oral history transcript: B.J. King

 

Interview conducted by Carol McLaughlin on March 26, 1999. Final The interview describes Ms. King’s experiences as an Operations Clerk and a Flight Dispatcher for Compañía Mexicana de Aviación and Pan American World Airways from the early 1940s to 1980; flight training with Civilian Pilot Training (CPT) program, dispatch certification, and licensing in Airway Traffic Control (ATC); work as both an Operations Clerk and a Flight Dispatcher at Glendale, Burbank, and Los Angeles International Airport; working at Haneda Airport in Tokyo from 1949, in Honolulu in the 1960s, and San Francisco in the 1970s; role as Pan American’s first female dispatcher in Tokyo and experiences as a woman working in aviation; examples her work: explanations of considerations like weight, fuel, and weather when planning a route; planning the first direct flight from Tokyo to Honolulu; role of seniority in her career and her work with the Transport Workers Union; changes to the field due to jet engines and computers; working at San Francisco International Airport during the 1970s; Howard Hughes, Paul Manz, Scotty Lewis, Juan Tripp, Lauren Bacall, Douglas MacArthur, and Tyrone Power.

https://collection.sfomuseum.org/objects/1746755747/

https://collection.sfomuseum.org/objects/1746755747/qr/