Jetrader - Summer 2014 - 40

Even when he was back in the U.S., in the '70s,
many employees couldn't match his work pace,
which naturally he expected of others.
1968, but this time to the West Coast. He
started as vice president international
for Tridair Industries (of which Brownline
had become a division), and they lived in
a home in Westwood, near University of
California, Los Angeles. Life at Tridair soon
wore thin. There were too many VPs, all
chasing mergers and stock options, instead
of concentrating on the future of the core
business. Meanwhile Tridair-Brownline was
abusing its monopoly, which encouraged
others to get into the game. So Gil decided
to go-it-alone and establish a competitor, but in close partnership with a small
but wanting-to-grow German cargo equipment supplier, Brüggemann + Brand. Thus
Transequip Inc., near LAX, and Transequip
Ltd., near LHR, with yours truly, were established in December 1969. [Brownline was
soon divided up and sold to ACE - Air Cargo
Equipment and Brooks & Perkins, which
itself later became part of AAR.]

When I read all those tributes to a true
(English) gentleman, I had to smile. In
those early days as a businessman, he was
a veritable whirlwind of energy, extremely
demanding, but at the same time encouraged
his staff to achieve more than they thought
they were capable of. To the British airline
customers, Gil was a "typical American"-
not that most of them knew what that was.
But he was well respected for his extensive
industry knowledge and experience.
Even when he was back in the U.S., in
the '70s, many employees couldn't match
his work pace, which naturally he expected
of others. But one of Gil's admirable traits
was that though he was a micro-manager
of the details of every program and project
(quite annoying!), he was also a extremely
good delegator, to all those he thought
could handle responsibility and decision
making, sometimes even before they'd
proved themselves. He was definitely a doer

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and inspired those around him to "just do
it." Witness the time Transequip's facility
near LAX was almost completely destroyed
by a fire (that fiberglass resin again) in
November 1972. He walked down the street,
rented an empty building and was back in
production three days later.
In 1978 our time together at Transequip
had come to an end. In June I decided
I didn't want to see another LD-3 container
ever again and quit. Unbeknown to me, Gil
was about to sell his share of the company,
so I was very surprised when he called me
in August to say he was now self-employed.
But, "never look back," he moved on very
quickly and launched a new career, as a
representative of several respected suppliers in the cargo and interiors field.
In those years, he gradually eased off
the throttle (just a little), and was very
much the personable, considerate gentleman we all miss so much. I think this had
a lot to do with not having to worry about
keeping a small army of people employed
and dealing with all their problems. Or
perhaps it was just the inevitable aging
process, just like fine wine.

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Jetrader - Summer 2014

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