The fifteen years I spent with Pan American Airways has created some interest - in particular as it was a significant period in the growth of the airline industry and hence this article.
First, the background to my joining Pan Am.
Like a number of Trinity males I had no clear idea of a career - in particular as I knew time was short between leaving the sixth form and joining the army. Most of my army time was spent as an instructor at the School of Infantry where all nationalities were represented. Shortly before I left the army an American Colonel asked what I intended to do. He offered to pave the way with a job at the American Embassy and I joined their Travel Dept.
Shortly after joining the Embassy, my work colleague left to join Pan Am. He appeared one day in this very glamorous uniform and told me he was given two tailored uniforms, a black trench coat and six white shirts, cap, etc. renewed every two years. To a married man, with a baby and an ex-Trinity wife using her old stockings to recycle our tealeaves - in an effort to pay the mortgage - the free clothing sounded fantastic and so I joined Pan Am on the ticket counter of the Piccadilly office.
In those days, 1952, the airline industry was regarded as glamorous and job vacancies were swamped with applications – hence relatively low pay and long hours. The basic hours were 9 - 6 Monday to Friday, 9 - 1 on Saturdays and once a month all day both Saturday and Sunday. No overtime but, if you worked a weekend you had the following Saturday off. We were also open 365 days in the year! On Sundays you worked alone and my most memorable occasion was going downstairs to open the glass doors and finding an anti American protestor had shoveled a cwt of horse manure through the letterbox.
A little about Pan Am. Founded in 1927 they were the largest airline in the world and flew to virtually every country in the world. First to fly the Atlantic, First to fly the Pacific, First Round-the-World, First with Tourist Flights and so it goes on. Employees included well-known names including Charles Lindbergh - first solo over the Atlantic, Charles Blair - first solo over the North Pole - his story became a book and a film starring Humphrey Bogart. He also married a film star called Maureen O'Hara. Many of the Captains, who were regarded as gods gods,ran profitable businesses on the side - one I met ran a Big Game Hunting Company with Ernest Hemmingway and a Captain Zimmerman founded a Company called Dynarod!
Back to me. Two weeks after joining the ticket counter I woke up in St George's Hospital. I had passed out with stress and exhaustion. There was a fuel strike, no planes were able to fly, no time to train this newcomer and I was one of the erks on the counter facing six deep passengers screaming their heads off day after day. Luckily when I returned from hospital two days later the strike was over. At least I had intensive on-the-job training, which benefited me, and three years later I was the Manager. I had the most fantastic team and we achieved the highest level of commendations and the lowest complaint level. The latter was achieved by a little "engineering". I had an attractive young lady called Lillian. If we had a complaint, Lillian went into the back office and piled on the mascara. Within two minutes of facing the passenger she was able to manufacture tears and the there was no male who could bear the sight of the black streaks running down her face - complaint over!
During this three-year period we had the renowned London pea soup fog. I went to work as normal one day and came home three days later wearing the same shirt, underwear, etc. All flights had been diverted to Hurn Airport, outside Bournemouth, and we were sent to handle the flights until the fog cleared - which took three days. Hurn was hardly geared to handle international flights and was a little like Casey Court. When a plane landed, we kept the passengers on board while one of us went out to the main road to stop a local bus. With a "drink" persuasion we had the driver divert the bus, complete with some local passengers, out on the runway and loaded our passengers. On arrival at Customs /Immigration we asked the old dears with their shopping bags to remain on board while we disembarked our passengers and they could continue to Bournemouth~ We worked twelve hours on and twelve hours off and were paid a per diem. Everyone being short of money, we booked double rooms in a boarding house and slept sideways, six to a bed, fully clothed males and females. We must have stunk.
In 1955 Pan Am decided to set up a Sales/Service Training department and chose Western Europe Division as the guinea pig. A gentleman from Division Headquarters was given the task and, with my army training experience, I initially became his assistant. Over the next fifteen years we grew like Topsy, taking on the Atlantic Division, then the Overseas Division and then finally worked for the Pan Am System responsible for training of all staff other than flight crew - some 23,000 employees from all over the world. We operated out of London with Training Schools in London and Hong Kong and Field Training Supervisors responsible for their areas of the world.
I was obviously travelling a great deal and, to put this in perspective, my early flights to New York on a Boeing Stratocruiser took 22 hours with landings in Shannon and Gander. A Hong Kong trip in a DC4 took a day and a half arriving with a very sore piece of anatomy. By comparison, towards the end of my time, it was not unusual for me to leave in the morning visit Frankfurt, Berlin, Stuttgart and be home that evening.
Two of my outstanding memories were the transition from propeller to jet and the introduction of computers. The transition to jets was a formidable training task for everyone from Commissary, Weight and Balance, Operations, Ground Handling, Passenger Service, Cargo, etc. For some years before jets, in anticipation, we daily flew a non-existent, paper jet between London and New York in addition to the regular propeller service. Load factors, with a much higher passenger and cargo content were calculated, weather and diversion factors were considered, ground handling allowed for - as it applied to that particular day. This "ghost" exercise materially helped prepare for the big day. Bearing in mind staff had not even seen these jets and flying time from New York to London was being decreased from 14 hours to 6 hours with a much bigger load - seriously affecting handling - we went to Boeing in Seattle and filmed hours of 32 mm film.
This was then cut to produce a series of 10-minute training films for the various departments and training schedules designed around the films.
Prior to the introduction of computers our prime method of communication was by telex and we had our own cables under the Atlantic. This, combined with manual recording of reservations, was to undergo a major change and the new Panamac Computer system gave a transatlantic response time of two seconds and instant reservation detail. It was also an era of appalling ignorance! I had been on an IBM course in up-state New York and was at the old Idlewild Airport awaiting a flight back to New York. A Manager I knew said I should go over to the Cargo Sheds to see the chaos.
IBM had delivered the new Main Frame Computer to be shipped to London. From memory it was some 30 feet by 10 feet and too big to fit the hold. As I arrived it was being cut it in half with a blowtorch, to be re-welded when it when it arrived in London!
Can you imagine what this did to a multi-million piece of equipment? It gets worse - its costly replacement was shipped by sea and arrived before the new computer building was completed. It was stored outside with a tarpaulin over it!
Another costly replacement ensued but we did learn the hard way.
Juan Trippe, President and founder of Pan Am, retired when the Pan Am Building was completed in New York and the new Board decided all Headquarter functions were to be centralised in the new building. I was not prepared to move and left the company. Sadly over the following years Pan Am went into decline for a number of reasons and the final blow was Lockerbie. It was certainly a unique period for me and the comradeship formed in those pioneer days still continues today and I still meet-up with many of the people I worked with.
