Submitted and written by Jose A. Nochea
The old man arrived at the run down hanger on the Northwest corner of the airport as dawn broke with the eastern sunrise through the simple and limited skyline of old Miami. As he opened the doors to the office which was barely an area of 100 square feet, he continued to the main part of the hanger where he just wanted to look at the old Lockheed Super Constellation 1049-C aircraft that was to be the start of something special that he hoped would be a top airline one day.
In 1962, Captain John Gawron had just retired from Ultra Trans Airlines after a 42 year career with only a 4 year interruption when he flew B-17s during World War 2. That allowed him to learn the industry and save money to do exactly what he was up against at this time in his life, running his own airline. During his flying career, Captain Gawron was known for being a very generous and kind individual to new pilots in the airlines by dedicating countless hours teaching them the tricks of the trade as he had been a recognized and respected flight instructor for a long time.
The funds for the airline were limited after paying for the education of both sons, Michael now 24, and Carl who was just one year younger and both licensed as multi engine pilots. The boys had just also obtained their college degrees in business as they had planned to join their dad one day in such a venture. Today was that day.
The Lockheed Constellation was a proven aircraft with a very good track record not only as a passenger carrier, but also for cargo which was their primary target for business.
“The Haiti trip, that is what we are known for, the Haiti trip,” said Gawron to his sons after they arrived to join him just after 0715 hours on that first day.
“What are you talking about dad?” asked Carl with a look of uneasiness in his face.
“The Haiti trip is all we have three times a week, and no other airline wanted to do it, and we are going to do it and do it right every week as we prepare to grow.”
The Haiti trip was a public relations project by a charity group and some local municipalities to help the people of Haiti by taking them donated goods like food, and clothing. The trip would require three flights a week on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. The trip was unpopular in the airline industry since it did not pay well, but Captain Gawron saw it as an opportunity for a good startup project for his airline as long as he could at least break even while looking for new routes.
As a seasoned captain in the airline industry, John Gawron knew that there was money to be lost for every second that his aircraft was sitting in the hanger and this project which was going to receive some local media coverage was a free commercial for his new airline. The name was inspired by a combination of his love for the ocean where most of his routes would hopefully fly, and his patriotism. So Gawron though that Atlantic Eagle Airline (AEA) was the perfect match. The flights would begin the following Monday and would be piloted by all three of them with a two pilot rotation at a time, while the one who stayed behind would run the airline. But with a contract of two years to fly the Haiti trip and a fifty percent deposit upfront by multimillionaire Telmo Van Meter, who was a charity contributor, the search for a forth pilot that would also help them with ground operations was on. Maintenance of the aircraft was secured and came as a blessing to the Gawron’s when the owner of a small aircraft maintenance hanger, who was the father of one of the many pilots that John had helped years earlier, offered maintenance work for pennies until the airline would get off the ground.
Mark Kennedy was a thirty five year old adventurer turned pilot who was currently flying Super Constellations for a medium sized cargo airline also out of Miami. He was also a one of a kind individual who was an admirer and follower of aviation greats like Eddy Rickenbacker, Captain Dick Merril and Arthur Godfrey. But when he read the job classified in The Miami Alternative, which was the newspaper of the time, a phrase caught his eye that made him knock on the door of AEA. “Family Owned and Operated” were words that always touched him as he was quite nostalgic, sentimental, and a lover of humble family principles as he thought that this would be when he read it. As if Mr. Kennedy was God sent, he was exactly the type of individual that the Gawron’s were looking for. Not only was he respectful and knowledgeable, but he processed a work ethic for sacrifice as there was more work than pay involved that was required in order to survive with this new creation which was more like a dream than anything else. In other words, Kennedy knew exactly what he was getting himself into, and he did not mind.
Flight 237 took off from Miami International Airport runway 9 left at 0600 hours for Port-au-Prince full of cargo to maximum capacity on Monday June 6, 1962. The Captain was the old man Gawron himself as he wanted to see the operation on the Haiti side, with Mark Kennedy as his co-pilot, and Michael as flight engineer. Once the Constellation, christened as Catrina’s Dream for his mother’s name, stabilized at cruising altitude and a speed of 300 knots, the three started talking about the many possibilities and ideas for the development and growth of the airline. The 3 hour and 40 minute flight over the Atlantic Ocean and through the Caribbean would allow for the opportunity to exchange many ideas, which they did. But it also contained long periods of silence at which time they all had plenty of time to think of many things, including their new venture and the challenges that it would bring.
