AVIATION: 16 v. Pan Am

The stage was set last week for the hottest political fight U.S. airlines have ever tangled in. The prize: postwar international air transport. Last week, 16 (out of 19) airlines plunked $250,000 into a brand-new committee to fight for "free" worldwide competition. Their aim: to blast out of its top-dog spot Pan American Airways, which monopolized prewar international air travel.

This was no cat-&-dog wrangle. Behind the potent new committee (The Airlines Committee on International Routes) was the tremendous prestige—and smart flyer's brains—of the Army Air Forces' chief, General H. H. ("Hap")...

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