AVIATOR OF FORTUNE: LOWELL YEREX AND THE ANGLO-AMERICAN COMMERCIAL AVIATION RIVALRY, 1931-46

Abstract

Lowell Yerex was a legendary New Zealand-born entrepreneur who established an airline empire in the Caribbean Basin during the 1930s and 1940s. Yerex sought to make his enterprises into a great international airline. This ambition entangled him in the Anglo-American aviation rivalry of the period. Employing ties he had on both sides of the Atlantic, Yerex tried to forge an Anglo-American aviation concern under his control. Unfortunately for him, both sides doubted his allegiances. After a long and tumultuous courtship, they rejected him, and forced him from the field altogether.