Jefferson Hiram Broiles, a slim 5'10" Texan forever known as Hiram or "Hi", was born in Dallas January 17, 1905 and raised in Fort Worth. After attending E.M. Daggett Grammar School and playing football at Fort Worth's Central High, Hiram's advanced education began September 17, 1924 at the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, now known as Texas A&M University. In those years, Texas A&M was an all-male military college. This "Aggie" graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Administration on June 4, 1929. Hiram was Captain of the Texas A&M Baseball Team in 1928, when the Aggies finished second place in the Southwest Conference behind Texas University. Hiram was an outfielder and an excellent hitter with an earned-run-average of .310 or better. As a well-known baseball player, Hiram signed a professional contract in 1928 with the Beaumont Exporters, Texas League, during his last year of college. Hiram played pro-ball with teammate Carl Hubbell, who later transferred to the New York Yankees and became famous for his screwball pitch. Hiram recalls Hubbell was difficult to hit against with his change-of-pace pitching style. Hiram remained with the Beaumont Exporters until leaving professional baseball for the Army in February of 1931.
ARMY INDUCTION 1931-1933
Hiram enlisted as a Flying Cadet in Dallas, Texas, on February 24, 1931 and attended the Army Air Corps Primary Flight School at Brooks Field. Hiram learned to fly in the two-winged Consolidated PT-3, a trustworthy two-seat trainer aircraft. Hiram recalls the PT-3 had no brakes, just a tailskid, and required the pilot with at least one man on each wing to maneuver the aircraft on the ground. With the help of instructor Lieutenant "Cowboy" Winn, later an Air Force General, Hiram learned all the basic pilot maneuvers before moving on. After practicing all the required maneuvers perfectly one afternoon, Winn climbed out of the cockpit of plane number 419, and waved at Hiram to take the plane up alone for his first solo flight. Hiram transferred to Kelly Field on October 16, 1931 for the Army Air Corps Advanced Flying School. Hiram earned his pilot wings and Second Lieutenant commission after completion of Airplane Pilot and Observer Training on February 26, 1932.
Hiram's assignment after flight school was back to Brooks Field with the 12th Observation Squadron. At Brooks, Hiram began flying a Fokker C-2A plane called the "Question Mark". The Question Mark is a famous Air Corps aircraft that set a world record for an endurance flight of 150 hours, 40 minutes and 14 seconds while being air refueled 42 times over southern California in 1929. In addition to flying duties, baseball became a large part of Hiram's first year in the Army. Frank D. Lackland, who the Air Force Base in Texas is named after, asked Hiram to be head coach of the Brooks Field baseball team. Hiram became head coach and a player while flying the team to games in the Question Mark. Hiram remembers the Brooks baseball team only lost one game. It was during season playoffs the opposing Randolph Field artillery team came out on top, aided by famous fastball pitcher Dizzy Dean before his first full season with the St Louis Cardinals.
Hiram had a short initial career in the Army Air Corps because budget constraints during the Great Depression forced the government to reduce military flying to as little as six hours per month. Rather than pilot a desk, Hiram was released February 28, 1933 after a year on active flying status. Hiram immediately joined the Army Reserves, performing only periods of active flying duty, while starting a civilian career in the new airline industry.
CIVILIAN AIRLINES 1933-1942
Hiram Broiles began his first commercial flying venture with China National Aviation Corporation. CNAC operated as a partnership between the Chiang Kai-shek Nationalist Government and several American investors, initially Curtiss-Wright Aircraft in 1929 and later Pan American Airways in 1933. Pan American offered Hiram employment in China. Hiram boarded a Norwegian lumber boat in San Francisco and arrived 21 days later in Shanghai in August of 1933. Hiram shared a house and seven servants with three other American pilots, all bachelors. Hiram was now working for Harold M. Bixby, a St. Louis banker who was the principal financial backer of Lindbergh's trans-Atlantic flight. Hiram was a Captain based in Shanghai and responsible not only to fly routes, but also to train Chinese pilots.
