Clipper, Vol. 8, No. 9, September 1951

              Remember to “sell” PAA wherever you are and in whatever you may do.

Our first job is to help our customers enjoy using PAA. A smile goes a long way in all our contacts with them.
VOL. 8 —No. 9
SEPTEMBER, 1951
Clipper Travel Hits New Peak
12 per cent Gain In Passengers Shown So Far This Year
Every month this year Clipper traffic at Miami—and throughout PAA’s Latin American Division— has topped 1950 figures.
A total of 29,199 passengers passed through the Miami gateway during the month, compared to 27,597 in August of last year and 28,368 in July, 1951.
Travel to and from Miami by PAA during August was five per cent ahead of the same month in 1950, reports compiled by the Traffic Department reveal.
During the first eight months of the year, the Division carried 551,971 passengers, 12 per cent more than the 492,033 flown in the same 1950 period.
March, 1951, saw a new Division record established. The 76,229 passengers flown during that month topped the previous mark of 72,000 set in Mai’ch, 1942.
July and August, with a total of 149,304 passengers, reveal the extent of summer tourist travel in Latin America.
THOSE WERE THE DAYS—A couple of old friends talk over the pioneer aviation days in Brazil. Humphrey W. Toomey, Manager of LAD, looks over a Sikorsky S-42 PAA Clipper of the early 30’s with Waltario Oliveira, veteran Master Mechanic with the PAA System since its early days in Brazil. Oliveira accompanied Toomey on flights along the Brazilian coast when the latter was Chief Pilot for PAA in Brazil in 1931.
11 Promoted To Purser Rank
Eleven new Pursers were named in LAD during the last month.
Taking on added responsibility are Orlando Capo, Margaret Thompson, Jean Rainey, Aimee Cook, Stuart Garfield, Henry Gomez, William Hamon, Ferdinand Hernandez, Martha Hoffman, Ferdinand Scala and Mario Rodriguez.
Florida Grid Teams To Travel by Clipper
Florida’s two outstanding football teams — the University of Florida Gators and the University of Miami Hurricanes—are traveling to all their out-of-state games this season by special LAD Clippers.
The Gators from Gainesville have the most ambitious air schedule, beginning with a transcontinental trip October 4 to play Loyola College of Los Angeles at the Rose Bowl on October 6.
They take off again October 12 for Auburn, Alabama, to meet the Auburn Plainsmen October 13.
On November 17 they will Clipper to Miami for the annual classic with the Hurricanes that night, and a week later they will fly to Birmingham to tackle the Alabama Crimson Tide on November 24.
Miami’s Hurricanes began their Clipper tours September 28 when they flew to New Orleans for their opening game September 29 with Tulane’s Green Wave.
Their second trip will be to Lexington, Kentucky, November 2 to meet the powerful University of Kentucky Wildcats November 3.
SAN JUAN BOUND are newlyweds Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Kraus. The couple, married in Miami, are honeymooning in San Juan where Kraus is an LAD Dispatcher. His spouse is the former Betty O’Ban-non, Senior Operations Clerk in Scheduling in Miami. The couple was given a surprise party by the Schedule Department staff at the home of Bob Sorensen in Hialeah shortly before their marriage. A gift of silver, to match Betty’s service, was presented them from the staff.
Retirement Plan Draws More Than 400
More than 400 additional LADers enrolled in the PAA Cooperative Retirement Income Plan during the campaign for greater participation, which closed September 14.
To George E. Nolan, Airport Cargo Manager, goes credit for the outstanding job as a campaign captain.
He reported 100 per cent participation in the retirement plan by all those eligible employes coming under his canvassing team.
According to Harlow F. Stan-krauff, Service Section Supervisor in Industrial Relations in Miami, who was in charge of the monthlong campaign, this was the outstanding job done by any of the drive “captains.”
Stankràuff also revealed that applications for participation in the Retirement Plan still are coming in and he urged all employes working in the drive to complete their work as quickly as possible.
El Clipper
Wins Praise
Congratulations on the success of the first Spanish edition of The CLIPPER have been received from various members of the LAD family.
Some of the comments:
“I was very pleased to see that The CLIPPER is now published in the Spanish language. Now the Spanish speaking employes in this Division will be able to read their company publication.
“I have just returned from a trip through Central America where I heard many favorable comments concerning the Spanish edition. You can be sure that it is greatly appreciated and enjoyed.”
Signed A. S. B:
“The CLIPPER in Spanish is, in my opinion, a worthwhile undertaking.
