The Boxcar Blues

by Jeff Egerton

  On Catwalk’s last visit he and Barney discussed the future of Rocky Mountain Airways. Barney said, “I know you like flying more than you like the administrative duties, but it’s time you became the official President of Rocky Mountain Airways. By some standards, you’re pretty young, but you’ve been here since day one and this is a young industry. You can still fly on the line, but most of your time will be spent at our administrative headquarters.”

  Catwalk asked, “Is there anything about the airline’s operation that concerns you?”

  “No, but we’re growing up fast. There will be a lot of expansion in the coming years. We’re going head to head with TAT, Western and others on many of our routes. If we sit still, we lose passengers to them.”

  Catwalk had known this was coming and he couldn’t say no to Barney even though he’d prefer to fly more. He said, “I agree and there’s something I’ve been thinking about doing for a couple months now. I’m going to adjust our schedules so we always leave half an hour before our competitors. They’re scheduling flights at the same time as each other to try and pick up a share of the passengers, but I’m going one better. While they’re fighting for passengers we’ll already be in the air.”

  “I like it. While you’re at it have our ad agency take out some newspaper advertisements that tells folks if they’re flying with us, they’ll get there first.”

  “All right, I’ll do that. Anything else?”

  “How’s your brother doing?”

  “He’s doing great. He’s certified on all our equipment and he loves his job. He’s on Jack McMillan’s crew and Jack says he takes to aircraft maintenance like a duck to water.”

  “I’m glad to hear that.” Barney paused while his nurse gave him a drink of water. “Have you been reading about the war in Europe?”

  “Yes. A couple days ago I read that Hitler said he’s going to conquer Europe—then the world. Is he a crackpot, or someone to be concerned about?”

  “Well, I think he’s a crackpot to be concerned about, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we don’t end up right in the middle of this thing.”

  “What will that do to the airline?”

  “I don’t know, but it sure as hell won’t be business as usual. We’ll probably be pressed into service to fly troops and you might end up wearing a uniform. Nothing is going to happen soon, but when it does we might lose most of our pilots, and planes to the military.”

  “That means no revenue, which will mean lots of layoffs, right?”

  “I hope not, but at this point I don’t know, Cat.”

  On the drive back to Albuquerque, Catwalk thought about his conversation with Barney. He’d adjust his schedule to accommodate Barney’s wishes, but would make it a point to fly often, both for proficiency and to stay abreast of the operation.

  As far as the war, Barney had always been one to stay well informed. If he thought the country was going to war, chances are it would come to pass and he would end up serving with the armed forces. He wouldn’t mind serving his country, but was concerned that his Momma would worry herself sick about it.

  In March, 1937, Rocky Mountain Airways became a public corporation. The stock opened trading at two dollars a share and quickly went up to four dollars a share. Catwalk had invested half of his savings in the stock, and as president of the company was given five hundred shares, so he doubled his money over night. In turn he bought more stock, which continued to increase in value. In his mind, his Momma’s house was getting bigger all the time.

  The board of directors consisted of five men, three of whom were in the airline business. The other two were executives from the Union Pacific railroad and the Fred Harvey hotel chain. Before their selection for the board, Barney talked to all of them at length; none of them seemed to have a problem with the airline having a black president.

  Catwalk made it a point to talk to the men at the first board meeting and his instincts told him that none of them had any racial issues that they were hiding. They all seemed pleased with the way he was managing the airline. He and the railroad executive, who had once hopped a freight train to get to his first job, shared a few laughs about their mutual experiences with railroads.

  Between his duty as the full time president and his required flying, Catwalk had time for his passion, reading everything in sight, but little else. To say that the industry and Rocky Mountain Airways were growing was an understatement. He took this as a sign that the country was healing its wounds and pulling itself out of the depression.

  Over the next year routes to Cheyenne, Los Angeles and Portland were approved and the fleet was expanded with the delivery of ten DC-3 aircraft. A high-speed reservations system was implemented and sleeper service was introduced on Rocky Mountain’s long night flights.

  The industry as a whole saw improvements such as high octane gasoline introduced by the Texas Oil Company, and two way radios, which enabled the pilots to call station managers to see if there were any passengers at intermediate stops. Continued research of instrument flying techniques brought equipment such as the radio direction finder, or “homing beacon”.

  Catwalk had proven himself as a shrewd and savvy airline president who gained a reputation for taking care of his employees. He’d been known to reprimand an employee on-the-spot, for infractions such as working out of uniform, but he’d also encouraged bonuses for meritorious performance. He made it known that if you did your job well, you could go far in the airline, but if you were a slacker, your tenure would be short.

  Barney had told him that he was only as good as the people around him. To that end, he hired the best airline management personnel he could find, often luring people away from other airlines with attractive pay packages and incentives. He also hired top executives from other non-aviation companies and trained them in the airline business.

  One day he told his secretary, “Melba, I’m taking a week off. I’m going to visit Barney, and then I’m going out to see my family in Mississippi. Get me a seat on a flight to Meridian leaving day after tomorrow.”

  “I’ll take care of that and Telex the information to you at Barney’s. Tell him we said hi.”

