Doyouhaveastory to tellourcustomers?
INTHEIROWNWORDS
KEEPINGHISTORY
ALIVE
That servicestarted in1939.A few
years later,militaryofficials ledbyHap
Arnold—whoheld thegradesofGeneral
of theArmyandGeneralof theAirForce
—workedwithRichardDuPont,Adams’
successor, toadapt thesystem topickup
WacoCG-4Agliders thathaddelivered
paratroopers to the front line inWorld
WarII. Itwasalsoutilized
topickup injuredsoldiers
inwarzones.Theresult
was thatmany livesand
millionsofdollarswere
saved.
Here’show thesystem
worked.Many troopswere
delivered to theEuropean
theaterbygliders, but the
gliders lastedonlyone
trip.Glidershave tobe
towed into theair, soonce
they landed inafield, the
terrainwas toosmall and
uneven foraplane to land
toretrieve them.
TheU.S. built 17,000
gliderswith thepurpose
ofeach tocarryup to14
fullyequipped troops to
the front line.Byadapting
theairmail retrieval
system, soldiersputup twopoleswitha
nylonropestretchedacross them.They
tied therope to thegroundedgliderand
aDouglasC-47 transportwouldfly in
with thecableor towrope.Thehook
wouldgrab thecrossingropeand the
gliderwouldberetrievedandusedagain
foranothermission.
Injuredsoldierswereputonthe
glidersandwhenthegliderswere
retrieved, theycouldgetthesoldiers
medicalhelpquicker.Thesystemwasalso
usedbehindenemy lines intheEuropean
theatertorescueanumberofBritish
agents,whosecoverhadbeenblown.
Iam94yearsoldandoneofonly
threeemployeeswhoworked forAAA
andretired fromUSAirwayswhoarestill
living. Ibelieve thisandotherwartime
contributionsmadeby the forerunnerof
thiscompany isa legacy thatshould live
foreverandbeasourceofpride forevery
employeeatAmericanAirlines.
AMERICANWAY
SEPTEMBER2015
105
GeorgeLostetterexplainshowAllAmericanAviation
madeapositive impactduringWorldWarII.
A
mericanAirlineshasarichhis-
tory inaviation, but its legacy
becameevenmore impressive
with the2013USAirwaysmerger,
whenAmerican inheritedahistoryof
anotherkind.
Iamacutelyawareof theUSAirways
legacybecauseIbecamepartof itwhen
I joinedAllAmericanAviation (AAA)
in1942.Over thenext41years that
Iworked there, thecompanysubse-
quentlybecameAllAmericanAirways,
AlleghenyAirlinesand in1979, itbecame
USAirways.
DuringWorldWarII,arevolutionary
systemthathadbeendevelopedbyAAA
topickupanddelivermailto121small
communities insixnortheasternstates
wasutilizedtoaidU.S. forces.Dr.LytleS.
Adams, thepresidentofAAA,deviseda
contraptionconsistingoftwopoles12
feet inheightand20feetapartwitha
loopofnylonropestretchedbetweenand
attachedtotheoutboundmailbag.
Aplanewitha longcableanda large
hookmounted to itsbellyflew low to the
ground.Thehookgrabbed theropeand
thebagofmailand theplanecontin-
uedflying,neverhaving to land. Italso
droppedabagofmail so thatsmall towns
withnoeasyaccess toairportswereable
togetairmail service.
Name:
GEORGELOSTETTER
Job:
RETIRED (Worked in
Purchasing, Stores&
InventoryControl and
Aircraft Sales&Service
departments)
City:
MOONTOWNSHIP,
PENNSYLVANIA
CombinedYears at All
AmericanAviation,
All AmericanAirways,
AlleghenyAirlines and
USAirways: 41
