Interview conducted by Carol McLaughlin on April 19, 1999.
Final transcript
The interview describes Captain Roger Sherron’s career with Pan American World Airways from 1939 to 1976; early cultural perceptions of airline flight; education as a pilot, university studies in electrical engineering, training as a radio operator; flight training with Pan American; experiences as radio mechanic, flight radio officer, chief radio officer, fourth officer, third officer, navigator, co-pilot, and pilot; airplanes he flew: Piper Cub, Fairchild KR34, Sikorsky S-42, Consolidated Commodore, Boeing 314, 377 Stratocruiser, 707, 747, Douglas DC-3, DC-4, DC-6, DC-7, Convair 240, Lockheed Constellation; routes he flew: Baltimore to Bermuda, Atlantic Division routes from New York to Bermuda, Azores (Horta), and Lisbon, Latin American Division routes from Miami to Cuba, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Trinidad, Dutch Guyana (now Guyana), British Guyana (now Suriname), French Guyana, Barranquilla (Colombia), Belem (Brazil), and Rio de Janeiro, Havana to Camaguey and Guantanamo, Brownsville and Houston to New Orleans, Mexico City, Guatemala City (Guatemala), San Salvador (El Salvador), Tegucigalpa (Honduras), Managua (Nicaragua), San Jose (Costa Rica), and Panama, military flights from Travis AFB to Honolulu, Wake Island, Tachikawa (Japan), Pacific Division routes from San Francisco to Honolulu, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Manila, Guam, and London, Los Angeles to London, ‘round-the-world; early days of flight and development of equipment and procedures over time; seniority system; satisfaction with working at Pan American; thoughts on the decline of the company; work with the Air Line Pilot’s Association (ALPA); description of San Francisco International Airport (SFO) in 1959; his work during the Korean Airlift; encounter with Charles Lindbergh.
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