Clipper, Vol. 16, No. 6, July 1957

              Mark 20 Years of Atlantic Hops
ATLANTIC DIVISION
Volume 16
July, 1957
Number 6
Bermuda
Honors
Airlines
J. T. SHANNON, Division Operations Manager, presents a special plaque award to A1 Cilli, Chief, Route Section, for his consecutive donations to the Pan Am Club Blood Bank since 1949. Others present (left to right) were Walter Mikoleski, mechanic; Harry Schwartz, master mechanic; Frank Tully, Route Section; John Entwhistle, master mechanic; Joseph Zaslow, master mechanic, and Santi Giametta, Services of Supply. All of the above, and Denton Jeffries, who was not present for the picture, have donated a gallon or more of blood into the Blood Bank and their names have been engraved on a permanent Gallon Club Plaque which will be kept on display in the showcase at the IDL hangar area. As additional donors reach the gallon mark, their names will be inscribed on this plaque.
(See Story on August 19 Blood Drive, Page 7.)
Shells, Dalgaard Get Top Posts
Twenty years ago, on July 5, 1937, a Sikorsky flying boat took off from the waters of Botwood, Newfoundland, pointed its blunt nose eastward across the Atlantic and flew to Southampton, England.
The plane was an S-42B flying the flag of the United States and the markings of Pan
American. The flight was a significant one: to test the practicality of operating regular air service between the United States and Europe.
Simultaneously, a flying boat of Imperial Airways, the flag carrier of Great Britain, flew in the opposite direction. Somewhere in mid-Atlantic the two airliners exchanged radio messages to mark the occasion. In command of Pan American’s plane was Captain Harold E. Gray, veteran Pan Am pilot and now Executive Vice President of the Atlantic Division.
According to the log, the trip was uneventful and a new era in aviation had begun. The point had been proven, the Atlantic could be spanned by aircraft on a regular schedule. Today, only two decades later, the ocean is crossed 60 times each day by commercial airlines flying the coloi'S of 15 different nations. Pan American alone has crossed the Atlantic 64,000 times, carrying 2,500,000 passengers.
Because of the short range, and the slow speed of the old flying boats in those early days, it took the aircraft 22 hours, 39 minutes of flying time to make the journey from the sea-plane base at Port Washington, Long Island to Southampton. Now, in sleek new DC-7C’s, operating at speeds of more than 350 miles
Robert P. Sheils, a 10 year Pan American veteran, has been selected to fill the position of Atlantic Division Industrial Relations Manager, moving up from the position of AD Labor Relations Superintendent.
A native of New York City, Mr. Shiels, 35, is a graduate of
Fordham University Law School, where he specialized in labor law. His studies were interrupted by World War II in which he served as a pilot, and as aide to Brig. Gen. Robert F. Travis.
He joined Pan American Jan. 7, 1947 as a sales representative
We showed him her picture and rang up a $252 sale.”
When we got this letter, we went to our photographic files, looked under L, and found that Lastowska was Lovely, even in a passport photo. Sale here, too.
She9s a Best Seller
Never underestimate the power of a women—particularly a pretty Pan Am Stewardess.
If this statement needs proof, it’s contained in this letter from Albert Lewis, Station Traffic Manager at Beirut. He says:
“Jeanette Lastowska’s photo was the sales aid in producing a first class booking Beirut-Mun-ich recently.
“On the day before that flight, a group of U. S. Air Force pilots were in our office booking return space to their bases in Europe after delivering planes to Saudi Arabia. We satisfied all routing requests except for one pilot who wanted to ride a turboprop to see what the Viscount looked like. We emphasized the superior service on our DC-6B’s over other operator’s Viscounts.
The pilot thought it over, and agreed to the sale, provided we could guarantee an attractive stewardess.
“Fortunately, Miss Lastowska was taking the flight and we
had her passport in the office. Jeanette Lastowska
on the New York District sales staff. In 1948, he became assistant reservations manager and in 1950 was appointed District Reservations manager in New York. He assumed the Labor Relations Superintendent’s post in 1952.
Mr. Shiels, his wife and five children make their home in Ardsley, N. Y.
The promotion of Harry B. Dalgaard, former DTSM in Rome, to the post of Assistant to Division Traffic and Sales Manager Dhan Mukerji has resulted in two other changes in the ROM station.
The new DTSM is Tullio “Tug” Gray, former Station Operations Mgr. at Ciampino Airport. Taking Gray’s place at the airport is Anthony J. King, former PAR Station Mgr., who has been on a roving assignment at IDL for the past few months.
Prior to coming to ROM as DTSM in November, 1954, Dalgaard served in similar posts in STO and OSL. A former major in the U. S. Army, Dalgaard has been in the airline industry since his discharge in 1946. He joined American Overseas Airlines as a traffic officer and came to Pan Am when the two lines merged in 1950.
Mr. Dalgaard replaces Jesse L. Boynton, whose appointment as Regional Director — Middle East and Asia was announced in last month’s Clipper.
President Juan T. Trippe and
AD Executive Vice President Harold E. Gray were among airline executives honored as Bermuda celebrated “Aviation Week” June 16-22.
The celebration marked two decades of commercial flying to and from the mid-Atlantic resort. It was the tiny British colony’s way of saying “thank you” for the big part the airlines have played in her growth as a leading tourist centre.
His Excellency the Governor, Lt. Gen. Sir John Woodall, struck this keynote in a Civil Air Terminal address formally opening “Aviation Week.” As he unveiled a cedar plaque commemorating the 20th anniversary of the first passenger flights between Bermuda and the U. S., the Governor remarked that Bermudians owe a good share of their present-day prosperity to aviation.	, , '
_ ( O i
First Flig'
Bermuda’s first/ commercial flight was made oryJune 16,1937, when a Cavalier/flying boat of Imperial Airways (now BOAC) took a dozen passengers from Bermuda to Poyt Washington, N. Y.	____
The following day,/june PL) Pan American ran the first'Cdm-(Continued on Page 2)
an hour and taking the Atlantic in one big non-stop gulp, only 12 hours separates England from the United States.
The S-42B, which was the best of its kind back in 1937, cost only $210,000. The new DC-7C, today’s plane, costs more than ten times that amount.
ONE SCORE AND NO YEARS AGO — A plaque bearing signatures of the two flying boat crews that flew the first transatlantic commercial survey flights on July 5, 1937, is examined 20 years later at Idlewild by the captains of the two ships, Harold E. Gray, now AD Executive Vice President, and A. S. Wilcockson, now BOAC operations controller in London, who flew over to commemorate the occasion.