Table Of ContentA Jet Powered Life
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A Jet Powered Life
Allen E. Paulson,
Aviation Entrepreneur
D J. P
onALD orter
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina
ISBN (print) 978-1-4766-7656-2
ISBN (ebook) 978-1-4766-3492-0
LIBRARYOFCONGRESSANDBRITISHLIBRARY
CATALOGUINGDATAAREAVAILABLE
© 2019 Donald J. Porter. All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying
or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.
Front cover: Allen Paulson, CEO of Gulfstream (Gulfstream
Aerospace Corporation); Gulfstream V (Tomás Del Coro)
Printed in the United States of America
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
Acknowledgments
Allen Paulson treasured the recognition accruing from the merits of the
aircraft he developed, but tried his best to stay out of the spotlight. that ret-
icence made this book difficult to research. He never published an autobiog-
raphy and interviews with the media were a rarity. there remains little in
print about his personal life.
the most accurate portrayal of his life can be painted in colors of the
stories that others tell. they form a picture of a surprisingly complex man.
His shy, non- confrontational nature, avoiding situations where he could hurt
the feelings of others, seemed contradictory with someone possessing strong
convictions and spirited competitiveness. He enjoyed being with people; but
simply didn’t say much in public, far more at ease enjoying the company of
a close circle of family members, associates, and friends. I was fortunate to
interview a number of them.
I spent the better part of a day with Clay Lacy, an iconic aviation pioneer
and savvy businessman who happened to be Paulson’s best friend. In business
they enjoyed the perfect relationship: Allen the dealmaker who bought and
sold airplanes, while Clay served as the go- to guy who flew them. their per-
sonalities couldn’t have differed more; Paulson was reserved and Lacy extro-
verted. Bruce McCaw shared his insights as Paulson’s longtime friend, he an
aviation entrepreneur and cofounder of Horizon Air, a regional airline now
part of Alaska Airlines. I’m especially appreciative of Bruce devoting time to
review a draft of the manuscript. Joe Clark, founder of Aviation Partners, a
firm that pioneered development of the ubiquitous blended winglets passen-
gers see jutting atop the tips of jetliner wings, recalled their close friendship.
Mary Lou Paulson, the second of Paulson’s three wives, at his side during
what turned into his most productive years in aviation, offered remembrances
of their life together. Albert “Goldie” Glenn, the retired president and vice
chairman of Gulfstream Aerospace Corp., was another major contributor. At
the age of five in 1927, Glenn accompanied his father to work and watched
Charles Lindbergh take off from roosevelt Field for Paris. It became the
v
vi Acknowledgments
inspiration for a lifelong career in aviation. I was fortunate to interview Glenn.
He passed away at the age of 93 in June 2016.
Kathy o’Sako, Paulson’s longtime secretary at Gulfstream Aerospace,
shared a wealth of experiences about her former boss. Crystal Christensen,
Paulson’s granddaughter, recalled the personal side of his life. Her insights
into the dynamics existing within the family, before and after the industri-
alist’s death, proved invaluable. A special find was a collection of eight type-
written pages consisting of remembrances dictated by Paulson about his youth
and career. I thank Crystal for sharing it. Cheryl nicholson, daughter of the
industrialist’s brother, Art, offered information about the family’s early his-
tory. Murray Smith, founder and publisher of Professional Pilot magazine,
offered other fascinating insights. Still another contributor was Alex Kvassay,
a close friend of Paulson who sold airplanes to world leaders, business
moguls, and celebrities.
I wish to thank a number of people who contributed photos: Clay Lacy,
Crystal Christensen, Kathy o’Sako, neil Aird, Heidi Fedak at Gulfstream
Aerospace, Jan Southern at Georgia Southern University, and contributors
of images donated for the American Aviation Historical Society archives.
In addition to the interviews, my research involved delving into the
archives of media sources. In no particular order, the principal ones include
Cable News Network (CNN), Aviation International News, the NewYorkTimes,
Business&CommercialAviation, Flying, Business Week, the ChicagoTribune,
ProfessionalPilot, Blood-Horse, SavannahMorningNews, AirportJournal, the
Los Angeles Times, the WallStreet Journal, and perhaps fifty other newspapers,
magazines, books, and websites too numerous to acknowledge here. I’m par-
ticularly indebted to Aviation Week & Space Technology and Flight Interna-
tional for providing digital access to the archives of all their magazines.
Locating detailed accounts about Paulson and his airplanes helped me piece
together the seasons of his life and craft a manuscript that portrays the man
as accurately as possible.
In common with my Howard’s Whirlybirds book, profiling Howard
Hughes and his helicopter empire, I’m inspired to continue my writing by
keeping in mind the eternal guidance of my late mother, elsie, also a pub-
lished writer. I credit my wife rita for her solid support over a four- year
period as I toiled writing and rewriting before finally saying, “It is done.”
table of Contents
Acknowledgments v
Preface 1
Introduction 3
1. turning Point 7
2. new Beginning 21
3. Plane Peddler 35
4. Checkered Flags 52
5. Jet Setter 70
6. Let’s Make a Deal 84
7. Hustler 102
8. Golden Goose 118
9. Peregrine 137
10. top of His Game 156
11. Flying Fast 174
12. Going Supersonic 188
13. Moving on 204
14. California Bound 213
Epilogue 218
Chapter Notes 221
Bibliography 229
Index 233
vii
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Preface
Browsing through books listed on Amazon, it appears to me that most
movers and shakers who’ve built Fortune 500 companies have at least one
book written about their exploits. Someone who didn’t make the lists is Allen
eugene Paulson—perhaps because his name isn’t a household word like many
others. But his story isan engrossing one, climbing from a penniless child-
hood to the top tier of the aviation business, a modern day Horatio Alger.
But that’s not all. In the spirit of today’s luminaries such as elon Musk of
SpaceX fame, or airplane designer Burt rutan, builder of the first civilian
craft to enter space, Paulson was relentless in conceiving and doingwhen it
came to furthering progress in aviation. outside of that industry, where he
made his mark, and even within it for that matter, there’s little written about
the man. Shunning publicity, he didn’t write an autobiography or talk much
in public. the airplanes he conceived and developed, together with the
famous racehorses he owned, shined in the spotlight, but not he. Although
his name may be unrecognized by most of the public, a list of his friends
reads like a who’s who of America’s mid- century culture.
I had the occasion to meet Paulson in 1973. It was to talk about the pos-
sibilities of forming a business venture together. From the moment we met
I took note of his unpretentious manner and inquisitiveness, observing that
he did need a few minutes to warm up and look at ease. We conversed in the
nerve center of his American Jet Industries operation, crowded into two huge
hangars situated along the western edge of the Hollywood-B urbank Airport.
From his unpretentious office on the mezzanine level of one of the hangars,
the panoramic view looked down on a four- engine Lockheed electra parked
inside, surrounded by an army of fast- moving workers. His mechanics were
“cutting it in half,” the slow- talking industrialist told me, to convert the air-
liner from carrying passengers to transporting freight. the modifications
seemed incredibly laborious to me. Something else caught my eyes. resting
on the carpet around the edges of his sparsely furnished office sat a dozen or
so travel agency–size airplane models. they represented the hundreds of air-
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