With the roaring sound of the four R-3350 engines in the background, John Gawron was now flying higher than ever as he looked at Michael and his new friend Mark with a feeling of accomplishment that he had finally made it to his American dream. Even if everything would fall apart the next day, he was actually flying his own airplane that belonged to his own airline. He knew that from that moment on in his life, flight 237 would be eternal.
As the Spirit of Catrina approached the runway in Port au Prince, it was a very welcomed sight for the Haitians. Millions of dollars in merchandise destined for the people of Haiti had been sitting inside a warehouse in Miami for months now without the possibility of getting to them, just because no airline or any other type of flying operation would be willing to take a chance. Even when it was to be marginally funded by special interest groups that were involved in charity work, the airline industry was just not interested in these types of projects as luxury and glamour were the name of the game for success in those days.
“Good morning Mr. Gawron and welcome to Haiti, my name is Kranz, your contact here. Boy, are we glad to see you guys. It was about time someone would come through for our people because the difference that your flights are going to make here is more than you can ever imagine. And I personally want to express my most sincere gratitude and appreciation sir!” “I hope that you will live up to your contract as others have dropped out before.”
“It’s a pleasure Mr. Kranz.” “Just call me Kranz as that is my first name.” “Well Kranz, I will prove to you that I am a man of my word and my airplane will be here as promised as long as I can help it.” “I will make sure of that personally.”
Kranz was a retired marine biologist from the University of Miami who had also served in the Second World War under General George Patton. After the war, he went to Haiti to conduct research on its marine life spending many years in the region. After his retirement, he felt that helping the people of Haiti was his calling in life and moved there in 1960. A no nonsense kind of guy who stood 6 feet, six inches tall with a white flat top, but very fair and very loved by the people of Port au Prince as he was like a guardian angel to them in many ways, including the setup of the charity flight which was his new baby project. Kranz had created all the conditions in Haiti to receive and distribute the goods to its people. All he needed was a reliable carrier to bring it to them, and he just found them.
The temperature in Port au Prince on that day was a scorching 97 degrees Fahrenheit. After Kranz gave the flight crew a rundown of the operation there, he wanted to take them to lunch. But Gawron and the rest did not feel comfortable leaving their beloved constellation in the hands of people who they had never met or dealt with before. But Kranz was a very convincing guy full of charisma. Mark Kennedy saw this in his eyes and told Gawron
“Come on, let’s go to lunch skipper, we will be alright!”
Gawron had never been to Haiti before this trip. After a tour around the city in Kranz’s jeep, he saw the simplicity, but also the necessity there. That’s when he realized that maybe this long life dream of his of owning his own airline was part of a bigger plan. Not being a religious man at all, this moment made him see as he had seen through other experiences in his past how things fell into place as if someone was leading the way. Being the skeptic that he had always been, he always wondered and gave it the benefit of the doubt by saying to himself ‘Thank you Lord.’
While all of this was going on, the aircraft was being unloaded, serviced and fueled. Gawron and his crew were anxious to make it back to the airport to oversee the operation as they still felt mistrust. But Kranz never gave in and again insisted that everything would be taken care of by the time that they were back, which it was to their satisfaction.
John Gawron felt very comfortable with the Haiti operation knowing that Kranz would be there for them every time. The empty return flight took off to Miami at 1705 hours.
With one aircraft set up for cargo, John Gawron knew that he had quite a challenge in his hands if he was ever going to tap into the passenger market within the airline industry. Even though he had a two year contract for the Haiti flights which were going very well, spending money on another more modern aircraft was risky. But he also knew that settling for what they had was not going to get them anywhere either. After a meeting of the four, it was decided that the effort for a passenger route would begin immediately, as well as the search for a passenger worthy airplane. The route would have to be decided on first so the right aircraft could be bought. So after careful consideration and some tips from old friends in the industry, they knew that Panama was a growing market not only for passengers, but cargo as well due to the growing business created by the Panama Canal. Gawron and Kennedy, who were the two with the most experience in the business, knew that a jet was way beyond their reach. They started looking for another Constellation due to its range for the Panama route. But they also knew that it was a matter of time before these greats of the skies would be obsolete to the passenger market.
The opportunity came after a near death experience by a close friend of Kennedy, Bruce Cornell. A more modern turbo-prop airplane also built by Lockheed called the Electra L-188 had a defect that caused the props to swirl in flight. Cornell was piloting an executive chartered flight to Miami when while approaching the runway the vibrations nearly broke the wings off and the plane apart. Once on the ground, Cornell said that it would be the last time that he would step into an Electra and wanted to sell it cheap to get rid of it as soon as possible. Kennedy and Gawron had heard about that problem, but also knew that it could be corrected by adjusting the degree of the engines. They bought the aircraft from Cornell at the incredible price of $5,000.00 on January 30, 1963.
