Interview conducted on October 7, 1999
Final transcript
The interview describes the life and career of James Ricklefs, founder of Rick Helicopters; early interest in aviation; education at Stanford University in social science and continuing degree at West Coast University in aeronautical engineering; training as a pilot; work as a stress analyst for Northrop Aircraft Corporation beginning in 1940; impressions of Jack Northrop; role as vice president with Landgraf Helicopter Company from 1944 to 1948; impressions of Mr. Landgraf; encounters with Donald Douglas and Igor Sikorsky; decision to start his own helicopter transportation company, Rick Helicopters, in Los Angeles in 1948; decision to move the company to San Francisco in 1952; describes San Francisco International Airport in the 1950s and 1960s; leasing of a piece of land on the airport property to build a hangar; encounters with Bernard “Mique” Doolin, director of the airport; mechanics of helicopter flight and maintenance; logistics of a helicopter transportation company; decision to sell the business in the late 1960s; role as a founding member of the Helicopter Association International; impressions of the future of the helicopter business; membership in the Quiet Birdmen organization.
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