AVIATION: Jets Across the U.S.

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¶ O. M. ("Red") Mosier, 61, executive vice president in charge of operations, is a big, sugar-voiced barrel of a man, who bosses the biggest operations setup in the industry, spends 70% of American's dollar. A onetime barnstorming pilot, football coach and city manager, Mosier was hand-picked by Smith in 1938, is gearing every part of American's operation to such jet-age innovations as new fuel supplies (the jets eat up 2,000 gal. of kerosene per hour). American's 1,000 maintenance men must virtually relearn their jobs; the jet training manual alone consists of two volumes four inches thick. ¶ Charles A. Rheinstrom, 56, executive vice president for sales, quit American in 1946 after 18 years, went into advertising, came back this year at Smith's request to take on the job of selling jet seats to the public. In the 1930s Charlie Rheinstrom was the first to meet head on the public fear of flying, which other airlines ignored, with an unprecedented ad titled "Afraid to Fly?" ¶ William J. Hogan, 56, executive vice president for finance, is a wiry, greying man, who has won an industry-wide reputation for shrewdness by getting American's money on the best terms, making it stretch farther with careful planning. Smith hired him in 1947 when he was treasurer and controller of H. J. Heinz Co. ¶ William Littlewood, 60, vice president in charge of equipment research, is one of the world's leading aircraft engineers. He has made contributions to the development of every plane American has bought, worked for ten years with airframe makers to develop commercial jets. ¶ Thomas L. Boyd, 50, slender, intense vice president for flight, has been flying for more than a quarter-century. He joined American in 1934 as a pilot, became a captain two years later, rose through the flight ranks to his present position. His job is to train pilots and flight crews for the jet age, make both jets and pistons leave and arrive on schedule. He has worked on more than 2.1 million simulated jet flights, with the help of electronic machines that calculate the jet's fuel load, payload, schedule etc. as if it were on a regular run. ¶ Ellie Roman, honey-blonde staff supervisor in charge of American's 1,300 stewardesses, fulfilled a childhood ambition to become a stewardess, moved to New York from Chicago last year to take charge of training American's stewardesses for the jet age. Her tasks: teaching the girls to cope with the extra passengers and extra facilities (oxygen masks, self-contained air conditioning) of the new jets, give passengers "a sense of security" by explaining the jet's new aeronautical features and such unfamiliar terms as Mach, the measure of jet speed.