The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-04-16

after the war is over, But enough can be revealed now =. including that vital strawberry tam statistic ito show that this is ono of the most striking and successful chap- ters Of the ., s, war effort thus far.
 Sixtysone days after tho presl. dent announced this route, last August, the first plane covered It's 2b00 miles or moro across jungle and desert, And now, a mero seven months after the conception of the idea, 1t is a full fledged transcon- tinental airline with oil tho trim. mlngs, including l44 garbage cans, a couple planes, Q couple billiard tables, flVo dozen shoeshlne kits, 1920 ash trays, 32B dozen sheets and Sfb0 cases of beer, coke and flss wa. ter, Co mention some of the crAMer and more unrelated items.
 ENTIRE PERSONNEL
 IS HANDICAPPED
 Organization of this Job came un- der general Robert 0ldS of the U. S, Air Forces Ferry Command, who Supervises the route, schedules pri- critics and flow Of supplies over. this artery to the east. Pan American Alrways has provided much of the manpowor, built tho airbaSos along the route and aided In operating the service,
 The hundreds of mon required to put the line in service were all handpieked md the search for nd. ditlonHl qualified personnel is still on, Every man had Go Do in per. feet health, pass Q rigid physical examination and then Do inoculated nine times. Pilots had to have 800 hours, Tho medical contingent un. dor Dr. Lowell r. Cogeshaii had to know oil about tropical diseases, At one time last fall A third of tho force was down with malaria. That has now been reduced to less than l per cent,
 The supply problem was tremen. douS, Every nall, screw, stick Of lumber, spool of thread, hospital and machine shop had to be as. Sembled in the United States and shipped to Africa. pFoafabricatod houses weighing 44 tons each, five thousand cases of construction equipment 200o cases of electrical equipment and machinery, 5000 bundles Of structural steel and e million board feet of lumber made up some of the bulkier items.
 It was decided to ship c full years supply Of food with the OK. petition, Consequently, diotitians were called in and a full years menus were worked out, Meals are repeated only three times c month, but just the same, tho cooks know what the men will Do eating como Fourth of July,
 WORLD WAR | AGE
 IS BOSS
 Tn the African pantry are c thousand cases Of dry groceries, 7bO eases of household equipment, 37 tons Of flour, IS tons Of shortening, l2 tons Of hams three tons Of tur. key, and 50 on. To preserve it, 400 cases of refrigeration equipment and, incidentally, 2S cans of roach powder, Other pests to battle arc snakes, scorpions, ga2elleS and lions, one Of the native cooks gets up and shoots q gaSello for breakfaSt every morning, and tho word that comes back iB that he cooks it in q pot with such distinctive flaVoring that those who try it once never aSk for it again.
 Boss of the Pan American con. tingcnt ii Africa is q unique char. acter named George Kriagher, c Yugoslaviah who was an ace ili the first World War and hos held q pi. lots license for 2e years. He has i2,000 hours in the air Co his credit, three Sfourths Of 1t acquired ever the junglos. deserts and mountains Of Mexico. Central and South Ainers lea. which inado him q natural choice for tho African operations job.
 A mechanic good enough to keep c 1926 automobile going til he traded it iil just before going to Afs rica, c horgeniar of such zeal that he has taken to riding caTfieis, q biz, working confirmed bachelor who drives himself 50 hard that he gets ID at 6 q. m. daily and gets everyone else ID, too, . large part of tho credit should go to him for actually putting the trans-AfFican airline Into operation with such amazing speed,