories, printed after our press conferenceat the Farnborough Air Show in England and NBAA in Dallas.

Please keep up your good work and rest assured your friends appreciateyour efforts, although your "reward" may be in Heaven....perhaps a bale ofhay so enjoyed by your friends from Sardinia!

Best wishes, Bob* * * * * *

UNCOORDINATED EXCERPTS FROM VARIOUS NEWS RELEASESNew capital injections lift AVTEK project off ground...Michigan has joined

Pennsylvania and Avetk Ltd. (UK) to provide funding to bring the radical businessaircraft to certification...Avtek Ltd. has ordered 30 models for distributionin Europe and the Middle East...Choice of engines is the Pratt & Whitney CanadaPT6A-35L/R which will drive the propellors in opposite directions...Unit priceanticipated to be $1.75 million...Air taxi, ambulance operators and businessusers are showing interest...There are 112 orders...Retired TWA Captain RobertF. Adickes, Chairman of the Board, says, "As a teenager he worked on the H-1 aircraft, a composite plane built by billionaire Howard Hughes, a friendof Adickes' father. I mixed glue for it."...Adickes wife Helen is a homemakerand horse breeder. Son, Robert Jr., runs flight operations in Cold Bay, Alaska,and helped build the AVTEK 400. Daughter, J.C., is a Thousand Oaks chiropractor.His youngest daughter, Lisa, is AVTEK's chief pilot...California officialssaid they didn't need the jobs and wouldn't give us any inducements to stay...Projectwill eventually generate 1200 production jobs...Limited to 40 employees atCamarillo...Airplane has no rivets, no joints, no ribs-unlike the planeswhich have used the same technology for the last 70 years. We cook the partsin a big oven like a cookie. This is the same material used in bullet proofvests, so the plane is bullet proof. The plane is lighter, faster and cheaperto operate than other similar-sized airplanes. It's a Stealth business airplaneso the FAA requires 2 transponders...AVTEK plans a 200,000-square-foot plantat Kellogg Regional Airport, Battle Creek, Michigan...Expect to make 100 airplanesper year...Aircraft weighs 6,600 pounds, 2,755 mile range, carries 6 to 8 passengersand uses one third to one half less fuel than other aircraft its size...Governmentof Finland has ordered 14 to use for submarine detection...Industry joke isthat the plane is ready when the paperwork exceeds the weight of the airplane...Gov.James J. Blanchard of Michigan says, "It's great for Battle Creek and great forMichigan...Clinton County, Pa, will have a components manufacturing facility...Thecompany got its start in 1980 after Adickes retired from TWA after 40 years. Hewas joined by several other aviation veterans dubbed "The Geritol Group" byAdickes...FAA requires about 1700 tests with AVTEK having to pick up the tab...Adickes family owns about 65% of AVTEK.

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MORE ON LISBON INCIDENTBy Larry Fauci

As I discussed with A.T. Humbles in Tucson here is the story of that"Night in Cascais" as I remember it. Sorry, Fred, but you asked for correct-ions. For the most part Fred Morse's story was fairly accurate except forthe crew of Flight 890, Plane 812, was Captain Harry McFarland, Relief PilotFred Morse, Co-pilot Henshall, Flight Engineers Phil Solomon and myself,Larry Fauci. Ruth Rodenberg in the cabin.

Don't remember the day too much but when I got back to the hotel latethat night Phil Solomon was in the lobby under the great chandelier and said,"Larry, both the captains are in jail". While we discussed how to get themout Ruth Rodenberg was next on the scene. Then the rest of the crew starteddribbling in. We got Joe out of his cozy kitchen to do the interpreting.We grabbed two cabs, as Fred says, and went to the hoosegow in Cascais. Fred,you forgot the screaming and yelling for the American Embassy and the otherchoice words that went with it.

After "Josey" talked to the guard we all went up to the casino ( asI recall) and Joe went in and talked (begged) the casino manager. I couldbe wrong but we went back to the hotel then and started chipping in the $200.00for the orphanage. When McKnight said he would take care of it then theywould only have to pay one person.

When we got back to the jail I was the first person behind the jaileras he led us out to the cell block. I may have been the only one to see Harryreaching for something when we got to their outdoor cell, no windows, justfans. Dick was still ranting and raving so I told Harry to shut him up aswe were getting them out. Will never forget Harry with his shirt hanging out,torn and dried blood on his forehead, slowly straighten up, put his fingersto his lips as he turned going Shhhhhh.

The benches, sleeping platforms, from the side walls were broken upand in the middle of the concrete floor by the center drain (the john).

Back at the hotel as Joe (Josey) was serving us our usual steak or hamand eggs I asked Harry what he was reaching for as we came in the courtyard.He said he was going to grab the water hose and spray the jailer the nexttime he came out.

I never heard of guns being pulled - seriously doubt they would be pullingtricks on the jailers if that had happened - they didn't get the fire goingas they ran out of matches before Dick could get the piece of Harry's shirtlit well enough to get the bench wood going.

To answer your request on the so called Flight Engineer who allegedlytook the crew bus - he couldn't prove his innocence but all the blood wasin the back seat of the bus. Enough said.

ENDWell, as I said before, hope to see you all again in New Orleans. Judy

and I had a great time in Tucson.Thanks loads for all the hard work you all put into TARPA.

Larry Fauci

"So your girl friend jilted you when you told her about your rich uncle?'"Yes, now she's my aunt."

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THE STEARMANS

by Ed B e t t s

During WWI the US production of aircraft for use here or abroad was primarilylimited to the Liberty-powered DH-4 and the OX-powered Curtiss "Jenny". Thesewere both open cockpit biplanes; the DH-4 was designed as an observation planeand the Jenny as a trainer. When the war ended the Army had a huge supply ofsurplus planes and motors available to the public at a cheap price. Many werein mint condition (crated and ready for shipment overseas.). The Post OfficeDepartment used a fleet of the DH-4's (along with former Army pilots) when itset up their own airline to carry the air mail. The Jenny soon became the pop-ular airplane for the private pilot (there was little else available) and withit the era of the "Gypsy" or "Barnstorming" pilots. With any potential marketfor small or private aircraft already saturated, many of the wartime factoriesfolded (Curtiss was saved by a "takeover" by the C.M.Keys interests in 1921).

The one PO airway and air mail service soon stretched across the nation on thenorthern route between NYC and the SFO Bay area. In 1923, with the lighting ofthe central portion of the airway, an air mail letter could go from coast tocoast in about 33 hours (4 days by train). Congressional legislation, passedin 1925, called for private operators (awarded by bid) to take over the flyingof the air mail. The first bids were for "feeders" to the main line. WesternAir Express (WAE) was among the original carriers, with a service between LosAngeles and Salt Lake City (via Las Vegas), that began on April 17, 1926. An-other early carrier was Colorado Airways, that began service between Cheyenneand Pueblo (via Denver and Colorado Springs) on May 31, 1926. In 1927, BoeingAir Transport was flying the western part of the "main line" (between CHI andSFO), and National Air Transport (owned by the Keys interests) the section be-tween CHI and NYC.

WAE had used a couple of DH-4s for their initial route survey work, but used afleet of seven Douglas M-2s for the mail. The Liberty-powered M-2 could carrya 1,000 lb payload and, if space permitted, a passenger could be accommodated.WAE was one of the few operators to show a profit after the first year, mainlydue to the extra revenue from the passengers carried. Colorado Airways couldnot continue with the losses incurred (plus a technical violation of its con-tract) and the route was taken over by WAE, with no payments involved for thecontract or the "good will". The official date of transfer was 12/10/27. Thiswas known as WAE's "Mountain Division", with Lewis W."Lew" Goss in charge.

