The Boxcar Blues (15 page)

“
I think the President has
good plans for those programs that will put people back to work.
I’m betting he gets the country out of this.”

Catwalk said, “I guess we have to believe in
him. He’s the only one who can help us.”

Curly tipped up a bottle of beer, then
asked, “Hey, Cat. Do you think airline pilots get to meet a lot of
girls?”

“
I don’t know. I guess if
there were girls on your plane you could meet them. I thought you
already had a girl down at the Bearcat.”

“
Nah, she ain’t nothing
serious. Just a handy piece of ass every now and then.”

“
How many girlfriends do
you want?”

“
Hell, how do I know. I’d
just like to meet some new girls for a change. You should get out
and meet some too.”

Catwalk looked at his friend in disbelief
and asked, “Where am I supposed to meet girls? I can’t go to any of
the bars, there’s only a few black families around here and they
don’t have any girls my age.”

After hearing that Curly silently cursed his
stupidity for the comment. He hadn’t given any thought to Cat’s
situation and his friend was right; there were no girls for him to
meet and there were very few black people, period. Curly tried to
imagine how he must feel. He said, “I’m sorry, Cat. I just don’t
think of you as being any different than me. I realize what you’re
up against with the race thing, plus you’ve got a real idiot for a
friend.”

“
Well, Curly, for once
you’re right.” Then he smiled and play slapped the
idiot.

Two days later Barney landed in the Model
80. When he first saw the plane, Catwalk couldn’t believe his eyes;
it was monstrous. Like the Jenny, it had two wings, but it had
three engines with one mounted on the nose and the other two
mounted between the wings. The cabin was large enough to carry
twelve passengers in seats with cushions, just like a Pullman car,
and the cockpit was amazing. It had room for two pilots to sit
side-by-side, six levers on a center console for the engine
controls, plus a staggering number of switches, dials and
gauges.

Upon seeing the cockpit, Curly muttered,
“Cat, can we learn to fly this thing?”

“
Yes, and I can’t
wait.”

Barney heard his comment and said, “You’re
going to have to wait a couple weeks, Cat. I’m taking it over to
Albuquerque to be painted and have the interior replaced. The color
scheme will be tan with orange and brown accents.

“
O.K., while I’m gone you
guys have a lot to do. Julio will be working with you to finish the
hangar. We’ll use this field for a maintenance base until we can
move onto the airport at Albuquerque. When we get the other plane,
I’m putting one aircraft in service and keeping the other here in
standby. When I get back, I’ll check you out in the airplane and
then you’re going up to Denver to attend an instrument flying
course that’s put on by United Airlines. I want you to study the
aircraft operating manual and fly the Jenny for an hour or two
every day. You’ve got to build your time, and when you get two
hundred hours, you can test for your commercial license. Any
questions?”

Catwalk and Curly looked at each other.
Things were happening fast in their lives and the rapid advancement
of their flying careers was too good to be true. They both shook
their heads and Barney said, “By the way, the airline you’ll be
flying for is Rocky Mountain Airways.”

Julio proved to be a relentless task master
while Barney was gone. Every morning they spent time working on the
hangar, installing equipment such as air compressors, welding
tanks, engine diagnostic and maintenance equipment, instrument
calibration gear and hydraulic jacks.

Amid their busy schedule, Catwalk and Curly
also flew as often as they could. When they weren’t flying or
working, they spent time reading the Commerce Department
regulations for commercial pilots and studying up on instrument
flying procedures.

Even though he was busier than he’d ever
been in his life, Catwalk still found time to visit Sam’s grave and
tell her how his life was improving. He often talked about how this
was the job that would get him off the farm and give him a life
beyond that of a laborer. Unfortunately, he realized that the life
he’d often dreamed of, might also be a lonely life without her in
it.

