Flying Tiger Line
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Flying Tiger Line, also known as Flying Tigers, was the first scheduled cargo airline in the United States and a major passenger charter operator during the Cold War era.
The airline was named after the Flying Tigers volunteer fighter unit of World War II. Ten pilots from the Flying Tigers formed the Flying Tiger Line after returning to the United States in 1945, using a small fleet of Conestoga freighters purchased as war surplus from the United States Navy. For the next four years, Flying Tiger Line carried air freight on contract.
In 1949, the Civil Aeronautics Board awarded Flying Tiger Line the first commercial air cargo route in the U.S., a transcontinental route from Los Angeles and San Francisco, California to Boston, Massachusetts. Shortly afterward, the company began chartering passenger aircraft for group travel as well; its Lockheed Constellation, Douglas DC-4 and DC-6 fleet comprised the largest trans-Atlantic charter operation through the 1950s.
During the Korean War, Flying Tiger aircraft were chartered to transport troops and supplies from the United States to Asia; Flying Tigers later received a cargo route award to Japan, China, and Southeast Asia. The airline also played a major role in the construction of the Distant Early Warning Line, flying equipment to remote outposts in northern Canada and Alaska.
Flying Tiger Line adopted the Canadair CL-44 swing-tail aircraft in 1961, becoming one of the first carriers in the world to offer aerial pallet shipping service. In 1965, Flying Tiger Line began operating jet aircraft (the Boeing 707); in 1974, the airline took delivery of its first Boeing 747.
By the mid-1980s, Flying Tigers operated scheduled cargo service to six continents. It surpassed Pan American World Airways in 1980 as the world's largest air cargo carrier. It also operated military contract services, most notably Douglas DC-8 routes between Travis Air Force Base, California and Japan in the 1970s, followed by weekly Boeing 747 passenger service between Clark Air Base, Philippines, and St. Louis, Missouri via Japan, Alaska, and Los Angeles during the 1980s.
FedEx Corporation purchased Flying Tigers in 1989.
Over the years, Flying Tigers carried a number of unique cargoes, including the famed orca Shamu and the torch of the Statue of Liberty.
