Clipper, Vol. 10, No. 24, December 9, 1954

              Read From California to Calcutta, From Alaska To Australasia
Vol. 10 No. 24	PUBLISHED BY THE EMPLOYEES OF PAN AMERICAN WORLD AIRWAYS	December 9, 1954
QUARTER OF A CENTURY CLUB
Employees who have become eligible for Pan American’s most exclusive club during the past six months were officially honored at a dinner party at Green Hills Country Club last week. Six employees who passed the 25-year mark in service and their department heads were guests of the company. Left to right are Jack Poindexter, Chief Flight Radio Officer, Colonel Young, host at the party, Kathleen Hitchcock, secretary to the Accounting manager, Ralph Beecher, Administrative Assistant to the Division Manager and Hal De Nourie, foreman of the Machine Shop. Unable to attend their “initiation” were Flight Engineer Walt Zeigler and Captain Lanier Turner, both out on trips.
NOW ABOUT THE FARMER'S DAUGHTER
Young Finnish Girl Buys a Lottery Ticket For 40 Cents and Winds Up On a Round-the-World Trip
Selcal Equipment Will Go On All PAD B-377's
Success of SOPAC Trial Paves Way For Pacific-Wide Use
Lights will be flashing and bells will be ringing all over the Pacific, but it has nothing to do with Christmas.
It just means that Selcal, the selective calling system now in use on Clippers flying between Nandi and Auckland, will be placed in operation at all of Pan American’s Pacific points.
Selcal does away with the necessity of pilots’ constantly wearing headsets in the cockpit and thereby spares them from listening to the large amount of “chatter” that is required to handle the present volume of trans-Pacific flights.
When the ground station desires to call any given airplane., the ground operator, by merely pushing a button, is able to ring a bell and flash a light in the cockpit of the plane for which he has a message. The pilot of that plane then puts on his headset and calls the ground station.
Pan American is now completing negotiations with the various agencies that operate the ground stations for installation of the required ground equipment. Selcal equipment will be provided at Hong Kong, Manila, Singapore, (Continued on Page 4)
PHOTO FINNISH
Anni Koistinen, who won a trip around the world on PAA in a Finnish lottery, shows Rolf Qvist of the San Francisco Equipment Shop where she lives. Rolf acted as interpreter and unofficial tour conductor for the visitor from his homeland.
A Finnish farmer’s daughter has put the Pay Later Plan to shame.
Anni Koistinen of Oulainen, Finland, passed through San Francisco last week on her way around the world. Total cost of the trip, to her, was 50 Finnish marks, worth 40 U. S. pennies.
That was the amount she paid for a lottery ticket that won for her the first prize—a round-the-world trip by Clipper. The lottery was for the benefit of wounded Finnish soldiers.
Anni’s parents raise rye and potatoes on their farm. She was out rounding up the cows when she was notified that she had won the trip.
Anni was most impressed with the tremendous size of the United States. She said that skiing is to Finland what baseball is to this country. All the children ski to school. Anni has been skiing as long as she can remember. Ice
skating is another popular pasttime, altho she confessed that she wasn’t too talented at that sport.
She had made one trip to Sweden, but otherwise had never left Finland.
Since she speaks no English, Pan American arranged to have someone meet her at each stop who could act as an interpreter. At San Francisco this assignment was given to Rolf Qvist of the Equipment Shop, who came to the United States from Finland just five years ago. The last four of these have been spent with Pan American.
Rolf and his wife and their son went “all out” to show Anni a good time while she was in the Bay Area. Their boy even “sacrificed” a day from school just so he could do his bit toward making her stay here a more enjoyable one.
When Anni departed for Honolulu she was more than ever convinced that she was getting her 40 cents worth—and then some!
SFO’s Christmas Dance Coming Up December 18
Two Round-Trips to Mexico Head Attractive Prize List
Following the expressed wishes of its members, the San Francisco Panair Club is holding its annual Christmas dance on the peninsula. The affair is set for the beautiful new Elks Club at 229 20th Avenue in San Mateo the night of Saturday, December 18th.
Paul Law and his orchestra will play for dancing from nine until one. Dress is optional.
Tickets for members are going at the ridiculously low price of only a dollar per person. The ante for non-members is $1.75 per person. All club representatives have tickets. They can also be purchased at the Panair store in the cafeteria, from the receptionist in the ad building and in dispatch.
There is no limit to the number of tickets that may be purchased; so if you wanna take some friends along, that’s okay.
Five door prizes will be given away. Topping the list are two NOSUB round-trip tickets to Mexico City on CMA. This prize can be won only by a PAA employee.
Other prizes include a de luxe model clock-radio with plug-ins for appliances, a small clock-radio, a six piece steak set and a lazy susan.
ANNA WINS
Elected to the Territorial House of Representatives in November’s balloting was Anna Kahanamoku of PAA’s Honolulu sales office. This was her first try at politics. Her opponent in the election was a UAL man. (Honolulu ADVERTISER photo).