PAN AM - 1932

By Eric Hobson

AUGUST

“Another PAA First: Stowaway”

Photo from R.O.D. Sullivan image collection, Pan Am Historical Foundation.

Robert Oliver Daniel “R.O.D./Rod” Sullivan flew Consolidated Commodore NC659M from Cristobal, Panama, Monday, June 27, 1932, four-hours east to Barranquilla, Columbia and five open-water-hours to Kingston, Jamaica, the overnight stop on Pan Am’s Panama - Miami route. Arriving Miami, Tuesday, an agricultural inspector discovered Mr. Paul Kaiser, a 177 pound Czechoslovakian, in the Commodore’s tail compartment.

Kaiser, Pan American Airway’s first stowaway, snuck aboard in Panama. Pan America Air Ways (Vol. 3 No. 3, July 15, 1932, p. 3) reports,

“...after his arrival from Germany, [in Panama, and] unable to find work, [Kaiser] ran across a note in a local newspaper stating that auto manufacturing business was booming in Detroit. The obvious way to get to Detroit was "via Pan American." Jamaica’s Daily Gleaner claimed Kaiser “passed this port as an in-transit passenger on [a] Commodore a few weeks ago from Miami to Cristobal. It would appear Kaiser became stranded in the South American port, and was unable to pay his passage back to the United States.” Both source agree that Kaiser “was determined to get to Uncle Sam’s land.”

Deported to Panama aboard Commodore NC659M under Pan Am Captain Charles Lorber’s command, Paul Kaiser landed in Kingston, Sunday July 3, sitting in a passenger seat. While the crew spent the night at the posh Myrtle Hotel, Kaiser slept in Kingston’s jail … a step up from the Commodore’s tail. Arriving Panama, Monday afternoon, July 4, “local police … marched [Kaiser] up to jail for thirty days. ‘Loitering’ the judge called it.”

Pan American Airways System Map: Don Thomas Collection/PAHF.

Although the global economic depression was crippling many businesses at the end of July 1932, Pan American Airways was not one of them. The numbers were clear: every metric was up over the prior year.

Reporting January-July activity “Pan American Air Ways” crowed about the 24% increase in passengers and the 57% increase in air express use over the same period in 1931.

• Pan Am’s South American route growth was eye-popping: 60% on Panagra’s western coastal route and 75% on the eastern coastal route.
• 29,061 people boarded Pan Am aircraft, up 5,649 passengers over 1931 numbers.
• The cargo business was equally impressive topping 1 million pounds, up 300,000 pounds.

Pan American Air Ways pointed out that,

“Since the number of miles flown increased only 4.2 percent, these gains in passenger and cargo showed a more economic use of existing equipment and a greater patronage of scheduled flights.”

As New York Yankee first-baseman, Lou “The Iron Horse” Gehrig, built his 2,130 consecutive-game streak in late-summer 1932, Pan American Airways pilot, Gustave J. “Slim” Ekstrom, started one.

Pan Am inaugurated a 3,400-mile Jamaica-Puerto Rico-Jamaica circuit route on August 7, that included eight flights across two weeks stopping in Santiago, Cuba, Port au Prince, Haiti, Santo Domingo and San Pedro, Dominican Republic, Ponce, Puerto Rico, and St. Thomas and St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. When mapped, the route looked like it should be flown by an accordion player:

MONDAY / Leg 1, East: Kingston-Port au Prince-Santo Domingo-San Pedro-San Juan (702 miles)
TUESDAY/ Leg 2, West: San Juan-San Pedro-Santo Domingo-Port au Prince (408 miles)
THURSDAY/Leg 3, East: Port au Prince-Santo Domingo-San Pedro-San Juan (408 miles)
FRIDAY/ Leg 4, South-North: San Juan-Ponce-San Juan (92 miles)
SATURDAY/ Leg 5, East-West: San Juan-St. Thomas-St. Croix-San Juan (280 miles)
MONDAY/ Leg 6, West: San Juan-San Pedro-Santo Domingo-Port au Prince-Kingston (702 miles)
TUES,DAY/ Leg 7, East: Kingston-Santiago de Cuba-Port au Prince (404 miles)
THURSDAY/ Leg 8, West: Port au Prince-Santiago de Cuba-Kingston (404 miles)

Like Gehrig, replacing Wally Pipp at first base, “Slim” Ekstrom headed east Tuesday, October 11, in the Sikorsky S-38 (NC9151) Charles Lorber had flown from San Juan the day before. During the route’s first twenty-six operational months, Pan Am recorded 101 complete circuits.

Slim Ekstrom flew 95 of these, at one point flying fifty-six weeks (August 3, 1933 – August 9, 1934) without a break. Ekstrom’s endurance was greater than his aircrafts’: Slim went through four S-38s (NC 9775, NC9776, NC 9151 & NC142).

Gustave “Slim” Ekstrom retired in 1955, having amassed more than 25,000 flight hours and 4,100,000 miles.

Photo Compilation: Panagra Ford with passengers:Pan American air ways, Oct. 1933 / Mt. Anconcagua in Argentina-Chilean Lake District: Classroom Clipper, No. 1, Oct. 1960 @UM_Spec_Coll)/ Christ the Redeemer Statue at the border of Argentina and Chile, Library of Congress. 

After the World Sunday School Association convention closed in Buenos Aires, Argentina, July 31, 1932, the two-thousand delegates dispersed. Not all boarded ships; thirty-five boarded Pan American Grace (Panagra) Ford Tri-Motor 5-ATs in Buenos Aires on August 14 and 15 bound for Santiago, Peru, crossing the Andes on the “top of the world” route.

The route’s first leg (778 miles, Buenos Aires to Mendoza) across the Argentine pampas was picturesque. The second leg (151 air miles, Mendoza to Santiago) was otherworldly. The Andes Principal Cordillera filled the western sky, with Mt. Aconcagua, the Western Hemisphere’s highest peak (22,834 ft.) rising 2,000 feet above its imposing neighbors.

To cross the continental divide, pilots threaded the Uspallata Pass, a 15,000 ft. slit just south of Mt. Anconcagua. Passenger ears popped throughout the flight: leaving Los Tambalarindos airport (2,449 ft.), the Ford gained 12,500 feet of altitude in 50 miles, flew ten to fifteen minutes at anywhere from 15,000 to 20,000 ft., then descended quickly to land at Los Cerillos airport (1,870 ft.).

Pilots gauged progress by the 43-foot-tall Christo Redentor de los Andes (Christ the Redeemer of the Andes) monument marking the Argentine/Chilean border. Although World Sunday School Association members were Protestants, the flight, combined with the statue’s sudden window-level appearance probably led several to intone the Association’s daily prayer: “Thank our Heavenly Father for His bounties and to ask His blessing upon the Sunday School work in all the world.”

According to Pan American Air Ways, “every member of the party expressed delight with the flight and the courteous treatment shown them by Pan American personnel,” and noted, “On the two days mentioned above, it was necessary … to make thirteen trips across the mountains in order to care for the unusual traffic demands.”