William A. "Pat" Patterson
(October, 1899 ? June 13, 1980) was the President of
United Airlines
from 1934 until 1966.
[1]
Life and career
[
edit
]
Patterson was born on a
sugarcane
plantation
in Waipahu on
Oahu, Hawaii
. When Patterson was 13, his widowed mother moved to
San Francisco, California
, while he remained at
Honolulu Military Academy
. Not liking the academy, he decided to leave. He persuaded a captain to allow him to work on his ship in exchange for passage to San Francisco.
[2]
Instead of finishing high school in San Francisco, Patterson became an office worker at
Wells Fargo
bank, though he later attended night school. He became a teller and later a loan officer.
[1]
[2]
As a loan officer, he authorized a loan to Pacific Air Transport and became an advisor to its founder and president Vern Gorst. When Gorst sold his airline to
Boeing Air Transport
, the advice that Gorst was receiving from Patterson brought the latter to the attention of
Philip G. Johnson
of Boeing.
[1]
[2]
Patterson was recruited by Johnson, leaving Wells Fargo in 1929, and moving to
Seattle, Washington
, to be the assistant to the president of
Boeing Airplane Company
and
Boeing Air Transport
. In 1931 Boeing Air Transport was one of four airlines that merged into
United Air Lines
and Patterson moved to Chicago to become United's general manager.
[3]
Two years later, Patterson was promoted to vice president of United. In 1934, in reaction to the
Air Mail scandal
and the departure of Johnson, Patterson became the company's president at the age of 34.
[1]
Patterson is credited with starting the profession of
flight attendant
. He gave his approval to hire eight nurses to work as flight attendants on a three-month trial basis. On May 15, 1930, United became the first airline to use flight attendants, a practice that has since been adopted by every major airline.
[2]
Patterson's daughter, Patty, briefly worked for
American Airlines
as a flight attendant before her marriage rendered her ineligible.
[4]
Patterson and
C. R. Smith
, the CEO of American, shared a friendly rivalry.
[
citation needed
]
Under Patterson, United invested in new technologies, such as the
DC-4
and the
DC-8
a pioneering jet,
[3]
and purchased Capital Airlines in 1961 to become the United States' largest airline,
[2]
a title it would hold for nearly 40 years. In 1963, when Patterson became United's CEO and chairman of the board, the airline had more than 30,000 employees.
[
citation needed
]
He was a life trustee of
Northwestern University
, and helped establish the
Northwestern University Transportation Center
in 1954. Patterson received the
Tony Jannus Award
in 1968 for his distinguished contributions to commercial aviation.
[5]
In 1976, for his contributions to aviation Patterson was inducted into the
National Aviation Hall of Fame
in Dayton, Ohio.
[6]
Patterson was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 1980.
[7]
Near the end of his life, he was honored with the creation of the
William A. Patterson Distinguished Chair in Transportation
[8]
through the gifts of more than 12,000 individual and corporate donors.
[
citation needed
]
After his death in 1980, the Patterson Endowment established an annual Patterson Lecture and provided other research support.
[9]
In 2006, Patterson was inducted into the
International Air & Space Hall of Fame
at the
San Diego Air & Space Museum
.
[10]
See also
[
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]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
Williams, Lee M. (November 1980).
"WILLIAM A. PATTERSON, AVIATION PIONEER"
(PDF)
.
The Vintage Airplane
.
8
(11). Hales Corners, WI:
Experimental Aircraft Association
: 16?19.
ISSN
0091-6943
.
OCLC
1788070
.
Archived
(PDF)
from the original on 2013-12-08
. Retrieved
2013-12-08
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
"American National Business Hall of Fame's bio of Patterson"
.
www.anbhf.org
. Macomb, IL, USA: American National Business Hall of Fame
. Retrieved
2013-12-07
.
- ^
a
b
"William Patterson, Entrepreneur"
.
nationalaviation.org
. Dayton, OH:
National Aviation Hall of Fame
. Retrieved
2013-12-07
.
- ^
"United Airlines Flight Attendants Founders"
.
www.uahf.org
. Denver, CO: United Airlines Historical Foundation. No Marriage Rule
. Retrieved
December 7,
2013
.
- ^
"1968 ≪ Tony Jannus Award ? Outstanding Achievements in the Field of Scheduled Air Transportation"
.
www.tonyjannusaward.com
. Tampa, FL:
Tony Jannus Distinguished Aviation Society
. Retrieved
December 7,
2013
.
- ^
"Enshrinee William Patterson"
.
nationalaviation.org
. National Aviation Hall of Fame
. Retrieved
27 February
2023
.
- ^
"U.S. Business Hall of Fame - Recipients: William A. Patterson, United Airlines"
.
www.ja.org
. Colorado Springs, CO:
Junior Achievement
USA. Archived from
the original
on 2013-07-08
. Retrieved
2013-12-07
.
- ^
"Patterson Chair in Transportation | Transportation Center - Northwestern University"
.
www.transportation.northwestern.edu
. Evanston, IL, USA:
Northwestern University
. Retrieved
2013-12-07
.
- ^
"About Us | Transportation Center - Northwestern University"
.
www.transportation.northwestern.edu
. Evanston, IL, USA:
Northwestern University
. Retrieved
2013-12-07
.
- ^
Sprekelmeyer, Linda, editor.
These We Honor: The International Aerospace Hall of Fame
. Donning Co. Publishers, 2006.
ISBN
978-1-57864-397-4
.
External links
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