The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1943-11-26

But while recognition of this
great job is universal, most peo-
pie do not realize that there are
Two parts to the Air Transport
Command. One is the Army.
The other is civilian and is let out
by contract to the big air COM
panies.
Today when you go down the
street, you may see a man in a
flying officers uniform. If you
notice that his wings are bronze
with A. T. c. in the center, you
will know that he is civilian EN-
ploye working for United Air
Lines, T. w. A., American Air
lines, Pan-American, Eastern Air
Lines or some other company
which flies planes on contract for
the Army,
Unfortunately, bitter feeling
exists on the part of regular Army
air officers toward this division in
side the Air Transport Command.
The reason for the bitterness
is the fact that these civilian
pilots get all the advantages
of the Army, but with salaries
two and three times as great.
For instance, thousands of Sec
ond and First Lleutenants, with
a sprinkling of Captains, are
pushing planes back and forth
across the ocean every week for
the regular Army pay of around
$500 month or less. Mean
while, civilian carriers, because
they fly under contract to the
Army, get from $3.50 to $1,150
for Captains on trans Atlantic
runs, plus So per day expense
money for every day that they
are away from their home base.
Army airmen have nothing
against these civilian pilots per-
sonally, but they do vigorously
resent the system. They pay
tribute to the fact that in the
early days before Pearl Harbor, the
commercial companies jumped in
and helped the Army do a speedy
miraculous job. But now, with the
Army well trained and with excel
lent transport pilots on hand, the
young Army pilots wonder why
this cost-plus contract system
continues. They especially Won
der whether the position of Cen
eral c. R. Smith tformer Ameri-
can Airlines PresidenD: 1t. Col.
John Steele (Pan American oper-
ations manageD Col. Harry Fritz
IT. w. Al; Jack Frye ct. w. A.
and many others in the Air Trans
port Command has anything to
do with it.
AIRLINES LOOKING
TO THE FUTURE
One thing that particularly
gripes the Army airmen is the
manner in which they think the
commercial companies are hoard
ing personnel, ready to slip back
to the juicy, global airlines after
the war is over. They will have
the pilots all trained to fly these
new routes, familiar with every
airport of the world. And these
civilian A. T. G. pilots will hohld
seniority, will have been in posi-
tons of trust, building every day
for the future of the commercial
companies.
Meanwhile, when the war is over,
the lieutenants and captains of
the regular Army will have to
stand in line at the employment
offices of the airlines - many
of them because they resigned
from their commercial companies
and enlisted in the Army.
Furthermore, these young Army
pilots point out that the big COM
mercial companies are boarding
pilots and are keeping large re-
serve of personnel. This they
can do when they work on cost
plus basis. For instance, one
commercial company had one
hundred co-pilots sitting around
Washington getting $500 to $500
month until they threatened to
quit unless they were kept busy.
T. w. A. inaugurated ground
school to keep them occupied and
keep them quiet.
Another unfair fact which
Army pilots point to is that
the commercial companies oper-
ate the big fou-- motor jobs,
while the Army takes over the
twin-mOtOr planes. With the
two motors, if one motor gives
out, it's usually curtains. But
the civilian pilots with four
mOtOred bOmbers handle big re-
serves of gasoline and have
much higher safety factor.
That unfortunately is the feel
ing of young pilots who resent
the fact that their government
is spending the taxpayers money
to do a job which they are glad
to do at much lower cost, in