PAUL McCARTNEY & OBIT FOR PILOT OF THE BEATLES

We've all seen the news reels of The Beatles arriving to America via New York City in February, 1964 aboard a Pan Am Douglas DC-8 jet aircraft (named "Clipper Defiance"). Wow! Pan Am even played a role in what became known in Rock and Roll as "The British Invasion". I've read that we as a nation welcomed this exciting shift in music with open arms after the tragic death of President Kennedy just a year earlier. It was a healthy diversion from our deep mourning. Only within the last couple of days did I learn that on February 23rd of this year, Pan Am Captain Vernon M. Kennedy, 76, passed away. According to the Newsletter, "Pan Amigo News", Captain Kennedy was "proud to have flown the Beatles during their first U.S. tour in 1964". Sincere condolences go out to Captain Kennedy's family.

There is a positive tie-in here regarding Sir Paul McCartney that I'll address in a moment. First, I'd like to tell you about a wonderful group of people who remain in touch with each other as the "family" they were at Pan Am. Since we hear so much negative news on a daily basis, allow me to share something positive with you today!

World Wings International, Inc., was originally chartered way back in 1959 by the Flight Attendants of Pan American World Airways. In 1995, World Wing's first gift was to lend their support to CARE'S Family Planning and Reproductive Health Project in Togo, West Africa. Their efforts have been responsible for bringing clean water, shelter, and a wide range of educational services and training to people in dire need. A while back, I did a BLOG called PAN AM-NEW YORK about the highly diversified institution that was once Pan Am at 200 Park Avenue in Manhattan. Pan Amer's are a family. And the Pan Amigo Newsletter keeps everyone in touch. So while the world's classiest airline is gone, it is certainly not forgotten.

For more information and to join World Wings International, contact Susanne Blake, VP-Membership, P.O. Box 179, Mill Valley, CA. 94942 or e-mail rainbirdst@hotmail.com for your local chapter contact. Now about former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney...

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Saturday night, NASA astronaut Bill McArthur and Russian cosmonaut Valery Tokarev received the coolest "wake-up call" 220 miles above Earth inside the International Space Station from Paul McCartney, who was playing a live concert in Anaheim, California! When McCartney learned that NASA's Mission Control used the song "Good Day Sunshine" to awaken the Space Shuttle Discovery astronauts this past August, arrangements were made to beam his performance --a concert 'first'--from the West Coast over NASA's television feed. The concert audience cheered as McArthur and Tokarev bobbed their heads up and down while sipping liquid from squeezed pouches.

"I can't believe that we're actually transmitting to space!", McCartney said. "This is sensational. I love it." To which McArthur said, "That was simply magnificent. We consider you an explorer just as we are".

HAPPY MONDAY ALL AND ROCK ON!