  On his drive to the farm, Catwalk felt like he was on top of the world. With the new planes and new reservation system the airline business was growing at an astonishing rate. Their loads were better than ever and in two months they were going to start competing with the railroad by offering exclusive cargo flights and freight forwarding by the Railway Express Agency. Now, Rocky Mountain Airways offered an exclusive service, which meant businesses could send merchandise by air and have it arrive the same day.

  Barney greeted him from a wheel chair in the yard with his nurse. “It’s a beautiful day out here. You should take up golf so you could enjoy a day like this.”

  “I don’t have time for golf, and you know those country clubs don’t allow black people.”

  “Well, I’ll build a golf course and we’ll allow only black people to play it. How’s that?”

  “Maybe when I retire. I want to ask you for a favor.”

  “Sure. What is it?”

  “I’m going back to visit my family. With my stock and savings, I’ve got over two thousand dollars saved up and I’d like to buy my Momma a house, so my family can get off the farm. I know they won’t give me a loan for property, but they’d give you a loan.”

  “Yes, they will. Are you going to look at houses while you’re back there?”

  “If Earl Slade can help me, I will. I don’t know a thing about buying a house.”

  “Well, you might be better off buying some land and then build a house. How many kids are still at home?”

  “Seven, but Cecil is going out looking for work, so he might not be there.”

  “Have Slade call me. We’ll find some land and build your Momma a house that she’ll love.”

  “I appreciate that.”

  Barney then said, “Have you heard about the DC-4?”

  Catwalk had seen promotional
pictures of the newest aircraft in the Douglas line. “Yes, I have. Douglas sent us a promotional package.”

  Barney said, “She carries 112 passengers at two hundred and seventy miles an hour, with a range of 1,500 hundred miles.”

  “It’s an impressive airplane, but I don’t think this is the time to be buying new planes.”

  Barney looked at Catwalk with unspoken questions on his face. His philosophy was, in order to stay competitive, it was best for the airline to maintain an inventory of state-of-the-art equipment. Catwalk had always embraced this concept so the statement surprised him. Rather than ask the obvious question, he said, “American Airlines already ordered ten of them.”

  “Good for them. I don’t care if they ordered fifty. It’s not a good time for us to buy new equipment. The war in Europe is heating up, and I agree with what you, that we’re going to end up in it. When we go to war our inventory will be taken over by the military, and when the war is over our planes will be extremely used; worth very little. I’d rather have a bunch of used up DC-3s that we own, rather than hold the loan on a bunch of used up DC-4s. After the war we can buy as many DC-4s as you want. Then, we’ll have new state of the art equipment.”

  “Well, I don’t disagree with you, Cat. I was thinking about this Trippe fellow that started up Pan American Airways. He’s got routes to Europe and South America, so he thinks there’s a market there. If we had long range aircraft, like the DC-4, we could go head to head with him.”

  “We still can but now isn’t the time. I say we wait to see what happens in Europe. While that’s going on we can expand some of our hangar space, so we’ll be ready for new aircraft. Maybe the war will be over in a year or two. Then we can buy the new equipment. Douglas will have made upgrades by then, so we’ll be going after those new routes with the newest planes in the sky.”

  Barney smiled, “O.K. It goes against my grain to stand still and watch everyone else get the new planes, but I guess you’re right.”

  “The worst that can happen is we own all of our equipment, which gives us the best debt to equity ratio in the business. That will look very impressive to our investors.”

  Barney smiled and said, “We’ll talk more about this. Go home and have a nice relaxing visit with your family. Tell them I said hi.”

  “I plan on doing a lot of fishing and reading.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  Curly had been home for two years when he decided he’d had enough of the farm. His Dad had passed away two months after he’d returned. As soon as they buried him, Theresa didn’t need to be told she wasn’t welcome. She left on her own to go live with a sister in Detroit.

  Curly landed a job giving flying lessons at the local airport. Even though the money was meager, it was enough to keep the farm from foreclosure until the market for crops picked up. With his brothers running the farm, Curly went to New York City to apply for a job with Colonial Air Transport. Colonial flew the Boeing Two-Forty-Seven, an all metal twin-engine monoplane that was similar to the Boeing Model 80.

  The personnel manager at Colonial, said, “Mr. Levitz, I’m impressed with your experience in Model Eighties, but there aren’t any openings right now. I’ll keep you in mind if anything opens up. Have you tried American Airlines or Eastern?”

  “Not yet, but I probably will. Thanks for your time.”

  After the interview, Curly hung around the airport to watch the planes. While watching the activity, he realized how much he missed flying. Life on the farm held nothing for him and if he never milked another cow that would be just fine. He thought about returning to Rocky Mountain and wondered if leaving with a short notice would be a move he regretted. Undoubtedly, any airline that considered hiring him would call Rocky Mountain for references. He hoped they talked to Catwalk, or someone at the airline who didn’t know him. With this in mind, he decided he’d call Catwalk as soon as he returned to the farm.

  He spent an extra day in the city to take in a Broadway show. When he returned to the farm it was late in the afternoon so he decided to wait for the morning to call Catwalk.

