We heard from a few readers recently about our cover story in February’s issue on “The History Of Ground Support Equipment,” as well as last week’s blog on a boarding bridge installed in Atlanta, which in itself was the result of another reader’s email.
Last week, we heard from a reader who promised more information on the first boarding bridge for regional aircraft. Stay tuned for more on that.
But about a week before, we received a long email from a retired GSE veteran:
- “I started in GSE for American Airlines in 1963. The only tugs we had at the time were made by Clark. They were the CT-21. At least half of the tugs we had were made prewar.”
- “We also had David Clark headsets at the time. I still have my original issue.”
- “Far before ACE air starts, we had Air Research GTC-90 turbines and Ingersoll Rand screw compressors along with a few Atlas Copco screws.”
- “The Ford 300 came into play in 1967 when the Clark CT-30 came out. American was totally unsatisfied with the Continental engine being used and since Clark was using the Ford FMX transmission, decided to try in house Ford 300 conversions. Soon, every airline that had CT-30's was doing the same.”
- “The article also doesn't mention the International Harvester Paymover XL series of pushout tractors. Airlines couldn't operate without them. Many are still in use.”
- “When I started working for American, I was working with men that started in the 1930s. They imparted a lot of history with me. When I went with Northwest in 1969, I worked on mostly the very same equipment I worked on at American.”
- “After reading the history article, I think that I started in the business before the author was born.”
Not quite; I was 3.
We’re always interested in more history, in particular any old photos. You can send them to me directly at [email protected].
