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VOL. VI, NO. 3
APACE WITH THE PACEMAKER
MARCH, 1963
DC-3 Goes Ouf
With Farewells
At Every Stop
A great lady bows out with a bouquet of flowers from the Shell Oil Co. and a good luck wreath pre
sented by her “family," Piedmont Airlines. Posing for this final photograph following DC-3 retirement cere
monies at INT are (left to right) Vice Presidents R. S. Northington, C. G. Brown, and H. K. Saunders, Presi
dent T. H. Davis, Captains Leon Fox and H. F. Dobbins, and Flight Attendant Bob Idol.
Piedmont Is Host
F-27 Confab Slated
Operators of F-27 prop-jet air
craft from every corner of the
United States plus a number of
foreign countries will be the
guests of Piedmont Airlines May
7, 8, and 9, as they convene in
Winston-Salem, N. C., for the
Air Transport Association’s F-27
maintenance meeting.
The session marks the first
time Piedmont has hosted the
annual meeting, held last year
in Las Vegas, Nev. It will be at
tended by representatives from
the eight U. S. local service air
lines using the Fairchild F-27.
In addition, invitations have
been extended to all corpora
tions which have the F-27 as
Piedmont Yield Up,
Says REA Express
Piedmont Airlines revenue
from Air Express shipments in
1962 amounted to $186,686, an in
crease of 81.8 per cent over 1961
Emil Seerup, Vice President-
Air Service, REA Express, an
nounced recently.
The company is one of 38
scheduled airlines which re
ceived a total of about $27,500,000
for providing Air Express trans
portation during the past year.
Air Express is a joint enterprise
of REA Express and the 38
scheduled airlines.
Piedmont revenue from Air
Express in 1961 amounted to
$102,661. Total revenue paid to
the airlines for Air Express
shipments in 1961 amounted to
$24,070,122, Seerup disclosed.
“These figures demonstrate
clearly,” he said, “that Air Ex
press traffic continues to be an
increasingly important area of
revenue for the airlines in
volved.”
their executive aircraft, and to
the manufacturers and suppliers
who make F-27 components.
Large Attendance
R. S. Macklin, Technical Ad
visor to the Director of Main
tenance and Engineering, esti
mates there will be over 75 rep
resentatives at the meeting.
“Maintenance and engineering
leaders from the local service
airline industry will be here,”
said Macklin. “The meeting will
give us a chance to discuss our
problems in relation to the F-27,
and to exchange information on
how to deal with them.”
The group will be welcomed
by President T. H. Davis and
Vice President H. K. Saunders,
and later in the conference the
guests will tour the airline’s cen
tral maintenance base at Smith
Reynolds Airport.
FAA 4fb Report
For '61-62 Period
Just Released
The Federal Aviation Agency
last month released its Fourth
Annual Report, covering Agency
decisions and activities from
July 1, 1961, to June 30, 1962,
with special emphasis on the
FAA’s primary mission of air
safety.
Many new regulations, proce
dures and programs were put
into force to bring about im-
mediate improvements in air
traffic control and in other FAA
operations during the report pe
riod.
Quick Congressional action re
suited in legislation to cope with
the problem of aircraft “sky
jackings,” making such actions a
Sudderth New Rep.
For TRI Area
Piedmont Airlines announces
the appointment of Robert E.
Sudderth as its new Sales Rep
resentative for the Tri-Cities
area, effective March 1.
Sudderth was born in Chatta
nooga, Tenn. He at
tended Science Hill
High School and
East Tennessee
State College, both
in Johnson City,
and the University
of Tennessee, Knox
ville.
A member of the Army Re
serve, his military service in
cludes six months active duty
at Ft. Jackson, S. C., and ten
months active duty at Ft. Cha-
free, Ark., during the Berlin
call-up.
He comes to his new post from
Washington, D. C., where he has
served with Piedmont since 1960
as a Ticket Agent and Passenger
Service Agent.
Sudderth is married to the
former Jane Hughes of Johnson
City. They are making their new
home at 4118 Englewood East,
Route 4, Johnson City.
It was a bright day with plen
ty of sunshine as Piedmont’s
last DC-3 started its final run on
February 20, date of the com
pany’s 15th anniversary.
From start to finish, the last
flight received heavy press,
radio, and television coverage,
with city dignitaries turning out
at each stop to pay their respects
and greet President T. H. Davis
and other Piedmont representa
tives aboard.
The trip — Flight 2 — started
in Columbus at 9:35 a.m. Aboard
were President Davis, his assis
tant, Don Britt, and General
Sales Manager W. G. McGee.