  On his first day home, Catwalk took Petey and Georgie fishing. That night, over a dinner of fresh catfish, he told his Mom about the recent advances in the airline industry. She didn’t understand most of the technical terms, but she was immensely proud of him and pleased that he was so successful and enthusiastic about his job.

  After dinner, she asked him, “Do you think we’ll be going

  to war, Luke?”

  “Yes, Momma I’m afraid our involvement is inevitable.”

  “That means the military will be looking for pilots, doesn’t it?”

  “Yes, I’m sure they will be.” He added, “I don’t know if they’ll take black pilots though. There’s talk of integrating the military services, but no one is doing anything about it. Secretary Simpson is against it, so they won’t take me in the military now, and this might not change.”

  His Momma sounded exceptionally grim, more so than he’d ever heard her. “Well, it shouldn’t change. Any country that doesn’t treat black people as equal citizens, doesn’t have any business sending their sons to war. If they want to give us equality, then it’s fine, but right now, there’s no reason you should go to war.”

  Catwalk took a deep breath. She wouldn’t like what he was about to say, but he had to stand up for his beliefs, even if it meant opposing his Mother. “Momma, if we’re in a war, and they’ll take me, I’m going to serve.”

  “Why, Luke? Why on earth should you go get shot at?”

  “Regardless of how we’ve been treated, I’m still an American, and I have to serve my country. I don’t want anyone saying that we weaseled out of our responsibility by taking advantage of the military segregation.”

  “I don’t see why we shouldn’t take advantage of it. This country hasn’t given us much.”

  Catwalk didn’t want to argue with his Momma. To change the subject he said, “I’ve got some good news, Momma. I’m going to ask Mr. Slade to help me look for a house for you.”

  His Momma beamed a smile and hugged him with tears running down her cheek. The rest of the kids started buzzing amongst themselves about their new home. Cecil said, “There’s only a few areas where they’ll let blacks live, Luke. You buy a house anywhere else and the Klan will burn it down.”

  Determined, Catwalk said, “I know and I’m not going buy anywhere that anyone will have a problem with our presence. I’ll look for a home in one of the safe areas.” As he said this, Catwalk knew there was nowhere in the south that was completely safe from the ravages of the Klan. But he wasn’t about to let them keep him from buying his Momma’s dream house.

  The next morning Catwalk went to the Slade farm. He found Earl looking over a field of soybeans. “Good morning, Mr. Slade.”

  “Hello, Luke. You must be home visiting your family. How is the airline business?”

  “Oh, it’s getting better all the time. We’ve got a lot of new equipment and we’re growing by leaps and bounds.”

  “Well, you knew this economy had to pick up sooner or later. We’ve even had some buyers for our soybeans.”

  “I’m glad to hear that. You always had the best crop of beans around.”

  Both men looked over the field, then Catwalk said, “Say, Mr. Slade, I’m thinking about buying my Momma a house. Only thing is, I don’t know anything about buying real estate property. I was wondering if you could help me.”

  “Luke, I’d be glad to.” They walked toward the house and sat down on a veranda where Slade told a plump, black housekeeper with a wide smile to bring them some lemonade. The woman said, “Hello, Mr. Luke. I seen your Momma at Sunday meeting last week and she sure is looking fine. Looks just like she never was sick a day in her life.”

  “Thank you, Florence. She’s feeling well, too.”

  The woman left and Slade said, “Luke, the first thing is, you’ve got to decide is how you’re going to pay for the place. If you can put cash on the table that
means you don’t have to deal with the banks. They’re not loaning much money right now, even to white folks.”

  “Yes, sir. Barney said he’d get the loan if I needed one, but I’d pay cash if I could.”

  “Personally, I’d buy a lot and build a place. Most of the houses for sale around here have been vacant for some time so no one has taken care of them and they’re in pretty bad shape. I would think you can pick up land pretty cheap right now.”

  Florence served their lemonade as the men discussed the size and details of the house Luke wanted. Finally Slade said, Come on, I’ll take you for a drive and show you what I mean about the houses around here.”

  Slade drove out a muddy Highway Eighty past Key Field where Catwalk saw a Lockheed Vega departing. Earl said, “That’s a guy who just started serving this area. He flies to Montgomery and down to Mobile. I guess he’s doing pretty well, for only having one plane.”

  “If he can keep the seats filled, that’s all he needs.”

  “How many airplanes does your airline have?”

  “We’ve got 16 DC-3s and six Boeing Model 80s.”

  “That’s a big outfit. Here’s one of the houses that’s for sale.” Earl pointed to a run down two bedroom house that looked as if it had been vacant for many months. Luke walked around the house, then said, “I see what you mean. I agree we’d be better off building a new house.”

  Earl scratched his head and said, “Of course, you might consider buying this place because the lot is big enough to build a second house. Then, if you want to you can fix up this one later on and rent it out. Let’s go to the bank and see what the asking price is.”

  Catwalk thought about the place on the way to the bank. The location was good because the only neighbors were other black folk that lived a quarter mile up the road. There were no white folks in the area that he knew of. He and Cecil could frame a new house in a few days and once the old place was fixed up his Mom could rent it out and possibly get enough income where she wouldn’t have to work.