ED BAKER 1951 - 1956 STATION AGENT, RELIEF AGENT, STATION MANAGER, RELIEF STATION MANAGER, PAYLOAD CONTROLLER FMN DEN PUB ALS MVS DRO GJT CEZ INW PRC PHX SVC ELP CFT SAD SLC ABQ GUP NOG I worked as a station agent, relief agent, station manager and relief manager in Colorado, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and El Paso TX during my nearly 5 years with FAL from 1951 to mid-1955. My name is Ed Baker, age 78 and still working full time, presently with Universal Weather & Aviation in Houston, TX. I worked with FAL in DEN, PUB, ALS, MVS, DRO, FMN, GUP, SLC, GJT, CEZ, INW, PRC. PHX, NOG, SVC and ELP for varied lengths of time from a couple of days to a couple of months as I was needed. I would be glad to hear from anyone who might have been around during that time. -Ed Baker (7/1/03) Thank you for the Yahoo sign-up form for the FAL survivors club. I definitely want to join and have forwarded it to my home computer and will be submitting it from there, so I will be able to receive any further e-mail at home instead of here at work, which makes it a bit awkward. I was fascinated by the information in the FAL website and somewhat saddened, since one of the obituaries was for Don Blanford, who was my sponsor and therefore my Godfather, when I was baptized into the Catholic Church in Winslow, AZ back in 1955. Sorry to say, I had lost touch with him, what with all my moving about the USA in the past half-century. I was happy to see that some of my aquaintences are still around, such as "Ace" Avakian and Jim Montgomery. I am afraid I wont know anyone who joined the company after mid-1955. At any rate I am happy to be re-making acquaintance with the early dudes and new aquaintance with the more recent employees I didn't have a chance to meet sooner. Gotta go now. I have an acft calling me from Peru and the switchboard, which I also monitor is about to drive me nuts. -Ed Baker (JBX with FAL) (7/5/03) Thank you for welcoming me as a member of the group. I was motivated to scrounge through some of my old "junk-boxes" and found several things: 1. one-half of a FAL schedule dated 7/1/1955 2. FAL Station Personnel Roster dated 3/1/1956 (4 pages) 3. FAL active and inactive Station Personnel Seniority List dated 11/1/1955 (7 pages) 4. complete FAL Company Personnel Roster dated 11/4/1955 (22 pages) 5. a copy of a poem I wrote in 1955 entitled "Route of the Sunliners" describing a flight from PHX to DEN, which was published in the company newsletter at the time and also partially published in several Arizona newspapers in Scottsdale, Winslow & Prescott. (3 pages) If you would be interested in any or all of the above, I would be glad to send them to you, It may take me a week or so, since I need to make xerox copies due to their flimsy condition, and I would have to try and figure out how to either e-mail or snail mail them to you. (I'm not very computer-literate.) -Ed Baker (7/7/03) Howdy right back atcha! I would love to have photocopies of all the items you listed. Send them via snail mail to the address below. In return, I'll give you a complimentary one year subscription to the FL newsletter. Welcome to the FL Club! -Jake Lamkins (7/7/03) Hello Jake. Here is the stuff I have found thus far. I am a pack-rat so I probably will run across more stuff in the future - maybe. I do know that I have a brief video of myself removing the battery cart and gear pins from a DC-3 in Safford, AZ and saluting it off the ramp sometime back in 1955 or 1956. I'm not sure how to access it and separate it from the rest of the video file that it is contained in. Maybe later...who knows... By the way, I was so excited that when sent you my original e-mail, (which you just published on the website.) that I noticed that I had made a couple of minor errors. I worked with FL until mid-1956, not 1955. Also, I worked at CFT and SAD - Clifton AZ & Safford AZ which I failed to mention. Anyway, to give you some background on myself (you can trash it if you wish) - I started my airline career with Pan American in SFO on March 1. 1948. - just a month after the death of Orville Wright. I worked as a stock clerk in the city ticket office on Union Square. Six months later I was promoted to Passenger Reservations Control, also in downtown SFO. I was in charge of passenger loads on all flights from SF0 to Australia and New Zealand. One dull Sunday. a reservation agent made up a list of "Fractured French" definitions. Like an idiot, I told him about the teletvpe addresses for all the machines in the company. which had been given to me by a Telco employee. The agent sent his fractured French list out to the entire company - including the president of FAA! The two of us were called on the carpet and summarily discharged. This was in May 1949. Mv former boss, having some consideration for me, directed me to Western Airlines, across the street from our office. The WA people apparently liked my "spunk" (or stupidity?) and hired me on the spot to work a straight midnight shift (alone in an empty skyscraper) in their reservations office. My asthmatic condition began to get the better of me, so in order to get away from the moist coastal climate I bid for and was transferred to Great Falls, Montana where I witnessed my first snow. I arrived in October and spent 6 months working as a Station Agent in sub-zero temperatures until I was able to secure a transfer to Denver. I worked as a Station Agent for Western Airlines in Denver for about a year and a half, until we had a mechanic's