William Allan Patterson was an American airline executive.
Background
William Allan Patterson was born on October 1, 1899 in Honolulu, Hawaii. He was the son of William Patterson, overseer of a large sugar plantation, and Mary Castro. Patterson had an unsettled childhood. Following a bitter strike at the Waipahu sugar plantation, Patterson's father was transferred to Puerto Rico, where he contracted malaria. In 1906, Patterson and his mother, who had remained in Hawaii, were reunited with his father in San Francisco. The older Patterson, however, died before the end of the year, and mother and son returned to Hawaii. In 1912, Mary Patterson traveled to San Francisco to attend business school, leaving her son in a local military academy. An unhappy Patterson promptly ran away from school and sailed for San Francisco as a cabin boy on a four-masted sugar transport.
Education
Realizing that Patterson would not remain in Hawaii while Mary Castro was in San Francisco his mother enrolled William Allan Patterson in John Swett Grammar School.
Career
Graduating in 1914, William Allan Patterson found employment as an office boy at the Wells Fargo Nevada Bank in San Francisco (later, Wells Fargo Bank and Union). He remained with the bank for the next fifteen years, continuing his education by taking night courses at Humbolt High School and, later, the American Institute of Banking. The turning point in Patterson's career came in March 1927, when he approved a loan for $5, 000 to Vern C. Gorst, owner of Pacific Air Transport (PAT). Holding a contract to fly the mail between Seattle and Los Angeles, Gorst desperately needed funds to keep his struggling enterprise alive. Having given Wells Fargo a stake in the success of the airline, Patterson soon found himself closely monitoring, then actively participating in, Gorst's company. Patterson ended up reorganizing the airline's bookkeeping, revamping its purchasing procedures, and serving as the company's financial adviser. Drawn ever deeper into the developing airline industry on the West Coast, Patterson resigned his position at the bank on April 15, 1929, shortly after PAT was acquired by the Boeing Airplane Company, and became assistant to Philip Johnson, Boeing's president.
Patterson took charge of Boeing's airline division, which included Boeing Air Transport, the airmail contractor on the western half (Chicago-San Francisco) of the prized transcontinental route. At a time of industry consolidation, Boeing's airline network grew over the next two years to include Stout Air Services, a midwestern company; Varney Air Lines, which operated routes in the Pacific Northwest; and National Air Transport, which operated the eastern half (New York-Chicago) of the transcontinental airmail route. On July 31, 1931, Patterson became vice-president of United Air Lines, a new management company intended to oversee the component parts of Boeing's burgeoning airline complex. He also served as president of the individual airlines, which retained their separate identities. In 1934 a senatorial investigation into alleged improprieties in the awarding of airmail contracts led to a restructuring of the airline industry. Because the Air Mail (Black-McKellar) Act of 1934 prohibited mail contractors from holding interests in other aviation enterprises, United had to sever its connection with Boeing.
Patterson, promoted to president of United Air Lines (now an operating company), directed the merger of the individual airlines into a single entity. The process was officially completed on May 1, 1934, resulting in the formation of the largest airline in the United States. United became a pacesetter during the 1930's. Concerned with passenger amenities, Patterson in 1930 introduced stewardesses on airliners. In 1937 he approved the industry's first flight kitchens. United also led the way in promoting safety, applying radio technology to communications and navigation. A paternalistic manager, Patterson placed great store in the "human touch" in dealing with the airline's employees. During United's early years, he took pains to maintain a personal relationship with the company's workers. Later, as the airline grew, he sought to institutionalize this managerial approach through a system of benefits and training, administered by one of the industry's first personnel departments. The absence of major labor difficulties during a time of union unrest testifies to the success of his efforts. Patterson's major problem during the 1930's was United's continued reliance on the outmoded Boeing 247.
In March 1933, United became the sponsor and exclusive operator of the first modern all-metal airliner. The speedy Boeing transport could take passengers from New York to San Francisco (with refueling stops) in the then impressive time of twenty hours. The next year, however, the much superior Douglas DC-2 appeared. As United's competitors reequipped their fleets with DC-26, and larger DC-36, Patterson continued to operate the now inferior Boeings. Not until 1937 did United acquire DC-36 and again become competitive with its transcontinental rivals. The post-World War II years saw United expand slowly, mirroring Patterson's conservative approach. While other airlines eagerly sought new routes from the Civil Aeronautics Board, Patterson was content with securing authority to compete with Pan American Airways on the San Francisco-Honolulu route.
During this same period, the Douglas DC-6B, a sturdy, economical, and profitable transport that could fly coast-to-coast in ten hours, became United's premier airliner. Patterson's innate caution led him to reject both turboprop and first-generation jet equipment during the 1950's. He preferred to await the development of more economical pure-jet airliners. This decision proved wise, as United continued to prosper while operating its piston-engine equipment. At the end of the decade, when increased competition forced him to act, Patterson selected the Douglas DC-8 for United. Although this placed his company nearly a year behind rival operators who acquired Boeing 7076, Patterson believed that United had secured superior equipment.
At the end of the decade, when increased competition forced him to act, Patterson selected the Douglas DC-8 for United. Although this placed his company nearly a year behind rival operators who acquired Boeing 7076, Patterson believed that United had secured superior equipment. In 1960, Patterson demonstrated that he was capable of taking a bold gamble when he decided to acquire Capital Airlines. On June 1, 1961, following lengthy negotiations, United absorbed Capital, with its 7, 000 employees and far-flung route structure. This made United the largest airline in the Western world, with 267 aircraft serving 116 cities. In 1963, Patterson became chief operating officer and chairman of the airline's board of directors. Two years later, in his last major decision, the conservative Patterson again surprised the industry by placing the largest order in history for commercial aircraft: $375 million for 112 Boeing 7276, 7376, and Douglas DC-86.
William Allen Patterson retired on April 28, 1966. Acknowledged as one of the five giants of the early airline industry (the others being C. R. Smith of American, Edward V. Rickenbacker of Eastern, Juan Trippe of Pan American, and Howard Hughes of TWA), he lived comfortably in retirement until succumbing to pneumonia in Glenview, Illinois.
Achievements
William Allan Patterson was the first president of United Airlines (1934 - 1963), which became the world’s largest commercial air carrier. He also established a “Rule of Five”: Safety, Dependability, Passenger Comfort, Honesty and Sincerity, as operating goals for United, and introduced important employee benefit programs.
Connections
On June 20, 1924, William Allen Patterson married Vera Anita Witt. They had two children.
