The Boxcar Blues (19 page)

Catwalk flew the first hour of the trip in
fair skies with scattered clouds, but nothing threatening. When
Barney took over Cat said, “I’m going in back for a few minutes.”
He then pulled a thermos and a dozen paper cups out of his bag and
said, “Our passengers are going to ride in comfort.”

Catwalk offered coffee to the man who had
been hesitant to fly with him. The man refused the beverage, but
asked, “Are you a porter? I thought you was one of the pilots.”

Catwalk looked him in the eye and said, “I
am one of the pilots, but because we want our passengers to have a
nice flight, I’m working as a porter too.”

He then served several other passengers.
While serving he made it a point to talk to the people. He noticed
a few who appeared to be nervous about flying. With these people he
took extra time and made it a point to explain how safe the
airplane was, with multiple engines and two pilots. He also told
them, “A plane like the Boeing Model 80 can land in just about any
field. So unless we’re over the middle of the Rocky Mountains, if a
problem comes up we can set her down, just like we were at the
airport.”

Everyone seemed to accept his rationale and
when he told Barney about this, he said, “I wish I would have
thought of that.”

At Denver, three people opted to refund
their tickets. Before doing so Barney told them that Catwalk would
be flying on a regular basis and if they had a problem with him,
then they should plan on using another airline.

Once they were airborne, however, Catwalk
went back to serve coffee and found a different attitude. The
second man he served said, “I’m glad to see that the other pilot
stuck by you when those people said they didn’t want to fly with a
black pilot. That took some guts. I’ll fly with you guys any
day.”

Another passenger said, “Don’t let these
people get to you, son. You’ve learned to fly and I give you
credit.”

When Catwalk returned to the cockpit and
told Barney about the support, Barney said, “It’s only a matter of
time. They’ll come around.”

One week later Catwalk was at the controls
on the same trip with Barney. Some people were still refusing to
fly, but in a short time he’d already noticed an improvement in
people’s attitudes toward him. Being accepted by the customers was
the best thing that could have happened to Catwalk and he felt good
about himself and his job again.

He’d just climbed to eight thousand feet to
clear Raton Pass, when the number one engine started missing. He
retarded, then advance the throttle, but it still sputtered.

Barney had been in back talking to the
passengers when he heard the RPM change on the engine. He returned
to the cockpit and Catwalk said, “Number one is acting like it’s
got a clogged carburetor jet.”

Number two started doing the same thing.
Both pilots realized that the chances of two carburetors jets
clogging at the same time, were astronomical. Catwalk said, “Fuel
contamination! Try changing tanks. If that doesn’t work, we’ve got
to find a field, fast!”

Barney changed fuel tanks, but this didn’t
seem to help. Number three engine started coughing and number one
died completely.

Catwalk looked ahead of them for a suitable
landing field, but they had just cleared the pass so the terrain
was still mountainous.

Barney muttered, “Ain’t a God damned place
to land that I can see.”

Catwalk looked at his rate of descent in the
glide. His altimeter was unwinding at a steady rate and he knew
he’d have to find a place to land soon or they’d be crashing into
the side of a mountain. He craned his neck to look out the windows
and asked Barney, “How about that open space at one o’clock?”

“
It ain’t any good.
There’s a shear drop-off at the end. If we don’t get stopped and
we’re all going down the mountain.”

Catwalk looked out his side and saw the
ground closing in on them. Then, he saw a level field, which was
very small, but it might be the only opportunity to land that
they’d have. He said, “Over here at ten o’clock it looks like
there’s a level area just beyond that farm house.”

Barney stretched to look out the window.
“It’s level, but it’s too small to for this plane.”

“
It’s our only chance. I’m
setting it down there.”

Number two engine died as Catwalk maneuvered
the powerless plane toward the tiny field. He noticed, not only was
the field small, but there were trees beyond it and he had to clear
the farm house to get to the field. If he didn’t make this landing,
they’d crash into the trees.

