Sterling Boller, Ca. 1930s (Source: UT Dallas)

I have very little information about pilot Boller. Thanks to Branifflist.com Webmaster John North (cited, right sidebar), we know he worked for Braniff Airlines beginning on August 15, 1935, carrying seniority number 38. He was qualified to fly the DC-3 and DC-4.

From a 1989 article at the Branifflist site, one journey earned him an airmail medal of honor. It was 1933 [this was before he worked for either Braniff or Pan Am]. He was piloting a Northrop airplane with five passengers. The plane caught fire on takeoff. Boller stated about that flight, "I was very fortunate not to be very high. I made a 180-degree turn and landed when the fire and flames came in on my lap. I got a little burned on my legs, but I managed to get the mail and the passengers out. Another 30 seconds in the air and we would have never made it."

Sterling Boller, Ca. Late 1980s (Source: UT Dallas)

After Braniff, he hired on with Pan American, which brought him through Tucson. His early work with Pan Am also was to fly passengers and air mail south from Grand Central Air Terminal in Glendale, CA. His destination was Mexico City with intermediate stops in Mexicali, Hermosillo, Mazatlan, Guadalajara and Leon. All totaled, he spent 33 years working with Braniff and Pan American.

His visit at Tucson was solo on Saturday, November 3, 1934. He flew a Lockheed Orion under Mexican registration XA-BEI (originally registered in the U.S. as NC964Y). Please direct your browser to the airplane link for details. Based at Mexico City, Mexico, he arrived at Tucson from El Paso, TX westbound to Los Angeles, CA. He noted "Ferry" "Pan American" in the passenger column of the Register. Boller passed away May 29, 1990 at age 83.

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