Sigmund (Sig) Janas knew his way around the worlds of finance and commercial aviation. After a stint as deputy superintendent of banks in California, in 1932 he wound up in the nation's capital as Harris (Pop) Hanshue's representative for Western Air Express (WAE). Janas was also a good friend of Errett Lobban (E L) Cord, who knew how to take over an airline (American). Playing the stock market, Janas made more than $600,000 (equivalent to $9.9 million today) from his speculation in the 1936 merger of Pennsylvania Airlines and Transport Company (PALTC) and Central Airlines, which created Pennsylvania Central Airlines (PCA). Time magazine described the short and stocky Janas as 'purposeful' and 'unorthodox'. Aviation writer Robert Serling referred to the cigar smoker, an assistant to C R Smith, the president of American Airlines, as 'demanding', 'belligerent', and 'colorful'. Whatever the adjectives, Janas converted Canadian Colonial, which had plodded along dutifully since 1928 carrying passengers, mail, and freight over a sole 335mi (540km)-long route, into an independent air carrier with a scheduled network of 3,182mi (5,120km) and 68 million passenger-miles a year.
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