When I was in high school, my hero was Lawrence Robinson, a pilot from my home town. He flew the China Hump during the Second World War with General Chennault’s Flying Tigers, and after the war flew with Chennault’s CAT Airline in the Orient. This was in 1950, and at that time Lawrence was a Captain for North American Airlines, a non-schedule airline owned by Kirk Kerkorian, who prior to this current recession had 16 billion dollars and was one of the 40 wealthiest men in the world. Kirk owned MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas and was himself a pilot and remained lifelong friends with Lawrence.
One time Lawrence was flying a four engine DC-6 from Chicago to Kansas City when he went through an unexpected thunderstorm. The plane was hit by lightening and all instruments went out. The flight was so rough, the flight attendants and all the passengers were sick and throwing up. He managed to land in the middle of the night at the old Municipal Airport with no instruments. He was probably one of the best multi-engine pilots in the world.
Lawrence lived in Los Angeles and did not have a car in Kansas City, so when he flew in, he would call this sixteen year old single engine pilot to haul him around and take him back to the airport. One evening he asked me to take him to the airport, but he had to stop at an apartment for a few minutes and would I please wait for him. I had waited for quite a while and knew what time his flight was suppose to leave, so I went up to the apartment I had seen him go in and knocked on the door to tell him what time it was. Someone opened the door for me and inside was a party full of airline pilots and stewardesses. All one hostess had on was a paper sack that was used to cover clothes coming from the cleaners. Lawrence saw me and said, “Get back in the car Jack, I’ll be with you in a minute.”
Sitting in the car waiting for him to come out of that party I just knew I had to become an airline pilot.
Jack can be reached at PO Box 40, Oak Grove, MO 64075 or jackremembers@aol.com
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