Interview conducted by Carol L. Osbourne on November 12, 1997.
Final transcript
This interview describes Captain Wallace Dean’s career as a fifth officer, fourth officer, navigator, co-pilot, and pilot at Pan American World Airways; education at various flight schools; Pan American flight training; memories of flights originating at Treasure Island; move to the Coast Guard Naval Station (Seaplane Base); transition to Mills Field and San Francisco Municipal Airport (now San Francisco International Airport; description of Pan American buildings at SFO in the late 1940s and 1950s; routes he flew: Pacific Division from San Francisco to Honolulu, Palmyra Island, Canton Island, Funafuti, Espirito Santo, and Brisbane; from Tokyo to Taipei, Saigon, Da Nang, Cam Rahn Bay, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Sydney, Calcutta; and the round-the-world route; experiences flying the Martin PBM, the Consolidated PB2Y-3 Coronado, Boeing 314, 377 Stratocruiser, 707, and 727, Douglas DC-4; extra time required to qualify as pilot due to seniority; in-flight incidents, including bomb threat; interactions with Wiley Post, Harold Gatty, Amelia Earhart, Fred Noonan, and Will Rogers.
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