The 1940s

Content is being added regularly – check back often For content suggestions or corrections, please email us – contact@ftlhs.org

Robert Prescott, born in Fort Worth, TX on May 5, 1913, was a Navy pilot who resigned his commission to join General Claire Chennault and the American Volunteer Group (AVG) in China in 1941. When the unit was disbanded in 1942, Prescott headed back to Texas where he was interviewed by journalist Helen Ruth Verheyden. He then flew for TWA for a short while, then returned to China to fly for CNAC and by 1944 was back in Texas marrying Helen Ruth. By 1945, they were heading to California. Prescott met with a group of businessmen and convinced nine of his fellow AVG pilots that they needed to start an airline. And the dream began…

National Skyways Airfreight Corporation (the original name of the company) is incorporated in Delaware on June 25th, the first company of its kind to enter the airfreight business after the war.

The airline’s first office was initially established at the Los Angeles Biltmore Hotel and ads were run in local newspapers for pilots and maintenance crews. The office was soon moved after much concern from the hotel due to the long lines of applicants filling the hallways.

The company quickly relocated to a small office and garage at Long Beach airport.

Flight operations begin on August 21 in Long Beach, California with the first three Budd Conestoga flights. The first flight was a load of grapes flown by John Gordon from Bakersfield to Atlanta. The second flight was grapes flown by Paul Kelly to Atlanta. The third flight was a load of furniture flown by Duke Hedman on a flight from New York to Detroit.

The airline experiences it’s first accident on August 23 when a Budd Conestoga crashes in Detroit after takeoff. Luckily all onboard survived and walked away from the crash, supposedly the co-pilot never heard from again.

Approximately 75 employees are employed by the fledgling carrier at it’s base in Long Beach and sales offices in Los Angeles and New York City.

In January the maintenance facility was moved from Long Beach to Mines Field (Los Angeles Airport), followed by the relocation of executives and sales personnel to the new location in March.

The mid-western base was switched from Oklahoma City to Kansas City, maintenance crews were stationed in Chicago and New York City. Over 250 employees worked for National Skyways Airfreight by the end of June, 330 employees by October.

In June, Douglas C-47s begin operating to supplement the Budd Conestogas.

On January 15, the airline is awarded the Air Transport Command (ATC) Transpacific Contract flying C-54s to Tokyo and Hawaii. To accommodate the expansion in flight operations, the base is moved to Lockheed Air Terminal in Burbank, CA. On January 18, full operations commence with two flights daily to Hickham and two to Tokyo.

On February 25, the name of the company, National Skyways Airfreight Corporation, is officially changed to The Flying Tiger Line, Inc.

On February 28, the very first official company publication, the Tiger Rag, was published (Editor, Betty Barnes).

Over 7,500 pounds of telephone headsets were flown for Western Electric from Chicago to Los Angeles, to relieve an acute shortage of telephones in Southern California. This shipment was part of a 20,000 pound contract to help residence and business firms in the area.

Flying Tigers creates their own post-war dispensary by employing their first nurse, Reinette Duke.

The first over-ocean chart prepared by the FTL Navigation Office under the direction of Walter Hadel, was printed and used for over-water operations between Guam and Tokyo. It supplemented Army-AirForce navigation log charts in use at the time by the Pacific Division.

On April 15, Flying Tigers operated its first passenger flights, five chartered planes carrying 110 sailors on leave from San Diego to Chicago and Washington, D.C.

Also in April, FTL began flying its first full planeloads of furniture for Bekins Van & Storage Co. between Los Angeles and New York allowing enough furniture for a 5 room house to be delivered within 24 hours.

After carrying everything from Hirohito’s celebrated white horse, to cellophane packed sardines, to Elsie the Cow, in domestic operations, the company’s motto, “Anything, Anywhere, Anytime,” is first used in the April 1947 Tiger Rag to describe the airline as “Pioneers in the field of airfreighting” with a “resume of achievements depicting the amazingly rapid expansion of the company during its brief span of existence.”

The Navigation Office sends select FTL Flight navigators to Switzerland on new Douglas DC4 aircraft to aid the Swiss Government in establishing North Atlantic air routes, specifically between Zurich and New York City.

An FTL Conestoga was completely re-outfitted as a “horse ship” for specialized transport. Until then, animals were only transported by DC-3s.

After completing a highly successful operation of 42 trans-pacific planes for the Army Air Transport Command, Flying Tigers began an intensive sales campaign to fill the gap in decreased cash flow. Flying Tigers ends the year with 1,250 employees.

Robert W. Prescott and Secretary-Treasurer Fred Benninger spend two days testifying before the Civil Aeronautics Board as policy witnesses in the airfreight rate hearings. Mr. Prescott urged the CAB to issue certificates to the freight carriers to legalize forwarders and to authorize the Railway Express Agency to handle air cargo for the non-certificated carriers.