Captains Leon Fox and Harold
Dobbins, with Flight Attendant
Bob Idol, made up the flight
crew. Fox and Dobbins were the
pilots on Piedmont’s first sched
uled flight 15 years ago, and so
came full circle as they headed
the last DC-3 run.
Headed For PKB
After press interviews the
flight left Columbus for Parkers
burg-M arietta, where it was
greeted hy a large delegation of
city officials.
From Parkersburg came Mayor
William Brown and Chamber of
Commerce Manager Paul Ste
wart, and from Piedmont, Dis
trict Sales Manager Paul Loar
and Station Manager Vize Dot
son. Others there included Mayor
Curtis Uhi of Vienna, W. Va.,
Mayor E. W. Walker of Belpre,
Ohio; Mayor Don Curtis of Mari
etta; and Jim Williams, Manager
of the Marietta Chamber of Com-
m e r c e. Souvenirs of products
made in the area were presented
to the passengers and company
representatives.
Charleston was the next stop
and the Piedmont Workhorse
and her passengers were met by
Charles Hodges, Managing Di
rector of the Chamber of Com
merce; Mayor John A. Shanklin;
criminal offense subject to Fed
eral enforcement.
The report covers progress
toward development of a com
mercial supersonic transport air
craft and outlines the research
and study that remains to be
done.
Congress extended the life of
the Federal Aid Airport Pro
gram and increased appropria
tions for the program from its
previous level of $63 million to
$75 million per year for fiscal
years 1962 and 1963 and approved
the same amount for FY 1964
In related moves, the FAA furn
ished local communities im
proved standards and guidance
for local airport development.
Everett Parrish, State Director
of Aeronautics, and Airport Man
ager Cal Wilson.
Greeted at BKW
Among those turning out at
Beckley, the fourth stop of the
day, were Publisher Charles Ho-
del. Chamber of Commerce Pres
ident W. C. McMahon, County
Commissioner H. G. Farmer, and
Robert F. Hamilton, Managing
Director of the Beckley-Raleigh
County Chamber of Commerce.
Continuing'on to Roanoke,
Mayor Murray A. Stoller pre
sented President Davis the key
to the city, and Chamber Man
ager Jack Smith tendered a
_ r a m e d resolution from the
Chamber commending Piedmont
for its service to Roanoke.
Joining the group of Piedmont
personnel on the flight were
Vice President C. G. Brown, Gen
eral Traffic Manager R. E. Tur-
biville, Publications Editor Cleta
Covington, and later at RDU,
City Sales Manager Norman
Coiner. It was planned that Pied
mont’s first passenger, W. D.
Turner, would be aboard for at
least a portion of the flight. Re
gretfully however, Mr. Turner
was stricken with the flu two
days before and was unable to
make it.
First ROA Passenger
At least one first passenger
was on hand though, in the per
son of Mrs. Mary Jane Austin,
nee Equi, who was Piedmont’s
first paying passenger out of
Roanoke.
“I took my trip in April,” re
called Mrs. Austin. “The Mayor
and the City Council were at the
airport to see the flight off, and
I was the only woman aboard.
I was going to Fayetteville, and
had to go to Greensboro, take a
bus to Fayetteville, and on the
return trip, take a bus from
Fayetteville to Raleigh-Durham,
(Continued on Page Two)
ORF Agent Calhoun Takes Role
Of Benevolent Piedmont Angel
The burden of a young mother
and her two small children was
made just a little easier to bear
recently by the action of Norfolk
Agent Margaret Calhoun, who
gave a shining demonstration of
that extra Piedmont service.
According to ORF Manager
Art Whittaker, Agent D. M.
Trueblood received a call from
a Mrs. Storey, who wanted infor
mation on flights to Charleston.
After being quoted the schedule,
she picked Flight 91 and said
she would call back later to
make reservations for her chil
dren, ages two and four.
When Mrs. Storey was told
Piedmont could not accept chil
dren of this age for unaccom
panied travel, she became very
upset.
“The call was turned over to
me,” said Whittaker. “Mrs.
Storey’s husband was in the vet
erans hospital at RIC, suffering
from incurable lung cancer, and
not expected to live. She wanted
to go to RIC to be with her hus
band, and her brother in CRW
had agreed to keep the children
if she could get them there.”
Whittaker told Mrs.. Storey he
would see what could be done,
and would call her later. When
Margaret Calhoun heard of Mrs.
Storey’s plight, she immediately
volunteered to give up her day
dff and ride with the children
to CRW.
She got up in time to be at
the airport at 5;30 a.m., meet
Mrs. Storey and take charge of
the children, and personally de
livered them to their uncle in
Charleston.
The Piedmonitor extends a
“well done” to Margaret Calhoun
for her thoughtful deed, which
helped this husband and wife
spend precious time together.