Lew, who was in the Colorado National Guard at the time he was hired on Novem-ber 11, 1927, was combination Traffic Manager and Reserve Pilot. Home base wasat Denver. The Boeing Air Transport plane left Concord (east of Oakland) withthe eastbound air mail (only) at 7am (connections were made at SLC at 3pm withWAE's flight from LA) and was scheduled to arrive CYE at 7:15pm (and leave at7:30). Mail from PUB-COS-DEN was scheduled to arrive at 7:00pm for the connec-tion. The westbound plane arrived CYE at 4:30am and the flight to PUB departedat 5:00am. Two pilots were based at DEN and alternated taking the 24 hour 398mile trip which started out from there at 6pm. After arriving at CYE he slepton a cot in the hangar until departure the next morning with the flight to PUBvia DEN and COS. Arrival was at 7:45am and at 4:15pm he departed north back toDEN via COS. The scheduled flying time for the round trip was 4 hr 30 min. Itwas a one day on, one day off rotation (and no vacations). All 4 of the air-ports served were in the "mile high country": PUB is 4726', COS is 6172', DEN5333' and CYE 6156'. The airway was well lighted for night flying, but therewere no radio facilities for navigation or communication.

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THE STEARMANS

Colorado Airways had been using the Standard biplane and later the Ryan M-1 onthis route. WAE chose a small fleet of the latest model Stearman, known as theC-3B (or C-3MB when outfitted for carrying the mail). By later comparison, theStearman planes were relatively unknown, but they were soon to be one of themost popular light aircraft ever built. During WWII the Boeing-Stearman, whichwas mass-produced for the Army and Navy (the "Kaydet" or British "Cadet"), wasthe aircraft used for primary training to teach hundreds of thousands of avia-tion cadets how to fly. Technically, the Stearman Company as an entity lastedbut about 5 years, but it left its mark in aviation history.

Lloyd Stearman, the founder and President of the company until he sold out toBoeing in 1931, was born in 1898 in Kansas. He attended Kansas University fortwo years and learned to fly in 1920. From 1919 to 1923 he was a mechanic andengineer with the Laird Airplane Company, from 1923-1925 he was chief engineerwith the Swallow Airplane Co., 1925-1926 the chief engineer and director withTravel Air Mfg.Co.(along with Clyde Cessna and Walter Beech). All were locatedat Wichita. In 1926 he formed his own company in Venice, CA. Four planes werebuilt before he relocated the plant to ICT, where he was joined by Mac Short,who was VP and Chief Engineer with the company until 1937 (when he went withthe Vega Company). Mac was also a native Kansan, born in 1897, graduated fromMIT and learned to fly in 1922. Another engineer was Hall Hibbard (1927-1931),who later (1932) was VP, Chief Engineer and Director with Lockheed. The teamdesigned the C3B series, a basic design which would identify all Stearman air-craft for decades to follow. By 1928 the company had tripled its factory spaceand the number of employees increased from 50 to 190.

The model numbers depended on the type of engine used and generally these wereinterchangeable, which would change the performance data (speeds, range etc.),weights (empty, useful and payload), factory price etc. The C3 series gener-ally was powered by the 220hp Wright J-5 or 225hp J-6 engine, although otherssuch as the Hisso, OX-5, Menasco and Seimens-Halske were used. Five M-2 model,the "Speedmail", which was a much larger version (with a 525 hp "Cyclone" en-gine) were built for Varney Airlines in early 1929. Others included the C3R,dubbed the "Business Speedster" (with the J-6 engine), the LT-1 (enclosed cab-in, only 3 were produced) and the 4 series. The 4 series was a larger airplane(dubbed the "Junior Speedmail") and used the full NACA low drag cowling withvarious Wright or P&W engines in the 300 to 420 hp class. The basic design ofthe Stearmans included a wide front cockpit (33") which could accomodate twopassengers or, when covered with a metal cover, had 33 cubic feet of space formail.

Other (or later) options included night flying equipment, dual flight controlsand instruments, steerable tailwheel, generator, battery and electric starter(instead of the hand-cranked inertia type), prop spinner, pilot headrest anda cockpit heater (which worked off the engine exhaust pipe, located on the un-erside of the fuselage). All of the C3B, C3MB and C3R series were about thesame size: fuselage 24' long, 35' upper wing span and 28' lower wing span fora total wing area of 296 square feet. Payloads with a full tank of 68 gallonsof gas varied from 330 to 450 pounds and the range from 550 to 620 miles. With65% power the cruise speed was from 108 to 112mph and landing speed from 41 to47mph. All had a first minute climb rate of 1000', but this performance wasat sea level and not at CYE. Like most "tail draggers", with the cockpit lo-cated in the rear, the runway straight ahead was blanked out by the engine infront of the pilot when making a "three point landing"...taxiing was a seriesof "S turns" with the pilot's head out of the side of the cockpit. The basicfactory price was from $8,500 to $9,000 ($12,500 to $16,000 for the 4 series).About 249 of the C3B, 38 C3R and 42 of the 4 series were built.

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THE STEARMANS

WAE's initial order was for three C3B's, with the following company fleet andregistration numbers plus delivery (or promised for delivery) dates taken fromStearman files: #200 NC3709 12/10/27, #201 NC3863 12/28/27 and #202 NC40111/21/28. Later on, the following were ordered as replacements or additions tothe fleet: #203 NC6495 12/10/29, #204 NC8820 5/17/29 and #205 NC774H 3/22/30.The latter, #205, was a Model 4D. Other airlines, besides WAE and Varney, thatused Stearmans to carry the mail included: National Air Transport, Texas AirTransport, Interstate Air Lines, National Parks Airways, Continental, Americanand Hanford.

According to Lew Goss, prior to de-livery of the first Stearman, WAEused an M-2 for their preliminarytest flights before starting regularservice. Corliss Moseley (one of thecompany founders and Operations VP),was at DEN, along with Lew, to watchthe first flight depart. A few min-utes later there was a phone call: aplane had crashed. They drove to thescene of the fatal accident. Appar-ently the pilot had run into a snow-storm and spun in. For a short timethe entire operation was shut down,then Boeing Air Transport flew theroute for awhile, until Lew broughtin the first Stearman from ICT. EdEschelman flew the inaugural flight.Royal Leonard (hired 4/4/28 and TWAto 1934) was also among the originalpilots on this run. WAE's contractwas for $0.83 per pound of mail car-ried (compared to $3.00 per pound ontheir LA-SLC route). During the year1928 WAE was paid $45,416 for carry-ing 54,718 pounds of mail on the CYEto PUB route, and a 96% completetionof schedules. It was the second highes

capita in the USA. One of the reasons WAE was a financial success was theiraggressive advertizing orpromotional programs withlocal organizations aboutthe value of air mail. In1929 the pounds increasedto 99,148 and the revenueto $82,043.98.

On 11/12/28 Melvin 0. "Mo"Bowen was hired by Gossto be combination mechan-ic and relief pilot. Mo'sbreak came when Eschelmanresigned (to Boeing) andhe became the regular pi-lot in early 1929.

Lew Goss, WAE Trafffic Rep & Reserve Pilot at DEN.

Melvin 'Mo' Bowen, Reserve Pilot and Mechanic for WAE at Denver.

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THE STEARMANS

Later on in 1929, CharlieFrance replaced Goss, whowas assigned to set up anew LA-KC division. Thisroute, (passengers only)would compete with TAT byflying between LA to KCduring the day with trainconnections at night (toor from the east). Gossused the Stearman for hisroute surveys and duringthe construction of theirown airports at Kingman,Holbrook and Albuquerque.Service was inauguratedin early June, a month a-head of TAT.

