PMH_CVG

REALITY

I borrowed my Dad's car for the first month or so of my employment because I was hired to start work in Portsmouth, Ohio. That was a couple of hundred miles from Elkins, WV. I had no idea where Portsmouth was at the time. Palmer Holiday had told me that my boss would be George Tinney who just happened to be from Elkins like me. George was older than me and had been in the Navy while I was in High School. I knew of him, but I knew his brother Glen better as well as his parents who attended the same church as I. Even now, I can remember O. B. Tinney leading the congregation in song.

Now comes Charlie Morgan. Charlie was my mentor. He and George taught me everything I needed to know in the airline business (or so they thought). Agents were supposed to have a Supplemental Aviation Weather Reporting Station license. In order to get this license, it was necessary to almost memorize a huge manual called the WBAN 10. When they had me ready for it, I boarded the flight to Cincinnati for the test. I took it and felt good about my chances of passing it. Sadly, I didn't pass and I was pretty embarrassed. I had never actually ever failed anything in my life.

Apparently it was common for people to fail the first time though and they got me ready to go again. I was ready this time. I thought. George and Charlie quizzed me incessantly to make sure I was ready. I failed again. I was lucky because George and Charlie had faith in me enough to get me a third shot at it and I convinced Palmer that I deserved this third shot. This time, I got the man administering (Mr. Hiner) the test to let me write down all the questions and my answers because I really thought I passed the second test. I knew something wasn't right (besides my answers). When we went through the test back in Portsmouth and my answers, we were confident that I passed. I didn't.

The questions and answers helped me keep my job, but I wasn't allowed to stay in Portsmouth. Over two years later after having written letters to officers in the Company protesting, I found that Portsmouth had not been getting all the current revisions to the big manual. I was studying information that was outdated!! Now I knew why two other guys before me had been forced to leave. I got a letter from President Lloyd Hartman who apologized to me while explaining what had happened, but I was already in Cincinnati. George and Charlie told me I could go to Columbus or Cincinnati but recommended Cincinnati because the turnover was greater there and I would overcome the reduction in pay more quickly. They were right, I was only busted back to Ramp Service for around two months before regaining my Station Agent Status and my original pay scale.

Did I tell you we didn't have computers? We communicated using Teletype machines. You couldn't see what you typed because you made a tape which was inserted in the machine for transmission. After a while, you learned how to read the tape or at least important parts of it so if you made a mistake, you could tear off the tape and insert the correction tape right away. Copy machines? Right? We printed the morning weather reports with purple ink and made copies on a gelatin roll as part of the package each flight would be given. It was a mess!!

I always loved the Operations side of my job better than any other. I had close contact with the Stewardesses and the Pilots many of whom I still call friend in 2004. I was an airplane person and needed to be around the airplanes. Operations was my place. It was challenging to balance a DC-3, but rewarding. When I signed my name alongside the pilot's name on each Flight Movement Report, it was their guarantee that this airplane was safe to fly. The co-pilot usually verified this fact, but their were times when the Ramp Agents loading the planes didn't load them correctly. I have memories of the airplane taxiing out and starting the take-off roll only to return to the ramp for a tail heavy condition. Heaven help the person who loaded it wrong because the pilot would always be mad...and rightly so.

I remember one day when Carl 'Boon' Boyer took off in a DC-3 and lost an engine on take-off. He circled the airplane back around and lined up to land on runway 27 at Cincinnati. On short final approach, he lost the other engine, but landed safely. I really don't remember who the co-pilot was, but the stewardess's initials were MS.

Now 'Boon' Boyer is a story in himself. He's gone west now, but I remember lots of Boon Stuff. I always wondered why they spelled Boon without the e on the end. It was years later, I finally heard the story of how Lake Central Airlines operated a couple of C-46's in the early 50's. Boon was small of stature and the big airplane always tried to take him to the 'boon'docks. That's why Carl was Boon and not Boone Boyer. He'll pop up again later in this story.

During those early years, I worked the ticket counter from time to time because I lacked enough seniority to stay in Ops. During those ticket counter years I was fortunate to come in contact with many celebrities. I didn't really collect autographs in those days because I always respected my customers right to be left alone. I did get autographs from Tex Ritter & Ed Sullivan while we were still Lake Central. Tex and I had a really deep conversation that I recall. I didn't really know Ted Ritter, but I did know he was a familiar face and told him I couldn't figure out why he was so familiar. He said, "Son, have you ever been to the movies?" That was it!! I had seen him in a movie just previous week. I've always remembered and cherished that Saturday evening with him when I wasn't busy and another airline wasn't on time.

I encountered Ed Sullivan when I allowed him to take a short cut through my back door to catch his (other airline) flight. In those days there was no security, but the other airline agent was escorting him. He always demanded personal attention by the airline as did a few other entertainers and sports figures.

More to follow----