strike in October and all employees were furloughed. I walked across the Stapleton Terminal lobby to the Frontier counter and asked for a "temporary" job until such time as I would be recalled to WAL. I liked FAL so much I never went back to WAL.. FL hired me and shipped me to Farmington. New Mexico, where they were in the process of setting up and operating a four-way connection twice a day with DC-3's from Denver, Salt Lake City. Phoenix and Albuquerque. We had a group of about eight or ten agents, all working split shift. We were all expected to obtain our weather observer licenses, which we did in about 3 months after memorizing the "Circular-N" weather observer training manual. We also did cargo handling, ticket counter work, weight and balance computation, VHF radio operation (there was no control tower) and refueling of the aircraft. After a few months there was a vacancy for a Station Relief Agent and I was successful bidder. I traveled from Denver and Salt Lake to Albuquerque and Gallup and all stations in between, filling in vacation relief. In November 1952 I was successful bidder for the position of Station Manager in Nogales, AZ on the Mexican border. I worked in NOG for six months until the end of April 1953 when the company closed the station (along with several others) due to lack of revenue and to realign the route structure. Since I had been Station Manager at NOG, I was now Relief Manager for the Arizona-New Mexico-Colorado stations. I worked in this classification until April 1956. I had gotten married in December of 1955 and my new spouse didn't care for my gypsy style of life. I was successful bidder on an opening in Denver Payload Control. I worked about 4 months in payload control in DEN HDQ under Bill Monday. My wife Mary wanted to meet my family out in California so I resigned from FL after 4 years, 11 months and 2 days and moved to CA. Thus ended my almost-five-year connection with FL. -Ed Baker (7/10/03) Howdy, Jake... Glad you enjoyed the stuff I sent. Use it any way you wish. I just don't want the FAL folks to think I'm trying to make some sort of big deal out of myself...As pack-rats go, I just happened to have it on hand, and it would be a shame not to share it with all. In addition to what I sent you, I have a seven-page commentary on my years with FAL on an almost weekly basis, (including monthly salary from start to end) which I would be glad to share with you. Also, you may have noticed on the seniority list I sent, that I was indicated as RMAAA (Rocky Mountain Airline Agents Assn) representative. That was a "company-union" (unaffiliated with AFL/CIO Teamsters or tha ALPA or any outside group. It was started (if I remember correctly) by the agents in PHX, and then spread throughout FAL until the company accepted it as the group speaking for the agents collectively. After a few months, or maybe a year, (since I was a relief agent traveling around from station to station,) the membership asked me to run for chairman, which I did and was elected in (I believe) 1955. Jerry McGrath, agent in FMN and then Sr. Agent in ALS was Secretary/treasurer. I don't know what happened to the organization after I transferred into DENL (Load Control) and then resigned from the company. Other people I would like to locate are (at last known locations) - John Griffiths (Regional Supervisor, PHX), Eldon Snoke (Superintendent of Stations at Headquartes in DEN) and Jerry McGrath ( Senior Agent ALS) All the best -Ed Baker (7/18/03) The RMAAA was originally started by some agents in PHX, to the best of my memory. Apparently it got started along about 4-29-53, according to my record of our first "big" pay increase. I got elected to the position of Chairman on 3-2-54 and served until March 1956 when I changed positions to Denver Load Control. I don;t know what happened after that. Maybe Vern Crawley in DRO can remember. I"ll ask him when I get in touch with him. I do not know where John Griffiths was from. Jerry McGrath's full name was William Jerome McGrath. He was from upstate New York, around Binghampton (where Bob Pier was also from). Hiw wife was from the northwest corner of Colorado, at Ovid, I believe. Do you know anything about Royal Burt, who was Sr Agt in FMN? Talk at ya later -Ed Baker (7/18/03) Back when I was flitting from place to place as relief agent, I once took a ride from FMN to PHX in the cockpit jump seat (one of many) with pilot Bert "Pappy" Clark and F/0 Dale Welling of mountain clipping fame. In those days, New Mexico had a "Blue Law" prohibiting sales of alcohol on Sundays. We in Farmington would therefore sometimes arrange with the guys in Durango, CO or Winslow, AZ to pick up a case of beer and ship it to us via COMAT so we could have a weekend celebration along with everyone else. We might list the COMAT item on the weight and balance manifest as "Siwash" (a term I had picked up during my previous employment with Western Airlines), meaning "don't ask". Dale noticed this item on the form and asked me about it. When I explained it to him, he burst out laughing, and from then on, the nickname he gave me (which he always called me after that) was "Si. (pronounced like sigh). (A sigh of relief, maybe?) We sure had some good times in the old days! Four early city designators to indicate you are an old-timer could be: DMN, LRU, NOG and DUG - (Deming and Las Cruces, NM and Nogales and Douglas, AZ.). These places were shut down in early 1953. All the best to you and the rest of the FAL gang -Ed Baker (8/5/03) I drove up from Houston to the DFW Metroplex for the holiday weekend, and while there, I took my daughter and stopped by the hospital in FTW last Saturday and visited for over an hour with FAL pilot E.P. Lietz and Shirlee. He is in pain, and with tubes running in and out all over, but he remains in very good spirits. We need to drop him a line from time to time to let him know we still think of him. I hadn't seen him for 50 years, but we still hit it right off. I reminded him of the last time I had seen him in 1955, when he was in the Arizona National Guard and he had flown his P-51 Mustang from Phoenix over to Clifton (CFT) to see Hearold Elmer, who was then the manager at CFT. After his visit, he got back into his P-51 and took off then he did a 180 and came the length of the runway at about 100 feet altitude doing slow rolls the whole way. It was awesome. -Ed Baker (5/30/05) FL Club post: Hey, Leo...(Schuster) I don't know if you will remember me. My name is Ed Baker. I worked for FAL from1951 to 1956. I started as a station agent in FMN and then got changed to relief agent after about 9 months. I worked as relief agent for about a year, based in FMN and then got the bid for station manager in Nogales. I worked there about 6 months, until they closed the station, and then I was made a relief manager, based in PHX and later in FMN. Eventually, I worked at DEN and then quit and moved to Califofornia. I then worked for ARINC for almost 25 years, in SFO, SLC, Annapolis, MD, FTW, and MIA as a radio operator on VHF & HF radio. Then I got on with Universal Weather & Aviation as an HF operator in HOU for 25 more years. I finally retired at age 81 about 6 months ago. I still live in Houston. I remember when you used to come by at FMN from time to time to check on the H Markers. I noticed your sine on a message and thought I'd drop you a line. I hope all is well with you. I'm still chugging along. -Ed Baker (1/8/07) FL Club: FL History Remembrances I worked a s Relief Agent back between 1951 and 1955, based in Farmington and later in Phoenix and then again in Farmington. It was a grreat time with all those 12 DC-3s. I'm now 83 years young, but I remember it as if it were yesterday. I wouldn't have missed it for the world. -Ed Baker/JBX (12/22/07) Hi Ed, Always a pleasure to hear from you and find you hanging in there. For those who don't know, Ed sent me a packet of info several years ago about his 5 years with FL. I made a FL Report out of it and it includes seniority lists, rosters, and Ed's amazing 7 page chronology of a FL relief agent's life on the road. -Jake Lamkins (12/22/07) I remember working with Bob Pier at Farmington, NM during that time, when he was a Ramp Supervisor and later on, I believe he became a Station Manager. We had some very interesting conversations together. I became a Catholic, and he became LDS, and we used to get into friendly discussion about the complexities of life. It is good to know he is still remembered. He was a good friend Best Regards -Ed Baker (6/26/08) I don't know if you were aware or not, but at the begining we wee The Rocky Mountain Air Line Agents Assocation in the early 50's. A sweeetheart Asssociation with FAL. I was the Master Chairman after Eddie Baker - a Relief Agent stationed in FMN. After several tries to get a new agreement and after running out of dues monies while trying to negotiate, we were holding our negotiations in SLC I hoped that by bringing the FAL executives away from their home domicle we would have better luck. It was not to be. Elton Snoke, Manager of Stations was the FAL representative. After we broke off negotiations Elton came to me and asked what we were going to do now? Strike? He laughed and I replied no, we'll have to go to a national union. He laughed again and said "...go ahead and try, better men that you have tried and failed." Long story short, I did. I and others worked hard after meeting with Vic Herbert. A long struggles ensued and we found ourselves in a ballot with the National Mediation Board. I really sweated the outcome. We prevailed and were certified with the NLMB and became "merged" with ALAA (The Airline Agents Association) which subsequently became ALEA. -Kerry Allen (8/2/08) J. E. BAKER Station agent seniority date of 8/16/51 Per the 11/1/55 FL Station Seniority List J. E. BAKER FMN Rlf Agt Per 11/4/55 FL Roster JOHN E. BAKER FMN REGION RELIEF AGENT Per the 3/1/56 FL Station Roster -Jake Lamkins (7/14/11) Hi Ed, Haven't heard from you in awhile. Hope you are well. Jake Lamkins (5/14/13) SHORT HOPS Contract negotiations were held recently between the Rocky Mountain Airline Agents Association (RMAAA) and Frontier Airlines. Station personnel have been advised by a copy of the amended agreement as to what changes were made in the existing contract. Station representatives from the RMAAA who attended the negotiations were Eddie Baker, Relief Agent, Farmington; Jerry McGrath, Farmington; Harvey Cale, Glendive; and Laudie Chorne, Williston. May 1955 Sunliner News -Jake Lamkins (7/1/20) FLacebook - FL Club FLight West: Ed Baker ED BAKER 1951 - 1956 STATION AGENT, RELIEF AGENT, STATION MANAGER, RELIEF STATION MANAGER, PAYLOAD CONTROLLER FMN DEN PUB ALS MVS DRO GJT CEZ INW PRC PHX SVC ELP CFT SAD SLC ABQ GUP NOG http://FAL-1.tripod.com/Ed_Baker.html He had a brief but interesting career at Frontier. Ed shared a lot of his files with me. I only recently found he had flown west in 2012. His chronology of his FL career is great. -Jake Lamkins (7/16/20)