Royal Leonard transferred to fly the new run out of LA and Mo Bowen out of KG.Dave Hissong became a regular pilot (based at DEN) when Leonard transfered and

Ivan Huston filled Mo's vacancy.On 5/7/29, Ivan Huston departedDEN...later, after taking off heran into a fog bank, spun in andwas killed (plane NC3709). OtherStearman accidents (all were inthe DEN area and no details areavailable) were NC8820 on 1/6/30and NC3863 on 8/30/30 (pilot Mc-Millan was killed). All occurredprior to the origin of T&WA.

When T&WA was formed, in October

of 1930, all of the TAT-Madduxassets (ground or air equipment,airports or terminals etc.) werepart of their "ante" for owner-

ship of the new airline. WAE re-tained certain of its assets, such as, the contract mail routes (San Diego-LA-LAS-SLC and CYE to PUB) and part of their fleet (including all Stearman planes

and a few Boeing and Fokkers). The CYE-PUB (mail and passengers) route was ex-tended to ABQ and AMA on 8/1/31; among the pilots on the inaugural flight wereDave Hissong and Frank Niswander (TWA pilot 10/16/34 to 1964). After the in-famous air mail cancellation in 1934, Wyoming Air Service took over the route.

Transcontinental Air Transport (TAT) had been formed in May 1928, by the Keysgroup, with Charles Lindbergh the technical advisor. Until July 7, 1929, whenthey inaugurated their 48-hour coast-to-coast service (fly by day and train bynight) their main activities had been the construction of new airports and thefacilities at Waynoka (OK), Clovis(NM), Albuquerque and Kingman. Jack Herlihy(a MIT graduate who learned to fly with the Navy in 1924, and had logged 4,300flying hours) was the company chief engineer from 1928 to 1930 (and later theExec VP of Operations for United). On 10/9/28, according to old company rec-ords, TAT bought NC6410 (later this was TWA fleet #207), a Stearman C3B, for$9,868,35. Old Stearman records show the plane was first delivered to SkywaysInc., of Flint (MI) on 9/24/28.

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THE STEARMANS

Little is known about TAT's use of a Stearman other than a number of photos ofHerlihy (with goggles and parachute) standing by the plane at several airportswhich, at the time, were under construction. A second Stearman C3B, NC8815,originally delivered to Lawrence Turner (in NYC) on 5/13/29, possibly saw ser-

vice with TAT. However, there are no company records to confirm this, and itwas not part of the merger into T&WA.

The next C3B Stearman to be a part of the T&WA fleet was NC8814 (fleet #206),which Stearman Company records show was first delivered to a Mr. W. Wrightsman(at Shreveport, LA) on 4/22/29. This airplane was to be a very important partof TWA's early pilot instrument training and qualification for an SATR license(Scheduled Air Transport Rating, as required by the Department of Commerce). I

happen to have Capt."Tommy"Tomlinson's logbooks on hand at the time of writingthis article and can quote some data direct. Tommy joined Maddux Airlines, asVP of Operations, on 1/1/29. Maddux, at the time, had a fleet of Fords and aCurtiss "Robin". His logbook shows that he made one flight with a Stearman on1/19/29, and again on 7/3/29...his remark in the logbook was "beautiful flyingship". On 7/23 he ferried the plane from Clover Field (Santa Monica, CA) tothe Glendale Airport. Company records (Maddux) show the plane was purchased onthe next day for $3,125.76.

July of 1929 was when TAT first inaugurated service and the merger with Madduxwas in the formative stage. Tomlinson's log shows that he spent as much timeflying the Fords and Stearman as he did "flying a desk"; over 900 flying hoursbetween the time he joined Maddux and the merger with T&WA in October of 1930.The Maddux routes extended from Glendale south to San Diego and Agua Caliente,Mexico, and north to Alameda/Oakland and Montery (CA). Tommy frequently madetrips over these routes with the Stearman as well as flights to Lake Tahoe andother resorts which Maddux possibly might serve. When the merger with TAT wasmade, Tommy made the arrangements for Barstow to be a "hub", with direct con-nections to the SFO Bay area. He also made a personal survey of TAT's route asfar as Clovis,NM, which included the WAE stops (both Kingman and ABQ Airports)as well as Holbrook, Gallup and Zuni between Winslow and ABQ. The leg betweenGlendale and Winslow was at night. This was in May 1930, and a second trip wasmade that month (with Maintenance Foreman Bill Hughes) to inspect a Ford whichwas damaged makingan emergency land-ing in rough count-

ry SE of Fort Sum-ner,NM. He flew 101/4hrs in one day onthat trip. Priorto the TAT-Maddux-WAE merger, Tommyand Hughes made aninspection tour ofevery station eastof LA to Clovis.

The leg from INW toABQ was at night.On the return theyspent the night atCottonwood (AZ) dueto storms in thearea. They logged

21 1/2hrs roundtrip.

Tommy and Ginny Tomlinson about to leave on their honeymoon.

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THE STEARMANS

Besides these cross-country flights over rough terrain, poorly mapped and fewemergency landing fields, he used the plane for numerous local flights in theLA area...it was much more relaxing than fighting the auto traffic, faster andconvenient. These included business calls to Alhambra (WAE's airport), MinesField (LAX today), Lockheed-Burbank (a 5 min hop), Pomona (a speaking engage-ment and Palm Springs (honeymoon). Tommy and "Ginny" were married in January1930, and were in Palm Springs when word was received that a TAT-Maddux Fordhad crashed near Oceanside. Their honeymoon was interrupted for several daysdue to the urgent business with the company. His last series of flights with

the Stearman was for an air meet at the Glendale Airport: 5 min to BUR and 5min return for a close "fly by", 15 min for a "dead stick" landing demonstra-tion, 15 min for "balloon busting" and 15 min for aerobatics (Tommy was one ofthe best at this type of precision flying).

Fred Pastorius also got some time in the Maddux Stearman. Fred had been hired

as a mechanic, riding in the right seat of the Fords as "Mate" (comparable toa Flight Engineer today, except the "Mate" rode with, and was responsible for,one airplane). Fred also had some pilot time and his "break" came when a tirewas needed in Fresno for a Ford...he took a tire to Fresno in the Stearman andfor this he was paid 5t a mile! Fred also took a charter flight of two pass-engers to Lake Big Bear in the San Bernadino Mountains. On 8/6/30, he went upfor a 20 min checkride in a Ford (and a check of the right motor) with Tommyprior to his demonstration to a government inspector for a transport license.

According to the merger agreement between TAT, Maddux and WAE the aircraft tobe included in the T&WA fleet were as follows: from TAT came 11 Fords, 1 Robinand 1 Stearman. Former Maddux planes included 10 Fords and 1 Stearman, and theformer WAE planes included 10 Fokker F-10s (tri-motor), 3 F-14s (single motor)and 2 F-32s (4-motor). Aircraft values, at the time of the merger, were calcu-lated on a two year depreciation, motors 1,500 hours. The former Maddux Stear-man's value was set at $1841.20 and TAT's at $9733.17.

Until T&WA took delivery of a fleet of Northrop "Alphas", in March of 1931, tocarry the air mail the Stearmans and F-14's along with some other single-motorplanes were used for this purpose. It was immediately apparent that a numberof veteran pilots (and non-veterans) needed some instruction on how to fly in-struments...the basic needle, ball and airspeed to keep the plane level, turnsand other maneuvers. Stearman #206 was outfitted with a hood on the rear cock-pit which blocked the pilot's forward visibility (but not peeking out of theside) plus a radio for low-frequency navigation. Hal Snead, a WWI pilot, hadbeen an instructor with Jack Frye's flight school (part of Aero Corporation of

Calif.) before joining WAE in May of 1930. Hal was assigned as T&WA's instru-ment instructor and was considered an expert by the pilots.