Hiram mostly flew the Yangtze River Line piloting a Loening Amphibian OA-1. The Loening could carry four passengers in an enclosed cabin, but most of the payload consisted of mail, including movies going to the American gunboats of the Yangtze River Patrol. During much of that time, CNAC removed the wheels to increase payload, so takeoffs and landings were made on the river. For over two years, Hiram did not takeoff or touchdown on land. For three years, Hiram flew the lower Yangtze River delta from Shanghai to Hankow (now Wuhan), and for one and a half years, the central and upper Yangtze between Hankow and Chungking. With intermediate stops in Ichang and Wanhsien, Hiram flew the Hankow to Chungking route twice a week. Fortunately, the route was only flown during daylight because of poor radio contact and no navigational aids. During good weather, Hiram would fly the Loening across the lower delta. Then up river, the Loening was capable of flying above the mountain range through which the Yangtze River meanders. When the weather was poor however, it was necessary for Hiram to fly low through the narrow gorges of the mighty Yangtze, navigating along the river's banks. Hiram remembers once being forced to land because of poor weather and waited out the storm in a farmhouse along his route.
Hiram's only mishap was shortly after takeoff with a plane full of passengers. Engine trouble forced a hasty landing into a rice paddy near a rocky section of river. None of the passengers were injured, the plane was not damaged, and even Hiram's co-pilot did not have a scratch. However, Hiram's face hit the instrument panel when his co-pilot slammed into him from the sudden stop. A permanent crease remains across his nose as a reminder. During a short recuperation in the hospital, Claire Lee Chennault, longtime friend from Brooks Field and later Commander of the Flying Tigers, paid Hiram a visit waving a bottle of whiskey. The two celebrated Hiram avoiding great peril and reminisced about their days together at Brooks, when Chennault gave Hiram his last check-ride. Hiram later arranged to have the Loening towed 35 miles back to the river for takeoff during high tide, and paid for the rice he mowed down.
While at CNAC, Hiram also flew passengers and mail in the DC-2 from Shanghai to Peking (now Beijing) and from Shanghai to Chengdu. Hiram first met good friend Jimmy Doolittle in China, while Doolittle was on a trip peddling aircraft and engines for Curtiss-Wright. Hiram remembers his personal involvement in the famous kidnapping called the "Xi'an Incident". On December 12, 1936, China's powerful military leader Zhang Xueliang, called "The Young Marshall", seized national leader Chiang Kai-shek. Zhang wanted China's Army to stop fighting the Communists and instead focus on the Japanese invaders. The Nationalist Army commandeered Hiram and his DC-2 aircraft. Hiram flew many dignitaries to and from various locations during the incident that changed the course of China's history. Chiang was freed two weeks later after promising to work with the Communists in battling the Japanese. In early 1937, with the Japanese occupying ever widening stretches of China and close to taking Peking, one of Hiram's final CNAC flights was to evacuate Madame Sun Yat-sen, widow of the first provisional president of non-imperial China. Madame Yat-sen requested Hiram take an additional 10 mothers and 12 children with her from Peking to Nanking. Working on more freedoms for the Chinese people, Madame Yat-sen remained in China because of her influence with Communist leader Mao Tse-tung, and did not accompany her sister, Madame Chiang Kai-shek, to Taiwan. Hiram departed China after his CNAC contract expired in March of 1937. Hiram returned home aboard a Japanese passenger ship named the "Tata Maru", and remembers seeing the Golden Gate Bridge nearing completion as he arrived in San Francisco.
After returning to the United States, Hiram began flying with the 41st Observation Squadron and was promoted in the Army Reserves to First Lieutenant on May 2, 1937.
In June of 1937, Hiram began flying with United Air Lines as a co-pilot on the Boeing 247 in Portland, Oregon. Hiram met Elaine Marie Bennett while she was working for a Portland newspaper and the two were later married on November 5, 1938 in Vancouver, Washington. Hiram transferred to Salt Lake City with United in November of 1938 where he flew with Elrey B. Jeppesen on the DC-3. Captain Jeppesen was starting his aviation publications business and the two became and remained close lifelong friends. Hiram completed upgrade training to Reserve Captain in the DC-3 on November 1, 1940. Hiram moved to Oakland, California, in January of 1941, and began working as a pilot instructor training the famed "Tracy Aces" in Tracy, California. The Tracy Aces were a group of men hired by United Air Lines with very little aviation experience, because of a pilot shortage during air transportation's rapid expansion. The Tracy Aces were intended to fill the pilot void, initially being trained as co-pilots, but upgrading quickly to Captain in typically just a few months. After nearly a year of instructing, Hiram returned to Portland flying the DC-3 as a Reserve Captain in November of 1941.
