1940
THE PISDmoniTOfI
VOL. VIII, NO. 7
APACE WITH THE PACEMAKER
JULY, 1965
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This modern aerial view of Piedmont Aviation, Inc., shows the general office building (right), warehouse (left front), maintenance hangar (left), and fixed base operations across the
street). Not shown are the two General Aviation sales offices and the Central Piedmont Aero hangar.
Piedmont Celebrates 25 Years
Of Service to the Field of Aviation
The Men, The Company and Tom Davis
By Bonnie Hauch
Ask Tom Davis what has made
Piedmont Aviation, Inc., so suc
cessful and he’s sure to reply,
“An outstanding group of cap
able employees.”
Ask any employee, especially
those who were around in the
early days, the same question
and the answer is a unanimous,
“Tom Davis.”
In talking to Piedmont em
ployees, one hears such unsolicit
ed comments as “Tom Davis
made Piedmont . . .” “He built
the company brick by brick . . .”
“Tom Davis did the work . . .”
“Without him, the company
would not be where it is today.”
The Company Today
Piedmont Aviation, Inc., is
comprised of three divisions;
two dealing with general avia
tion and an Airline Division.
The company employs more than
1800 persons throughout nine
states. Piedmont’s total annual
payroll is nearly $12 million. The
Airline’s fleet of 26 Martin 404
Pacemakers and 8 F-27 prop jets
fly over a million persons an
nually over a 6,000 mile route
system. The airline operates
through 43 airports to serve 69
cities.
The general office building and
hangar of the Airlines in Win-
ston-Salem has 104,360 square
feet. In addition, the General
Aviation Division at INT oc
cupies 89,780 square feet; and the
Central Piedmont Aero Division,
14,990 square feet.
Twenty-five years ago, the
home office property was grass.
Across the street were two
buildings that housed the em
ployees and airplanes of a small
company known as the Camel
City Flying Service.
Young Man Joins Company
A young man, 21 years old and
straight out of college, became a
salesman for this company, and
soon showed that he intended
to do more than sell his month
ly quota. The young man had
started flying model airplanes as
a little boy, had earned his
pilot’s license before he grad
uated from high school, and was
a full-fledged commercial pilot
by the time he left the Univer
sity of Arizona.
On July 2, 1940, one year after
he started as a salesman, the
young man, Tom Davis, acquired
the controlling shares of stock
in the flying service. He chang
ed the name to Piedmont Avia
tion and acquired, at the same
time, the Piper and Stinson air
craft franchises.
Tom Davis became vice-presi-
dent and treasurer of the new
company, Frank Groat, secre
tary; M. F. Fare, assistant sec
retary, and L. S. McGinnis, presi
dent. There were five other em
ployees of Piedmont during that
first year, two of whom are still
with the company. Ed Culler
was one of the first to come. He
used to hang around the airport
after school, doing odd jobs in
exchange for a free ride. When
he finished high school, he
made the situation permanent.
The others included Bill John
son, who now works with
the Airline Division, Winfred
Easter, Frank Groat, and Joe
Brooks.
The main requisite for a job
with the new company was a
love of airplanes. And who loves
airplanes more than a young
boy? Thus it was that Piedmont
attracted youth — and the dy
namic force that goes with it.
Bill Barber was 19 when he
joined Piedmont. So was How
ard Cartwright. Joe Fix, like Ed
Culler, began hanging around
the airport when he was 16, just
looking at the planes. Finally,
someone suggested that he stop
standing around and get busy,
and Joe found himself with a
job. For the first year he worked
for nothing but the love of being
around airplanes and the privi
lege of “free” flying lessons. He
delighted in the work.
In the early days, Tom Davis
and the late Charlie Vestal were
the salesmen. Ed Culler remem
bers seeing Mr. Davis flying all
over the place in his Stinson
Reliant. One day, the Reliant
threw a rod. Davis made a beau
tiful landing in a field not far
from Winston, but had to leave
his plane there until the engine
could be fixed. When he went to
check on it, he noticed the small
footprints of little boys tracking
up to the aircraft, onto the air
craft, and right out to the wing
tips. He was so worried about
his airplane that he borrowed
the engine from a Chatham Mfg.
Presidents Message
In many respects it is hard to believe that our Company is
25 years old. On the other hand, there have been some rather
substantial accomplishments that many companies never attain or
at least require a much longer period of time.
For example, when we started we had 5 employees. Today
we have 1,836. Total sales the first full calendar year were
$221,967. Last year they were $31,384,609. Profits that first year
were $1,642. Last year they were $1,243,450. We then had 3
stockholders. Today we have 4,991. Our general office was in
an old frame house located near two small hangars, and you
know what we have today.
What has happened, however, is significant only to the ex
tent that we utilize the knowledge and capability we have achieved
in the past for further and even greater progress in the future. Our
opportunities in the next 25 years, I believe, are far greater than
they were in the past 25 years.
We have measured up to our slogan — "Piedmont sets the
Pace." With the outstanding people we have in our Company I
am sure that we can continue to do so.
T. H. DAVIS
President
airplane, put it in his own Re
liant, and flew the disabled air
craft out of the field, back to
the hangar, and away from little
boys.
Ed remembers, too, how Char
lie wouldn’t take “no” from a
potential customer. “He’d take
iust about anything in trade,
though,” recalls Ed. One day he
would fly away and come back
in an old car. The next day, it
would be a boat. One time he
even rode a motorcycle all the
way back to Winston-Salem.
All Was Not Work
In 1943, Tom Davis, a very
young man with very big plans,
became the president of Pied
mont Aviation, Inc., and the
company was then headed and
staffed by men in their very
early twenties and some still in
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