Interview conducted on November 24 and December 3, 1999.
Final transcript
The interview describes the career of Theodore C. Johnson, who worked as a steward, purser, check purser, and flight director for Pan American World Airways from 1943 to 1984; decision to join Pan American, hiring process, and training; first service flight on the Boeing 314 from Treasure Island to Honolulu; single flight on the Martin M-130 China Clipper; discussion of Treasure Island during the war; relationship between the Navy and Pan American; duties as steward; detailed description of Consolidated PBM and PB2Y-3; flight that carried President Roosevelt’s Cabinet to Honolulu; flight from Honolulu in which the airplane lost three engines; routes he flew during the war: Honolulu to Canton Island, Espiritu Santo, Funafuti, New Caledonia, and Brisbane, as well as the facilities in these places; postwar period; female stewardesses; promotion to purser and check purser and duties associated with those roles; encounters with Juan Trippe, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Charles Lindbergh; inaugural Douglas DC-4 passenger service to Bangkok in 1946; last flight out of Shanghai in 1949; first jet flight from London to San Francisco in 1959; routes from San Francisco on Douglas DC-7C, the Boeing 377, 707, 747, and 747SP; changes during the jet era; activities with the Transport Workers’ Union from 1951 to 1961; the labor negotiations he participated in; training and duties as a flight director; in-flight medical emergencies; concerns about hijackings; reasons for retiring; injuries and illnesses he experienced during his career; thoughts about Pan American as an employee; insights into the decline of the company.
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