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THE PLANE TURNED PUNCHING BAG

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This, believe it or not, actually happened when a hailstorm decided to make a punching bag out of an American Airlines DC-6 and didn't pull any of its punches. Hard as it is to believe even with the evidence right in front of him, Harry Johnson, general foreman for AA at Dallas, Texas, looks over the battered nose of the plane. This startling episode occurred when the plane was pounded by a freak hailstorm over west Texas on May 26. Damage was sufficient to require the plane to return to Dallas and reroute its passengers to Los Angeles on another flight.

"HAM" LEE, DEAN OF THE AIR LINE PILOTS, QUITS

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THE COVER: [[italized]] To E. Hamilton Lee, dean of air line pilots, goes to honor of being the cover subject for the first issue of the new style AIR LINE PILOT. In the top photo, ten brother UAL pilots gather round while "Ham" cuts a 36th anniversary cake presented to mark his recent retirement from United. At lower left is Captian Lee as he appears today, while the picture at the lower right shows him back in the air mail days. His wings are the air mail wings upon which the design of ALPS's rings and emblems are based. 

Captain E. Hamilton "Ham" Leee, the flyingest air line pilot of them all, has finally hung up his wings after 36 continuous years of piloting during which he logged more miles and hours of flying than any other man alive. The 57-year-old Captain whose name is legend to aviation retired from United AIR Lines and air line flying on June 10 with the final entry in his log book, complied with the meticulousness for which he is noted, showing 27,811.41 hours and 4,400,000 miles of flying since he first took the air back in 1913. 

His flight time as he retired was the equivalent to 175 trips around the world, or, to put it another way, over three solid years of 24-hour days in the air, which he says: "That entitles me to stay at home a bit now, I never felt better in my life, but I think it's time for me to take it easy."

Smiling, cigar-puffing Lee had a hand in establishing the nationwide network of air routes and mail and passenger lines that give the United States top position in the air transportation. He has virtually every section of the country, either as an air mail or UAL pilot. In his 36 years of flying, he has seen development of the first transcontinental runs, the first radio and instrument flying. He is not only a pioneer pilot, but one of the pioneer members of ALPA, falling in the charter membership group with membership No. 350. 

First flight - "Ham" Lee was born near Paris, Illinois, and made his first flight 36 years ago clutching the struts of rickety pusher biplane. The pilot was A. T. Heine, of Minneapolis, another
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storming until 1919 when he was hired by the air mail service for the New-York-Washington route. At that time, the flight took two hours . . . if the weather was good. Lee completed 195 trips before switching to a new job as flying trouble shooter for the Post Office Department, testing mail planes, flying parts to stranded pilots, and broke in new routes. 

Joins UAL in 1927 - When the Post Office began pushing its air mail route across the country, "Ham" went along. He first assigned to the Cleveland-Chicago leg and eventually flew every segment of the original transcontinental airway. When Boeing Air Transport, a United predecessor company, took over the San Francisco-Chicago portion from the Post Office in 1927, Lee began his career with United. He flew single-engined Boeing 40's, tri-motored Boeing 80's, twin-engined Boeing 247's and Douglas DC-3's and finally the larger equipment.

In his letter of resignation, which UAL President W.A.
Patterson said he accepted "only with reluctance," Captain Lee said:

"After flying the air mail since 1918 30 consecutive years this letter announcing my retirement from active flying is a most difficult message to write. My personal business interests have grown to proportions requiring my full time attention."

"I am grateful to the Post Office and to United Air Lines for having been given a part in helping to build air transportation, which has attained such great success. It has been a grand experience to see and be a part of the development of air transport from the crude beginnings of its embryonic state on the singe route from New York to Washington to the present vast network."

Another Lee Carries On- Captain Lee will assume the role of a Los Angeles landlord, managing an apartment house and a string of bungalows in Glendale. There is another Lee to carry on the family name on the airways, however. He's "Ham's" son, Robert E. Lee, who joined United in 1942, flew with his father as copilot of the first father-son team on record, and today is a Captain on the company's Chicago-New York route.

Seniority Grievances Follow New Procedures.

Grievances based upon company seniority lists, of which there has recently been a large increase, are being handled by ALPA's Legal and Conciliation Department in accordance with recent decisions of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Here is the procedure being followed: When a pilot wishes to grieve his position on the seniority list, ALPA Headquarters arranges for a hearing by the company. If the case eventually goes to the Pilot's System Board of Adjustment, notice of the hearing is sent to any pilots that would be adversely affected should the grieving pilot win his case. An ALPA attorney attends the hearing for the purpose of seeing that all pilots with a material interest in the case have an opportunity to be heard.

The Air Line Pilot