On March 12th, notice was received from the Civil Aeronautics Board that the government had recommended to the board that Flying Tiger Line be certified, along with Slick and Cal Eastern, as the only trans continental carriers. Previous to this, Tigers had been operating under a temporary exemption along with every other airfreight carrier. Some 26 certificated scheduled passenger lines strongly opposed the certification of only four strictly airfreight carriers on the argument that airfreight is rightfully their business and they could handle it best.

Mr. Fred A. Miller steps down as Vice-President of Sales and Member of the Board of Directors of the Flying Tiger Line since its inauguration to pursue other business interests.

Although airfreight remained principal source of Tiger income, the company’s Flight Maintenance Department also engaged in airplane modification work for other companies. A CAA Approved Repair Station was created utilizing the large overhaul base established at Lockheed for the handling the previous ATC operations. Click on image to open promotional brochure.

In Tigers’ Engine Build-Up shop, Geraldine Buchanan gains the distinction of FTL’s only woman mechanic.

The airline flew a record-breaking 1,250,000 ton miles of freight in March, a 400% increase above the comparable month of March 1947 when 350,000 revenue ton miles were transported. January saw 700,000 ton miles of revenue freight and by February it jumped to 809,000. Transportation companies began recognizing the significantly reduced shipment times and rates, which weren’t much above the of the fastest surface transportation methods. Other factors changing the minds of many shippers was the lack of damage, elimination of expensive and weighted crating, reduction of costly field inventories, quicker distribution, and greater income and use of the product.

On April 15th, Prescott sent a personal plea to every Tiger employee to contact their Congressman, Senator or other public official to voice their support for certification of Tigers as an all-cargo airline.

On April 29th, fourteen FTL employees were invited to tour the assembly lines of General Motors Southgate Plant. This group included pilots, mechanics and cargo men, all interested in the marvelous production and scheduling techniques that GM had perfected.

On April 30th, General Claire Chennault visited the Burbank facility and was given a tour by those who were under his command in China, which included Prescott, Bill Bartling, and Duke Hedman. A lunch was arranged for afterwards creating the first impromptu reunion for those who served in the AVG.

On May 4th, the first non-fatal accident since the early days of the Budd occurred when a C-54 aircraft (071) suffered extensive damage while landing in Chicago.

On June 1, all parties begin oral arguments in the Air Freight Forwarder Case before the CAB in Washington D.C.

On May 17th, operations begin at Cleveland Municipal Airport.

The company completes installation of a large cooling room for flower shipments and other perishables at Burbank. The room was mechanically refrigerated and big enough to allow the use of a fork lift within it. The cooling room offered a material advantage to flower shippers since shipments could then be pre-cooled sufficiently to allow safe transportation of their flowers with a minimum of icing. The flower business should rapidly expanded for Tigers out of Southern California as a result of this extra innovative service to their customers.

C “Link” Laughlin returned to FTL after a leave of absence granted in October 1947 after expiration of the ATC contract. He was also requested by the Sales Department for off-duty public relations engagements.

On July 9, George T. Cussen, who had been General Sales Manager for the past few months, was elected Executive Vice President with primary responsibilities to Sales and Traffic and major policy decisions for the company.

On July 23rd, Mr. Maye Thomas was appointed General Sales Manager with headquarters in the General Offices in Burbank. Mr. Thomas first came in October 1945 when he joined the sales force. Taking a leave of absence in January 1947 he had previously returned to the Company in February 1948 as Division Freight Agent.

In the first indication of success for the airfreight business of the company, July also marked the first month of positive cash flow for Flying Tigers, with the exception of the ATC Contract revenue. From its inception up until this month, FTL had consistently lost money.

In 1948, and continuing into 1949, Tigers was instrumental in the Yemenite Airlift, the relocation of almost 50,000 Jews from Yemen to the new State of Israel established earlier in the year. A special operating company of Flying Tiger C-54s was set up by Bob Prescott and Fred Benninger and named Near East Transport to help free new citizens of Israel from the virtual bondange by the Imam since biblical times.

The January issue of the monthly employee newspaper came out with its new title and cover – Tigereview. This was in line with the News Bureau’s policy of continually endeavoring to improve the monthly publication.

In February with the Fall hunting season in mind, a California game farm imported 2,350 pheasants from Wisconsin via FTL last week.

Frank Thill, who had been covering LAX sales territories since August 1948 was appointed Resident Representative for FTL in San Diego on March 1st. This marked the official opening of the San Diego office.

Also on March 1, operations were moved from Teterboro to Newark providing faster and more direct ground service for shippers to and from the heart of the New York City market.

Also in March, Tigers began “Operation Chicklift” – operating from Hayward, CA to Oxnard, CA by carrying 40,000 day-old chicks from the Perry Hatchery. This operation set a new record as the largest single order of baby chicks ever to be flown by plane.

Effective June 24, 1949 and after a four-year battle, the company is awarded CAB certification for the first all-cargo scheduled Route 100 from Los Angeles to Boston with points in between. Click on image to enlarge

Towards the end of the year the C-47s were replaced with C-46s, which had a higher payload and longer range. The C-46s flew the domestic operation while the C-54s remained in overseas charter service.