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VOL. VII, NO. 10
1940 _ CELEBRATING T\FENTY-FIVE YEARS OF SERVICE — 1965
OCTOBER, 1965
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The 727 comes down out of the clouds to land at Tri-Cities.
From Seattle
Boeing Visitors Take The
Piedmont Officers To Ride
The Boeing Company is malting Piedmont’s jet shopping mighty
convenient. On October 7 they brought their goods down from
Seattle for a demonstration for our officials.
It was a three-jet 727 stand
Plane-Naming Game . . .
Areas Give Way to Places
by Betsy Winstead
How do the Pacemakers get
their names?
Some of the INT maintenance
men came up with this inquiry
one afternoon not too long ago.
Eugene McBride, who has been
working on our planes for near
ly nine years now, dropped this
question on your editor’s desk.
On my wandering trips through
the hanger I had wondered the
same thing, but I decided may
be everyone knew but me.
“T’ain’t so” I found out.
It doesn’t take too much
watching of our fleet to realize
that the names are all derived
from general areas, like Ohio
Valley Pacemaker and Palmetto
Pacemaker. But who does the
deciding?
List Making
It is more or less a commun
ity project around the front off
ice. Usually the Public Relations
department, which means Don
Britt, draws up a list of locali
ties that we fly over, around or
through. Then he puts Pace
maker on the end of each, to
see how it sounds or how it will
look lettered in blue and white
on an aircraft’s nose. (Incidently,
Mr. Britt reports that he’ll more
than welcome suggestions from
anyone who may have some.)
The list then goes to Mr. Davis
and his is the final selection.
It takes something pretty
special to have a plane named
for it. But some folks seem to
manage anyway. For instance,
the Mountaineers were celebrat
ing their 100th anniversary this
year. We have a Martin 404 that
got tagged West Virginia Centen
nial Pacemaker. This is probably
one of our more richly lubri
cated craft. At its inaugural.
West Virginia’s Governor’s wife
popped a bottle of champagne
across the nose of “their” Pace
maker. It’s name was changed
back at the end of that year.
Newest Name
The most recently named
plane in the Piedmont fleet is
the Mount Mitchell Pacemaker.
Mr. Davis said in a note to Mr.
Britt “Even though it is not an
area, it’s a good name.”
L. H. .lackson reports that
we’re about t o need another
name, for the Aviation Company
of Panama plane we bought not
too long ago.
This particular plane is a
TWA-type MARTIN 404. COPA
had been flying our new plane
in Panama. Maintenance reports
there was a lot of, perhaps more
than usual, cleaning up to be
done on the aircraft. It seems
there were numerous coats of
paint to be removed and even
some “animal” life in the plane
that made fumigation necessai’y.
Very soon however, the COPA
craft will be ready for a coat of
Piedmont blue.
Mr. Jackson said the plane
should be ready for service by
the end of October. Perhaps we
should have a holiday plane and
name it the Halloween Pacemak
er. After all, witches fly at least
one night a year, and they might
need transportation sometime
when the brooms aren’t working.
At any rate the PR department
will be compiling another list.
Piedmont has no time for moss
to gather on her milestones. As
we grow, new planes demand
new names.
ing in for the planned twin-jet
737 which Piedmont is consider
ing. This test model of the com
mercial plane, which has been in
service since 1963, landed at
Smith Reynolds just 4 hours
and 16 minutes after leaving its
home base in Washington.
Loaded with testing equipment
and Boeing and Piedmont repre
sentatives the plane simulated
the forthcoming 737 in flights
to stops on Piedmont’s regular
routes.
About 15 members of the sales
and engineering staff at Boeing
were aboard along with a num
ber of Piedmont company offic
ials. The morning flight pro
ceeded first to Roanoke, then
L y n c h Id u r g, Charlottesville,
Staunton and Hot Springs be
fore returning to INT. Full stop
landings were made at all sta
tions.
Afternoon Plight
A similiar afternoon flight
I made landings at Asheville, Bris-
tol, Lexington, Cincinnati, Hunt
ington, Charleston, Beckley and
Pulaski. Flying times were little
short of amazing. Normal winter
flying time for the F-27 between
INT and AVL is 47 minutes.
The 727 flying at 20,000 feet
made the same trip in 26 min
utes. From Tri-cities to Lexing
ton our turbo-props usually take
54 minutes. The Boeing folks
flew us from TRI to LEX in 27
minutes at 24,000 feet.
In their inspection. Piedmont
officials observed the handling
characteristics of the plane in
flight, landings and take-offs.
One of the jet’s more fascinating
features was its expanding flaps.
Most of the inspecting passen
gers crowded around the win
dows at the take-offs and land
ings to watch the hydraulically
operated spoilers. Your editor
thought they looked like giant
jack4n-the-boxes. But we always
came down smoothly and no
clowns popped out.
Initial Pilot
The plane’s initial pilot, Lou
Wallick was also in command
for the Piedmont trip. His broth
er Jesse Wallick was the flight
engineer. Their giant cockpit
housed several jump seats that
were continually occupied by
Piedmont pilots who had come
along for the ride and every
now and then they took turns
co-piloting the plane. It seems
the general consensus was they’d
love to have “a bunch of” 737’s
done up in Piedmont’s red, white
and blue.
Several other aircraft manu
facturers have designed short-
hop jets similiar to the 737. Pied
mont is still inspecting, but the
Viuying decision will not be made
until all necessary information
is received.
Mr. Davis brought the visiting
plane down for its final landing
at Smith Reynolds. And Pied
mont was all smiles as they told
the Boeing people good-bye on
Friday.
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Capt. W. M. Whatley with David Allen.
ILM Pilots Give Scholarship
•PALME.TTO
(Drawing by .1. B. Kogas)
David Earl Allen, a freshman
at Wilmington College has been
awarded a full tuition scholar
ship by the Wilmington based
Piedmont Airline Pilots, Mr.
Thomas P. Brown, Acting Dean
of Admissions and Dean of Stu
dents, announced.
Funds for the scholarship
were raised among the pilots by
donations and David Allen is the
first recipient of the new scholar
ship. The presentation was made
by Capt. W. M. Whatley for the
Piedmont Airline Pilots.
Son of Mr. and Mrs. M. H.
Allen, Sr., of Route 2, Wilming
ton, David graduated last June
from New Hanover High School,
where he was an officer with
the ROTC.