I dont remember the faces of the flight attendantsprobably because I was so overwhelmed by my own emotions going to war and coming home. The food on the airplane had to be thrown away because there was no refrigeration on the aircraft for over 48 hours. In 1965, Flying Tiger Line began operating jet aircraft when on September, 27, In 1962 Flying Tigers received its first Permanent Certificate from the CAB (Civil Aeronautics Board). My return flight was one of those that cheered as we lifted off. There were also 11 crew members onboard, giving a total occupancy of 107 people. I remember well my Flying Tiger trips. We began to realize OK, these guys are going off to die, Breen recalled. (1945 - 1947). But the flight attendants realized that many were understandably scared. God bless you all! Thanks for a great story. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Flying from Clark AFB to Guam refueling then on to Travis AFB and Home. ATDB.aero shows that it spent most of its career at Flying Tiger Line, but did also serve Lufthansa on a leased basis. It truly was a great feeling being headed home. I didnt use Flying Tigers going to and from my two tours in Vietnam, but I DID fly with them in 1963 going home from a two-year stint in Korea. The C-47 could fly 7,500 pounds of cargo over a range of 600 miles at 150 miles per hour. 25 Jun 1945. She told me that there were more books in the back of the plane. Its ultimate destination was the Vietnamese city of Saigon, to which it was transporting 96 soldiers. I think i was numb, both ways. She learned then that the Flying Tiger Line, also known as Flying Tigers, specialized in troop transports. These women allayed the fears of soldiers heading to war and offered support and reassurance to those headed home. As the company grew and matured, founder and CEO Robert Prescott did also, both in his younger days as an AVG pilot and later in the role of President of the Flying Tiger Line. Not sure if the change in mood was due to smoked joints and beer, but it sure didnt hurt any. What I do remember is that the plane had a very unpleasant odor and the food was cold. WebHis 93 U.S. military passengers, three South Vietnamese soldiers and the 11 civilian crew members aboard Flying Tiger Line Flight 739 disappeared on their way from Guam to the Philippines. Many of the women continued to fly, either with Tigers or other airlines; more than a few married Tigers pilots and started families. The big, glamorous airline back then was Pan Am. Sweet Jesus, I was back in the USA ; Trying to get your brain from calming down from a surreal experience in RVN and then refocusing your mind on being back home was a strange experience! With only six thousand employees around the world, the Flying Tiger Line carried cargo and people to all corners of the planet. That was not us, recalled Andee Reingold Wright, a San Francisco native who was 21 when she started with Flying Tigers in 1967. LOTS FOR SALE! When I went back in 1970 out of McCord it was on World Airlines. Great article, spot on! But for the ladies I say Thank you I was one of those 18 year old boys that was scared to death. Meanwhile, the flight attendants were becoming like a family. Thats funny. (LogOut/ Thanks to all of you that attempted to make our journies more comfortable. . To kill time many of us went to the Officers Club, with the flight attendants in tow, and proceeded to party. I recall the flight I took into Vietnam and even more than the flight I took home. Dont remember who flew me over my second trip in Dec. 71. The company said it needed flight attendants. Early in 1961, the first of the Canadair CL-44 all-cargo aircraft joined the flying Tiger Fleet. The airliners were not just used to bring the soldiers home, but to fly them into the war zone as well. Based in Norwich, UK. In 1974, the airline took delivery of its first Boeing 747. I flew over to Vietnam out of Travis October 3, 1970 on Airlift International. This allowed for more extensive geographic capability and cargo capacity. a version of Purgatory, That same year, ground-breaking ceremonies took place for the companys World Headquarters at Los Angeles International Airport. Marilyn Breen was 24 when a girlfriend called her from Japan, bragging that she had gotten a job with a different charter airline and was now sitting in Tokyo having her nails done for $1.50. Thanks for the wonderful article. I was so wrapped up in my own personal trauma that I thought they were being so nice because they were paid to, not because they wanted to. It was never seen or heard from again, despite an extensive search operation. This was a great story. In quieter moments, men cracked: a lieutenant crying softly in his seat, admitting that his wife had just given birth to a baby he might never see again; a young mans hand shaking as he reached for a cup of milk. Having climbed