The Boxcar Blues (16 page)

Passenger service was inaugurated on August
20. Most of the kinks of a new business had been worked out and in
September Curly started flying as co-pilot. Passenger flying was in
its infancy, so many people wouldn’t fly because they were
concerned about aircraft safety and reliability. Still, there were
enough adventurous souls that the loads were better than
expected.

Barney did everything possible to keep the
passengers at ease, and one of Curly’s duties was to greet the
passengers when they boarded and check up on them during the
flight. A few people made comments such as, “You look awfully young
to be flying this plane.”

With a smile, Curly replied, “I’ve got over
four hundred hours of flying time and hold a commercial pilot’s
license. Also, there is a more experienced pilot who is the pilot
in command of this flight.” In most cases this seemed to quiet
their concerns.

All things considered Curly loved his new
job and couldn’t imagine doing anything else.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

On a cool Tuesday morning, Catwalk was
scheduled to fly his first trip as co-pilot. Steel grey clouds hung
over the Albuquerque airport, but the weather report for Denver was
clear skies and good visibility. Barney elected to take off, hoping
the weather would improve en route. In his preflight briefing, he
told Catwalk they’d turn east, as soon as they cleared Sandia Peak,
to avoid the mountains to the north. Then they’d fly east of Las
Vegas and turn toward Raton. If the weather hadn’t cleared by the
time they reached Raton, they’d return to Albuquerque, rather than
chance the pass in bad weather.

Finally, the time arrived to see how the
passengers reacted to a black co-pilot. In an effort to prepare him
in advance for possible adverse reactions from the passengers,
Barney had talked this over with Catwalk. Ever since Barney had
first mentioned the formation of the airline Catwalk had been
preparing himself for this moment. He was excited, but he was also
apprehensive about the cruel possibilities afforded by human
nature.

For his first trip Catwalk wore a new
leather jacket, new chinos with a white shirt and polished boots.
Nervous but smiling, he took his place at the foot of the boarding
stairs. The first three passengers merely looked at him when they
handed him their ticket. The fourth passenger asked, “Are you the
co-pilot?”

“
Yes, sir, I am. My name
is Catwalk Jackson and I hope you enjoy your flight
today.”

“
I ain’t flying with no
Negro pilot.”

As hard as it was, Catwalk smiled and said,
“You can get a ticket refund inside the terminal, sir.”

The man returned a blank stare. Clearly he
didn’t know what to do. Catwalk thought they guy probably needed to
get to Denver, but his prejudices were preventing that. The
passenger said, “You really know how to fly this airplane?”

“
Yes, sir, I do. I have
almost four hundred hours flying time and I’ve logged thirty hours
in this aircraft. There is a more experienced pilot who is in
command of this flight.”

The man climbed the stairs and Catwalk kept
his smile in place for the remaining passengers. When he and Barney
took their seats, Catwalk said, “Only one guy out of seven had a
problem. Better than we expected.”

“
Maybe we’ll find some
rough weather and we can bounce him around a bit.”

Catwalk grinned and said, “Trouble is we’ll
be bouncing the other passengers too.”

The weather broke when they were thirty
miles northeast of Las Vegas, and the rest of the trip was in clear
skies. They arrived in Denver one minute behind schedule. Catwalk
breathed a sigh of relief that his first trip as an airline pilot
had gone better than expected. He loved flying the Boeing and if
the passengers accepted him, he hoped he could continue flying
airliners for the rest of his life.

In Denver, however, the passengers for the
trip back weren’t as agreeable to a black pilot. All but one
refused to take the flight and Barney, true to his word, stuck by
his co-pilot and advised them to take another airline.

On the flight south, he told Catwalk, “The
trouble is, there’s two other flights available from Denver and the
passengers know it. This morning we were the only flight departing
Albuquerque for Denver, so the people had no choice.”

Catwalk said, “I’m just wondering if this is
an unusual situation, or a precursor of things to come.”