The news came in on a rainy Saturday afternoon as John and Mark were working on the Electra at the AEA hanger. The two young Gawron brothers walked in with a piece of paper in their hands that contained the green light for the Panama route starting in June. From this time on, the pressure was on to secure and put in place all of the conditions for a passenger airline. They all had an idea of where to start, but they knew that making it a reality was easier said than done.
John Gawron suddenly faced a situation where everything was coming together faster than he had planned. With a much needed carrier to Panama, AEA obtained the route much faster than they expected. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had given the new airline a chance to grow if they could meet the deadline for the first flight on June 1, 1963 that also included three roundtrip flights on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. But with only three months to work with and a limited amount of funding, he decided to call upon an old friend from the Haiti project.
“Good morning Mr. Van Meter, it’s John Gawron from AEA”.
After an hour of conversation and an opportunity for part ownership of the company, Mr. Van Meter came through for AEA providing the money needed to hire pilots, flight attendants, support staff, set up a ticket counter, and maintain the aircraft. As all of the preparations were taking place behind the scenes, the Lockheed Electra named Captain Van meter after their new part owner and savior of the day, was getting the colors of the new airline painted on. To save fuel, Gawron and Kennedy decided to keep the entire exterior of the aircraft in the bare metal, with two stripes of green and blue representing the colors of the ocean that would start from the nose on each side, along the side of the fuselage, and leading to the tail where they would turn into an eagle’s wing.
From the start, John Gawron wanted his airline to have all of the principle officers in place, no matter how small it was. On Sunday of that week, he called for a meeting in their new office located inside the Miami terminal next to their ticket counter. Attending the meeting were all of the owners of AEA including Van Meter and Kennedy who was given a chance by the Gawron’s to have a piece of the pie when he was able to contribute $50,000.00 which he had saved for the trip of his life, an African safari. Kennedy felt so comfortable with the old man that he began to trust him like the father that he never knew. Gawron sensed the admiration from Kennedy and felt fortunate to have found an individual with such knowledge of the aviation industry, especially airplanes. For this reason he gave the title of Chief Pilot to Mark who humbly accepted it.
“This has got to be the greatest day of my life, chief pilot of an airline owned by my family.” Stated Kennedy as the others looked at each other while smiling and enjoying this very special memento in the history of the airline.
The two Gawron boys got their official assignments from the old man as well. Michael was named Director of Flight Operations, and Carl was the new Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Telmo Van Meter looked proudly upon this great team of visionaries with a feeling of success even before the first passenger flight would take off. A magnate in the advertising and public relations business, he felt confident about AEA. Somehow he felt that he had run into something good here and decided to remain as part owner, consultant, and public relations manager. With all of the principle officers named, it was clear that Gawron Sr. was to be the president and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Atlantic Eagle Airlines.
By the middle of May and as incredible as it seemed, AEA had hired the personnel needed to run a small airline. The Haiti flight was gaining popularity through the public relations work of Van Meter. When he held a press conference to announce that the new airline who helped Haiti would start flying daily to Panama out of Miami, people in the industry started to inquire about who and what AEA was all about. For this reason, pilots looking for adventure were available to fly on either flight right away. Flight 130 to Panama City, Panama took off from MIA at 0905 hours on June 1, 1963. The flight was filled to maximum capacity of 88 passengers due to the configuration of the Electra. The flight lasted three hours and 25 minutes long which later returned full of passengers to Miami approaching runway 27-R and touching down successfully at 1845 hours.
The daily flight to Panama was booked for months in advance helping maintain the airline afloat by actually making money. And after the first 8 months of flying cargo to Haiti, it became clear to Gawron that a passenger route was needed from Miami to Port au Prince a couple of days a week. The route was approved and assigned to AEA in the spring of 1964, scheduled to begin passenger travel there in the summer of that year. At first, Gawnron thought that he would reconfigure the Constellation for both cargo and passenger. But Kennedy thought that it would be smarter to purchase a second Electra which had proven to be a great aircraft while keeping the Constellation as a spare, or for other cargo flights.
In the previous 6 months, the amount of charity donations to Haiti had decreased. The need for three flights every week was still there, but usually the third day of the week would go half empty, and it would be a matter of time before the number of flights would also need to be decreased. A second Electra was purchased in April, which was configured to carry 40 passengers as well as cargo. This allowed AEA to kill 2 birds with one stone continuing three flights a week to Port au Prince delivering the very needed goods from the United States, and providing a more flexible bridge for the people of Haiti from Miami and back. The effect of the flights would now have a totally different meaning as they would also prove to be money makers for Gawron and his airline. At 0815 hours on July 4, 1963, flight 1116 took off from Miami to Port au Prince carrying 32 passengers along with cargo.
