By Aaron Milavec

When Milton Caniff learned of the work being done by Mike Stimac in Africa, he was intrigued and inspired.  Only once did he meet Mike, thanks to the connections of his chief promoter and fund raiser[1], Jane Hamilton, a woman who was an explorer and adventurer in her own right.[2]  She took a personal interest in Wings for Progress, received ten hours of flight training from Mike Stimac, passed her flight test, and then went to Kenya to experience first-hand the daring feats Mike Stimac who, with his “can do” orientation, was moving people and supplies between the missionary outposts scattered in eastern Africa.

Steve Canyon was an easygoing adventurer with a soft heart. Originally a veteran running his own air-transport business, the character returned to the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War.  Caniff was intensely patriotic, and he used the story of a fictitious trouble-shooter in the Air Force as a way to alert his readers to Cold War intrigue and the hazards faced by American citizens in developing countries.

You might be asking yourself why Caniff would introduce a real person, Mike Stimac, and a real organization, UMATT, into his comic stories.  In effect, Caniff’s characters were products of his own imagination.  Caniff was famous for inventing colorful villains and intriguing female characters, such as Madame Lynx and the lovely exiled ruler, Princess Snowflower.  These characters, however, were not purely imaginative.  Madame Lynx, for example, was based on Madame Egelichi, the femme fatale spy played by actress Ilona Massey in the Marx Brothers movie Love Happy (1949). This character stirred Caniff’s imagination so much that he hired Ilona Massey herself to personally pose for him in his studio so that his comic strip would successful evoke her likeness. Besides casting Ilona Massey as Lynx, Caniff patterned Pipper the Piper after John Kennedy, and Miss Mizzou after either Marilyn Monroe or actress Bek Nelson-Gordon. The character of Charlie Vanilla (who would frequently be drawn with an ice cream cone in hand) was based on Caniff’s longtime friend Charles Russhon.  In sum, for the millions of readers of the comic strips syndicated across the United States, it was no surprise that a real person, Mike Stimac, and a real organization, UMATT, would enter into his comic stories.

In this Appendix, you will have the opportunity to explore the artistry and imagination of Milton Caniff as he weaves into the life of Steve Canon comics an adventure in Africa.  In the opening story, Poteet Canyon, a feisty cub reporter for the High City Herald, takes a personal interest in Henry M. Rize, a local industrialist who is reported missing in a fictitious rebel takeover somewhere in Africa.  Her boss has assigned her to write the society column (the “tea-party beat”).  She tries to persuade him to assign her to go to Africa and ferret out the truth about Mr. Rize.  She explains that she knows a bush pilot who would be able to ferry her around.  The bush pilot is named, Bitsy Beekman, and she is identified as flying planes as a relief pilot with “Wings for Progress” during her summer vacations.  “Wings for Progress,” as you may know, is the official name for UMATT in Kenya.[3]

Caniff Inserts UMATT into his Sunday Comic Strip

Caniff knows full well that UMATT would be unintelligible to his readers so he uses “Wings for Progress” instead and characterizes them as “flying Peace Corps people” and “mercy-flight people.” Here’s a key frame in the second comic strip:

 

This frame is filled with amazing information:

1. To the left, you see a small table with four persons are in the process discussing an urgent situation. To the right, you see the UMATT logo (the white peace dove).  In Kenya, “the flying Peace Corps people” are legally registered as “Wings for Progress.”  In the USA, the legal name is UMATT (United Missionary Aviation Training and Transport).  Caniff gets all the details right here.
2. Behind them is the first of the four UMATT planes, a Super Cub (Cessna 206) parked at the end of their make-shift runway. In fact the Super Cub was orange with a white underbelly and wings.
3. Person #1 is a woman with her hair covered. This woman has the distinct profile of Sister Michael Therese Ryan aka “the Flying Nun.”  The headdress and blouse should be “white.”   But, in the shade, Caniff rightly needs to display the whites as grays.
4. Person #2, who is holding a clipboard, is Bill Saint Andre, a U.S. Navy pilot who was the first volunteer pilot.
5. The man leaning over the table and speaking is none other than “Mike Stimac.” Remember that Caniff has  seen Mike.  My hunch is that Mike’s profile was taken right from this photo [shown left] that was supplied to Caniff for background info.  Notice that Mike’s right shoulder comes down directly from the peak of his chin in both depictions.  The haircut in both pictures can also be seen as identical.
6. Person #4 has either a deep tan or, then again, he may have black skin. Can it be that one of the team was an African?    This is none other than Shadrach Sainepu, a tall Masai warrior who received his flight training from Mike Stimac.  When Wings for Progress was formed, Shadrach accepted an invitation to join the team of pilots.  He was considered an “ace pilot” by the group and always took “the most treacherous assignments.”[4]  Caniff demonstrates here again his attention to details.

The Identity of Bitsy Beekman

What about the identity of the relief bush pilot, “Bitsy Beekman,” who will play the major role as a representative for “Wings for Progress” in the nine weeks saga reported in Caniff’s comic strip?  This is none other than Jane Hamilton who is pictured with Mike Stimac in the picture shown above.  And who is Jane Hamilton?  According to our informed sources, she is. . .