Barney’s answer was matter-of-fact, “Well,
regardless of what it is, I still need a co-pilot when Curly is
assigned ground duties.”

That night he said little over dinner as he
thought about people’s attitudes that threatened to shatter his
dreams before they could become a reality. He remembered his
Momma’s advice that she’d given to him when he left home. She’d
told him that whenever possible to avoid white folk and stick with
his own kind. For the first time in his life, he found himself
questioning her guidance. He was trying to break into a white man’s
profession, so avoidance of white folks was out of the question. He
knew he was competent enough to fly airliners, but the passengers
had to be convinced. Until they accepted him, he would have a
harmful effect on Barney’s efforts to get the airline off the
ground. After all that Barney had done for him, he felt terrible
about being such a liability. He decided that his first priority
would be to help Barney, even if it meant resigning from his dream
job.

The next day the passenger’s reactions to
his presence was worse. There were only three paying passengers for
the morning flight and two of those cancelled because they didn’t
want to fly with a black pilot. On the return trip, out of eight
passengers, six refunded their tickets and sought another
airline.

Once they were airborne, Barney said,
“They’ll get over this, Cat. I think some people do it because they
see someone else who refuses to fly. It’s a matter of acceptance,
and that takes time. We have to be patient.”

Catwalk pulled the throttles back to cruise
power as they leveled off at six thousand feet, then stared out the
window while he decided what he wanted to say. He then told Barney,
“I know you’re going to stick by me and I appreciate your support.
However, you’re trying to get an airline off the ground under the
worst possible conditions; in the grip of the depression when many
people can’t afford to fly, and of those that can afford it, many
are apprehensive about flying. They don’t trust airplanes and are
perfectly comfortable taking a train even though their trip takes
twice as long. So, I made a decision last night. I’m going to fly a
few more trips. If there are a significant number of passengers who
refuse to fly on my flights, I’m handing you my resignation and
I’ll do something else.”

While Barney thought about this Cat reached
for the prop controls and said, “Have you noticed the props are
harder to synchronize on this plane, than on the other one?”

“
Yeah. I noticed that
yesterday. They’re always just a touch out of sync. And I think the
decision you made is nonsense.”

Catwalk expected something like that so, he
let the subject die a natural death and said, “What do you think
causes the props to act like that?”

“
I don’t know. I’m going
to have Julio check it out when we take it back to the
barn.”

That night over dinner Catwalk told Curly
about the passenger’s reaction to a black pilot, and his thoughts
about resigning.

Curly’s reaction was more vociferous than
Barney’s, “No, Cat! You can’t resign. This is the best chance
you’ll ever get. If you give it up, you’ll regret it for the rest
of your life. Those passengers will change their minds.”

“
That’s true, but Barney
needs the business to get this airline off the ground.”

Curly fired back, “You heard what he said
that day back on the farm; he’s planning on operating at a loss for
two years. He knew the loads wouldn’t be good at first.”

Catwalk thought about this, but still came
to the conclusion that he was a liability. He said, “I’m going to
make a couple more flights. If the passengers still refuse to fly
with me, I’ll do something else.”

“
Damn it. I hate to see
you do that.” Curly knew Catwalk’s mind was made up. He looked at
his friend with a devilish grin and said, “Maybe I’ll tell the
passengers on my flights, if they don’t fly with you I’m going to
knock their fucking blocks off.”

“
That would be good for
business.”

By the end of the week, the situation had
deteriorated. Catwalk and Barney were walking through the terminal
when they saw a sign that read, “Rocky Mountain Airways hires Negro
pilots when there’s a million white men out of work.”

Barney ripped the sign down, and told the
ticket clerk to watch for anyone posting another sign, but the
damage had been done. There were no passengers for the morning
flight. Nothing was said about this until they were halfway to
Denver. Then Catwalk said, “After the flight back, I’m resigning.
I’ll go back to help Julio with the maintenance, or maybe take a
Jenny out to do some barnstorming.”