Suddenly, among new concerns about pilot furloughs due to the emerging war economy, and the potential lack of a suitable retirement as a result, Hiram applied with the Civil Aeronautics Administration and was appointed an Air Carrier Inspector of Operations in Kansas City, Missouri, on March 3, 1942. Only a few months after beginning a government service career, Hiram was back in the Army full-time due to the progression of World War II.
WORLD WAR II 1942-1945
Hiram Broiles returned to active service with the Army Air Forces for World War II on May 30, 1942. Hiram was promoted to Captain on June 29, 1942 and assigned to the 26th Transport Group at Billy Mitchell Field in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as part of the newly formed Air Transport Command. Hiram was awarded the Air Medal during his early days in the war tor flying the "South Atlantic Run" from South America to Africa in four-engine Consolidated C-87 aircraft. The route began in Natal, Brazil, traversing the Atlantic with a fuel stop in Ascension, continuing on to Dakar, Senegal, and crossing Africa to Cairo, Egypt. Hiram recalls none of the unit's twelve C-87 aircraft were lost crossing the Atlantic, primarily because experienced airline pilots flew all the planes. Hiram flew over 100 hours per month supplying a B-25 wing fighting German General Erwin Rommel in North Africa. In January of 1943, Hiram was selected to fly plane number 41745 to the Casablanca Conference, as lead-ship for President Roosevelt's party that included head of Secret Service Mike Riley.
Hiram's most significant war contribution was flying as command pilot of a North American B-24D Liberator in a one-plane outfit designated the Overseas Technical Unit. Because Hiram was one of the most experienced four-engine aircraft pilots in the world at that time, Major General C.R. Smith, second-in-command of Air Transport Command, specifically selected Hiram for a special mission to fly prominent documentary filmmaker, Pare Lorentz, around the globe filming every foreign route and airfield with state-of-the-art motion picture equipment. These "briefing films" would be used to train young and inexperienced pilots, who needed assistance flying foreign routes to battle theatres throughout the world. Additionally, charts of many routes and field locations were inaccurate or inadequate, and many parts of South America and North Africa were uncharted. Aircraft and men would be lost until new charts were made and hazards noted.
Hiram picked up a B-24D Liberator in St. Joseph, Missouri, and flew it to McClelland Air Base where it was highly modified and converted into a platform for photography. In place of the machine guns, customized nose and tail windows made of 1-inch thick optical glass were installed to allow the Mitchell BMC 35mm motion picture cameras unobstructed views. Mechanics removed the aircraft's tail and installed a modified C-87 tail instead to allow greater coverage for the rear camera. Waist gunner ports were converted into still-camera shooting positions for hand held K-20 cameras. There was even a darkroom aboard for processing stills. The bomb bay was rebuilt to hold additional fuel cells, giving this B-24 an unprecedented 16 hours of flying range. Plane number 41735, previously named "Leaping Lucy", was given the new name "Peeping Tom". The plane's nose art was created by Walt Disney artists and depicted a cat figure peering down through a movie camera.
Hiram's mission flying Peeping Tom with the Overseas Technical Unit became the longest running flying assignment in the history of the Air Force. The crew totaling eleven, including Hiram, his four co-pilots, Pare Lorentz and the rest of the photo team, were tied together for three years from 1943 to 1945. They blazed the way under wartime pressure to film every route and airfield the allies would use during the war. In the course of the first nine filming missions, the crew logged more than 1,500 overseas flight hours and made 93 trans-oceanic flights. Hiram became an expert in anticipating the altitudes and angles necessary for the photographic work, and was promoted to Major during his mission on January 26, 1944. With General Order 86, the War Department awarded Major Hiram Broiles the Distinguished Flying Cross on November 8, 1944 for extraordinary aerial achievement from April 20, 1943 to May 26, 1944. Hiram's wartime exploits earned him the title "air globetrotter" and prompted newspaper comic strip artist, Zack Mosley, to make Hiram a character in the popular "Smilin' Jack" comic strip that ran during and after the war. By the end of the war, Hiram piloted the same B-24 more than a quarter-million miles, over 10 times around the world, while Peeping Tom wore out three sets of Pratt & Whitney engines.
