Evening star., 1941-09-21
WINGS ARY

taxed up to the dock. The passengers filed
out - diplomats. military men, all sorts of
dlgnitaries As they passed through customs
and came into the big rotunda, curious visi-
tors craned their necks. There's Jimmy
Roosevelt" There's So-and-S SO - and So
and-So!"
Another passenger stepped through the
door, youngish-looking man in brown suit
A pleased smile lit up his face as somebody
stepped forward to grasp his hand. Il won
der who he is, woman standing near me
whispered to her companion. II wonder if
he is anybody" Her voice implied doubt -
there seemed no air of importance about him.
Just at that moment, somebody stopped
him in front Of the huge mural map on the
rotunda wall - the map with its bold blue
lines stretching out across the oceans and
linking the continents, the map showing the
75,5OO miles of routes flown by the planes of
the Pan American Always to fifty diff
ferent countries and colonies II the whis-
pering woman had only known, that map was
the answer to her wondeTings. 1t was the
record of how the unobtrusive man with the
boyish smile had conquered the world. His
name was Juan T. Trippe. president of Pan
American Airways.
l didn't take it on myself to inform the
woman that he was a world conqueror.
doubt that she'd have believed it, anyway.
He doesn't look the part He is too mild. OF
course. his conquests have not been military.
The ever-more-powerful fleets of aiplanes
which he has sent through the air have car
ried not bombs, but business to South and
Central America, the Orient, Europe, Africa,
Australia. Yet it is fact that Juan Trippe,
more than any other one man, is responsible
for the fact that today there are bases and
flying fields in crucial spots which only
yesterday we're impenetrable jungles barren
islands. mountain wildernesses - bases and
fields which military planes, defending the
Americas, would find invaluable.
Hos Whot II Tokes
ONLY last month, President Roosevelt an
nounced that the job of ferrying bombers to
the British in West Africa had been turned
over to Pan American. 1t was sensational
development - almost as if the government
had commissioned private company to
operate a branch of the postal system. But
Pan American had the bases - in this coun-
try, in Bermuda and Brazil and Africa; it had
the flying franchises that would be needed -
even in LIBERIA it had the organization neces-
sary to procure and train and transport pilots
and mechanics and ground crews which would
assure delivery of the planes ready for i'm
mediate combat. Any other outfit, private or
governmental. would have had to start from
scratch.
was in Trippe's Office one day when,
new foreign crisis had arisen. Our talk had
to be sandwiched in between long distance
telephone calls and messages. The State
Department is calling -" The Navy
wants to know The War Department
says So it went.
His organization these days. with its far
flung outposts and rapid communications, is
virtually an unofficial arm of the government.
The great air fleets, comprising some $50
planes including the biggest that are in the
air anywhere today, play vital part in the
plans of our military strategists. Their pilots
reserve officers almost to man - are not
only just about the most highly skilled
aviators in the world. but they know the lands
and seas and peoples beyond our immediate
frontiers where our regular military pilots
may not ordinarily 60.
In the Pan American training school at
Miami nearly 1000 Army and British airmen
will this year learn advanced navigation. In