Most pioneers in the airline industry were longtime fliers or aircraft builders who had little knowledge of finance. Juan T. Trippe, (1899-1980) was anexception. A Yale graduate (1921) and a full decade younger than Eddie Rickenbacker, Trippe was not wealthy but from a well-connected family. While he did not become an influential figure until the 1930s, he was a 1920s type,both in hisearly, business career and personal inclinations. Throughput his life he carefully listed his Yale club memberships and athletic prowess in his biographical material, and Yale served him well. He knew the wealthy,:aviation-fancying Ham- Bleton family, sportsman Jock Whitney, and - Briton Hadden and Henry Luce of Time; he married into the Stettinius family (GM and U.S. Steel) and was a brother-in-law of the: secretary of state. When Trippe decided to leave Wall Street to enter the aviation business in...