With two passenger flights that were making money for AEA, Gawron and the rest were considering to expand by adding two more routes that included Key West, and Puerto Rico. But on the morning of April 1, 1964, a suited gentleman with a briefcase arrived at the AEA office asking to meet with Mr. John Gawron.
“Who may I say is here to see him?” asked Hilda who was AEA’s receptionist.
“Tell him is Mr. Michael Dunn from the state department.”
Since the day that Fidel Castro arrived in Cuba as their new dictator on December 31, 1959. Things started taking a turn for the worse, which would deteriorate further causing the exodus of hundreds of thousands of Cubans to the United States through different government sponsored programs. The first program called Operation Peter Pan which brought over 14,000 Cuban children to the US had ended in 1962. But a new agreement between Fidel and President Johnson to allow Cubans who could be claimed by family members here in the states was getting ready to be launched in the following year.
After a brief introduction where he explained that he had been sent there by a good friend named Telmo, Mr. Dunn placed a document on top of Gawron’s desk titled “Cuban Freedom Flights”.
“I have been told that your airline is probably the best one for this kind of project Mr. Gawron.”
Gawron looked surprised, but interested as he looked over the document while Dunn continued explaining the highlights of the project, which included two flights a day on 2 days a week starting in January 1965. The flights would probably continue for at least two years with the potential for extension well into the 1970s, and they would be paid for by the United States Government to AEA directly at the average competitive rate per passenger in the industry.
“Please Mr. Gawron I need you to look at this carefully and get back to me no later than next Monday with a decision. I want you to know that we appreciate what you are doing for the people of Haiti, and I personally will like to thank you on behalf of the people who I work for by giving you the opportunity for this new project. I think that you will find it beneficial to your airline.”
On the following Saturday after meeting with Mr. Dunn, Gawron called for a meeting at the terminal conference room that included all of the principle officers to present them with what would become AEA’s new challenge as well as opportunity. The project would be called as described by Mr. Dunn, “Operation Freedom Flights”.
After reading all of the documents carefully and with the demand for two flights a week by The State department, Gawron saw this project as the perfect opportunity to increase flight time on the second Electra Captain Van Meter which was performing well in the Panama route three times a week. He thought that if he could alternate the days by flying to Cuba on Wednesdays and Fridays, the Captain Van Meter would be flying every day but Sunday which would be used for maintenance of the aircraft. But the item in the document that caught Gawron’s eye which made this venture almost impossible to resist was the amount of money that the federal government was willing to give the airline as a deposit for its commitment and preparation for the freedom flights, $1.5 million which would be the equivalent to 6 months of flights as stated in the contract. To John Gawron, that amount of money meant security and expansion for AEA. Gawron knew that this amount of money would give them some breathing space and something to fall back on as they met the challenges ahead and expected growing pains of any new business.
The meeting went very well since the feeling of so much trust was in the air, and Van Meter being the public relations giant that he was, also saw it as the perfect opportunity for yet another free source of advertisement for his new airline. After hours of dissecting every bit of the official document, it was agreed that if cleared by their new appointed business attorney Jason Franqui who was a long time friend of Van Meter, they would accept and sign the contract in the following meeting which was to take place two Saturdays later. On this present meeting it was also agreed that only the people in that room would know about operation freedom flight until every detail was finalized by both parties involved which were Atlantic eagle Airlines and the state department.
The words out of Jason Franqui’s mouth were like music to the ears of the Gawron’s, Mark Kennedy, and Van Meter alike. “The fact that the state department is putting this kind of money upfront and the clarity of the contract where the United States government will attempt to make this project a success, everything indicates to me that it is a great deal for you guys and I say go for it”. Franqui later explained that the government knew that they where taking a big chance in more ways than one with such a politically delicate project, and for that reason, they were willing to do what was needed to make it a triumph for the current administration, and that was a good thing for AEA as it meant full support.
With the total success of the freedom flights, the airline continued to grow into the 1990s with a fleet of 30 airplanes including eight Boeing 747s with routes to Europe, Canada, and South America. By the time the airline was sold in the year 2000, it had an operational table of organization that included a chief pilot, deputy chief pilot, shift commanders at the rank of Captain, and one of the most organized and respected airlines with the best performance record in the industry. Long live the American dream where everything is possible in the one and only USA.