Howard Hall, then flying the mail between EWR and CMH with the "Alpha", toldhow the T&WA pilots first learned there was such a thing as the "Cone of si-lence" associated with the new Adcock low-frequency radio range for navigation(they knew of the radio, but not of the "cone"...it sounded like a gag, suchas a "Snipe Hunt". A group of the air mail pilots were on a layover at CMHand doing some "hangar flying" or sleeping in the cots upstairs in the termin-al building when Snead flew in with the Stearman. "Dutch" Smith, an expert oninstrument flying from his days with the PO air mail, went along on a demon-stration flight with Snead...his report to the other pilots described the cone(when directly over a radio station) and the benefit of knowing your exact lo-cation for an instrument approach.

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THE STEARMANS

A big improvement for instrument flying had been made by TAT mechanic CharlieCane, who was the first to compensate the turn-and-bank (3 degrees per second)which made it possible for a pilot to time his turn (before the gyro or arti-ficial horizon).

With instrument flying came checkrides by the "Feds". Ted Weaver once told meabout the first check ride (I don't know the date). Ted had flown into CMH ona Ford trip and John Collings asked him to "volunteer" for a checkride with anInspector Murphy. Ted agreed, and Murphy taxied the plane to the end of therunway. After all of the suggested or required maneuvers had been completed,

Ted asked if he might try a "wingover" (a dive and then pull up in a verticalclimb and roll around the vertical axis, and then level off). The instrumentsdidn't show Ted that he had gone too far with the climb attitude as he had theplane inverted as if doing a loop. After recovering from this position, andleveling the plane, he inquired about the inspector. There was no answer. Tedlooked over the hood just as Murphy was climbing back into the cockpit; he hadneglected to fasten his seatbelt! Ted passed the checkride.

Besides the training, the Stearmans were also used by the pilots to make land-ings at all of the emergency fields (part of route qualifications) on a routethey were to fly. Ken Blaney wrote about his qualifying for a proposed nightfreight operation between EWR and MKC using the F-14. On 7/24/31, flying #206,he landed at every emergency field between CMH and EWR. The next day, with thesame plane, he flew from CMH to HAR and return with a steel chest of film.

TWA Stearman NC88814 complete with a hood over part of the rear cockpit for instrument training.

Note the tall antenna just behind the rear cockpit for low frequency range reception.

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THE STEARMANS

On 10/31/35, Paul Richter (Operations VP) made a detailed report to Jack Fryeof every accident or incident that had occurred since October of 1930. Therewere a total of 169 reports, some very minor, which included damage done, thecause, cost of repairs etc. Among the Stearman accident reports were:

On 10/13/30 (pilot Bob Supple) the gear failed landing at Trenton, NJ. A totalof $1,097.50 to repair plane #207. On 7/30/31 $133.87 damages to #206 (brokenspar lower wing panel, Steve Welsh the pilot), due to blind cockpit (forwardvisibility while taxiing) restricting visibility. On 8/1/31 #207 was severelydamaged at Trenton (pilot Supple); the wreck was sold at book value. The re-

port blamed the accident on structural failure of the landing gear.

On 8/27/31 #206 had a broken spar in the lower wing panel ($151.00 damage) dueto a groundloop after landing at Groom, TX. "Pat" Gallup was the pilot. He wasexonerated from any error..."due to the ground looping characteristics of theplane". On 10/21/31, plane #206 had $404.85 damages landing at CMH followed by

a groundloop and structural failure of the gear (pilot Jack Lynch). On 3/12/32(near CMH), Hal Snead had the covering come off the right wing in flight. Thedamage was listed at $262.58, and the cause "due to age of the plane and typeof construction". Hal had another incident at Tulsa on 10/7/32: the left tireblown out, lower left wing damaged and rear spar cracked at rear strut fitting($70.31 damage). The cause: "accident unavoidable, caused by whirlwind strik-ing ship from rear while plane was taxiing on ground". This was the last re-

port involving a Stearman listed in Richter's summary through August of 1935,although there were a number of incidents to follow.

NOTE: From here on, with regard to Stearmans with T&WA, I will be quoting fromletters or phone calls from the pilots who answered my request for help. Thosehired circa 1935-1937, who had an instrument rating, were not required to takeany additional training. There is a change in fleet or NC numbers and I assumethe company purchased several Stearmans (used) to train copilots for the SATR(Scheduled Air Transport license). The equipment includes NC669K and 482W (andor fleet #208). This was for instrument training, although a number flew theairplane as part of their route qualifications into emergency airports. Others

flew a Waco or a Stinson for this tour of a region, or a group rode along in aDC-2/DC-3 (and had a party). The instrument training or checkride with a "Fed"was done at the copilot's expense...25c a minute or $9 an hour)...that was de-ducted from his paycheck. With this rating he received a raise in pay, from$190 to $205 per month, which helped to defray the cost of the training (andobtaining the license).

The T&WA Stearmans were equipped with a hood, dual flight controls and instru-ments and a low frequency radio for navigation. The navigation was a series oftime-consuming problems: getting the student lost, and then the various orien-tation procedures (true fade, fade parallel, fade 90, etc.) plus the approachto the airport. Each orientation and approach took a lot of time, depending onhow far away from the radio range the problem was started (including, in lateryears, the Link Trainer), how good the radio (ground or aircraft) was workingand how adeptly the pilot reacted to the circumstances...which included learn-how to fly the Stearman! Naturally, since the copilot was paying for all ofthis training, practice and the rating ride by the minute, it was anything buta "joy ride" and the faster a maneuver could be completed satisfactorily savedmoney...a tail wind helped as well as peeking out from the side of the hood todefinitely establish his position etc. When Fairchild wanted a demonstrationof a steep 360 degree turn he would remind the student it was costing him 50c(a precise 360 degree turn took 2 minutes, no more, no less).

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THE STEARMANS

The earliest training which was reported to me was by Phares McFerren. "Mac"Mac"

already had a some instrument time flying with "Benny" Howard and other Unitedpilots prior to joining T&WA 4/27/35. His logbook shows he received 6:02 hours"blind-flying" with the Stearman with Ken Fairchild in June 1935. His remarkswere: "the plane was rather old and decrepit, but flew OK, but the rudder wasso sensitive we all removed our shoes while flying".

According to a number of the pilots who answered me, T&WA hired "Chick" Fred-ericks (4/1/35 and pilot 9/22/35) as an instrument instructor and there was aminor todo establishing his pilot seniority when he later flew the line (dateof instructor or first trip as captain). Bob Springer received his instructionfrom Fredericks and rating from inspector Russ Delaney in 1936. Bill Ambrosehad 3 hrs 15 min time with Hal Snead at Long Beach in January 1936 plus another8 hrs (including a "warm up" period) with Fredericks and Delaney at KC a monthlater. Rudy Truesdale had the Fredericks/Delaney combination for 9 hours (withplane 669K which had been purchased from a Charlie Babb) in February. Rudy re-called how it was bitter cold and they wore fur-lined flying suits.