“With the number of Spanish speaking personnel in our organization throughout the many Latin American countries served by the Division, it certainly is advantageous to reach them through the medium of The CLIPPER in their own language. In this way the stimulating effects of The CLIPPER and the general feeling of enthusiasm and pride it generates for PAA can be made available to this important segment of the LAD organization.”
Signed P. N.
“The issuance of the Spanish edition of The CLIPPER should prove of inestimable value as it relates to employe morale. Such an issue should go a long way toward improving employe relations.”
Signed A. S. G.
“We, here in Caracas, think that the Spanish edition of The CLIPPER is a wonderful idea.
“It is right to say that all Latin American employes reading the news in their native language will certainly help bring about a closer bond between all workers in the Division.”
Signed R.L.
“We have heard many favorable comments on the Spanish edition of The CLIPPER. Well selected material and an excellent transla tion job! Congratulations.”
Signed A. L.
r\
51101
Base in Brownsville Doubles Its Activities
LAD Transfers C-46 Aircraft Maintenance to Texas Station as Shops Hum Again
The Brownsville, Texas, shops of PAA are again humming with activity as the result of two large-scale projects.
One' is a contract to overhaul^
1,200 airplane engines a year for PAA’s C-46 aircraft base from Miami to Brownsville.
The other is the transfer of 'the United States Air Force.
Pan American has doubled its mechanical force at Brownsville, to handle the additional work load.
The Air Force engines are Pratt and Whitney R-1830s used in C-47 aircraft — the familiar DC-3s of commercial aviation. The Brownsville base also handles all maintenance of Pan American’s nine DC-3-type Clippers used in Mexico and Central America, as well as the DC-3s of several PAA-affiliated airlines in Latin America.
Maintenance of the C-46 fleet —nine Clippers used exclusively for cargo-service—was formerly done under contract at Miami by a private firm.
While Brownsville was the site of Pan American’s original shops, most of the airline’s world-wide Clipper fleet now comes to Miami for maintenance. There, in a more centrally located site, is PAA’s Miami Overhaul Base—largest airline shops in the world.
“M.O.B.”—headquarters for the double-deck “Strato” Clippers, the Constellations, DC-4s and DC-6s and Convairs—has a mechanical force of more than 3,000 to keep these aircraft, their engines and components in tip-top shape.
LAD Veteran Is Victim Of Auto Crash
A highway traffic accident has ended the long aviation career of Angel Gustavo Alfonso, 55, of Miami, one of the original employes of PAA.
He and his sister, Mrs. Josephine Gwynn,
5 6, of Key West, Florida, were fatally injured in an automobile collision near Fort Pierce, Florida,
saily in Sep- ai FflN^o tember while	JNSO
returning from Interlachen, Florida. They had driven there to hear for the first time Alfonso’s son, Mario, preach his first sermon at the Interlachen Methodist Church.
Funeral Services for Alfonso were conducted September 7 at Bryan Memorial Methodist Church, Coconut Grove, with burial in Woodland Park cemetery.
Name Martinez To Tour Board
Mario J. Martinez, Regional Traffic Manager for PAA in Brazil, has been appointed to represent the international air lines on the Consultative Tourism Council of Rio de Janeiro.
Martinez will represent the 12 international air lines now serving Brazil.
Headed by Dr. Alfred Pessoa, municipal tourism director, the committee was recently re-estab-by Mayor Joao Carlos Vital. Representatives of the government, transportation agencies, press, radio, sport groups, civic clubs, film companies, carnival groups, and other agencies interested in the promotion of tourism will compose the committee. All members serve in the interests of the municipality without pay.
Alfonso joined Pan American as a Mechanic and general utility man on October 19, 1927, just nine daye before the airline made its first scheduled flight from Key West to Havana. At the time of his death, he was one of three members of the original 15 employes of. the airline still working in LAD.
In the early days at Key West, Gus doubled in brass as a Flight Engineer, Co-Pilot, Mail and Cargo Handler, Chief Mechanic, and Spanish language interpreter on the flights to Cuba. Often Gus would shed his flying togs after arriving on a flight and drive the mail truck into town from Mea-cham Field.
Born in Tampa, Florida, he moved to Key West with his father, Cuban-born Victor R. Alfonso, well known editor and writer among Florida’s Spanish-speaking population and intimate of the noted Cuban martyr, Jose Marti.
A veteran of World War I, Al-Continued on Page 2
WINNERS IN CURACAO in the recent Caribbean Sales Contest are
shown as they learned of their good luck. Left to right, M. Schotberg, third prize; Mrs. Joyce Jansen, first prize, being congratulated by Porter Norris, center, and A. de Windt, second prize.