CHAPTER TWENTY

In the Albuquerque airport lounge, Barney
was sipping coffee while talking to a pilot from Transcontinental
and Western Air. Workmen had started painting the Model 80, but it
wouldn’t be completed until the day after tomorrow. He was staying
in town to talk to the airport manager about getting parking ramp
space when his flights started. During their chat the other pilot
told him about two pilots that had to be laid off. “They’re good
pilots with over five hundred hours each, but they’re black men. We
found out there’s a lot of passengers who don’t want to fly with
colored pilots. Over in Tucson most of the passengers got off a
Tri-Motor when they saw a black pilot. The chief pilot tried to
stick up for the two guys, but we need to fill every seat we can,
just to stay in business. He got orders from headquarters to lay
them off last week.”

“
That’s a shame that
someone has to lose a job because of his color.”

“
It is, but there wasn’t
anything else we could do.”

“
No, I guess not. I’d
better go, good talking to you.” Barney paid for his coffee and
left the café. On the way to the airport office he thought about
the constant battles Catwalk had been fighting because of racial
injustice and it rankled him that a person should be subjected to
such treatment. He decided on the spot that no matter what
happened, he wouldn’t lay off Catwalk. If the passengers didn’t
want to fly with a black pilot, they could take another airline. He
wasn’t going to be join the ranks of the ignorant just to make a
couple bucks.

At the airport office he heard good news;
the airport was trying to attract business, so his first two months
of parking ramp fees would be waived. After that his spirits
improved slightly, but the conversation with the other pilot
lingered in the back of his mind.

Catwalk pulled the chain slowly until the
Jenny’s engine rose out of the cowling. Once it was clear of the
aircraft he pulled the plane out of the hangar. He then lowered the
engine onto an engine dolly and bolted it down. He yelled to Julio,
“It’s out, what are we going to do first.”

“
Drain the oil and
coolant, and pull the rocker arms. Then wheel it over to the bench
so we can start a valve job. Where’s Curly?”

“
I don’t know, he was here
a minute ago.”

Julio slammed down a wrench. “I know where
he is.”

He found Curly behind the barn, smoking a
cigarette and sipping off a pint of whiskey. He yelled, “I didn’t
tell you to take a break.”

Curly hollered back, “I finished
straightening up the parts bin, just like you said, Julio.”

“
There’s more work to do
and I want you to do it with a clear head.”

“
I ain’t drunk. I only had
a few sips.”

“
No, but it’s only eleven
o’clock. You start drinking earlier every day.”

“
God damn it, Julio. What
do you want me to do?”

“
Put the bottle away.
We’re doing a valve job on the Jenny.”

Curly flipped his cigarette into the dirt
and followed Julio. He’d been at the tavern until two o’clock last
night, then started work at five this morning. On short sleep he
found Julio’s regimen hard to take. If he wasn’t afraid of blowing
his chance to be an airline pilot, he would have told the old
Mexican to go to hell.

Barney returned to Vaughn two days later.
The plane shined with its new paint job and the Rocky Mountain
Airways logo on the tail. Barney told Cat, “I saw some of the
pilots have taken to putting names on their planes. I took the
liberty of painting a name on ours. I hope you don’t mind.”

Catwalk looked just in front of the cabin
door and saw “Samantha Jean” painted in large orange script. He
smiled and said, “Barney, I think that’s very appropriate. Thank
you.”

Barney asked, “Are you ready to fly it?”

“
Yes, sir.”

Barney took the right seat and Catwalk the
left. Barney then started the engines. Catwalk couldn’t believe how
quiet and calm it was in an enclosed cockpit, as compared to the
Jenny’s open cockpit. With three propellers turning he felt a
sensation of power, but the noise and prop wash weren’t there. He
looked over the gauges and saw the familiar turn and bank
indicator, fuel gauge, airspeed and altimeter, but the rest of the
gauges mystified him.

He noticed when Barney taxied to the edge of
the field, that the plane had a much softer ride and didn’t bounce
around like the lighter Jenny. When Barney turned into the wind and
applied power, he felt the thrust of the powerful engines pushing
him back in the seat.

