Comment from Betty (Foster's wife) How neat!!!! Foster has often talked about the inaugural flight to London. When Braniff lost the route, it was offered to American, who jumped on it, but they said it would take them (I don't remember exact weeks or months) to get ready and were told they had 6 (?) weeks - and they made it. Can you imagine what it took to do that?? Since American had never flown the North Atlantic before, the Navy had a boat stationed somewhere along the way and they would check their course by it. (He talked about this being before Inertial Navigation ???) They would radio "Hey Boat" "Are you down there?" and would be ignored until they showed proper respect by addressing the Navy boat properly. That was a memorable time and gave American a huge boost in air travel.
Strange, isn't it, how 1 event can change the entire structure of a life, or a business?
Comment from Betty (Foster's wife)
ReplyDeleteHow neat!!!! Foster has often talked about the inaugural flight to London. When Braniff lost the route, it was offered to American, who jumped on it, but they said it would take them (I don't remember exact weeks or months) to get ready and were told they had 6 (?) weeks - and they made it. Can you imagine what it took to do that?? Since American had never flown the North Atlantic before, the Navy had a boat stationed somewhere along the way and they would check their course by it. (He talked about this being before Inertial Navigation ???) They would radio "Hey Boat" "Are you down there?" and would be ignored until they showed proper respect by addressing the Navy boat properly. That was a memorable time and gave American a huge boost in air travel.
Strange, isn't it, how 1 event can change the entire structure of a life, or a business?