Wally Byam, not unlike a mighty oak growing from an acorn, groomed and cultivated himself over the course of his lifetime.
Frequently, the question comes up: why did Wally have the vision to create an Airstream, the legendary and iconic recreational vehicle whose lifetime stretches from one century to the next?
Wallace Merle Byam came from pioneer stock. His paternal and maternal grandparents came overland on the Oregon Trail to settle down in Eastern Oregon.
As an adolescent, he tended to his grandfather’s sheep on the rolling hills of eastern Oregon. This fostered his deep-seated love for camping. His sailing the South Pacific and visiting Tahiti as a young man instilled traveler’s wanderlust.
Wally wanted the best education possible, so he chose the most-acclaimed university on the West Coast, Stanford. As advertising manager for the university’s newspaper, he learned sales and marketing.
After graduation, business networking played a great part in his life. Having worked for Cornelius Vanderbilt Jr. in advertising, the two became lifelong friends.
With the Great Depression upon the nation, Wally looked for a new field of work. His next endeavor, influenced by his great love for camping and hiking, was to supplant the burgeoning recreational industry with something he loved. Airstream was born, as a do-it-yourself kit sold in magazines, then in a production shop where he could manufacture and sell the Airstream Torpedo.
Even after having his facilities padlocked by the government three times, he never gave up on his dream. A major step in 1951 was the initial Wally Byam Caravan to Mexico and Central America. This was followed the next year with the opening of a second Airstream plant in Jackson Center, Ohio.
The Airstream Wally Byam Caravans played a major role in growing the company with continuous groups going to Mexico, Central America, and Canada in addition to high-profile Caravans to Europe and Africa.
Wally Byam had a rare talent to pick staffs that were required to move the company forward. He taught them the “ropes” and kindly guided them to levels in their positions they thought were impossible. Wally knew they were not only capable of performing loftier duties, but that they had far more fuel in their tanks than they realized.
His team performed just as he had envisioned. Art Costello, president of the California operation, carried on after Wally’s death as Chairman of the Board. Andy Charles, who established the Jackson Center, Ohio plant, later led the 1963 Around-the-World Caravan. Helen Byam Schwamborn, organizer and leader of the Airstream Wally Byam Caravans, was also responsible for coordinating and developing the Wally Byam Caravan Club, International.
Airstream developed over a period of many years. Wally Byam built the company, step-by-step, by ensuring that failure was not an option, even in the roughest of times.
Wally’s words show you how his mind worked. In 1916, a few months after he graduated from Jefferson High School in Portland, he wrote the following:
“I am a man of extreme – either I will be a big boss, a rousing success, or a blank failure. In my heart I know I’ll be a great big glorious success, and that my name will go down in history.”
In 1944, while working for Lockheed Aviation, he evaluated the inner-Byam.
“My ancestors did not work for others. It is not in my blood.”
In 1952, on the first Caravan, there were many hardships but in a letter, Wally wrote the following, which adequately defines his inner strength.
“I guess it is the same stubborn stick-to-it-iveness that drove my forbearers West.”
Writer and friend Jack Kneass, after Wally’s death, had introspective words about him.
“No one who knew him, however distantly, can regret not knowing him better, for at heart he was a sentimentalist who was determined that he would sell people an object that would make their lives happier, and then show them how to use it.”
Dale “Pee Wee” Schwamborn has silver in his blood. Each week, Pee Wee shares one of his many stories, including his experiences on the iconic Airstream Caravans, his time spent working in the Airstream factory, and the many Airstreamers he’s befriended, far and wide.