He watched as the farm house grew larger in
the windshield, but the field they’d be landing on didn’t seem to
get any larger. He skimmed the top of the farm house and saw a man
beside the house who looked up in fright as the airliner passed not
more than ten feet above his house. Number three engine died as
Catwalk saw the roof pass a few feet beneath the plane.

He pushed the nose down toward the edge of
the field and seconds before he plowed in, he hauled back on the
stick and flared to a hard landing. He and Barney jumped on the
brakes and the Boeing came to a stop just thirty feet from a large
tree.

Barney went back to tell the passengers what
happened. After he explained about the contaminated fuel, several
of the passengers complimented him on the fine job of making a safe
landing with all three engines out. With pride he told them, “It
was Catwalk who made the miracle landing and he did it in the only
place within miles that was level enough for a landing field.”

When Catwalk came out of the cockpit, he
walked down the stairs to congratulations from all the passengers.
He had arrived, but now, he had to get the plane out of there.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

The passengers, with their luggage, were put
on a bus to Albuquerque. Barney used the farmer’s phone to call
Curly and tell him to fly the other Boeing to Albuquerque so it
could resume service in the morning. He also told Julio to fly up
in a Jenny with two twenty gallon cans of gas. Then he asked
Catwalk, “Well, you got her in here. How do you plan on getting it
out of here?”

Catwalk scratched his head and said, “We’re
less than forty miles from the farm in Cimarron. We’ll load just
enough gas to fly it to the farm on one engine. With no passengers
and minimum fuel load, it should be light enough to take off in the
short confines of the field.”

“
That’s what I was
thinking too. First, we’ve got to get that contaminated fuel out of
the fuel tanks and engines.”

While they waited for Julio, Catwalk and
Barney drained the contaminated fuel and bled it out of the
engines. When Julio arrived they put the clean fuel into the Boeing
and started all three engines. After idling the engines for a few
minutes Catwalk taxied to the edge of the field and turned into the
wind. When he had the nose pointing into the wind, he saw the tree
right smack in his departure path. He had no choice, this was the
only way out of the confined field.

He held the brakes, lowered the flaps,
applied full power, then released the brakes. The Boeing began it’s
take off roll, on what seemed like a snail’s pace. Barney called
out airspeeds as the plane accelerated. At eighty-five knots
Catwalk pulled back on the yoke and the Boeing broke free of the
field, but the tree loomed large in his windshield.

With the farm house on his right and the
hill on his left, Catwalk climbed on the edge of stall speed. He
knew the Boeing was going to brush the tree tops; he prayed it
would just be the gear and not the props. He felt the tires passing
through the tree top leaves, then breathed a sigh of relief when
they were clear of the tree. He climbed to fifteen hundred feet,
then cut two engines. Barney, who had been silent except for giving
him the airspeeds, said, “I don’t think we should put that place on
our charts as an emergency field.”

Catwalk said, “No, but let’s send that
farmer a case of whiskey.”

Catwalk and Barney arrived back in
Albuquerque the next afternoon, just as Curly and Lem landed. Curly
shouted, “Hey, Cat. Did you know you’re famous?”

Catwalk wasn’t sure if he heard right.
“What?”

“
You’re famous, man. One
of the passengers on that plane you landed in Raton was a reporter
for the Denver Gazette. He wrote a story on you and it was in this
morning’s paper.” Curly handed Catwalk a copy of the Denver
paper.

Catwalk read the account of his forced
landing that said he, “Dropped the airliner into a field not much
bigger than a boxing ring, and landed as gently as a butterfly with
sore feet.”

He showed the article to Barney who smiled
and said, “Be sure to send a copy to Dee.”

Catwalk’s notoriety from the forced landing
resulted in a renewed relationship with the passengers. Not a week
went by that a passenger didn’t ask him about it and many of the
passengers enjoyed having him at the controls. There were still a
few people who refused to fly his trips, but it less frequent. As
time went on his love of his career increased. He was convinced he
was one of the luckiest men alive.

