Flying Tiger Line

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Flying Tigers
Flying Tigers Boeing 747-200
IATA code : FT
ICAO code : FTL
Call sign : TIGER
Founding: 1945
Operation stopped: 1989
Seat: Los Angeles , United States
United StatesUnited States 
Home airport : Los Angeles International Airport
Fleet size: 46
Aims: international
Flying Tigers ceased operations in 1989. The information in italics refer to the last status before the end of operation.

Flying Tiger Line (from October 1980 operating under the name Flying Tigers ) was an American cargo airline . It was originally founded under the name National Skyways Freight Corporation on June 25, 1945 by Robert W. Prescott and Sam Mosher. In 1946 the company was renamed the Flying Tiger Line , as many former pilots of the American Volunteer Group (also called Flying Tigers ) joined the company. The airline originally had its home base in Burbank , near Los Angeles .

history

Early flight operations

When it was founded in 1945, the then extremely modern Budd RB-1 Conestoga was used , the first cargo aircraft with a pilot's cockpit arranged above the cargo hold and thus a larger usable cargo space, which was also made entirely of stainless steel . A short time later, freight contracts were signed with the USAAF and the Douglas C-54 joined the fleet. From 1949 civil orders were also processed and the fleet was increased by several Douglas DC-3 , Curtiss C-46 Commando , Douglas DC-6 and Lockheed L-1049 . Cities like New York , Boston, and Chicago were on the flight plan .

Expansion in the 1960s

In the early 1960s, international destinations such as Tokyo , Manila and Frankfurt were added to the route network. In 1961, the Canadair CL-44 with a turboprop engine joined the fleet. In 1965 the company moved its headquarters from Burbank to Los Angeles , took over its first Boeing 707 and thus opened cargo traffic with jet aircraft . Later expansions saw the addition of the Douglas DC- 8-63F and, in 1974, the first Boeing 747-100 .

Acquisition of Seaboard World Airlines

In 1978 the Flying Tiger Line began to buy up shares in Seaboard World Airlines and finally took over the company on October 1, 1980. After the takeover, the name of the Flying Tiger Line was changed to Flying Tigers .

Metro International Airways

In 1981 the subsidiary Metro International Airways was founded, which operated tourist charter flights on behalf of tour operators . The subsidiary used a Boeing 747 from the Flying Tigers , which was equipped with seating for this purpose. If necessary, Metro International Airways made use of other aircraft from the parent company at short notice. The subsidiary was dissolved in November 1983.

Largest freight company

Flying Tigers became the largest cargo carrier worldwide with flights to six continents and from then on operated a huge fleet of DC-8-63 and DC-8-73 freighters.

Takeover by Federal Express

The running costs of maintaining the fleet grew rapidly from the mid-1980s, however, which forced Flying Tigers to sell part of their DC-8-73 fleet. Its main competitor, Federal Express , acquired the Flying Tigers on January 29, 1989 for $ 852 million. The company was completely absorbed by Federal Express in August 1989.

fleet

Fleet at the end of operations

At the time the company was sold to FedEx , the following machines were in use:

Previously deployed aircraft

Before the transfer of operations, Flying Tigers also used the following types of aircraft:

Incidents

From 1950 until the transfer of operations in 1989, Flying Tiger Line suffered 16 total aircraft losses. In 13 of them, 295 people were killed. Examples:

  • On January 7, 1953 (local time) a Douglas DC-4 / C-54B of the Flying Tiger Line ( aircraft registration number N86574 ) was flown into a mountain on the way from San Francisco to Boeing Field (Seattle) (CFIT, Controlled flight into terrain ) . After the approach clearance had already been given, the machine deviated from course, brushed against trees near the summit of Squak Mountain about 19 kilometers from the destination airport and crashed into the adjacent valley near a farm on Issaquah-Hobart Road. All seven occupants (four crew members and three passengers) were killed.
  • On September 9, 1958, a Lockheed L-1049H Super Constellation of the Flying Tiger Line (N6920C) had an accident in the Ōyama mountain range (Kanagawa) , 24 kilometers southwest of Tokyo . The machine was to be used to transport US military cargo from Wake Island Air Base to Tachikawa Air Force Base. All 8 occupants, six crew members and two passengers, were killed.
  • On 15 March 1962, a Lockheed L-1049H Super Constellation put the Flying Tiger Line (N6911C) on the airport Adak despite multiple warnings from the air traffic controllers of the runway, where the chassis and the right wing were demolished. A violent fire broke out; one of the seven crew members on the cargo flight was killed.
  • On December 14, 1962, a Lockheed L-1049H Super Constellation of the Flying Tiger Line (N6913C) crashed into a residential area shortly before landing at Burbank Airport (California, USA). 29 buildings were damaged by the crash and the subsequent fire. All 5 people on board were killed, as were 3 residents.
  • On December 24, 1964, after taking off from San Francisco Airport , the pilots of a Lockheed L-1049H Super Constellation of the Flying Tiger Line (N6915C) flew 7 kilometers west of it into sloping terrain instead of initiating the prescribed left turn. In this CFIT ( Controlled flight into terrain ) all 3 crew members of the cargo flight were killed.
  • On December 15, 1965, a Lockheed L-1049H Super Constellation of the Flying Tiger Line (N6914C) was flown into the western flank of California Peak, 20 miles northeast of Alamosa, Colorado . The cargo plane was on the flight from Los Angeles Airport to Chicago . All 3 crew members were killed.
  • On December 24, 1966, a Canadair CL-44D4-1 of the Flying Tiger Line (N228SW) was flown into a settlement approaching Da Nang Airport , killing 111 people, including the four crew members and 107 people on the ground. There were 50 injured. The cause of the accident was that the approach was carried out below the weather minimum, in heavy rain, fog and at night, as a return to another airport was unthinkable due to low fuel reserves (see also flight accident of a Canadair CL-44 in Đà Nẵng 1966 ) .
  • On July 27, 1970, the crew of a Douglas DC-8-63AF of the Flying Tiger Line (N785FT) carried out an approach using precision approach radar to the Okinawa-Naha Air Force Base in poor visibility . In doing so, she lowered the aircraft so far below the glide path that the machine hit the water 670 meters from the runway. All four crew members died in this CFIT ( Controlled flight into terrain ).

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ JP airline-fleets international, Edition 81
  2. ↑ JP airline-fleets international, Edition 84
  3. ^ Ulrich Klee, Frank Bucher et al .: jp airline-fleets international . Zurich Airport 1966–1989.
  4. ↑ Flying Tiger Line accident statistics , Aviation Safety Network , accessed on February 25, 2019.
  5. ↑ accident report DC-4 N86574 , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on February 13 of 2019.
  6. ↑ Air-Britain Archive: Casualty compendium part 55 (English), December 1994, pp. 94/111.
  7. ↑ Flying Tiger cargo plane crashes at the base of Squak Mountain south of Issaquah, killing seven, on January 7, 1953. . In: HistoryLink . Retrieved October 2, 2012.
  8. ↑ accident report L-1049H N6920C , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on 22 December of 2019.
  9. ↑ accident report L-1049H N6911C , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on 26 August 2017th
  10. ↑ Air-Britain Archive: Casualty compendium part 86 (English), September 2002, pp. 2002/111.
  11. ↑ accident report L-1049H N6913C , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on 21 December of 2019.
  12. ↑ accident report L-1049H N6915C , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on 22 December of 2019.
  13. ↑ accident report L-1049H N6914C , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on 22 December of 2019.
  14. ↑ accident report CL-44 N228SW , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on 29 July 2020th
  15. ↑ accident report DC-8-63 N785FT , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on 25 February of 2019.