Johnny Magden had his training with Fairchild at Burbank and told how Ken madea landing...he groundlooped! From his position, under the hood, John couldn'ttell what was going on or when it all might end (a damaged wingtip was the re-sult). Ray Noland was among a group of copilots (hired in mid-1936) who weretaking this training with Fairchild at BUR in the fall of that year. Delaneywasn't satisfied with the progress and the training was halted until April of1937 (Bill Piper, Bill Sanders, Jack LeClaire and Dave Kuhn all received theirtraining with Fairchild and rating rides from Delaney in early 1937. Dave Kuhnalso mentioned an instrument check using the Stearman with "Doc" Mesker: "Doc"made the landing and ground looped.) The 1937 hires who needed a rating (suchas Bob Buck and Roger Don Rae) received their training with Roscoe Donahoo andrating with inspectors Delaney or Douglas (at BUR using plane NC482W) in early1938. This appeared to be the last of the training and rating rides using theStearmans with T&WA. Other single-engine biplanes continued to be used for theemergency airport and route qualifications.

Besides the limited use for carrying the air mail, instrument training plus afew private pilots (sportsmen), crop dusting kept many of the original Stear-mans flying during the pre-war years. Starting about 1933, the Stearman Divi-sion of the Boeing Aircraft Company (located at ICI) concentrated on the pro-

duction of training aircraft for the military. The original models were dubbedthe "Cloudboy", which was the YPT-9 trainer. The Army Air Corps first tested aPT-13 in 1933, the Navy in 1934. This was soon known as the "Kaydet", althoughthere were numerous modifications to follow which would change the indentifi-cation to PT-17, PT-18 or Navy 2S-2. Generally the identification depended onthe type engine installed such as: the Continental, Lycoming, Jacobs etc. Allwere in the 220 to 225 hp class. Until 1944, when the wartime production wasceased, about 8,500 various "Kadets" were produced for the military, althoughif the spare parts are also included the total would be about 10,000.

Another popular primary training plane was the Ryan PT-22 (also known as thePT-21 or Navy NR-1) which was a low wing monoplane powered by a 165 hp Kinnerengine. Both the Stearmans and Ryans saw service in the pre-war years with theCivilian Pilot Training (CPT) program as well as the privately operated (under

contract with the military) primary training schools during the war. There hasalways been a lot of friendly (?) debates between the students or instructorsof the various flying schools as to who flew the best equipment.

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THE STEARMANS IN WWII

I don't know how typical my own experience was with the Stearman "Kaydet", butI will include it anyway. My "date of hire" by the Army Air Corps was 1/23/42

and I was among the first group to report to the Santa Ana (CA) Air Base. Thebase was still under construction and we were bivouaced in tents for the firstfew weeks. This was supposed to be a 'preflight' center (no flying), but the

curriculum hadn't been established so we did a lot of marching and cleaning orassembling rifles. There was a shortage of uniforms except for the standard GIoverhauls and heavy marching boots. Since we were not clad in proper uniforms

we were confined to the base. After an extensive screening, including a twirlin the "Barney Chair" and a "Stanine" type test, we were finally assigned to aprimary training school. My assignment was the 'Rankin Academy' (owned by thefamous stunt pilot "Tex" Rankin) located near Tulare, CA. There were about 250of us Aviation Cadets who traveled by bus to this primary school, plus another5 Student Officers (already commissioned, but to receive flight training). Theenlisted pilots (Aviation Students) reported to a separate school. The pay was$75 a month plus room, board and uniform. Since we were all, including all of

the trainees throughout the country, due to receive our wings at the same timeon 9/29/42, we were designated the Class of 42-I.

The bus driver alerted us that there would be a group of upper classmen readyto greet our arrival once inside the main gate of the Rankin school: there wasa contingent of same with stern faces, dressed in full uniform, complete withwhite gloves. The first 'order of the day' was to "hit a brace" (an exagger-ated position of "attention", with the chin drawn as far back as possible intoone's chest. We then picked up our bags and 'double timed' to an open area tobe greeted by Rankin and the military officers in charge. The assignments weremade to quarters and instructor pilots as well as the division into four cadetcompanies with upper (by one month) classmen as leaders. They literally "ruledthe roost " during our non-flying hours with orders to "hit a brace, mister!",double-time when outdoors, eating meals with square corners (when using a forkor spoon from plate to mouth) and other forms of hazing. Any infraction mightbring a punishment of standing on your chair and singing the Air Corps song of"Off we go into the wild blue yonder etc., etc."

There were about 60 civilian instructors at the school, each started out with5 students. They wore a military uniform with a special insignia (no rank, butwe saluted them upon greeting them each day). My first flight was on 3/30/42,a 22 min demonstration by the instructor which included a few loops, spins andslow rolls. During certain of these maneuvers I was fighting the urge to "up-chuck" as this could be the cause for an immediate "washout". Unfortunately itwas not a good day for the instructor as he proceeded to ' groundloop' follow-ing the first landing. Between the feeling of nausea and the unexpected damageto a wing tip, I wasn't too certain that a flying career was for me.

After exactly 8 hours of dual instruction the instructor climb out of the for-ward cockpit and said the magic words...take 'er up alone, mister! After thefirst solo flight the cadet was allowed to wear his goggles (on the ground) ontop of his flight helmet instead of below the chin, a status symbol. There wasa 20 and 50 hour check or progress ride by a military pilot. After one monthwe were the upper classmen and "ruled the roost", complete with white gloves.Since the government was paying for all of this training we all completed theprogram in exactly 60 hours of dual or solo time...not one minute more or less

as it would foul up the accounting. About 85 of our original group of 250 were"washed out" (termed 'Hugos') and assigned to other schools for navigators orbombardiers etc. These were my experiences with the Stearman, they were memor-able!

66

THE POST-WAR and OTHER STEARMANS

Similar to the end of WWI, the end of WWII saw thousands of surplus militaryaircraft available at a very cheap price (in 1946 I purchased a North AmericanAT-6, with low engine or airframe time, for $600). At the time, a Stearman wasavailable for about $500. How many were sold isn't known, but about 2,000 arestill flying today according to the Stearman Restorers Ass.,Inc. Many of thesewere used for crop dusting before other aircraft became available which weremore efficient...otherwise they would have been junked for scrap long ago. Thecurrent basic price for a completely restored "Kadet" (including a 220hp Con-tinental engine with zero time since overhaul) starts out at $65,000. A numberof companies specialize in gathering wrecks or whatever is salvageable and re-sell the restored versions which are considered new. The antique planes, theolder 'originals' produced by Lloyd Stearman, can cost a lot more depending onthe condition etc.

Some of the past and present TWAers who have owned Stearmans include Orm Gove,who first learned to fly in 1925. Orm started with WAE on 5/1/29, as mechanicand copilot on the Fokkers. Following the merger with T&WA he was the seniorcopilot on the system but lacked the experience (flying time) to qualify for atransport pilot license. According to Stearman historian Ken Wilson, recordsshow that Orm purchased NC4011 from WAE on 12/26/31 (and sold it on 3/19/32).Orm finally took his first flight as Captain on 9/28/34.

There probably have been numerous other TWAers who have owned, or still own, aStearman. Among the current are Jack Parker, Ron Rex and D. Joseph Corr. Jackwas a 'Hump' pilot in WWII and TWA pilot 1948 to 1984. His plane was producedfor the Navy (N2S-B) in 1943 and after the war did some crop dusting from 1948

to 1949. It then sat as a pile of junk until 1970. It was then completely re-built and painted in the old USAAF colors (orange/yellow wings and tail feath-ers, a blue fuselage plus red and white stripes on the rudder). Jack purchasedthe plane for $18,000 and has since put over 350 hours flying "Old Blue" withpleasure flights, attending air shows (formation flights) etc. The plane is inthe same condition so far as equipment and instruments, except for an electricstarter and a generator (and Army colors), as its days with the Navy.