Once airborne Barney turned to the east and
climbed to fifteen hundred feet. He leveled off and told Catwalk,
“She’s heavier than the Jenny so the controls are more firm. Keep
your power at twenty five inches of manifold pressure and your RPM
about three thousand. Other than that, she flies just like the
Jenny. She’s all yours.”

Catwalk took the controls and felt the
heavier pressure from even the slightest movement. He banked into a
turn and the big plane seemed to turn gracefully rather than the
quick jerky turn of the Jenny. When he leveled off he looked at the
airspeed indicator—he was doing a hundred and forty knots, but it
seemed like they were hardly moving. He pushed the throttles
forward to climb and felt the surge of power, as the three engines
responded. The plane was at twenty five hundred feet in less than a
minute.

He smiled at Barney, “She’s an amazing
aircraft. Powerful, but graceful and easy to fly.”

“
It won’t have nearly as
much power with a cabin full of passengers, a full load of fuel and
cargo. Head back to the field and we’ll do a couple touch and
goes.”

When Catwalk lined up on the field, Barney
said, “You don’t have to flare as much as with the Jenny. She’s
faster so you can fly her right down to the deck. Also, a cross
wind won’t throw you around as much so there’s less crab.”

Catwalk first landing was O.K., but he knew
he’d have to get used to the increased landing speed and the feel
of the heavier aircraft. When he pushed the throttles forward,
again he was amazed at the power he commanded.

After their final landing, they were taxiing
to the hangar when Barney asked him, “Have you noticed Curly
drinking more lately?”

Catwalk immediately thought, if he answered
yes, he might jeopardize Curly’s flying career. On the other hand,
he had to be honest with Barney. “He goes out to that saloon almost
every night, because he’s seeing a girl out there. I don’t know how
much he drinks there, but I’ve never seen him get stupid from
liquor.”

“
Julio said he’s found him
drinking on the sly and this worries me. I can’t have a pilot
working for me who hits the bottle too much. I’ll have to talk to
him.”

Catwalk found Curly in the hangar putting a
coat of wing dope on the Jenny. Curly asked him, “How’d ya’ like
flying the Boeing?”

“
It’s a dream. The
controls are more firm than the Jenny, but she’s got a lot more
power. It lands faster and you don’t have to flare it as
much.”

“
Did Barney tell you what
all the gauges mean?”

“
He did. They’re not hard
to learn, but you have to learn to scan them.”

“
I can’t wait until I can
fly it.”

Catwalk hesitated a few seconds, but knowing
he had to get this out in the open, he said, “Curly, Barney asked
me about your drinking.”

Curly looked up with concern all over his
face. “What did you tell him?”

“
All I said was you’ve
been going to that tavern every night because you got a girl
there.”

“
Aw shit! I ain’t been
drinking that much.”

“
Barney said he doesn’t
want a pilot flying for him if he’s hitting the bottle.”

Curly walked away from the flammable wing
dope and lit a cigarette. He felt like a drink right now. He said,
“It’s that damn Julio. He told on me an’ got me in trouble with
Barney.”

Catwalk had always kept his opinions to
himself, but now trying to help his friend, he said, “You better
quit drinking, if you want to fly.”

“
Hell, Cat, sometimes I
wonder if it’s all worth it.”

“
You can always go back to
riding in reefers and dodging the railroad bulls.”

Curly slowly nodded his head, then smiled
and said, “I ain’t never going back to that life. I’ll try to take
it easy on the booze. Thanks, Cat.”

Rocky Mountain Airways flew its first mail
and cargo flight on April 15, 1934. For two months Barney flew two
trips daily; one from Albuquerque to Denver in the morning, and
back to Albuquerque in the afternoon. He planned to fly this
schedule six days a week, but mechanical problems often reduced his
schedule to three or four days a week.

Catwalk and Curly were alternating as ground
crewmen; loading cargo, refueling, cleaning the plane and handling
wheel chocks. Barney had wanted them to learn the business from the
ground up, and although he hadn’t said anything, he wanted Catwalk
to be visible around the aircraft. He hoped people would get used
to seeing him and thereby accept him when he started flying.