Environmental factors during filming were a huge challenge at times. The camera equipment and crew were exposed to temperatures as high as 137 degrees in Abadan, Iran, in the Persian Gulf, and 46 degrees below zero in Fairbanks, Alaska. Although the crew encountered few difficulties filming the Nile River from Khartoum, Sudan, to Cairo, Egypt, while shooting the Amazon River in Brazil from Belem to Manaus, the aircraft and view-ports became covered with tenacious sticky insects. Weather was often poor while making films of approaches to Greenland's few airfields from both sides of the North Atlantic. There was no room for error into these fields and no alternate landing places. The most hazardous weather was encountered filming the staging fields for aircraft deliveries to Russia, traveling from Great Falls, Montana to Fairbanks and Nome, Alaska, then across the Bearing Strait into Siberia. The crew found and corrected many errors in existing charts and maps, including one Alaska route-chart that indicated mountain peaks 2,000 feet lower than their actual height. The most stressful flights were over Europe after the D-Day invasions of June 6, 1944, where round-the-clock flying took more than 20 pounds off the crewmen. Hiram minimized combat risk whenever possible with no remaining aircraft defenses. While filming and charting the "Hump" over the Himalayas, flying from India to Chungking and Chengdu, China, the weather was flawless for photography, however the good weather and unlimited visibility attracted Japanese fighters flying out of Burma. Some filming took place at locations with military action underway. These "hot spots" included the Saipan and Tinian Islands, where the Marines were battling the Japanese. The success of the Marines and the filming of Tinian allowed a B-29 base to be placed there for the atomic bombing of Japan.
Hiram's mission with the Overseas Technical Unit proved to be a complete success, saving countless lives and preventing untold numbers of accidents with the film's training use and accurate charting. Pare Lorentz and the crew exposed more than 100 miles of 35mm film and 6,000 still photos. Each 35mm film was professionally processed with animation and soundtrack, then reduced to 16mm for distribution and delivery to regional commands within a few weeks of shooting. In the North Atlantic Wing alone, twenty-eight prints of the 16mm motion picture films were distributed to seven stations, and at more than 6,000 showings, were viewed by more than 21,000 flight-crew members in less than nine months. The library of over 200 briefing films covers the North and South Atlantic, Alaska, Africa, the Pacific and Asia. The mission provided the United States with the world's finest photographic records detailing worldwide routes and airfields. Hiram received numerous letters of commendation, including one from Lieutenant General Harold George, Commander of Air Transport Command, and even one from the Republic of Turkey. Hiram separated from active duty with the Army Air Forces at the 501st Army Air Base Unit on December 2, 1945 and returned to Army Reserve service.
CIVIL AERONAUTICS ADMINISTRATION 1946-1951
Immediately following the war, Hiram Broiles returned to work with the Civil Aeronautics Administration as an Air Carrier Inspector in Kansas City, Missouri. On January 12, 1947, Hiram moved to San Francisco as an Air Carrier Inspector filming every foreign route and airfield with state-of-the-art motion picture equipment. These "briefing films" would be used to train young and inexperienced pilots, who needed assistance flying foreign routes to battle theatres throughout the world. Additionally, charts of many routes and field locations were inaccurate or inadequate, and many parts of South America and North Africa were uncharted. Aircraft and men would be lost until new charts were made and hazards noted.
of Foreign Operations, and was concurrently designated European Area Specialist as an International Safety Inspector in Washington D.C. Hiram was in charge of overall technical instruction, advice, and decisions relating to all international district and field offices. Hiram's promotion to Chief Advisor of the San Francisco International District Office on October 7, 1949, gave him full executive responsibility for all technical and administrative office functions, and supervisory responsibility of the office and staff. Hiram's main duties were fostering and developing civil aviation in the Pacific and Alaska by providing safe airways with excellent communications and navigational ground facilities. Hiram was promoted again on August 4, 1950 as the Supervising Flight Operations Inspector of field and district offices in San Francisco.
