One Merger, One Sale

In April 1927 an open-cockpit plane belonging to one Clifford Ball carried the first pouch of airmail between Pittsburgh and Cleveland. In 1929 Clifford Ball Inc. extended operations to Washington, carried the first scheduled passengers across the Alleghenies. Year later the company was reorganized as Pennsylvania Airlines. In 1934 it lost its mail contract in Postmaster General Farley's celebrated blanket cancellation. Complying with changed requirements, it extended its lines to Detroit, sought a new contract, but was underbid by a brand-new concern named Central Airlines which began flying the same route. Pennsylvania then reorganized as Pennsylvania Airlines & Transport Co. and acquired Kohler Aviation Corp., which had pioneered the airway from Detroit to Milwaukee.

Since then, the Penn and Central lines have been bitter rivals. Central's chief asset was the mail contract from Detroit to Washington, Pennsylvania's the longer route with a mail contract between Detroit and Milwaukee. Central plumped for trimotored Stinsons, Pennsylvania for twin-motored Boeings. The battle involved rate cuts, protests to the Post Office and the I. C. C. Neither side won an advantage. Both thrived. In 1935 Pennsylvania's passenger traffic was 200% better than in 1934. This year the gain has been nearly as great. Central did equally well; August 1936 was 144% ahead of August 1935. Last week the rivals took the obvious step, merged into Pennsylvania-Central Airlines Corp.

In May 1929, a New Orleans lumber tycoon named Harry Palmerton Williams and a barnstorming pilot named James Robert Wedell, organized Wedell-Williams Air Service Corp., set out to design planes and run an airline. In a Wedell-Williams Racer Jimmy Wedell presently broke the world's landplane speed record. Meanwhile, Tycoon Williams sank $1,000,000 in the firm, made it the world's biggest privately-owned airplane service, flying several routes near New Orleans.

Then came disaster. The line failed to get the mail contracts it needed. Crashes killed not only Jimmy Wedell, but all five other original pilots on the line. Last May a crash killed Harry Williams. Last week, for an undisclosed price, his widow, one-time Cinemactress Marguerite Clark, sold the business to Eastern Air Lines, which flies between New York and New Orleans. Present Wedell-Williams airline is the 338-mi. run from New Orleans to Houston, Tex. In honor of its unlucky founders. Eastern will call this important extension the Wedell-Williams Division.

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