Clipper, Vol. 1, No. 11, April 1954

              Vol. 1, No. 11	Published by and for PAA Employees at N. Y. and Washington, D. C. System General Offices	APRIL, 1954
PAN AM EMPLOYEES IN NATIONAL TOURNEY
Paul Stickney, Skyline Club President, is shown giving a key chain and gen-knife set to each of the fellows from PAA who will participate in the National Wheelchair Tournament. From left to right, back row are Gus Kontes, Bob Napa, Mario D’Antonio and Pete Acca. Front row, Jerry Evenson, Joe Foley, Joe Vita and John Basile.
Eight agile PAA General Accounting Office employees, who can loop a basket with the best of them except that they have to do it from a wheelchair, will take part in the 6th National Wheelchair Basketball Tournament to be held at the 212th AAA Group Armory, Columbus Avenue and 62nd Street, on April 9, 10 and 11.
The employees are Pete Acca, junior accountant; Gerard Evenson, Mario D’Antonio and Joe Vitta, IBM operators, on the Brooklyn Whirlaways; and Gus Contes, John Basile and Joe Foley, keypunch operators, and Bob Nopper, an accounting clerk, on the Queens Charioteers.
The Whirlaways, who finished 2nd this year in the Eastern Division, will be appearing in their fourth National Tournament. They placed fourth in this in 1951 and 1952.
The Queens Charioteers finished 4th in the Division this year and are making their first National Tournament appearance.
John S. W oodbridge, Comptroller, will present an inscribed “PAA-Woodbridge Award” wristwatch to the outstanding PAA tournament player. It will be presented at a dinner following the final game.
Ten teams will take part in the tournament, with games to be played at 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, April 9 and 10, and another at 2:30 p.m. Sunday.
Taking part for the first time in the U. S. will be the Montreal, Canada Wheelchair Wonders. Other teams in the tournament will be the 1953 national champions, the University of Illinois Gizz Kids; the Kansas City Rolling Pioneers; the St. Louis Rams; the New Jersey Wheelers; the New York Spokesmen; the Whirlaways; the Charioteers; the Bulova Watchmakers and the Bronx Rollers.
The event is sponsored by the 52 Association of New York, Inc., as part of the work it has been doing for eight years to help wounded war veterans and others who are confined to wheelchairs. These include paraplegics, amputees and victims of poliomyelitis who formed the first wheelchair basketball teams in 1945 and since have grown to a league of thirty teams throughout the country.
The Skyline Club has been selling tickets, at $1 each, through its floor representatives. Employees who haven’t purchased their tickets may do so from their representatives or at the Armory.
PAA-TWA MERGER ANNOUNCED
That headline would really set the aviation industry on its ear wouldn’t it? Well, it has happened. Maureen Kelly, GAO-Rec-ords, and Mike Ledet, TWA flight engineer, took themselves out of the competitive field recently when they married. They honeymooned at Miami Beach and Havana. (The Havana trip was via PAA, natch!)
TWO FOR THE MONEY
Jane McCarthy, secretary to Henry Heim, Superintendent-Passenger Agencies, and her sister, Jule, will be cashing in on “Two For The Money” on May 8, for that is the day that they will be walking down the aisle in a double wedding ceremony. Jane will then leave with her husband, an Army lieutenant, for a Bermuda honeymoon.
“GO NOW —PAY LATER“ CREDIT TRAVEL A PAA FIRST
The Company has filed the “Pan Am Pay Later Plan” as a special tariff with the CAB, and will introduce the installment buying principle to air transportation on a nation-wide basis on May 1, subject to CAB approval.
This is the second major step in the company’s long-range objective to bring international air travel within the reach of the average man. The start of tourist service rates in 1948, since extended to almost every part of the world, and adopted by domestic airlines, was the first step.
The new plan, which will permit millions to fly abroad without disturbing their current savings, stems from PAA’s recognition that the American economy to a large degree is based on credit. Willis G. Lipscomb, Vice President, Traffic and Sales, in making the announcement, said, “More than any other single influence, credit has enabled Americans to achieve and maintain the highest standard of living in the world. We want to see international travel made a regular part of that standard of living.”
The plan, providing for a 10 per cent down payment and up to 20 monthly payments thereafter, will be available at all PAA offices in the U. S., and at 1,500 authorized PAA travel agency locations. Under the plan, credit may be granted on the services of PAA and affiliates from the United States to the 83 countries and colonies served by the System on six continents.
The idea of selling travel on a time-payment basis is not new, but nobody, up until now, has been able to develop a real national plan for financing travel.
Now, all a traveler has to do is pay 10 per cent of the ticket price, fill out and sign an application, and come in and pick up his tickets. In the major cities, the buyer may pick up. his tickets within 48 hours after he makes the application.
Single Charities Drive Planned To Replace All Other Campaigns in '55
Beginning next year, 1955, the System General Offices will hold just one charity drive per year. The plan will start next year because of the fact that separate drives have already been scheduled for this year.
The new campaign will be designed to lump into one package and take the place of the various separate drives you’ve contributed to in the past. The idea of a single campaign to include a number of charities has been tried successfully in PAD and LAD, and is also to be introduced in the Atlantic Division this year.
Charities to be included, time, and manner of collection, and similar details will be worked out by a committee of clerical and management representatives.
The CLIPPER will carry further news of this as it develops.
Last year, employees contributed a total of $3,091.99 to American Cancer Society, American Red Cross, Cerebral Palsy, Greater New York Fund, March of Dimes and the Salvation Army.