Interviewer(s): D. Austin. Slidell, LA

Affiliation: University of Arizona

I was introduced to Al Warriner by Walt Daspit. Walt arranged for us to go to Al's shop and talk with him. We found him in his office in Slidell. Al was very receptive to the interview and talked almost nonstop for three hours. He had an active career and continues to work with his son. He lamented the fact that he was not allowed to renew his pilot's license this year because of his age (85).

Al was born November 25, 1917. He started flying at age 18 and went to Tulane in mechanical engineering. His dreams of a career in aeronautical engineering were disrupted by the Depression, and he went to work in construction to finance his flying. In the fall of 1938 he was working in West Vermillion Bay for Superior Oil Company constructing the first well offshore in water open to Gulf. With that job, Al began his career in diving. He worked for railroad companies, repaired cargo piers, and worked in shipyards. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps during WWII and returned to diving and the Gulf of Mexico in 1944. He started his own company, Underwater Services, in 1957 and went broke in 1964 when the oil industry went into a slump and he had a string of bad luck.