LEONARD PRATT
PILOT
GSW DFW DEN


OBITUARY
Leonard Vernon Pratt, 89, died Saturday, Sept. 11, 2004, in Heber Springs, Ark.
Memorial service: 4 p.m. Friday at Olmstead Funeral Home.
Leonard Vernon Pratt was born March 11, 1915, in Okmulgee, Okla. 
During World War II he was chief pilot of the South Pacific Division of the Air Transport Command.
His career spanned barnstorming, crop-dusting, flight instruction and airline flying.
He earned a place in the Smithsonian Institute Aviation Hall of Fame for his contribution to motorless flight. 
He flew for Slick Airways, Flying Tiger Airlines, Central Airlines and Frontier Airlines.
He invented the index method for figuring aircraft weight and balance which is used to this day. 
He was the union chairman through the most successful airline merger in airline history; 
the only airline merger in the United States that did not generate a single lawsuit, 
and positively influenced numerous young aviators as their aviation careers began.
After retiring from the airlines he circumnavigated the world with his family in a 40-foot sailboat.
Survivors: His wife, Betty; his son and daughter-in-law, Leon V. and Margo Pratt of Garland; 
his son, Leonard Michael Pratt of Golden, Colo.; his daughter, Shirley Ann McNutt of Glen Ellen, Calif.; and four grandchildren.
Published in the Star-Telegram on 9/15/2004.
-Jim Ford

Leonard Pratt
Leonard Vernon Pratt died in Heber Springs on September 11, 2004. Born in Okmulgee, Okla. on March 11, 1915, he was 89.
During WWII he was Chief Pilot of the South Pacific Division of Air Transport Command. 
After the war he concentrated on an aviation career that spanned barnstorming, crop dusting, flight instructing, and airline flying. 
In his hobby of powerless flight he earned a place in the Smithsonian Institute Aviation Hall of Fame. 
During his airline career he flew for Slick Airways, Flying Tiger Airlines, Central Airlines and Frontier Airlines. 
His airline career progressed from single engine airmail subsidy routes to Boeing 727 passenger routes. 
During his airline career he invented the index method for figuring aircraft weight and balance which is used to this day, 
was the union chairman through the most successful airline merger in airline history, 
the only airline merger in the United States that did not generate a single law suit, 
and positively influenced numerous young aviators as their aviation careers began. 
After retiring from the airlines he circumnavigated the world with his family in a 40-foot sailboat.
He was preceded in death by his mother and father, L. J. and Annabelle Pratt; his brother, Leon S. Pratt; and his son Landon J. Pratt II.
He is survived by his wife, Betty; his sons, Leon V. Pratt and wife, Margo, of Garland, Texas; and Leonard Michael Pratt of Golden, Colo.; 
his daughter, Shirley Ann McNutt of Glen Ellen, Calif.; four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
Memorial services will be held at Olmstead Funeral Home September 17 at 4 p.m.
-HEBER SPRINGS SUN-TIMES
(9/15/04)

HEBER SPRINGS — Leonard V. Pratt was born March 11, 1915. He died at his home in Heber Springs, Ark., Sept. 11, 2004. 
He devoted his life to aviation and teaching others the art of flying. He flew for Central Air Lines and Frontier Air Lines. 
He was responsible for the merger of Central and Frontier, the most successful merger in airline history. 
After retiring, he and his family circumnavigated the world in a 40-foot sailboat. 
He is survived by his wife, Betty ; his two sons, Leon V. and Leonard Michael; and his daughter, Shirley Ann McNutt. 
Memorial service Friday, Olmstead Chapel, 4 p.m.
-ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
(9/16/04)