JUST AROUND THE CORNER

      Once upon a time, there was a collection of old Curtiss C46s, Lockheed Constellations and other itinerant, even more mysterious aircraft at MIA. They shifted uneasily with the tide of a cargo construction boom at the airport, moving in and out every night on little cat’s feet.
      The place was a gathering point for aviation buffs, impounded aircraft, and all manner of itinerate airline operator.
      Colorful as any pirate’s tale, “Corrosion Corner” was an early morning trip back into aviation history.

REEFER MASQUERADING AS A CARGO TERMINAL

      Today at Miami International, where a colorful and rich part of airport history and legend are seldom recalled, a giant, around-the-clock, automated refrigerator stands, surrounded by the streamlined cladding of a modern air cargo transfer facility.
      Here, emblazoned with the name UPS, Bill Spohrer created a focal point. The old airplanes disappeared nearly two decades ago as the Miami cool chain moved into the big time and the airport appeared on world maps as a “must fly” destination.

HANDWRITING ON THE WALL

      Bill Spohrer saw the handwriting on the wall and ramped up Challenge Air Cargo into a new landmark for air shippers at Miami International Airport.
      Today in some kind of  “reefer madness,” the airport landscape is dotted with similar cool chain operations.

THE CHALLENGE AFTER

      After selling Challenge to UPS, Bill Spohrer stayed on with the UPS team at Challenge for a year to work things in for the new owners, and to basically show them the ropes in Latin America.

EXCELLENCE IN ANY LANGUAGE

A HELPING HAND

      During the 1980s and 1990s, Gentleman Bill was a major driving force that organized the Air Cargo Americas biennial trade show, which today is the biggest event of its kind in this hemisphere.
      Air Cargo Americas currently takes place in Miami every two years and just concluded another successful run a couple weeks ago.
      Mr. Spohrer was also a driving force in the creation of the modern TIACA organization.
      But more than that, he was always open and available without an appointment from his offices atop Challenge Air Cargo, ready to lend anyone—stranger or old friend—a helping hand.

PANAGRA AND TACA FROM THE GROUND UP

      As a young man, Bill was tutored in the Latin American airline game—first by legendary Lowell Yerex, who founded the TACA chain of airlines during the 1930s, and later by C.N. Shelton, who took on mighty Panagra with his TAN “barefoot airlines,” providing service down the west coast of South America much in the fashion that Southwest and Jet Blue operate low-cost airlines today.

A SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY

      But when the UPS job was completed and the music stopped at Miami International Airport, Bill reached back across the decades to take a sentimental journey back to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), taking a trip to Vietnam where he had served as aide-de-camp to the American Advisory Group commander in 1954.
      Once again to Southeast Asia, Gentleman Bill moved about Saigon, looking for what might be left of the era out of Graham Greene’s book The Quiet American.
      He went back to the main streets of that beautiful and still intriguing city. Bill and his lovely wife Lynn set up headquarters in the ante-bellum Hotel Continental, with its big, slow-moving ceiling fans and French and American ex-patriot café society.
      “I just wanted to see if I could remember the places and times of nearly fifty years ago,” Bill said.

LATEST UPDATE

      “We are coming back to Miami,” Bill said as Air Cargo Americas concluded in Miami earlier this month.
      “It has been a wonderful adventure,” said Bill, who is now 86.
      “But now I will have some medical work done and we will get back to life in Coral Gables in early 2018.”
      “Internet is spotty up here in northern Florida so mail me a copy of anything you write,” Bill laughed.
      After our recent conversation, I have spent some time thinking about my friend Gentleman Bill.
      There is something tremendously uplifting about the man.
      He is unique amongst the people that we have met in our years covering air cargo.
      Sure, the years have taken a toll, but certainly not on his spirit.
      In life, we should always make the time to see dear hearts and gentle people like Bill Spohrer.
      Now that he is coming back to town, those trips to Miami will most certainly include a jump to Coral Gables.
Geoffrey