Ron Rex (hired 1966 and currently flying captain out of JFK) was half owner ofa N2S-4 Stearman when, in 1984, he found out one of the original "D" model (alarger mail plane with increased horsepower) was for sale in Florida. The air-craft was built in 1929 and at one time (circa 1935) flew the mail for WyomingAir service on WAE's former "Mountain Division". Later on it was used for cropdusting and was almost scrapped prior to WWII. It had numerous owners prior toa complete restoration and painted in WAE's old colors of deep red and silver.WAE had once owned a "4" model (NC774H), which had long ago been scrapped anddeleted from FAA registration. The restored plane was able to obtain this sameoriginal NC number. Ron and his wife, Carol, have put a lot of time on theirStearman with local and cross country flying, air meets etc.

Former TWA Pres. D. Joseph Corr is co-owner (with John Tucker, Pres. of Mid-coast Aviation) of N8828, the first and the prototype for the C3R series (dub-

bed the "Business Speedmail"). It was first flown on 8/15/29 and went throughnumerous modifications prior to final production. It also had numerous owners,including Hanford Tri-State Airlines in 1935, and was used as a trainer duringthe early years of WWII. Joe and John purchased the plane, which is restoredto mint condition, in late 1987 and keep it at the Smartt Field near STL. Joe

has about 500 flying hours and also owns a J-3 and a "Great Lakes". He is thesecond TWA president, since Jack Frye (1934-1947) to have a pilot license. The

other was Ralph Damon, who learned to fly in the Army in 1918-1919.

67

Western FlyingJuly 1930

69

Bill Dixon says, The TWA Seniors 27th Annual Rountrip at Rancho de LosCaballeros, Wickenburg, AZ, was lots of fun. It boasts a beautiful golf course,which I terrorized in my usual inept manner, but I did lose only 4 golf balls!It was supposed to be the second best course in Arizona.

The women played a nine hole tournament on Friday Nov. 4 and the menbattled the course for 18 holes on Saturday.

A number of retired flight crew members and dispatchers attended, quitea few staying extra days. The food was good, reminiscing fantastic and fellowshipdelightful. Try to go next year. I know you and Betty would like it. Enclosing afew photos should you be interested.

Too bad this shot of Neuman Ramseyholding his own at Wickenburg wasn'tin color. With his rainbow shirt andgosh-knows-where-from-hat, he fitright in at the Rancho De Los Cabal-leros dude ranch Saturday noon cook-out!

Left to right: Joe Crede, Bill Cooper, Lum Edwards and Bill Geiger hoist onefor those not able to make it to the annual party.

70

RECOMMENDATIONS &SUGGESTIONS

For a worthwhile contribution that is tax deductible you need to look no furtherthan this;

THE TWA PILOTS RETIREMENT FOUNDATION, INC.ALPA Federal Credit Union

825 Miday DriveWillow Brook, IL 60521

Put on your check account number 90-17470

Joe McCombs has a good supply of TARPA lapel pins. They are larger than theoriginal pins and can be read from more than a foot away. Send $2.00 to hismountain top hideaway at 6977 S. Everest Lane, Evergreen, CO 80439

If you would like a nice TARPA pin on name plate to sport at New Orleans oron your cruise send $2.50 to;

Names by Sawyer201 N.W. 59 Place

Gladstone, MO 64118

In case you missed it in our special mailing for the convention reservationsand the Mississippi riverboat cruise with Lum and Bette Edwards the day afterour convention I have included a tear out form for the cruise at the backof this issue you may use. I highly recommend it as we have been on it.

Watched the MacNeil-Lehrer hour last night on the public broadcasting station.There was a bit on the "catastrophic" health insurance that is going to costus $2100.00 more in taxes in 1993 graduating up from this year. There wasan American Airlines retired Captain on representing the Coalition againstCatastrophic Health Insurance. Opposing him was the American Association ofRetired Persons' representative, John Rother. There is considerable movementunder way to call back this horrendous package that was railroaded throughCongress almost in secrecy from the public. They said 12 Congressman to datehave already introduced Bills to rectify this injustice. Instead of a broadbase financial support a small group of elderly people will foot the billfor the others which is grossly unfair. The AARP ignored a small group ofus elderly completely in supporting this bill.

Better crank up your computers, typewriters or writing hands and let yourCongressional representatives know how you feel.

Income Tax: Democracy in action. Gives those who don't play golf an opportunityto lie.

71

01-05-1989NEW MEMBERS - NEW SUBSCRIBERS

Page 1

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(R) AHLBERG, R.T. "WHITEY" CAPT.

71 KINGSTON ROAD

KENSINGTON, CA 94107

415-525-8858

(A) BONEY, MARVIN D. "DOUG" CAPT. (MARTI)

1515 EL PASO REAL

LA JOLLA, CA 92037

619-454-3666

(S) BURDETTE, T. EDWIN MR.

718 CENTER HILL

HOUSTON, TX 77079

(A) GIBBS, RAEFORD,F. "RAE" CAPT. (PAULA)

23740 PARK ANTIGUA

CALABASAS, CA 91302

818-888-7671

(R) NANKIN, JACK C. CAPT. (DOROTHY)

17830 ROSEWOOD

P.O. BOX 208

STILWELL, KS 66085

913-897-3935

(R) McCORMICK, GERARD W. CAPT. (CLEDA)

4027 E. CORTEZ STREET

PHOENIX, AZ 85028

602-953-2289

( R) MILLER, JAMES D. CAPT. (BILLIE)

14251 N. 2nd AVENUE

PHOENIX, AZ 85023 (NOV-MAR)

602-866-7813

(A) RICHTER, JAMES H. CAPT. (KRIS)

10055 CALLE DE CIELD

SCOTTSDALE, AZ 85258-5653

602-391-1873

(A) VANPELT, VINCENT R. CAPT. (PATTY)

957 JUNIPERO DRIVE

COSTA MESA, CA 92626

714-641-0147

(A) VAUX, RICHARD A. CAPT.

P.O.00X 202

HAMPTON FALLS, NH 03844

617-631-7905 72

(R) BARNETT, RONALD P. F/E (JO AN)

3085 MOLOKAI PLACE

COSTA MESA, CA 92626

714-545-1279

(S) BRANS, JOAN ZIMMEL MRS.

15 STARSHINE

IRVINE. CA 92725

714-854-8804

(R) FISHBAUGH, H. RICHARD CAPT.

RT. #2, BOX 103A

SHENANDOAH, IA 51601

712-246-5096

(R) LARSON, R.E. (808) F/E (LOIS)

4250 E. YAWEPE STREET

PHOENIX, AZ 85044

602-893-9199

(A) MANTELOS, SAM CAPT.

113 SUSSEX CR

SCHAUMBERG, IL 60193

312-980-7390

(R) MILLER, JAMES D. CAPT. (BILLIE)

542 FOREST HIGHLANDS

FLAGSTAFF, AZ 86001 (APR-OCT)

602-525-1840

( A) MITCHELL, ROBERT D. CAPT. (LUAYINE - "LU")

60 INVERNESS ROAD

THOUSAND OAKS, CA 91361

805-495-S6345

(R) TAYLOR, G.J. "JAY" CAPT. (MARJORIE)

3631 HUNTERS TRAIL

SAN ANTONIO, TX 78230

512-493-6239

(R) VAUGHN, GORDON C. "GORDY" CAPT. (LINDA)

1917 S.E. 22nd AVENUE

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL 33316

305-462-2929

ADDRESS CHANGES and/or CORRECTIONS

01-05-1989 Page 1

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(R) ARBON, EDWIN R. CAPT. (MURIEL)

421 GUADALAJARA CIRCLE

IRVING, TX 75062

214-717-4035 & 214-717-4075

(R) BANKS, EMMETT E. 'ERNIE" CAPT. (BILLIE)

P.O. 80X 7211

SUNSHINE C.C. ESTATES

HARLINGEN, TX 78550

512-428-5127

(H) BILLMAN, LA VETA MRS. (LOUIS)

4601 NORWOOD COURT

KANSAS CITY, MO 64133

816-353-8340

(R) BLESCH, WILLIAM F. CAPT. (BARBARA)

431 WAHOO ROAD

P.O. BOX 28058

PANAMA CITY, FL 32411

904-234-6136

(A) BROWN, THOMAS V. "T.V." F/0 (JOANNE)

P.O. BOX 218

FOREST RANCH, CA 95942

916-893-3410

(R) CHITTENDEN, HOWARD T. "TOM" CAPT.