. . . a striking blond who looks much younger than her 30 years, she is the new breed of modern women [remember that this is being written in 1968] who has taken her time to “find herself.”  This maturity arrived with her concern about American influences and aid programs abroad. . . .  Her rendezvous with Africa began with her friendship with Michael Stimac whom she met when she accepted a professorship in literature [which is curious in view of the fact that her doctorate is in International Studies] at the University of Dayton. . . .  For three months this year[5], she has courageously flown the dove emblemed plane . . . over inland East Africa. Her [flight] time is voluntary and she airlifted medicine, food, supplies, doctors, nurses, the injured and the sick from remote areas inaccessible by land.[6]

The Absence of “Mike Stimac”

Some readers will undoubtedly complain that Caniff has exalted the roles played by Bitsy Beekman (“Jane Hamilton” in real life) and Poteet Canyon (the cub reporter) while leaving the mastermind and true hero, Mike Stimac, out of the action.  Others will say that there is no error here whatsoever.  Mike has always been in the business of exalting his collaborators and giving them a free hand in inventing their roles—whether it’s in the Radio Club or in UMATT.  Hence, Caniff captured Mike perfectly!

As for Milton Caniff himself, why did he choose to create a story that included Wings for Progress functioning within those dangerous and frequently menacing situations that erupted in Africa?  In my view, Caniff wanted to highlight what Americans needed to understand about Africa—its ruggedness, its social upheavals, its pockets of starvation and epidemics, its marginal rule of law and order.  And, when you read the closing lines, you will discover that Caniff wanted to have the last laugh because he shows us that even well-meaning American can sometimes get their facts wrong and end up doing a lot of harm while attempting “to save the world.”

One final observation.  I believe that Caniff wanted to educate Americans about what is worth risking ourselves for and who should be honored as our role models and heroes.  Thus Bitsy Beekman (“Jane Hamilton” in real life) and Poteet Canyon (the fictitious cub reporter) come away with the top honors.  They risked themselves to uncover the truth and to release the innocent man from imprisonment.  And so, even given their flaws, they were the true role models and heroes whose story needed to be told.  And, in 1968, it was perhaps a small act of courage on the part of Milton Caniff to bypass the capable and daring achievements of the key men (Stimac and Sainepu) in order to highlight two women who used their “can do attitude” to overcome a whole set of obstacles thrown in their way.  These women, Caniff invites us to regard as “the true heroes.”  And, so, I would not be amiss in honoring Milton Caniff as man before his time in so far as he envisioned women as key players in the new world order that was emerging.

 

[1] Jane Hamilton’s spectacular efforts as chief promoter and fund raiser for UMATT are richly detailed in Mike’s autobiography.

[1] Jane lived for a year in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam after receiving her doctorate in International Studies.  In 1999, Jane published her exposé of the shameful policy of the US military in Laos, Tragic Mountains: The Hmong, the Americans, and the Secret Wars for Laos, 1942-1992 by Jane Hamilton-Merritt (Indiana University Press).  For details, see https://www.amazon.com/Tragic-Mountains-Americans-Secret-1942-1992/dp/0253207568

[1] In his autobiography, Mike writes as follows: “On August 25, 1968 Wings for Progress was incorporated under Kenya law.   Suddenly, many other groups could give support, for the help was obviously going to a member of an emerging nation, rather than to support of a foreign endeavor [UMATT].”

[1] Jean Jensen, “Hossier Woman Flies Missions of Mercy,” The Indianapolis News, 07 Nov 1968, p. 18.  This came from comments made to the reported by Jane Hamilton.

[1] According to Jane Hamilton, she served as a volunteer pilot for three months.

[1] Jean Jensen, “Hossier Woman Flies Missions of Mercy,” The Indianapolis News, 07 Nov 1968, p. 18.

[1] Jane Hamilton’s spectacular efforts as chief promoter and fund raiser for UMATT are richly detailed in Mike’s autobiography.

[1] Jane lived for a year in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam after receiving her doctorate in International Studies.  In 1999, Jane published her exposé of the shameful policy of the US military in Laos, Tragic Mountains: The Hmong, the Americans, and the Secret Wars for Laos, 1942-1992 by Jane Hamilton-Merritt (Indiana University Press).  For details, see https://www.amazon.com/Tragic-Mountains-Americans-Secret-1942-1992/dp/0253207568

[1] In his autobiography, Mike writes as follows: “On August 25, 1968 Wings for Progress was incorporated under Kenya law.   Suddenly, many other groups could give support, for the help was obviously going to a member of an emerging nation, rather than to support of a foreign endeavor [UMATT].”

[1] Jean Jensen, “Hossier Woman Flies Missions of Mercy,” The Indianapolis News, 07 Nov 1968, p. 18.  This came from comments made to the reported by Jane Hamilton.

[1] According to Jane Hamilton, she served as a volunteer pilot for three months.

[1] Jean Jensen, “Hossier Woman Flies Missions of Mercy,” The Indianapolis News, 07 Nov 1968, p. 18.