ODDS & ENDS
The Holman Field Overhaul Base was my workplace for the better part of two years. There I supervised
Cost Accounting’s Material Unit, charged with the coding and classification of everything acquired by the
company’s Purchasing Department and material passing through the many system wide stock rooms. We had a staff
of three young women; a coding clerk and two Comptometer Operators. For those who do not recall what a
Comptometer is, it was sort of a desk top adding machine with some 150 keys and no tape. All it could do was add
and subtract, however a good operator could use it to multiply and divide. We have one of those old machines at the
History Centre but no one seems to recall how to operate it.
Late one day I got a call from Archie Caple, the Overhaul Base Director of Internal Security, who told me
to drop everything and get down to his office right now. Before coming to NWA Archie had spent several years with
the local police and had developed a reputation as a skilled Interrogator. He proceeded to harangue me about some
unspecified dastardly acts. I frankly admit, that for about twenty minutes, it felt more like a couple of hours, he had
me pretty shook, until he broke out laughing. It seems that all three of the young ladies on my staff were in a family
way.
I never found our who put Archie up to the farce but have long suspected it was the nucleus of the local
Irish Mafia, George Duffy, Jack Simpson and Bob Glanville, all who occupied desks.
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Ever wonder how some of the other airlines that are now a part of the great Northwest came to be?
Walter Olen, president of the Four Wheel Drive Company, headquartered in Clintonville, Wisconsin was
disgruntled by the absence of air service and lackluster surface transportation. As CEO, he had a need to visit
customers and suppliers throughout the Midwest. In 1939 he traded a company truck for a four place Waco biplane
and started a company operated shuttle service to Milwaukee and Chicago where he could connect to major train
and airline services.
In 1944 Four Wheel Drive Company became the major stockholder in newly incorporated Wisconsin
Central Airlines. It took the new airline nearly four years of bureaucratic hassling to win an operating certificate
from the CAB.
On February 24, 1948, Wisconsin Central took to the air with a Lockheed “Electra” 10-A flight from
Minneapolis to Hibbing/Chisholm, Minnesota. Several other flights planned for that day were cancelled due to
extremely adverse winter weather conditions. Apropos of nothing, the History Centre logo incorporates an artistic
depiction of a Lockheed 10-A, or maybe it’s a Beech craft...
In 1962 Wisconsin Central changed its name to North Central and moved its operating headquarters to the
Twin Cities. In 1979 North Central and Southern Airways combined their operations and began service as Republic
Airlines. The following year Republic acquired Hughes Air West Airlines. These consolidations culminated in 1986
when Northwest acquired Republic.
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VISION - 20/20
I don’t know if I saw that phrase used someplace for a similar project or if somehow I conjured it up in the
back of my mind. In any event it appropriately fits a current major History Centre project. It’s simple! “What do we
want the History Centre and its museum to look like and be in the year 2020?” That’s only thirteen years down the
road. That time frame is similar to raising a first born. The History Centre and museum were born five years ago.
Today that kid is about to enter kindergarten. In 13 years we’re looking at high school graduation; so what we’re
trying to do is prepare for college.
We’ve often said that when the museum was started we had no idea of what to expect other than needing
exhibit space and fixtures to adequately display collected artifacts. In many ways the response and generosity of our
benefactors has almost been overwhelming. In recent days we have found it necessary to refuse some specific items
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