Interview conducted on December 9 and December 19, 1997.
Final transcript.
The interview describes the life and career of Captain Rolland J. Regnery, who worked for Pan American World Airways from 1938 to 1975; education at Harry Sham Flying School; early interest in aviation; work in Pan American’s Traffic Department; concurrent flight education and pilot licensing; employment as co-pilot in December 1940; wartime flights from Miami to South America, from Brazil to Nigeria, over the Sahara to Karachi, Pakistan; bases in New York and San Francisco; overview of San Francisco International Airport (SFO) in the late 1940s; transfers due to seniority pressures; experiences flying: Sikorsky S-42, S-40, and S-38, Martin M-130, Douglas DC-3, DC-4, Lockheed Constellation, Boeing 314, 377 Stratocruiser, 707, and 747; navigation techniques (celestial, inertial, LORAN); details about flying the S-42, DC-3, DC-4, and Boeing 377; routes he flew from different bases to East and South Asia and Europe; encounters with Charles Lindbergh, Marilyn Monroe, and Cardinal Francis Spellman, Captain Don Kinkel, Captain John Raabe (1999.244.0008) and Captain Ira Andersen (1999.244.0013); effect of losing one eye on his career, and efforts to regain his pilot status after, becoming the first single-visioned pilot to fly for a scheduled airline.
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