Interview conducted by Mauree Jane Perry on May 17, 1999.
Final transcript
The interview describes Captain John D. Milner’s career with TWA (Trans World Airlines) from 1939 to 1975, as well his previous work with smaller airlines; early love of flying; education at the Ryan School of Aeronautics; employment with Ryan Aeronautical Company selling Ryan ST and SC; work with the Tucson Citizen delivering newspapers to rural areas via aircraft; flying tourists for Grand Canyon Airlines and Catalina Air Transport; hiring and training process at TWA and his career as a co-pilot and pilot; aircraft that he flew: Ryan AT, Ryan SC, unspecified Waco model, Taylor Cub, unspecified Stearman model, Stinson (likely the SM-1 Detroiter), Sikorsky S-38, Douglas DC-2, DC-3, Lockheed Constellation, Boeing 707; long descriptions of flying the DC-3, the Constellation, and the 707; routes he flew: Kansas City to Albuquerque, Los Angeles, and Phoenix, DC-3 routes from San Francisco to Oakland, Fresno, Las Vegas, Boulder City, and Phoenix, 707 routes from San Francisco to Los Angeles, Baltimore, New York, Boston, Kansas City, Washington DC, Honolulu, Okinawa, Vietnam, and Bangkok; experiences during the 1946 TWA pilots’ strike; describes the airline as an employer; experiences bringing military personnel and cargo into Vietnam; brief description of San Francisco Airport during the 1940s; encounters with Howard Hughes, Busch Voights, and Robert Buck; relates his thoughts about Carl Icahn.
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