Barney turned in his seat to look at
Catwalk. Due to their earlier discussion, he’d known this was
coming and had thought about how to handle it, but it was still
difficult. He said, “How about if I don’t accept your
resignation?”

Catwalk grinned and said, “How long can you
afford to fly empty planes between Albuquerque and Denver?”

“
If you resign, every one
of those ignorant bastards who refuse to fly with you, wins. They
have proven their point and you have lost.”

“
Barney, I don’t see it as
being about winning and losing. I know those people are wrong
because I’m a good pilot, and their refusal to fly with me has
nothing to do with my ability to fly the plane. But it’s not about
being right or wrong either. This is about the attitudes that are
affecting your efforts to start an airline. Here’s what I’d like to
do. I’ll go back and help Julio for a month or two. Then, if he
agrees, I’d like to rent one of the Jennys from you and go out on
my own, to do some barnstorming. Maybe later on, if people’s
attitudes change, I’ll come back to work for you.”

Barney stared out the passenger window. He
didn’t like giving in to the people’s prejudice, but he also didn’t
like subjecting Catwalk to the constant, insulting attitudes. He
said, “Your mind’s made up?”

“
It’s best for everyone.
You’ll get your feet on the ground with better passenger loads,
Curly will get more flight time, and I’ll either learn more about
the maintenance end, or I’ll be flying every day while entertaining
the crowds at county fairs and air shows.”

“
You know, barnstorming is
a hard way to make a living. You have to travel to a different
event every day and people might not pay to see you perform
acrobatics.”

“
I’ve read up on it, and
it’s not easy, but at least I’m not dodging the railroad
bulls.”

“
O.K., I’ll accept your
temporary resignation, but in six months, you’re coming back to
work for Rocky Mountain.”

“
You’ve got a
deal.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

When Catwalk arrived at the farm, Julio
tried to console him, but it didn’t heal the wound that had been
inflicted by human cruelty. He tried to keep his mind busy by
helping Julio with maintenance on the other Boeing and routine work
on the Jenny. Still, he didn’t feel like he was in the right place;
he wanted to fly airliners.

One morning he said to Julio, “There’s not
enough work to keep two men busy. What would you think if I took
one of the Jennys and hit the barnstorming circuit.”

“
I think it’s a good idea.
You need to be flying somewhere. When will you leave?”

“
A few days. I’ve got some
work to do to get the Jenny ready.”

“
OK. Let me know if I can
help.”

That afternoon Catwalk put the Jenny on
jacks and greased the axle bearings. Next he beefed up the king
posts and bottom skid in case he worked with a wing walker. Then he
adjusted and tuned the rigging on the wings. When the rigging was
tuned he installed an oil injector on the exhaust that would
provide the smoke trail during his routine.

After the aircraft was as fit as he could
make it, Catwalk spent a couple days polishing his acrobatic
routine. Over dinner, he asked Julio, “Are you sure there’s nothing
around here I can help you with?”

“
Cat, all I’m doing now is
grading the new parking area for the Boeing. When that’s done, I
just have to wait for the other plane to come in. I think you
should head on out and find yourself an air show. Show those people
what a hell of a pilot you are.”

The next morning Catwalk packed his bags and
headed for an air show at El Paso. After refueling and paying his
fifty cent entry fee, the event organizer told him, “You’re the
second act to go off, after a flight of two de Havilland Moths.
Good luck up there.”

“
Thanks.”

Catwalk waited until the Moths landed and
the pilot had a chance to pass the hat through the audience. This
was the only method of the pilots getting paid, so he wouldn’t be
waved off until the preceding act had time to work the crowd. When
his time came, he took off and turned back over the crowd. His
routine started with a slow roll that was followed by a loop. He
then went into a split S that terminated in a high speed pass over
the audience, which he followed with an immelman turn and another
high speed low pass. A couple Cuban Eights and a hammer head stall
rounded out his routine.