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Roger Boyer Whitaker

"After a winter of crawling under cars as an automobile mechanic, I thought there sure must be a better way of making a living."

Roger Whitaker learned to fly in 1930 in an OX-5 Commandaire. "I was pilot, chief mechanic, and teacher to anyone who though I looked honest. My pay was $10.00 a week." A score of years later aviation historians had to record that a former automobile mechanic commanded the flight that ushered in domestic jet service on the American continent. The December 10, 1958, Boeing 707 voyage "was a new kind of flying--and everyone in the airline business felt that an exciting era was at hand." And new pioneering.

Captain Whitaker joined National Airlines as a pilot in May, 1940, and like so many other who looked forward to a growing career in an expanding industry, soon joined with an uncle named Sam. Attached to the 438th Troop Carrier Group he saw action in Italy, France, and Germany --"We pulled gliders some of the time"--rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for extraordinary heroism.

The historic New York City-Miami flight required more than a month of ground training, and some 15 hours of flight time with a check pilot. "It was so hard to get used to the silence of jet flight that our adjustments were psychological as well as physical." What will the Captain do when he retires soon? "I think I am going to build me a little, two-place propeller job. For fun."

[[image - small drawing of a propeller]]

Roger Boyer Whitaker: born South Solon, Ohio, August 10, 1910.

[[image No. 138 - black & white photograph of Roger Whitaker in a modern airplane cockpit]]

[[caption]]Roger Whitaker in the Captain's seat of a modern wonder.[[/caption]]

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