Catch Me If You Can Page 0,12
a raincoat along, a black one similar to the ones some of the pilots had draped over their arms. I had my newly acquired pilot's uniform in a small duffle bag. I felt a little like Custer must have felt when he chanced upon Sitting Bull's Sioux.
I reacted just like Custer. I charged. I went into one of the airport toilets and changed into the uniform, stuffing my civies into the duffle bag. Then I left the terminal and walked directly toward Hangar 14's nearest entrance.
The guard was in his shack, his back toward me. As I neared the gate, I flipped the raincoat over my left shoulder, concealing the entire left side of my jacket, and swept off my hat. When the guard turned to confront me, I was combing my hair with my fingers, my hat in my left hand.
I didn't break stride. I smiled and said crisply, "Good evening." He made no effort to stop me, although he returned my greeting. A moment later I was inside Hangar 14. It was, indeed, a hangar. A gleaming 707, parked at the rear of the building, dominated the interior. But Hangar 14 was also an immense compartmented office structure containing the offices of the chief pilot and chief stewardess, the firm's meteorology offices and dozens of other cubicles that I presumed accommodated other Pan Am functions or personnel. The place was teeming with human traffic. There seemed to be dozens of pilots, scores of stewardesses and innumerable civilians milling around. I presumed the latter were clerks, ticket agents, mechanics and other nonflying personnel.
I hesitated in the lobby, suddenly apprehensive. Abruptly I felt like a sixteen-year-old and I was sure that anyone who looked at me would realize I was too young to be a pilot and would summon the nearest cop.
I didn't turn a head. Those who did glance at me displayed no curiosity or interest. There was a large placard on a facing wall listing various departments and with arrows pointing the way. Stores was down a corridor to my left, and proved to be a military-like cubicle with a myriad of box-holding shelves. A lanky youth with his name embroidered on the right side of his shirt rose from a chair in front of a large desk as I stopped at the counter.
"Can I he'p ya?" he asked in molasses tones. It was the first real southern drawl I'd ever heard. I liked it.
"Yes," I said and attempted a rueful grin. "I need a pair of wings and a hat emblem. My two-year-old took mine off my uniform last night and he won't, or can't, tell me what he did with them."
The storekeeper laughed. "We got mo' wings on kids 'n gals 'n we got on pilots, I 'spect," he said drolly. "We shore replace a lot of 'em, anyway. Here you are. Gimme yore name and employee number." He took a form from a file slot on his desk and laid it on the counter with a pair of golden wings and a Pan Am cap badge and stood, pen poised.
"Robert Black, first officer, 35099," I said, affixing the hat emblem and pinning the wings on my tunic. "I'm out of Los Angeles. You need an address there?"
He grinned. "Nah, damned computers don't need noth-in' but numbers," he replied, handing me a copy of the purchase form.
I loitered leaving the building, trying to mingle unobtrusively with the crowd.
I wanted to pick up as much information as possible on airline pilots and airline operations, and this seemed a good opportunity to glean a few tidbits. Despite the number of pilots and other aircrewmen in the building, they all seemed to be strangers to one another. I was especially interested in the plastic-enclosed cards, obviously identification of some sort, that most of the pilots sported on their breasts. The stewardesses, I observed, had similar ID cards but had them clipped to their purse straps.
A couple of pilots were scanning notices tacked on a large bulletin board in the lobby. I stopped and pretended to look at some of the notices, FAA or Pan Am memos mostly, and was afforded a close-up view of one pilot's ID card. It was slightly larger than a driver's license and similar to the one in my pocket, save for a passport-sized color photograph of the man in the upper right-hand corner and Pan American's firm name and logo across the top in the company's colors.
Obviously/ I reflected as I left the building,