Clipper, Vol. XVI, No. 8, August 1959

              Pan Am Buys 12 Prop-Jet Cargo Clippers
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CLIPPER
LATIN AMERICAN DIVISION
SCOUTS IN PANAMA PICTURES . . . Page 4
VOL XVI, NO. 8
MIAMI, FLORIDA, AUGUST 1959
590814
Jet Clippers To Number 16 By Year’s End
New Boeing Clips 54 Minutes From U.S.-Moscow Mark
By the end of the year, Pan American will have a fleet of 16 Jet Clippers, linking the continents at the tempo demonstrated by the first Intercontinental Jet Clipper which set a record between New York and Moscow.
Pan Am took delivery of the first Boeing 707-321 Intercontinental on July 19 and put it into service three days later on the flight to Moscow.
The Intercontinental Jet Clipper, carrying 93 persons, clipped almost an hour off the record from New York to Moscow, making the 4,850-mile nonstop flight in eight hours and 54 minutes, 54 minutes faster than the previous record of nine hours and 48 minutes held by a Russian Aeroflot TU 114.
Carried 73 Newsmen
The Boeing 707-321 flew at an average speed óf 545 miles per hour with a 33 mile-per-hour tail wind at altitudes between 37,000 and 39,000 feet. Aboard were 73 newsmen covering Vice President Richard M. Nixon’s trip to Russia, a crew of 13, four maintenance men, and three Soviet Air Force officers.
The Jet Clipper flew from Moscow to London and then to Seattle via the Polar Route. It became a part of PAD’s fleet, as will the next two Intercontinentals to be delivered to Pan American.
Eight more Boeing Intercontinental Jets—and possibly a ninth —are scheduled to be delivered by the end of the year. The first of Pan Am’s fleet of DC-8s also is slated for delivery in December.
Six 121s Now in Fleet
The six Boeing 707-121s now in Pan Am service constitute the complete fleet in this series. When all jet deliveries are completed in early 1961, Pan Am will have six 707-121s, 17 707-321s, and 21 DC-8s.
Tentative delivery dates for the rest of 1959 are: Boeing Intercon-
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Air Force Cites Pan American for Union Agreement
The Department of the Air Force has saluted Pan Am for the “understanding and responsibility” demonstrated by its agreement with operating unions to move military traffic regardless of possible work stoppages during labor disputes.
P. B. Taylor, assistant secretary of the Air Force, said, “This action on your part is a fine example of labor and management responding voluntarily to a challenge in the interests of national defense. Your company can take pride in this agreement.”
Secretary Taylor commented, “The Department of the Air Force wishes to express its appreciation. The recognition of military exigencies in this collective bargaining agreement assures uninterrupted military operations during a possible labor-management dispute.”
HONOR GUARD of pilots, top, salutes Capt. Roy E. Keeler as he leaves his last Clipper flight on retirement. Below, left, Captain Keeler admires a plaque commemorating his perfect safety record, presented by the ALPA. At right below, Mrs. Keeler rewards him with a kiss.
Knew Job Wouldn't Last
Captain Roy Keeler Retires; Piloted Clippers 30 Years
Capt. Roy E. Keeler, No. 1 pilot in Pan American’s worldwide System, has retired after more than 30 years service with the airline.
Upon completing his final flight from San Juan to
Miami, Captain Keeler was met at<£—...........
International Airport by a host of Pan American officials, pilots, friends and Mrs. Keeler.
He was presented with a model of the DC-6B aircraft, the Clipper Resolute, that he commanded on his last flight, by Division Operations Manager Oliver J. Studeman. A Plaque commemorating his long service and outstanding safety record, was presented him by Capt. David Desmond in behalf of the Airline Pilot’s Association.
Among the many records Captain Keeler set while piloting Pan American Clippers was the remarkable one for safety. He never as much as scratched the paint on an aircraft.
Capt. Jones Now No. 1
With Keeler’s retirement, top pilot seniority for the Pan Am System passes to Capt. Harold E. Gray, executive vice president in charge of the Atlantic Division, New York.
Capt. Walter J. Jones, of Miami, becomes senior pilot in the Latin American Division.
Since Keeler was employed January 8, 1929 in Miami, he has spent 27,000 hours at the controls of Clippers, flying a total of 6,-000,000 miles. He has crossed the Atlantic Ocean 100 times, the Pacific 50 times. His Caribbean crossings number into the thousands.
