William A. "Pat" Patterson (October, 1899 – June 13, 1980) was the President of

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.

from 1934 until 1966.

Life and career

Patterson was born on a

sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with ...

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

in Waipahu on

Oahu, Hawaii Oahu () ( Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over two-thirds of the population of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The island of O’ ...

. When Patterson was 13, his widowed mother moved to

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, while he remained at

Honolulu Military Academy The Honolulu Military Academy was founded by its president, Col. L. G. Blackman, in 1911. It was controlled by a board of 10 trustees of which the president was a member and presiding officer ex officio. It had no endowment, but owned a fine piece o ...

. 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. Instead of finishing high school in San Francisco, Patterson became an office worker at

Wells Fargo Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational financial services company with corporate headquarters in San Francisco, California; operational headquarters in Manhattan; and managerial offices throughout the United States and intern ...

bank, though he later attended night school. He became a teller and later a loan officer. 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 United Airlines is the third largest airline in the world, with 86,852 employees (which includes the entire holding company United Airlines Holdings) and 721 aircraft. It was the brainchild of William Boeing and emerged from his consolidation of n ...

, the advice that Gorst was receiving from Patterson brought the latter to the attention of

Philip G. Johnson Philip Gustav Johnson (November 5, 1894 – September 14, 1944) was a pioneer in the manufacturing of airplanes and in the creation and operation of commercial airlines in the United States and Canada. With backgrounds as an engineer and businessma ...

of Boeing. Patterson was recruited by Johnson, leaving Wells Fargo in 1929, and moving to

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

, to be the assistant to the president of

Boeing Airplane Company The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product ...

and

. In 1931 Boeing Air Transport was one of four airlines that merged into

United Air Lines United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.

and Patterson moved to Chicago to become United's general manager. Two years later, Patterson was promoted to vice president of United. In 1934, in reaction to the

Air Mail scandal The Air Mail scandal, also known as the Air Mail fiasco, is the name that the American press gave to the political scandal resulting from a 1934 congressional investigation of the awarding of contracts to certain airlines to carry airmail and t ...

and the departure of Johnson, Patterson became the company's president at the age of 34. Patterson is credited with starting the profession of

flight attendant A flight attendant, also known as steward/stewardess or air host/air hostess, is a member of the aircrew aboard commercial flights, many business jets and some government aircraft. Collectively called cabin crew, flight attendants are prima ...

. 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. Patterson's daughter, Patty, briefly worked for

American Airlines American Airlines is a major airlines of the United States, major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the world when measured ...

as a flight attendant before her marriage rendered her ineligible. Patterson and C. R. Smith, the CEO of American, shared a friendly rivalry. Under Patterson, United invested in new technologies, such as the

DC-4 The Douglas DC-4 is an American four-engined (piston), propeller-driven airliner developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. Military versions of the plane, the C-54 and R5D, served during World War II, in the Berlin Airlift and into the 1960s ...

and the

DC-8 The Douglas DC-8 (sometimes McDonnell Douglas DC-8) is a long-range narrow-body airliner built by the American Douglas Aircraft Company. After losing the May 1954 US Air Force tanker competition to the Boeing KC-135, Douglas announced in Ju ...

a pioneering jet, and purchased Capital Airlines in 1961 to become the United States' largest airline, 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. He was a life trustee of

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

, and helped establish th
Northwestern University Transportation Center
in 1954. Patterson received the ''

Tony Jannus Award The Tony Jannus Award recognizes outstanding individual achievement in scheduled commercial aviation by airline executives, inventors and manufacturers, and government leaders. The award is conferred annually by the Tony Jannus Distinguished Avia ...

'' in 1968 for his distinguished contributions to commercial aviation. In 1976, for his contributions to aviation Patterson was inducted into the

National Aviation Hall of Fame The National Aviation Hall of Fame (NAHF) is a museum, annual awards ceremony and learning and research center that was founded in 1962 as an Ohio non-profit corporation in Dayton, Ohio, United States, known as the "Birthplace of Aviation" with it ...

in Dayton, Ohio. Patterson was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 1980. Near the end of his life, he was honored with the creation of the ''William A. Patterson Distinguished Chair in Transportation'' through the gifts of more than 12,000 individual and corporate donors. After his death in 1980, the Patterson Endowment established an annual Patterson Lecture and provided other research support. In 2006, Patterson was inducted into the

International Air & Space Hall of Fame The International Air & Space Hall of Fame is an honor roll of people, groups, organizations, or things that have contributed significantly to the advancement of aerospace flight and technology, sponsored by the San Diego Air & Space Museum. Sin ...

at the

San Diego Air & Space Museum San Diego Air & Space Museum (SDASM, formerly the San Diego Aerospace Museum) is an aviation and space exploration museum in San Diego, California, United States. The museum is located in Balboa Park and is housed in the former Ford Building, ...

.Sprekelmeyer, Linda, editor. ''These We Honor: The International Aerospace Hall of Fame''. Donning Co. Publishers, 2006. .

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Patterson, William A. 1899 births 1980 deaths United Airlines people People from Hawaii

Life and career

See also

References

External links