8260 OLD HINKLEVILLE ROAD

WEST PADUCAH, KY 42086

(R) COLE, Jr, JOHN W. CAPT. (NOREEN)

31 ZOAR ROAD, RD#1

SANDY HOOK, CT 06481

203-426-9661

(R) DAIL, MAX W. CAPT. (BETTY)

7160 VIA DE LA MONTANA

SCOTTSDALE, AZ 85258

602-948-2370

(R) AUDETTE, ROBERT J. F/E (GERDA)

254 DIXIE LANE

TARPON SPRINGS, FL 34689 (ALL MAIL)

813-934-1968

(R) BARNHILL, GARY D. CAPT.

217 IRIS

CORONA DEL MAR, CA 92625

714-675-9909

(A) BINNS, THOMAS L. CAPT. (KAY)

57 W. FIFTH STREET

CHILLICOTHE, OH 45601

614-772-2204

( R) BRANDT, LOWELL D. CAPT. (SUZANNE)

15112 HUNTINGTON GATE DRIVE

POWAY, CA 92064

619-673-0714

(R) CARROLL. JOHN C. CAPT.

2881 WOODRIDGE CIRCLE

CARLSBAD, CA 92008

619-434-3483

(R) COCHRAN, JAMES L. CAPT. (RUTHE)R1

4535 N. 49th PLACE

PHOENIX, AZ 85018

602-840-5243

(R) COLLING, EDWIN L. CAPT. (CATHERINE)

ROMSEY HOUSE, VICAEAGE LANE

STEEPLE ASHTON,

WILTS BA14 6HH ENGLAND

380-870-992

(R) ENGLAND, GEORGE W. CAPT. (PATRICIA)

17 PURPLE MARTIN LANE

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, SC 29926

803-681-7483

73

(R) EVANS, JOHN R. "JACK" F/E (MARTHA)

PINE HILL ROAD

P.O. BOX 1363

FAIRFIELD BAY, AR 12088

501-884-3458

(R) FLETT, ROBERT G. CAPT.

6688 BLOSSOM

WOODLAND PARK, CO 80863

719-687-6638

(R) FISHER, RICHARD P. F/E (BEVERLY)

903 CAPTAINS WALK

SALEM, SC 29676

803-944-2844

(R) GETTINGS, A.H. CAPT. (MAGGIE)

3605 FLEMING DRIVE

BLUE SPRINGS, MO 64015

01-05-1989 Page 2

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( R) GOUGH, ROBERT W. CAPT. (MARY)

10410 S. OCEAN BLVD., #905

JENSEN BEACH, FL 34957

407-229-3050

(R) HARRIS, JOSEPH J. CAPT. (GLENNA)

5436 DOE AVENUE

LAS VEGAS, NV 89102

702-367-3823

( R) HENDRICKSON, JOHN L. F/E (DORIS)

525 FAIRVIEW BLVD.

INCLINE VILLAGE, NV 89450

702-831-1615

(R) HUBBARD, ESTIL N. "ED" CAPT. (EVELYN)

P.O. BOX 204

LATHROP, MO 64465

816-528-4553

(R) JORDAN, LEWIS C. CAPT. (JEANETTE)

4145 OLD 395N

CARSON CITY, NV 89704

102-849-0179

(R) KNUDSEN, WILBUR M. CAPT. (VIOLET)

28112 EAST EASLEY ROAD

LEE'S SUMMIT, MO 64063

816-566-2429

(E) LAMBERT, GORDON W. CAPT. (MARGARET)

10501 LAGRIMA DE ORO N.E., #121

ALBUQUERQUE, NM 87111

505-291-3121

(R) LIMA, EARL F/E (ELEANOR)

11245 5th ST EAST

TREASURE ISLAND, FL 33706

813-360-7319

(A) MAHER, TOM CAPT. (MARILYN)

P.O. BOX 3867

ESTES PARK, CO 80517

303-586-3692

(R) HAHN, EUGENE G. "GENE" CAPT. (DORIS)

5713 WOODHAVEN LANE

PARKVILLE, MO 64152

816-741-3550

(R) HEIGLE, RAYMOND F. F/E (MABEL)

371 MOCKING BIRD HILL

HOCKESSIN, DE 19707

302-239-4620

(R) HEWITT, BARTON G. "BART" CAPT.

12396 CALFEE GULCH ROAD

CONIFER, CO 80433

303-838-7227

(R) INGENHUETT, MORRIS E. CAPT. (MADELINE - "MADGE"

2709 TIDEWATER COURT

LAS VEGAS, NV 89117

702-254-2340

( R) KAMPSEN, U.J. "UPS" CAPT. (ALICE)

RR # 1, BOX 403

OTTERTAIL, MN 56571

218-376-2027

( R) KOLB, FRANK J. CAPT.

140 SEA VIEW COURT, APT 1505-N

MARCO ISLAND, FL 33937 (JAN-MAY)

(H) LEWIS, LUCILLE M. MRS. (JOCK)

3400 PAUL SWEET ROAD, 8314

SANTA CRUZ, CA 95065

408-688-4970

(R) LINDSEY, ROBERT A. CAPT. (DORICE)

31277 ENDYMION WAY

REDLANDS, CA 92373

714-794-4839

(R) MAJOR, ROBERT J. CAPT. (ANNE)

887 CORTE SAFINO

CAMARILLO, CA 93010

805-388-0102

74

(R) MEANS, RUSSELL E. CAPT. (HELEN)

3300 W. 129th STREET

LEAWOOD, KS 66209

913-491-4496

(R) MEYER, E.W. F/E (MARIEL)

P.O. BOX 2184

STATELINE, NV 89449

415-967-5365

ADDRESS CHANGES and/or CORRECTIONS

01-05-1989Pape 3

(E) MIDDLEKAUFF, R.H. "BOB" FRO (MARGE)

11260 TABEAU ROAD

PINE GROVE, CA 95665

209-223-4782

(R) MUSICK, Jr., MATT O. CAPT. (ROSE)

13114 WALMER

OVERLAND PARK. KS 66209

913-897-5341

(R) OLSON, JOHN E. F/E (MARION)

P.O. BOX 085665

RACINE, WI 53408

414-886-3853

(R) QUINN, JOHN J. "3.3." CAPT. (NANCY)

1311 ALPINE DRIVE

BOULDER CITY. NV 89005

702-294-1066

(R) RAMEY. HAROLD E. F/E (CHRISTINE)

1011 KITCHING COVE LANE

PORT ST. LUCIE, FL 34952

407-335-9543

(R) REYHER, CHARLES R. CAPT. (SALLY)

6663 RIPPLING BROOK DRIVE. S.E.

SALEM.. OR 97301

(R) SCHULTE. JOHN B. CAPT. (JUDITH)

4201 W. ROCHELLE AVE., APT. #1184

LAS VEGAS. NV 89103

702-364-2654

{R) SMYER, EMIL V. CAPT. (ANN)

187 SHADOW MOUNTAIN DRIVE

SEDONNA, AZ 86336

(Si MORAN, WALLY CAPT.

