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In April and May 1935 Jim flew Braniff Airways Ford Tri-Motor planes, mainly on Texas-based loops. In August of that year he moved to Mid-Contenent Airlines - again flying Texas runs and he stayed with them until the company ceased operations in October.
A big break was soon to come.
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The Big Leagues
Jim flew American equipment starting on October 22, 1936. Destinations were Chicago, St. Louis, Cleveland, Buffalo, Albany, Detroit, Washington DC, Indianapolis, Charleston, Cincinnati and Newark. These flights also serviced air mail contracts such as Hanford Air did. Six days into his employment and on his 9th flight, Jim was forced to crash-land his Curtis Condor (with five souls aboard) when a landing gear failed on landing. No other such events are recorded in his American Airlines logs.
The Condor
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Jim's last flight with American was on September 9, 1937. It is unclear why Jim left American, however, he soon started a short one month tour with Chicago & Southern Airlines that lasted until November 15th and then moved on to the East coast to start a long stint with Boston Maine Airways. The first flight with Boston Maine was November 22, 1937. He flew almost exclusively Lockheed Electras on runs between Boston, Bangor, ME and Montreal. This seems a fairly uneventful time in his career save for one small personal insight that Jim placed in his log. On January 3, 1938 Jim hopped a plane from Boston to New York to visit the "lovely Nancy Fredrickson". He stayed a few days and returned to Boston, by sea, on the S.S. Acadia. It is lost to history whatever became of Miss Fredrickson.
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Jim's last flight with Boston Maine was February 16, 1939. To date, this was the longest he stayed with any one airline. Jim logs that he started vacation on February 16th but there seems to have been another life direction intervention for him on the 18th. Jim meets a Mr Freng of United Airlines in Miami.
Whether Jim was head hunted by United or perhaps he was just always on the lookout for the next best opportunity, his first flight with United was on March 10, 1939