The veteran flier has had many unusual experiences. When the disastrous Labor Day hurricane of
1935 struck the Florida Keys, Captain Keeler flew a Red Cross relief group headed by Dr. Joseph Stewart to Lower Matecumbe from Miami. Keeler brought back a description of utter devastation and an urgent plea for more help.
Regular Flights Routine
“All my regular flights were routine,” said Keeler. “The closest call I ever had was at Rio de Janeiro. A car doing 60 just missed me as I stepped off a bus.”
A native of Leslie, Michigan, Keeler is the father of a son and daughter. He also has a stepdaughter. With his wife, he lives in South Miami.
During the war he flew vital personnel and cargoes to Africa and India on Pan Am’s Africa-Orient Division. Twice he spotted Continued on Page 2
Photo Flash Bulbs Permitted on Jets
Restrictions on the use of photo flash bulbs aboard Jet Clippers have been revised and this type of photo equipment may now be used when the aircraft is in flight and the no smoking sign is off.
The Boeing Airplane Company reviewed the restriction on flash bulbs and traced it back to the early operation of the B-47 and B-52. The use of photo flash bulbs is prohibited when an aircraft is on the ground being serviced.
Fleet of Lockheed 207s To Serve Latin America; Cost Set at $60 Million
Trippe Sees Low Ton-Mile Cost Of Operation Slashing Present Overseas Rates Nearly in Half
As a further step in its program designed to effect a drastic reduction in air cargo rates to Europe, to Africa, to the Middle East, to South America, and to the Orient, Pan American World Airways has ordered 12 special long-range Lockheed 207 prop-jet air freighters at a cost, including spares, of $60,000,000, Juan T. Trippe, President, announced today.
The special Lockheed 207, incorporating added range to meet Pan American specifications, can operate nonstop in either direction across the Atlantic carrying a 35-ton payload. The new prop-jet will have four times the work capacity of the Company’s largest piston-engine cargo aircraft.
Delivery Set For Early 1962
The new 115-ton cargo aircraft will be powered by four General Motors-built Allison prop-jet engines each of 6,500 horsepower. With continued development support by the government for the engine as well as development support for the airframe, deliveries are scheduled for early 1962.
Cargo shipments between the U. S. and Latin America have grown by leaps and bounds over the past decade. In 1958, Pan Am’s Latin American Division carried 75,141,-000 pounds of cargo, with Miami as its busiest gateway.
Predicts Cut In Overseas Rates
“The low ton-mile cost of Pan American’s new cargo fleet,” said Juan T. Trippe, Pan Am president, “should permit cutting nearly in half most overseas cargo and mail rates. This would permit the Post Office Department to move ordinary mail, without airmail surcharge, throughout the world and at a substantial profit. It would also permit nearly half of our overseas parcel post to move by air. Equally important, U. S. magazines and newspapers—so useful in the cold war in selling abroad our country’s way of life—could be delivered at low cost anywhere in the world by air.
“The development of new cargo business on a volume scale,” Trippe continued, “will permit retention of many skilled Pan American personnel who otherwise would be displaced as a result of the technological impact of the jet age.”
Powerful Influence In World Trade
Its ability to land on runways as short as 4,000 feet, its truck-bed loading, its long range and great capacity, combine to make the Pan American prop-jet cargo fleet a powerful influence in world trade.
Furthermore, the long-term precedent-making con-
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Pre-Clearance For Customs, Immigration Big Success
After a test period, the new system adopted by the U.S. Customs and Immigration Department of pre-clearance for passengers and their luggage before leaving Nassau has been declared an unqualified success. The system has been hailed by U.S. government officials, the tourist trade and by travelers.
Completely eliminated has been the waiting at Miami and New York terminals as passengers were shunted from U.S. Public Health, to Immigration and finally to Customs. Now passengers walk off their Pan American Clippers, pick up their baggage and go home, just as though it were a domestic flight. Here’s how it works:
In Nassau at the end of a vacation, passengers fill out the new simplified version of U.S. declaration forms, in the comfort of their hotel rooms. Unless purchases are above the $200 or $500 allowances, depending on the time away from the country, this takes but a minute.
On arriving at the airport passengers check in at the Pan Am counter. After weighing, their luggage goes directly to the U.S. Customs table. Submitting the declaration, passengers answer a few questions. Their luggage, including hand parcels, is sealed and sent to the plane. As passengers board, a U.S. inspector watches to see that nothing new had been added.