Flying Higher

In 1943 the war was reaching its climax. In the Pacific, McArthur and the Navy were island hopping toward Japan, and in Europe the Allies prepared for D-Day while Hitler's armies began to crumble in North Africa and Russia. Airlift was scarce in the U.S. and every resource was pressed into service. Pan Am's Cuban affiliate Cubana was operating its small domestic services with a half-dozen ex-Pan Am Ford Tri-Motors which had once been used in mainline service. Built in 1929, these aircraft were still capable of carrying 3,000 pounds of cargo, and we needed the lift between Miami and Havana. Our traffic people made a deal with Cubana to fly a daily cargo flight for us with the old Tri-Motors. The only problem was that the U.S Civil Aeronautics Administration demanded that we prove the operation was safe. These aircraft had been in service 15 years without any significant problems, but the CAA inspectors insisted. So, in my capacity as Assistant Operations Engineer with less than a year's experience with airplanes in any form, I was sent to Havana to obtain the necessary data to certify the operation. We needed aircrafts weights, takeoff and landing field performance, one-engine out flying characteristics, fuel consumption, maintenance records and so forth. I had to write an operations manual satisfactory to the CAA - and do it in a week so that we could start the service. Cubana's operations did not require all this paperwork and procedure, so much of it had to be done from scratch. Aircraft takeoff and landing performance was measured at Rancho Boyeros Airport at Havana using a surveyor's tape. Fuel consumption was measured by dip-sticking the tanks after demo flights. Maintenance and service manuals were adapted from DC-3 manuals and tailored to the simpler requirements of the old Fords. In a week we had our manuals ready to submit. Since nobody at the Miami Springs CAA Office had ever seen a Ford Tri-Motor, they all knew less about it than I did, and were not in a good position to second-guess us. We dropped a few well-timed hints about the military importance of the flights we were going to conduct, and our service proposal and manuals were approved promptly. The next morning we all trooped out to 36th Street to see our first Ford land and, sure enough, in it came - on time. It was quickly loaded with war priority cargo, taxied out to the near end of the runway, and in 600 feet it was airborne and on its way to Havana, two hours away. Commenting on my relative inexperience, my friend Johnny Donahue, the Pan Am Station Manager in Miami, said, "Mort, a good man is a guy who can figure out a new job faster than anybody else can figure out he don't know it."