Hiram's military career continued to progress in the Air Force Reserves with the 374th Troop Carrier Wing at Hamilton Air Force Base. Hiram was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel on January 16, 1950 while assigned to the 9366' Volunteer Air Reserve Training Squadron. Hiram began working on a project to resolve certain military air defense problems, involving his duties as both an Air Force Officer and an International Operations Inspector. Hiram prepared instructional letters for trans-oceanic air carriers in order for the civil air carriers to achieve a clearer understanding of identification procedures within an air defense system. Hiram also arranged for Air Force personnel to fly to Hawaii and Alaska aboard civilian airlines so the military would have a better appreciation for the problems air carriers face with communications systems used during trans-oceanic flights. Hiram received a commendation letter for his voluntary efforts as an Air Force Reserve Officer on November 2, 1950 from Major General Hugo Rush, Commander of the Western Air Defense Force at Hamilton Air Force Base.
KOREAN WAR 1951-1953
Hiram Broiles was once again full-time with the Air Force, for two years during the Korean War, beginning active service July 13, 1951. Hiram was initially stationed stateside with the 374th Troop Carrier Wing at Hamilton AFB and appointed as the Wing Flying Safety Officer. Hiram was responsible for coordinating the Pacific Airlift of men, guns, and equipment to Korea in C-124 aircraft. Early in the conflict when North Korean Communists were pushing United Nations forces into a corner, each transport carried 10,000 pounds of rockets to troops on the front lines. Seventy-eight planes shuttled supplies between the west coast and the war zone without a single loss of life across the Pacific. Hiram departed for an overseas assignment February 28, 1952, where he flew missions in C-124A aircraft from Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Japan to the Korean peninsula. Hiram was designated Officer-In-Charge of the 374th Troop Carrier Wing deployed forces on November 15, 1952. On March 7, 1953, Hiram was appointed President of an Aircraft Accident Investigation Board for determining causes of aircraft accidents under the 374th Troop Carrier Wing's jurisdiction. Hiram returned to the United States on July 6, 1953, after an eleven-day journey aboard the USS Mitchell, because the airplanes were full and could not transport his unit's 100 soldiers. Hiram separated from active duty with the Air Force July 14, 1953 at Parks Air Force Base, California, and resumed Civil Aeronautics Administration service August 17, 1953 as a Flight Operations Inspector in San Francisco.
POST KOREA 1953-1956
Hiram's military service continued in the Air Force Reserves with the 2346th Air Reserve Flying Center at Hamilton Air Force Base. Hiram was first appointed Squadron Commander on March 1, 1954 while assigned to the 8417th Air Reserve Squadron. A subsequent assignment on December 3, 1955 appointed Hiram as Commander of the 8649th Replacement Training Squadron, and made him responsible for the training of pilots assigned to the 349th Fighter-Bomber Wing. Hiram learned to fly jets in the T-33A before transitioning to the F-80C. While providing training, Hiram flew F-80 aircraft assigned to the 312th Fighter-Bomber Squadron, which was also part of the 349th Fighter-Bomber Wing. Hiram turned down further military promotions after completing Air Command and Staff College in 1956, since accepting such assignments would remove him from the cockpit.
On May 6, 1956, Hiram reported to the 12th Air Division Commander for 15 days of temporary duty at March Air Force Base. Hiram revisited an old project, proposing and developing a study on the control and identification problems of high-altitude jet traffic. During his duty at March AFB, Hiram attended B-47 familiarization flying and indoctrination to Strategic Air Command operations. Hiram developed solutions and new procedures, presented his recommendations through both Air Force and Civil Aeronautics Administration channels, and the results benefited the Strategic Air Command, the Civil Aeronautics Administration, and the civilian airlines.
CIVIL AERONAUTICS ADMINISTRATION 1956-1966
With the Civil Aeronautics Administration, Hiram was assigned to the International Field Office in Paris, France, on August 12, 1956. Hiram's main duties involved improving operations throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa, with the survey and approval of foreign airports utilized by United States air carriers. Hiram surveyed airports, designed instrument approaches, and set safety minimums. Hiram flew various aircraft types to many locations in Europe, Asia, Africa, and even New Zealand and Australia. During a visit by Secretary of Commerce Sinclair Weeks in September of 1957, Hiram flew the Secretary on his European trip from London to Stockholm, Vienna, and Belgrade in a twin-engine Beechcraft. On a separate occasion, Hiram was designated an Alternate United States Representative by the Secretary of State for a meeting of the ‘Committee on European Airspace Coordination' in Paris on December 10, 1957. Hiram recalls the Spanish were not very cooperative with airfield cleanup, which was essential in reducing the chances of jet engines ingesting foreign material. Hiram exercised complete operational jurisdiction over building of a new airport in Beirut, Lebanon, necessary to accommodate jet airliners. The primary air carrier expanding into Europe during those years was Pan American Airlines. After airport surveys and approvals were complete, Hiram flew several Pan American route certification flights, called "proving" flights, from the United States mainland to various European countries. The Civil Aeronautics Administration became the Federal Aviation Agency on December 31, 1958. Along with that reorganization, the Paris International Field Office was transferred to Rome, Italy, on September 1, 1959. Hiram remained in Rome for a year before returning stateside.
