December 17, 2015 marks the 80th anniversary of the amazing DC-3 aircraft. It seems impossible that a design created all those years ago remains relevant in our modern society. It has been said that the only replacement for a DC-3 is another DC-3. Well, Happy Birthday to the Octogenarian of the Air!
The Russians
I have to go through my personal letters she wrote me after I was married. I remember a day, a usual, normal day. She called over to and asked me to come over. On arrival, she asked me, if I could get my hands on a recording machine. I said In Russian “kineshna” (of course). I told her maybe I could get the use the same one I used to tape her concert. She said No, No, not that professional, just a simple recorder, I want to do something, but I can’t figure out these infernal machine’s (Imagine if she lived today! She would be hanging from a fixture, along with me.) I got a simple reel to reel and brought it over. I was not ready for what was about to transpire. I mean she couldn’t blow me away again! Wrong, totally wrong. I got the recorder set up in the bedroom, and ran the cable out into the piano in the study, earphones ready. We tested it, or I tested it. These Artists do not ‘warm up” that would not happen. She just starts in playing. “Wait” says I, just let me get it started will ya” yes I could speak to her that way, as we were family. She would condescend to that. I said Ok, go ahead.
She started, the first piece she played I will never forget, It was called “Invictus Maneo” both hands of this frail woman exploded in opposite directions, all superb florid counterpoint. I kind of expected this, as I was used to the dynamic.
I knew I couldn’t stop tape and ask to start over, so the levels did not distort at least. Ok, one thing done, Now she says do we have room for something else also” Yup, as much as you need” By the way, what you just played has my head spinning, can I have a second please! She was pleased by the rough compliment. We talked a bit, she told me that we were going to record a ballet. “There just aren’t enough ballets in the lexicon, so when I was in Rome I wrote one. She very carefully explained the story, it was a tragic ballet. We began, now as she is playing, she is explaining the story, not easy of course. You asked me if she ever used Arianna, or the Greek, Ariadne. Yes, in a letter she explained to me a relationship between Bacchus and Ariadne, as lovers. As for as I know that was the only time she used other names. Why should she, her given name Ariadna, I mean the name itself is music still in the womb. she said her mother had named her without knowing her daughter was to be a musician. “ARIAdna” is music itself.
Her sister was a writer, she would read passages to me on occasion, from a work she had always wanted to write. About the dangerous times back in Russia. It was called, Bloody Sunset’ in Russian it’s pronounced “Krassny (red) Sarofan (sunset) It was a remarkable work. Life for me was paradise, I mean I was a voracious reader, and I just happened to be reading the Russians at the time!. I remember, as I was reading “Crime and Punishment” her telling me, do you know what “Raskolnikov” means in Russian?, rhetorical of course. I shook my head,” It means to cut, or Chop!” If you know the book, the name is perfect.
Airline Board of Directors
We turn the clock back almost 35 years in order to “churn” up some interesting points. Nicholas Bredimus was the youngest Corporate Officer in the airline industry in 1980. At age 29, he ran the Information Systems division of Republic Airlines, a predecessor airline of Northwest Airlines (now Delta).
Board of Directors of Republic Airlines in 1980
Hal N. Carr*
Chairman of the Board
Republic Airlines
Cecil A. Beasley, Jr.
Partner Ballard & Beasley
(Attorneys)
Eric Bramley
Retired Editor
Aviation Daily
(aviation industry news service)
G.F. DeCoursin*
Chairman of the Board
Media Graphics
(commercial graphic arts)
Frank W. Hulse*
Vice Chairman of the Board
Republic Airlines
Alton F. Irby, Jr.
(Insurance Consultant and
investments)
G. Gunby Jordan
Chairman of the Board
The Jordan Company
(real estate and insurance)
John M. Lawrence III
Partner -Lawrence, Thornton,
Payne and Watson (attorneys)
William R. Lummis
Chairman of the Board
Summa Corporation
(real estate Investments. evieuor:
hotels and recreation)
Daniel F. May*
President
Republic Airlines
Theodore R. Miles
President
Stange Co.
(food products)
Morton B. Phillips
Chairman of the Board
Westland Capital Corporation
(business investments)
G. Frank Purvis, Jr.
Chairman of the Board
Pan American Life Insurance Co.
William E. Rankin
President
Summa Corporation
(real estate investments. aviation,
hotels and recreation)
Joseph E. Rapkin
Partner – Foley and Lardner
(attorneys)
Henry M. Ross
President
Ross Industnes
(machinery manufacturer)
Bernard Sweet*
Vice Chairman of the Board
Republic Airlines
Richard A. Trippeer, Jr.