to a cruising altitude of 18,000 feet, the aircraft reported its position as being 1340N 1400E just under an hour and a half into the flight. After 1970, scheduled commercial service, much of which consisted of Asian imports, rapidly overtook military related contracts as the company's primary source of income. I went over in February 1970. The extension allowed a 30 trip home so I had 2 Tiger flights in and 2 out. So they tried to keep it light. During the course of the war, thousands of flights crisscrossed the Pacific Ocean. The flight attendants learned not to wake them, knowing the men might leap up with a start, imagining they were still back in the war. The first direct food and medical supplies from the United States to Phnom Penh was transported by Flying Tigers on Thanksgiving Day, 1979. I do not dwell on the negatives of that war , but there will always be a part of those of us that served in Vietnam that we would prefer to live without. The merger gave the combined airlines scheduled, all-cargo services world-wide. After the aircraft failed to arrive at Clark Air Base in the Philippines, the flight was declared as having gone missing on the morning of March 16th, 1962. Know now that I was stunned , medical shock, at suddenly the war down below, behind me , was gone. In 1964, the company graduated its first class of flight attendants. Flying Tiger history began during World War II when the original aircrafts were small fighter planes. LOTS FOR SALE! Flying Tiger Line was ramping up operations in Vietnam, too, and its believed maintenance standards dropped as a result of increased demand. Flew out going from Ft. Lewis, Washington 1970, came home through Oakland Par 8th, 1971. In 1969, during the Vietnam War, a 21-year-old Seattle woman saw a job ad for a California cargo airline called the Flying Tiger Line that had a large presence in San Francisco. According to the Aviation Safety Network, it first flew in 1957, and had amassed a total of 17,224 hours. Travel the world, the ad said. The first two of these saw delays due to engine maintenance having to be carried out. The first full shipment consisted of grapes flown from Bakersfield, California to Atlanta, Georgia. I was a different person. I do remember the door opening and it was like a blast furnace! With four Rolls Royce engines that developed 5,700 horsepower, it cruised at 375 miles per hour, carrying up to 60,000 pounds of cargo over a range of 3,000 miles. Country. My tours were 67 to 68 and 68 to 69, My second tour i was stationed in Saigon , my unit had a small crew break room where the transit crews rested between flights. By the mid-1980s, Flying Tigers operated scheduled cargo service to six continents and served 58 countries. It hooked up with the Pentagon to carry troops during the Korean War, and by the mid-1960s the airline was flying tens of thousands of soldiers into Vietnam at a time before the U.S. public was paying much attention to the conflict unfolding there. A keen amateur photographer, he also recently reached the milestone of flying his 100th sector as a passenger. As in Korea, these flights carried both cargo as well as military personnel and their dependents. Approximately 998 pilots worked for the airline based throughout the US. The estimated duration of its westbound flight to the Philippines was reportedly around eight hours, although the aircraft had enough fuel onboard to fly for another hour on top of that. Not sure if the change in mood was due to smoked joints and beer, but it sure didnt hurt any. Leslie Pfeifer served aboard Flying Tiger Line from 1967 to 1970, making 75 return flights to South Vietnam. Owing to the complex geopolitical circumstances of the mid to late 20th century, it was also involved in military charters, flying both cargo and troops to conflict zones. Flying the Freedom Birds: Airlines and the Vietnam War. I would have been on Flying Tigers returning to the states. Very good article. Breen went from being gung ho about the war to suspecting the government was lying and thinking the war was a mistake. Change). WebFlying 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. On Wednesday morning in Sacramento, as many as 30 former flight attendants for the airline are reuniting to honor servicemen killed in the war. No lights on the plane in the dark. 7 Aug 1989. My most vivid memory is of the landing approach into Bien Hoa Airport. On March 18, 1956, a Flying Tiger Line Curtiss C-46 (N9995F), crashed at Pelly Bay, Canada after the left wing struck terrain while on a VFR approach, both pilots and the passenger survived, but the aircraft was written off. They were long, boisterous flights full of bravado and joking the men going off to war were trying to psych themselves up. United States. Arrived Travis in daylight and was struck by the absence of bomb craters from my aerial view. The former