While in Europe, Hiram performed his military duties with the 12th Air Force Headquarters in New York and was attached to the 60th Troop Carrier Wing for flying duties. Hiram retired from the Air Force Reserves as a Lieutenant Colonel on July 31, 1960 after maintaining an active flying status his entire military career.
On September 18, 1960, Hiram Broiles was assigned as the Supervising Air Carrier Operations Inspector at the FAA Denver Field Office, and reunited with his friends at United Air Lines as their Principal Operations Inspector at Stapleton Airfield. Hiram was responsible for ensuring safe operations and effective training at United. After an incident in Denver when a United DC-8 freighter went off the end of the runway, Hiram mandated installation of an independent backup pneumatic brake system on all DC-8 aircraft, because the factory hydraulic wheel brakes proved unreliable. The pneumatic system was a valuable last resort, allowing the airplane to remain certified until the hydraulic brakes were improved. As the chief FAA representative in Denver, Hiram signed the agreement merging United Air Lines and Capital Airlines in the summer of 1961, along with United Senior Vice President of Operations, Dick Petty, making United Air Lines the largest airline in the free world. Following the merger, Hiram's duties included assisting United in certifying the Capital Viscount Simulators. Hiram began flying the Boeing 720, his last type of jet aircraft, on August 14, 1961 after attending training in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The course included aircraft systems education, practice simulator flights, and five hours of flight training in the aircraft. Hiram attained his highest civilian grade of GS-14-5 on April 15, 1962. Hiram remained the FAA Supervising Operations Inspector in Denver and the United Air Lines Principal Operations Inspector until April of 1965.
Anticipating retirement, Hiram transferred to San Francisco, California, as the Supervising Air Carrier Inspector of the Burlingame Office on April 25, 1965. Hiram remained there until retiring from the FAA on December 30, 1966.
RETIREMENT YEARS 1967-2001
Hiram Broiles began a long retirement residing in Pebble Beach, California, in the house his wife Elaine designed and built in 1967. Hiram filled his days with social events at the Monterey Peninsula Country Club and golfing four times a week. The athlete emerged again on May 6, 1978, when Hiram made a "hole-in-one" with a Wilson Prostaff at Pebble Beach's Shore Course, hole number 10, at a distance of 145 yards. In the late 1980's, Hiram attempted to educate the American people about China's plans to construct a massive dam along the Yangtze River near Yichang. Hiram predicted the Three Gorges Dam would inevitably industrialize China and catapult the country into a world super-power. China began dam construction in 1995. With a scheduled completion date in 2009, the world's largest dam will flood the very same gorges Hiram was flying through nearly three-quarters of a century before.
While Hiram relaxes after a full life aloft, his aviator squint is still evident when he recounts his adventures in airplanes. Hiram Broiles, although not famous, has been influential in the advancement of aviation worldwide during his 36 years in aviation. Hiram's direct contribution influenced early aviation in China and at United Air Lines. Hiram's World War II mission made history putting the aviation world on film. Hiram's decisions and influence promoted the advancement of aviation in Alaska, Europe, Africa, and Asia. Hiram contributed nearly two lifetimes toward aviation, with 8 years flying for civilian airlines, over 25 years in military reserve service, an additional seven and ½ years in active military service, and nearly 27 years in civilian government service. Hiram's influence persuaded other family members into aviation careers. Hiram's son-in-law became a United Airlines pilot in 1966 and retired in 1999 after being a Boeing 747 Captain. Hiram's eldest granddaughter became a United Airlines flight attendant in 1970 and continues in that capacity today. Hiram's eldest grandson, a military pilot since 1989 flying the F-16C for the Air National Guard, also became a United Airlines pilot in 1995 and is an instructor on the Boeing 767.