39 WARNCKE ROAD

WILTON. CT 06897

203-761-9095

(R) NORRIS, ROBERT E. CAPT. (EVELYN)

BOX 722

LAKE HAVASU CITY, AZ 86403 (NOV - APR)

602-453-5367

( R) PRICE, TED N. CAPT. (MARY ANN)

2135 GREEN CASTLE WAY

OXNARD, CA 93035

805-985-6431

(A) RAEBIGER, OTTO R. CAPT. (MARIE-CLAUDE- "MICO"

152 MINUTEMAN ROAD

RIDGEFIELD, CT 06877

203-438-3455

(A) REID, WILLIAM J. "BILL" CAPT.

P.O. BOX 1231

KEY LARGO, FL 33037

305-852-2673

(Pi RYAN, GEORGE F. CAPT. (RUTH)

2 CHAPEL ST.

NEWBURYPORT, MA 01950

508-465-7823

(R) SIMPKINS. ROY L. CAPT. (RITA)

3674 S.E. FAIRWAY. E.

STUART, FL 33497

407-286-3487

(R) SPERRY, GLENN H. F/E (JOY)

1000 WIGGINS PASS ROAD

NAPLES, FL 33963 (NOV-APR)

(R) ST. LAWRENCE, MITCHELL CAPT.

17263 105TH STREET

SUN CITY, AZ 85373

(A) STURGES, FRANK E. CAPT. (JANE)

450 WEST LAKESHORE DRIVE

LAKE QUIVIRA, KS 66106

913-631-7646

75

(A) STURGES, FRANK E. CAPT. {JANE)

225 SPANIARDSROAD

PLACIDA, FL 33946

813-697-1260

(RI SULLIVAN, DAN F. CAPT. (JANE)

1483 LAUREL HILL DRIVE

SAN MATEO, CA 94402

415-341-8680

01-05-1989 Page 4

(R) TIMMINS. PATRICK J. "TIM" CAPT. ( ALVINA)

P.O. BOX 5915

BELLINGHAM, WA 98227

604-522-3660

(R) SYPKENS, DONALD W. FIE (CAROL)

RR 41, BOX 152

TURNEY, MO 64493

816-539-2418

(R) TOMS, WILLIAM H. FIE (MILDRED)

6449 PINE MEADOWS DRIVE

SPRING HILL, FL 33526 ( NOV 5-APR 15)

904-686-1468

(R) TURNER. IVAN L. CAPT. (ROSELLA)

13722 COUNTY ROAD 3

FAIRHOPE, AL 36532

205-928-7998

(R) WILLIAMS. J.G. CAPT. (KATHARYN)

185 NORTH RD.

DEERFIELD, NH 03037

603-463-8384

(E) WOLF, EVERETT C. CAPT. (VIRGINIA)

2104 S.W. BRIGHTON COURT

BLUE SPRINGS, MO 64015

816-224-0374

(A) ZOLLMANN, JOSEPH J. CAPT. (SUSAN)

5621 N.E. POPLAR DRIVE

KANSAS CITY, MO 64118

816-454-3454

(R) TRAUDT, WARREN E. FIE (FLORENCE)

12561 CORONADO LANE

SVL BOX 7902

VICTORVILLE, CA 92392

619-243-2224

(A) TYNAN, CRAIG CAPT. (MARILYN)

70-200 DILLON ROAD

DESERT HOT SPRINGS, CA 92240

(R) WITTLE, ELWOOD I. FIE (MILDRED)

108 EAST GREENSPOINT LANE

BELEN, NM 87002

505-864-3596

(R) YOUNG, JAMES R. FIE (HELEN)

26 ELKINS ROAD

GORHAM, ME 04038

207-839-3600

DID YOU REMEMBER TO PAY YOUR 1989 DUES?

"Oh Ethel, I'm sorry: I was Justtrying to follow through."'

'Oh darn, I shanked it or something:Where'd it go? '

FRYE

76

The Active Retired Pilots Association of TWA

1 989 CONVENTION SCHEDULE (Tentative)

CLARION HOTEL NEW ORLEANS

Mon. 1 0 April] 1 3:00-18:00 REGISTRATION DESK OPEN

1 3:00-17:00 HOSPITALITY ROOM OPEN

Tue. 11 April 09:00-? ? ? BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

1 0:00-17:30 REGISTRATION DESK OPEN

11:30-14:00 TOP OF MART LUNCHEON

1 4:30-16:30 STERNWHEELER HARBOR TOUR

1 3:00-17:00 HOSPITALITY ROOM OPEN

Wed. 1 2 April 08:00-11:30 GENERAL BUSINESS MEETING

09:30-17:00 BRIDGE TOURNAMENT

1 2:00-18:00 HOSPITALITY ROOM OPEN

1 2:15 GOLFERS LEAVE FOR COURSE

1 2:30 SKEET & TRAP SHOOTERS LEAVE

1 2:45 TENNIS PLAYERS DEPART

1 3:00 CAJUN COOKING CLASS STARTS

Thu. 1 3 April 08:00-11:30 GENERAL BUSINESS MEETING

09:30-17:00 BRIDGE TOURNAMENT

1 2:00-17:00 HOSPITALITY ROOM OPEN

1 2:15 GOLFERS DEPART

1 2:30 TRAP & SKEET SHOOTERS DEPART

1 2:45 TENNIS PLAYERS LEAVE

1 3:30-16:00 SPOUSES INFORMATION SESSION

15:00-20:00 RECEPTION

20:00-00:00 BANQUET AND DANCING

Fri. 1 4 April ALL DAY PARTY ' S OVER EVERYONE HAVE A

GREAT TIME ON THE MISSISSIPPI

QUEEN CRUISE AND/OR A SAFE TRIP

HOME. DON ' T LEAVE UNTIL YOU WANT

TO. THANK YOU FOR COMING!

77

Somebody Might Be Looking Over Your Shoulder!And it could be the CM, the FBI or the IRS.

Why You!Aren't you just a plain on-the-street citizen, going about minding your own business?

Don't they reserve that snooping stuff for the big guys, like suspected spies and dopepeddlers?

Not always. You could be one of the chosen whenever:You Are Called For Jury Duty

You see, when the lawyers pick juries, they are trying to stack them with the kindof bias they desire. They may tell you they want impartial jurors but they are lying andthey know it. (And the judges know it too.) So in order to stack juries to their tastesthey hire detectives to follow you around, quiz your neighbors, look up your records oranything else their ingenuity conceives. The government resorts to the services of theFBI the CIA, the IRS or almost any other governmental agency, including police andsheriffs.

They want to know everything about you so they can guess how you will vote in thejury box; then they pick and choose individual jurors on that basis. This destroys thebasic concept of trial by a truly impartial jury, and violates the Constitution.

If You Want To Stop It, You Must First Be Aware.Before going to court be suspicious of anyone asking questions; alert friends to tell you

if they are approached. Complaining to the court may or may not help, because judgesare in on the conspiracy to snoop.

When in court demand that the judge require the opposing attorneys hand to youwhatever files they have collected. Tell him: "I want to know if the attorneys from eitherside have been investigating my private life, and if so I want them to hand me right nowwhatever information they have gathered on me. "

One side or the other may not have snooped; that may mean that side respects yourinherent right to privacy. But if they have and don 't hand you the files you can sue onConstitutional grounds.

If they do give you the files you can also charge them, whether you like what you reador not. When they learn you are on to their deceptions you may cause a furor. That 'sgood. Don't let it bother you.

Written by: Distributed by:Godfrey D. Lehman The Justice Times2336 Market Street, Box 21 P.O. Box 562San Francisco, California 94114 Clinton, Arkansas 72031415-362-0790

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