A Flamboyant Executive Exits

Charles Knapp, whose passion for vintage planes and daredevil business tactics earned him the nickname Red Baron, bailed out last week as chairman of California's troubled Financial Corp. of America (assets: $32.7 billion). The company is the parent of American Savings and Loan Association, the nation's largest thrift institution. Knapp says that he resigned voluntarily, but many industry observers believe he was pressured to leave by the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, which regulates S and Ls. Knapp's biggest mistake was to make too many fixed-rate loans that became unprofitable when interest rates rose in the spring. Partly for that reason, F.C.A. lost $107.5 million in the second quarter. Since July, jittery large investors have withdrawn more than $1 billion from F.C.A.

Knapp's successor will be William Popejoy, 46, a longtime industry executive who was president of American Savings before F.C.A. bought the thrift in 1983. Popejoy will have no time to ease into his new job. F.C.A. reported on Aug. 15 that it has certificates of deposit worth about $15 billion that mature by the end of September. Popejoy must quickly convince investors not to pull out all that money.