Come Fly the World, Julia Cooke

My immediate reasons for picking up this book is that a Great Uncle of mine was a WW II pilot, and then later a Pam Am pilot. He even tried to convince my Mother to become a stewardess at Pam Am because she was educated and spoke several foreign languages. Pam Am stewardesses were worldy, single, extremely intelligent and educated…. They were required to have a college education and speak two languages, be between 5’3” and 5’9”, 105-140lbs, and under 26 at the time of hiring. It was a liberation and the stories of the jet-set life… constantly being hit-on, hook ups with passengers and crew, it was all part of the deal and the stewardesses loved it. But in this Mad Men era of commercial flight, leave no doubt, these women kicked ass and let everyone know who’s in charge. They were ahead of the game, leaders of the air. The role of Pam Am with the Vietnam war was interesting and the eventual downfall of the company and bankrupcy of the company was an ending to the glory of airline travel, sophistication, good food, well-dressed travelers. It was an event when you took to the skies… now, it’s a flying capsule, a tube where people yell, pull hair, and every flight has the potential for a WWE match.