On October 16, 1969, Frank Volavsek, General Manager of Seaboard World Airlines and his Sales Manager John F. Vuursteen, handed over the root of a Sequoia Gigantea to Mr. Douwes Dekker, Managing Director of the Schiphol Airport Authority to commemorate the first ever DC8-freighter flight between the American West Coast and Schiphol Airport. In 1994 both Frank and John got together for the 25th anniversary of the occasion.

      Talking about air cargo, its origin and fascinating history, you often stroll through memories to discover some unexpected sparkles in the ashes of the past.
     Real pearls of another era that still linger on in present times.
     For myself, I started in 1968 at Aeroground Services as a warehouse handler.
     My career continued in the early seventies at Pan Am Cargo as cargo representative, and later at Seaboard World Airlines and before the 70’s closed I returned to Pan Am Cargo in 1980.
     My time with Seaboard or SWA in Amsterdam I will never forget, nor my years with the Pan Am family.
     Because we were families in the air cargo industry, competitors or not, the memories and relationships have lingered over the years.
     We did what we felt right to do and kept communication amongst ourselves always open.
     You never knew when you needed each other; operationally, technically or in competitive marketing deals.
     Things changed amongst the major airlines in air cargo over the years, but that’s life’s evolution.
     It’s only a natural process.
     So coming from the times that the air cargo industry in Holland belonged to names like Henk Schiphorst, John Vuursteen, Cees Uittenbogaard, Wibo Aris, Frank Volavsek, Gerard van Eekhout, Adriaan and Walter Bierman, Ad Scheepbouwer, Peter Legro, Leo de Haas, Rene Smit and Ohta San, to name just a few offers me (and you dear reader) a brief encounter with another time and group of air cargo people.
     Once upon a time in the international air cargo field, as a youngster you met and looked up to people like Colin Witt, Ralph Wuergler, Jerry O’Driscoll, Bill Boesch, John Mahoney and in particular John V. Keenan and Al Levinson:
     “Give me a Genever, son, and 4 of these lovely salted raw-herrings,” was Al all the way.
     Those were fascinating, bigger than life air cargo times in Holland.
     So many names passed, so many names stayed.
     But at Schiphol Airport there was an enigma...
     In 1969, Frank Volavsek, General Manager of Seaboard World Airlines in the presence of John F. Vuursteen, his Sales Manager at that time, handed over the root of a Sequoia Gigantea to Mr. Douwes Dekker, Managing Director of the Schiphol Airport Authority during an official ceremony at Schiphol.
     The event was held to commemorate the first ever DC8-freighter flight between the American West Coast and Schiphol Airport.
     The date was the October 16, 1969 to be precise.
     The initiative of Seaboard to plant what in two or three hundred years might become a giant California Redwood Tree was soon followed by other airlines.
     But only 3 trees survived over the years in the special ocean-climate that is the Low-Lands here.
     Over the four decades since it was planted despite storms, the salty atmosphere near the ocean and even drought, the SWA Sequoia has pushed ever skyward.
     Along the way, even though SWA and almost everybody else was long gone, ever watchful John F. Vuursteen who followed in the footsteps of Frank Volavsek in his position at Seaboard World Airlines, in the capacity of Director Benelux & Scandinavia, kept the SWA tradition high in seeking the well-being of what both considered “their tree”.
     In 1994, Frank and John arranged a personal celebration, commemorating the Sequoia’s 25th anniversary; a now 40ft or 12 meter beauty.
     John had became a very successful GSA at the airport he loved so much.
     Even after John retired 11 years ago he (now 76), remained entangled and ever watchful of the fate of “Their Sequoia”.
     Last year, when I met John again, we were discussing old ‘cargo times’ when he pointed out that the ‘The Ol’ Lady’ was still alive and kicking at the airport and now was a 20 meters or 66 foot tall beauty.
     I proposed to take some special pictures of the occasion.
     John was very glad to co-operate and tried hard to find Frank Volavsek’s contact address.
     Regretfully we found out that Frank died only 4 weeks before the planned photo-shoot at Schiphol.
     Frank is gone, but will be not forgotten.
     So here are some tokens of life within life. John F is still pushing the old lady as you can see.
     And for myself ?
     I am proud to have been part of a Sequoiavian World of Giants.
     And Food for Thought . . .
     The average lifespan of the Sequoia Gigantea is 3,500 years.
     Now, ask yourselves, who will survive ?
     “The Ol’ Lady” or . . . Schiphol Amsterdam Airport ?
     I hope both will.
(Jos van der Woensel, Hoofddorp – The Netherlands)

(Editor's Note: This story first appeared in September 2009. It was written by my dear friend Jos van der Woensel (pictured right) who had been around air cargo long enough to be able to landscape it. Jos died March 1, 2011, after having worked in air cargo for 37 years, retiring in 2005. Jos continued as an accomplished photographer and writer documenting life in retirement.