First Warsaw flight, Russian-required permission and “dirty” weather
U.S. Immigrations Crew Manifest MIA
No U.S. Immigrations Crew Manifest has surfaced – though diligently pursued. The government Manifests discovered for the five other UNRRA flights were beyond valuable. They revealed crew members whose names had never shown up anywhere. Plus, the Manifests provided and/or corroborated dates of the trips.
Making history under some pretty tough conditions.
Riveting details of this flight come from The New York Times article by journalist Fred Graham on 20 May 1946. The headline and sub-headline alone beg for a full read…permission for which is in the wings (no pun intended).
Veterans Air Line Captain William Jakeman and First Officer Jack Stettner along with five other crew members completed the first non-military, commercial air transport flight requiring Russian overflight permission behind the “iron curtain.”
NOTE: while both Prague and Warsaw were behind the “iron curtain,” our research indicates that only Warsaw required the overflight permit.
What great little-known history this website is documenting!
The background story of how this “hatching egg” shipment came to be can be found in two parts here, on another website of little-known history:
https://seagoingcowboysblog.wordpress.com/2023/09/08/relief-in-an-eggshell-hatching-eggs-to-poland-part-i/
https://seagoingcowboysblog.wordpress.com/2023/09/22/relief-in-an-eggshell/
Enjoy!
Peggy, it’s Gaye Lyn. What a fabulous “find” your website was for our Veterans Air story. It’s a pleasure to “meet” you and to applaud your research efforts and dedication. Thank you for the depth of your story, the photos. and introduction to Ray Petersime’s role. Until your coverage, he was only a name on the Crew Manifest for our first flight to Warsaw in early May, 1946.
So you know, it was Al Stettner, son of Jack Stettner, one of my Dad’s core founders, who came across your site and notified me. [Talk about puzzle pieces!]
My best.