page_title: Century Airlines pilots' strike
section_title: Crash in St. Louis
hierarchical_section_title: Century Airlines pilots' strike / Strike timeline / Crash in St. Louis
caption_attribution_description: Fiorello H. LaGuardia, mayor of New York City. "Mayor La Guardia speaks over WNYC on Grade A milk from Budget Room."
context_page_description: The Century Air Lines Strike of 1932 was a strike of pilots from Chicago-based Century Air Lines following a proposal in early February by company owner Errett Lobban Cord to cut wages by up to 40%. The two-month strike was the first in the history of the fledgling commercial aviation industry and also the first significant action for the year-old Air Line Pilots Association which represented the 23 striking pilots. Political agitation in the form of congressional hearings and public condemnations eventually forced Cord to relent and sell Century Airlines on April 2 to the Aviation Corporation, parent company of American Airways.
  The strike highlighted the problems facing the commercial aviation industry as it began to grow and diversify significantly for the first time. Meanwhile, the success of the ALPA in lobbying for political support established it as a significant power in organized labor.
context_section_description: On March 8, two Century pilots were fatally injured in a crash where replacement recruits were practicing night landings in anticipation of a resumption of full night flight services. The two dead were John F. Kirk of Chicago and Lloyd H. Atkinson who had been a test pilot in Los Angeles before moving to Chicago to find work. The crash occurred while on final approach into Curtiss-Steinberg Airport at about 1.50am when pilot Theodore Graff struck a windmill short of the runway.
caption: New York Representative, Fiorello La Guardia. La Guardia had been a pilot in World War I, commanding of a unit of Ca.44 bombers.
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