1961 – 1969
Swingtail story…
With the purchase of a $55 million fleet of Canadair CL-44s in 1961, Tigers acquired the first turbine-powered airfreighters ever placed in service. A true airfreighter with a unique swing-tail design, the CL-44 permitted straight-in loading of freight no other plane could carry. It cruised at 375 miles per hour, carrying up to 65,000 pounds of cargo, over a range of 3,000 miles. Tigers’ fleet of sixteen CL-44s, again the largest cargo aircraft purchase to that date, provided the nation’s fastest all-cargo service. Aboard the CL-44 were loaded single pieces of freight, like ship shafts, which weighed as much as 40,000 pounds – the load equivalent of a railroad box-car. The CL-44 moved Tigers into leadership as the world’s largest freight and contract airline.