30 JANUARY 1963 American le JAARGANG No. 12 T H E O N L Y I N D E P E N D E N T D U T C H - I N D O N E S I A N MAGAZINE IN AMERICA One of the greatest American aviation promotors was a Dutch-Indonesian immigrant: Andre A. Priester Oppassen! I ONISV On both sides of the Atlantic Ocean a Dutchman put his stamp upon aviation. In Europe it was Albert Plesman, in Am erica ANDRE A. PRIESTER, a Dutch- Indonesian boy born on September 29th 1891 at a sugar factory in Krian (Java, Indonesia), who became Vice President of Pan American Airways. He got his early education in the former Dutch East Indies, later on in Holland, to enroll finally at the Polytechnical School at Zürich, Switzerland. During the first World War he served in the Dutch Army as a first lieutenant. Immediately after the war he started studying aviation intensively and was taught flying by the famous war pilot Cap tain Hindcliff. He started his career with the KLM in 1920 and climbed up to the position of acting aviation manager within six months. Five years later he emigrated to the United States and was appointed adviser and opera tions manager at the Atlantic Aircraft Com pany (Fokker). For while working with KLM he came to realize more and more that aviation would play an important role in the future and that leadership in this field would come to the LTnited States. So to America he went. With the Atlantic Aircraft Cy he had his first opportunity as an operations mana ger to set up a model air line between Phi ladelphia and Washington, in honour also of the celebration of Philadelphia's Centen ary in 1926. In 1927 a young American. Juan Trippe, wanted to establish the first American line for international Air Traffic. Trippe wanted to connect Florida with Havana and had just then bought three triple engined Fok kers and asked Anthony Fokker whether he knew an able person for the key position of supervisor for the Technical Department. Three days later Fokker made a phone call to Trippe in the middle of the night and at that very moment Priester was appointed to a job that lasted for more than 28 years, ending with his Vice Presidency of PAA at his death on November 28th 1955 in Paris. 28 years also of tremendous progress of American Aviation. At the time of his death he was to preside over the "Interna tional Air Transport Organization" in Paris. Though he got world fame as an orga nizer with excellent talents he was also an engineer of extraordinary qualities, widely respected by all American builders of trans port planes. It was Priester who inspired Sikorsky to develop the 4-engine Amphiby S-38 and 4-engine S-42. At the base of every new idea, every improvement, was Priester's unending quest for more security and safety. Next to that he wanted planes with greater cruising speed, stronger and more efficient engines, better fueling, greater action radius and more room for passengers. In the early Thirties Priester organized flights from San Francisco via Hawaii, Wake and Guam to Manilla. He sent ships with houses and buildings, radio transmitters and receivers, power installations and materials for runways to the islands of the Pacific. Not one single detail was overlooked and a chain of new airports sprang up on the oceanic atols, while the man behind this all never left his desk at 42nd Street in New York. The planes became bigger and bigger. After the Sikorskys came the China Clippers of Martin and the North Atlantic Clippers of Boeing. With Charles Lindberg Andre Priester prepared Trans Atlantic Air Traf fic and in 1939 regular services were opened between New York and Lisbon. After World War II the Boeing Factories put the luxurious biplane Strato Cruiser on the market and here again experts can easily detectPriester's ideas. The design of its cock pit for instance finds its origin in Priester's technical department. He took an import ant part in the construction of the so-called Dehmel Trainer, a sort of link-trainer for a complete crew. Again it was Priester who insisted on a pilot's status with more authority and dig nity besides thorough technical training. A thorough training furthermore was demand ed from air crews as well as ground staffs. He insisted on good service for passengers and introduced accordingly the first air stewards and stewardesses. In fact all that is considered normal or perfect nowadays was once built up with clear foresight and hard work by a loyal, daring and enterprising Dutch - Indonesian American, Andre A. Priester. We will never forget his name and we hope many immi grants will follow his example. Gebrek aan plaatsruimte noodzaakt ons deze keer "Spotlight on Indonesian History" over te slaan. Volgend nummer dus verder met no. VII. Heeft U ook die gewoonte om, terwijl de kleren in de Laundro-mat zitten, te gaan shoppen of iets anders te doen om dat half uurtje wachttijd goed te benutten? Dat deed een vriend van ons ook. Maar hij benutte meer dan een half uur. Om thuis van een ontdane moeder de vrouw tehoren, dat een groot gedeelte van de kinderkleren uit de was verdwenen was. Blijf niet langer weg dan het halve uur dat de wasmachine in werking is. Om in ieder geval de eerste te zijn die het deurtje van de wasmachine opent! P.O. Box 137 Alle post, redcatie zowel administratie, voor The American Tong-Tong, voor taan naar P.B. Box 137 Whittier, Calif. Herkent U dit tafereel uit Bandjermasin? U zult nog meer herkennen uit Indonesië in het prachtige fotoboek "Tana Aer kita". Dit is een sterk verkleinde) reproductie van een van de honderden foto's die U in dit boek vindt.

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American Tong Tong | 1963 | | pagina 1