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.