President
Union Planters National Bank
Wm. Bew White, Jr.*
Partner-Bradley, Arant,
Rose and White (attorneys)
Kenneth B. Willett*
Chairman of the Board
First Financial Savings and
Loan Association
Frank M. Young III
Partner-North Haskell Slaughter
Young and Lewis (attorneys)
* Executive Committee
OFFICERS
Hal N. Carr
Chairman of the Board
Frank W. Hulse
Vice Chairman of the Board
Bernard Sweet
Vice Chairman of the Board
Daniel F. May
President
Robert L. Gren
Senior Vice President-
Maintenance and Engineering
Kenneth L. Hubertus
Senior Vice President-Customer
Service
George J. Kamas
Senior Vice President-Inflight
Service
A. L. Maxson
Senior Vice President-Finance
David E. Moran
Senior Vice President-Marketing
J. F. Nixon
Senior Vice President-Corporate
Planning
George F. Wallis
Senior Vice President-Flight
Operations
J. Kenneth Courtenay
Vice President-Route
Development
Edward A. Dingivan
Vice President-Federal
Affairs
John P. Dow
Vice President and Secretary
Michael D. Meyer
Vice President and Controller
Gowan J. Miller
Vice President-Industrial Relations
A. E. Warner
Vice President-Maintenance
Charlotte G. Westberg
Staff Vice President
W. H. Mackinnon
Treasurer
Dorman W. Atwood
Assistant Vice President-
Regulatory Compliance
Nicholas Bredimus
Assistant Vice President-
Information Systems
Joseph W. Ettel
Assistant Vice President-Labor
Relations and Assistant Secretary
Gramer D. Foster
Assistant Vice President-Flying
Earl D. Jackson
Assistant Vice President- Technical
Service
Robert P. Johnson
Assistant Vice President-Flight
Operations
Katherine M. Leddick
Assistant Vice President-Inflight
Service
John E. Manger
Assistant Vice President-
Long-range Planning
William E. Oakes
Assistant Vice President-Economic
Research
Charles B. Vesper
Assistant Vice President-Schedules
and Tariffs
Walter E. Nielsen
Assistant Treasurer
Raymond J. Rasenberger
Assistant Secretary
Ralph Strangis
Assistant Secretary
Airline Meals
In addition to people photographing themselves using their smart phones (selfies), snapping photos of their food is another trend. So, there are bound to be thousands of people photographing their airline meals everyday (although they will probably wait to land before posting the pics to Facebook).
Airline Consultant, Nick Bredimus, writes about his airline meal.
More Aviation Trivia
Another friend wrote in reply “The story that wasn’t told in this write up was….
Boeing was in a demo fly off with Douglas for some government orders…. the Air Force was very impressed with the Douglas jet… and the Boeing folks on the ground radioed their test pilot ( who was in the air ) what the air force reaction was… the test pilot said well tell them to have Douglas do this… and he barrel rolled the airplane…. the FAA pulled his ticket for the stunt…but Boeing sold the airplane. I have been told by pilots that if you know what you are doing you can barrel roll a jet and not spill a drink on a passengers tray !!!!
I saw the original 707 as it sat in the bone yard in Tucson waiting to go to the Smithsonian once a proper show hanger was built..
Also the air force one 707 that Reagan used and is on display at his library in Simi Valley was completely restored by Boeing retirees they also have his Marine 1 on display…..
At the Boeing museum in Seattle on static display is a supersonic passenger jet…. once in PHX one left from Sky Harbor on a flight to London ( the group came back on the QE 2 the noise level was unbelievable…”
Boeing 707 60th Anniversary
An old friend just emailed me this fascinating account of the Boeing 707 at a pivotal point in Aviation History. I’ll introduce the topic and lead you to the original blog. Happy reading and perhaps reminiscing!
July 15th, 2014 was the 60th Anniversary of the inaugural flight of the Boeing 707, an aircraft that was poised to change the world of aviation. July 15, 1954, was a Day of Monumental Change. Aviation change, that is. World change. Today is the Anniversary of that event – an event that changed the course of commercial aviation, the world, and certainly of the Boeing Airplane Company.
Pan Am
It is the 60th Anniversary of the First Flight of the 707 Prototype – the Dash 80. The product of a bunch of engineers who probably lived in Bellevue, Washington, wore wing-tipped shoes with argyle socks , white shirts with pocket protectors, and carried K & E slipsticks (slide rules.) They produced a machine that – on a dozen levels – changed the world.
But the first flight of this matriarch of Boeing’s long line of descendant jet transports, as advanced as it was, might have led to a very different outcome. And, a very different Boeing.
The story of the $16 million gamble, betting the company by building the 707 with Boeing’s own funds and no customers, has been told often. But, there was more to the story.
Teen stowaway on flight to Hawaii frustrated with life in the US
I don’t think many American teens would attempt such a daring and desperate stunt. A Muslim kid from Africa, well maybe…
young, displaced and frustrated
What people need to understand is that these young teens are coming from a country torn by a civil war with no basic education and suddenly put in these high schools or elementary schools where they have a cultural shock,” said Talha Nooh from the Muslim Community Association, where the family were members.
What We Know About the Teen Stowaway Who Landed in Hawaii
ABC News report
http://abcnews.go.com/US/teen-stowaway-landed-hawaii/story?id=23412701
I just can’t believe this. It seems so wrong on so many levels i.e. hopping a fence on the taxiway, surviving the cold, lack of oxygen.
Milestones of o…
Milestones of online travel in the 25 years so far
The author does mention a few of the high points of the on-line travel evolution, but what do Apple, Twitter, and FaceBook have to do with this article?
Doug Parker was lucky to have worked under Bob Crandall
Doug Parker was lucky to have worked under Bob Crandall
A frank Doug Parker said prior management of American Airlines was so hamstrung by conflicts with labor that its ability to manage the airline was reduced.
Churn 