The big girlie from Eeenie Weenie replieth
Hi Stationair
Please mention to your retired TN Sales Manager mate that this big girls blouse probably knew him, and was indeed born a TN airline brat, son of an Engines LAME who then became a Class 1 Accountant on the 4th floor of Fawlty Towers in Franklin St.
I started in Res in the same building in '75 and transferred to Traffic at Burnie/Wynyard and would have had a job for life if the chinless wonders in the above location had not decided to cut the F27 routes and swing in Eenie Weenie.
By then TN was a paper tiger on it's way to having to be handed to QF to survive. We used to love getting the Sales dudes through res and then through traffic on their "Management Trainee" runs. What a waste of time and effort that was, when the 2 Airline Agreement meant they were basically squabbling over 1% of market share. That 1% was worth rather a lot though in the scheme of things.
I was very sad to leave TN and was to some degree shunned by those who chose to keep the faith, but never regretted hanging my hat on EW. If the silver slimebag had not delayed deregulation to suit his greaseball mate and the F100's had been delivered it may have been a very different story.
If your mate can honestly say he was a contributing part of a loyal and hardworking workforce that took the airline he worked for from turboprop to jet and more than quadrupled its network and uplift, good on him. If he can't, then he was just another one of the passengers at TN. God knows, there were a lot of them, and some of the detrius is high up in QF these days.
Above all, the profusion of good and true airmen and good judges of aeroplanes did very well for TN through the 50's and 60's. The Government was pushing for them to take the HS Trident (for Gawd's sake - a booster turbine to get airborne?) and the BAC111, and the Sud Caravell was even in the mix, but common sense prevailed with a lot of fighting!! The DC9-30 - later the Super 30 with the Super 80 interior, and that happened all over with the A300, with pushes to grab the L1011 and DC-10. The Bowyang, the A300B4 and the DC9-30 were just the right fleet.
Best all
It is nice to know I can still raise the occasional eyebrow.
EWL
Last edited by Eastwest Loco; 7th Jan 2009 at 10:44.