Pan American clipper, Vol. 7, No. 2, February 1949

              PAN AMERICAN
ATLANTIC DIVISION
LfPPEP
Read on four continents and four islands in between
Volume 7
February, 1949
Number 2
Pete Gregor Rounds Out 20 Years; Mary Waldron is Zedalis, Canaday Get 15-Year Pins Snow Ball Queen
Peter R. Gregor, shop superintendent in maintenance, joined the highly selective ranks of the “20-year men ’ in January. Since January 16, 1929, when he was hired by Pan American as a stock clerk in Miami, Mr. Gregor has had a hand in the growth of the Company and has contributed substantially to the development of the several types of Clippers.	_____________
Calcutta’s On-Time Record Reaches 100
(From the heart of India, with pardonable pride, comes the following news story.)
Calcutta, India
On Sunday, January 9, 1949, at 1845 local time Flight 2/06, bound for San Francisco, Captain Urch at the controls, departed Calcutta on schedule. This marked the 100th consecutive departure with “no station delay” for Calcutta.
A variety of smiles and burstings of shirt-front buttons took place on the apron at Dum Dum Airport following the take-off of Clipper Lightfoot. Bill Frost and “Windy” Wirth, station mechanics, exchanged cigars, and Dispatcher A1 Wilson was immediately available for the signing of autographed photos. “Tug” Gray, station manager, and “Rocky” Grant, station mechanic, stood aside and shed a few happy tears in silence. “Chet” Schreiner, senior maintenance supervisor, is now recovering nicely from the effects of a nervous breakdown he suffered that day.
It was a moment of great elation and triumph, yet all the Calcutta staff could not help wishing that Jack Healey, our able ATS who had contributed so much toward this goal, could have been present to witness its fulfillment. He returned to the US on December 29 for hospitalization. Much of the credit for this accomplishment goes to Jack, (Continued on page 3)
Born and educated in Pittsburgh, Mr. Gregor’s first job was as a carpenter and foreman with a Miami firm. After joining Pan American as clerk he made flights to Cuba and Panama to set up maintenance stores. He went to Brazil and Argentina in 1930 in connection with the opening of a new airline and was caught in a revolution in Belem, Brazil, in 1930.
Mr. Gregor became a mechanic in 1931 and three years later went to Hagerstown, Md., as resident inspector at the Fairchild factory. In 1936 he was assigned to President Trippe’s plane as flight mechanic and the following year he cleared as airworthy the first "commercial plane to cross the Atlantic. He flew on the first Boeing 314 to be ferried from Seattle to Baltimore and was hired as a charter member of the Atlantic Division.
In 1937, Mr. Gregor was named chief inspector in New York and he remained with the Atlantic Division until 1944 when he went to Seattle as maintenance superintendent for PAA in Alaska. He returned to NBA as shop superintendent in 1945.
Mr. Gregor, his wife, and their son, Peter, reside in Bayside.
15-Year Men
In the same month of January, Stanley Zedalis, senior maintenance supervisor, and Harry R. Canaday, superintendent of training, both completed 15 years with Pan American.
A native of Pennsylvania and graduate of the Curtiss Wright School of Aeronautics, Mr. Zedalis was already skilled in airline maintenance when he joined Pan American at Port Washington, L. I., on January 1, 1934. In 1937, when PAA’s Atlantic Division was organized, he was the first maintenance employe to be hired by
Stanley Zedalis
the Division.
His job title was “mechanic,” but in addiction to handling maintenance on the S-42 "Clippers Mr. Zedalis in those days helped to beach and float the big flying boats, and to load the passengers and their baggage. In 1939 he went on flight as a flight engineer and was on the first airmail run of the NC-03 to Europe. He remained as a flight crew (Continued on page 41
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20-YEAR
GRIP
PETE GREGOR (left) was guest of honor at a lobster luncheon the day V ice President JAMES H. SMITH, Jr., (right) presented him with his four-starred pin for 20 years of service to Pan American.
Mary Waldron
Mary Waldron, 20-year old blue - eyed brunette, is Pan American’s new Snow Ball Queen. At the PanAm Club’s second Snow Ball, held January 22 in the Hotel Taft, Mary inherited from Jean Foley, last year’s queen, the ermine-bordered mantle of her new regal estate.
Gowned in white lace and marquisette,
Mary was a radiant picture as she accepted the silver loving cup that went with the Snow Queen title. She also received an armful of red roses and a $25 gift certificate.
Sharing the spotlight with Mary were the four dazzling members of her court — Irene Stepura in a strapless pink satin creation; Marie Foley in strapless white lace; Dottie Desmond in a white strapless gown strikingly trimmed with red roses, and Betty Jane Kirchheimer in green satin brocade. It was an especially large evening for Betty Jane, whose engagement to A1 Lesmez of operations was formally announced at the Snow Ball.
A capacity crowd of 500 PAA-ers and their dates thronged the Taft ballroom to capacity. Bob Stupp, vice president of the PanAm Club, acted as master of ceremonies and led the new queen in the grand march around the ballroom.
The 1949 Snow Ball was voted an overwhelming success by all who attended, and the committee shared the disappointment of the many PAA-ers who were turned away after the ballroom was completely filled. Looking forward to 1950, officers of the PanAm Club promise that plans are already being formed to hold next year’s Snow Ball in more spacious quarters.