Barney had applied for another route, this
one from Denver to Salt Lake City, with a stop in Grand Junction.
It was approved in the spring of ‘36. Since the new route took them
over the heart of the Rockies, all Rocky Mountain Airways pilots
went to Denver to attend a course of flying in mountainous terrain.
It was while he was at this course that Catwalk ran into Kenneth
Freeman, one of the few black pilots he knew who flew for a small
charter outfit.

Catwalk asked him, “What are you doing up
here?”

“
I put in a job
application at United Air Lines.”

Surprised, Catwalk said, “Aren’t you with
Air Express anymore?”

“
No, they cut back and
since I didn’t have seniority, I was one of the first to
go.”

“
I’m sorry to hear that.
Hopefully, you’ll hear something soon from United.”

“
Well, you know how it is
for a black pilot trying to land a flying job; damn near
impossible. I might head back to Chicago and see if they’re hiring
there.”

“
Ken, we’re adding another
route. Barney might be hiring more pilots, and he just wants
experienced, dependable pilots.”

“
That sounds great, Cat.
When I get back down to Albuquerque, I’ll put in an
application.”

“
I’ll mention to him that
I know a good pilot who’s looking for work.”

On the flight back Catwalk though about the
possibility of Kenneth going to work for Rocky Mountain. After what
he’d been through, he wasn’t sure if he was doing him a favor by
recommending him, but by now most of the passengers were used to a
black pilot.

Two days later Catwalk was driving home from
the airport and noticed a familiar green truck in front of him,
weaving all over the road. He recognized Curly driving and
muttered, “Oh, no.” He honked.

Curly looked in the mirror, recognized
Catwalk and pulled over. He got out, flask in hand and obviously
drunk. “Hey, Cat, you off for the day?”

Catwalk ignored the question and said,
“Curly, it’s only two o’clock and you’re drunk again. You know what
Barney thinks about your drinking. Are you trying to get
fired?”

Curly opened the passenger door, sat down
and lit a cigarette. He took another swig and offered the flask to
Catwalk, who declined. He said, “Cat, today I’ve got a good reason
for drinking. I might have to quit flying for Rocky Mountain.”

“
Are you kidding me?
What’s wrong?”

“
I got a letter from my
brother. Things are real bad at home. There’s no money coming in
and they’re going to lose the farm. That bitch Theresa is making
life so miserable, Jack says he’s about ready to shoot her. And, my
old man is sick, they think it’s cancer.”

“
Why don’t you take some
time off like I did. Barney will give it to you. Go back and see
what’s wrong with your Dad.”

“
If I go back, I won’t be
able to leave. My brother didn’t say so, but I think he wants me to
come back to run the place while Dad’s sick. He probably thinks
with me there, we might be able to save the farm and that bitch
won’t be so mean.”

“
Does Barney know about
this?”

“
Not yet. I’m going to
tell him tonight.”

“
You better wait and tell
him when you’re sober. If he sees you drunk again, he might fire
you on the spot.”

“
Let him fire me. I don’t
care, Cat.”

“
In case you don’t
remember, you told me I was crazy for quitting my flying job.
You’ll never find another job like this, or a boss like
Barney.”

Curly said nothing for several seconds,
then, “So what do I do?”

Catwalk laid a comforting hand on his
shoulder. “Stay away from Barney until you’re sober, then talk to
him.”

“
Yeah, I guess you’re
right. Thanks, Cat.”

The next day when Curly talked to him,
Barney understood his dilemma. Barney told him he’d give him the
time off, but he wanted two weeks notice to adjust crew schedules.
Although he was apprehensive about leaving the airline, Curly
agreed. He was also worried about what he’d find when he went back
to the farm. In his mind, he had a valid excuse for drinking.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Catwalk went back to work on the Albuquerque
to Denver leg the next morning. He was glad to get back in the air
and away from everyone else’s problems. Talking with Curly,
however, had reminded him that he hadn’t been home in several
months. In her letters his Mom had said the family was fine, but
still he longed to see them.