stewardesses of Tiger Airlines still reminisce about their experiences with those brave soldiers, coming and going to Vietnam a long time ago. I was 24, Breen recalled. Flying Tigers was a mechanism of the war she opposed. one of conscious unease. In 1984 the DC-8-63s were phased out as a result of Federal noise regulations that went into effect that year. The company said it needed flight attendants. WebThe Flying Tiger Line Incorporated. Chambers, Andy Gatenby. Web978 views 8 months ago Andee Wright served as a flight attendant with Flying Tiger Line from 1967 to 1978. Did it really happen to me ?????!!! Landed in Saigon. "Airlines Remembered" by B.I. The Statue of Liberty torch flew on Flying Tigers. As in Korea, these flights carried both cargo as well as military personnel and their dependents. The soldiers onboard were flying there not to fight, but to help train South Vietnamese forces. I for one of many of us flew Tiger Airlines going and coming. The Stewardess came back after about 10-15 minutes and asked me Do you mind if I ask you a personal question? I told her No, not really.. In February 1947, the airline legally changed its name to The Flying Tiger Line, Inc. Elsie the Cow was one of the airlines first celebrities when the Borden Company chartered a plane especially equipped for the bovine for a one-month tour. Web346 views 9 months ago. The young men would leave their patches, their names, their addresses, their rosary beads and ask the crew members to write to them while they were in Vietnam. [1] It was headquartered on the grounds of Los Angeles International Airport in Westchester, Los Angeles, California. Web978 views 8 months ago Andee Wright served as a flight attendant with Flying Tiger Line from 1967 to 1978. A FLY-IN COMMUNITY! 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. Great article; Thanks. The company said it needed flight attendants. (1966-1969), The Douglas DC-8-63F was a new breed of aircraft that had a far reaching effect on the continuing growth for the airfreight industry. But nothing could have prepared her for what it was like to be a flight attendant at Flying Tigers during the golden era of aviation a job so fabulous and exciting on the one hand and emotionally brutal on the other that it transformed the lives of hundreds of young women like her who were hired during the war, forcing them to confront the realities of Vietnam in ways they never expected, and bonding them to each other for decades to come. The C-46s flew the domestic operation while the C-54s remained in overseas charter service. My Flying Tiger Line, also known as Flying Tigers, was the first scheduled cargo airline in the United States and a major military charter operator during the Cold War era for both cargo and personnel (the latter with leased aircraft). The airline was bought by Federal Express in 1988. However, despite an eight-day search covering hundreds of thousands of square miles of the Pacific Ocean, no trace of the aircraft or its 107 occupants could ever be found. I too was older at 25 and remember them well. Covert flights for the military were not uncommon throughout the airline's history, given its roots in Civil Air Transport (CAT), as with its sister airline Air America, originally owned by General Claire Lee Chennault, commander of the Flying Tigers fighter squadron in Southeast Asia. Large crew bases were situated at Los Angeles, New York City and Lockbourne, Ohio (Rickenbacker International Airport). In the Vietnam airlift, Flying Tigers provided strategic flights from the US to numerous military bases throughout the Pacific and Southeast Asia geographic region. Thank you for writing this story, it was way overdue. We were goin up and up , the war down below, falling away now far behind us. I was old as dirt to them.. The new Flying Tiger airline had its own military role; carrying cargo and troops back and forth to the war in Vietnam. They were thrown together all the time on the planes, in Saigon hotels sipping cocktails and at officers clubs on overseas military bases, where guys bought them drinks. A very vulnerable feeling with out a weapon. Tigers suddenly needed bodies to work those long overseas flights, and when it put out calls for flight attendants, adventurous women answered. He wouldnt believe me until I showed him the slip of paper. They played cards with the guys, laughed with them. Flying Tigers received the All-Cargo Route #163 across the Pacific into Asia. Flying Tiger history began during World War II when the original aircrafts were small fighter planes. I wouldnt trade the experience for a million dollars, stated Julie Kane, a flight attendant for Seaboard World Airlines. Federal Express (FM / FDX) Base / Main Hub. We crossed over the international dateline and it became the 2nd of January. I remember the flights to and from, but what really sticks in my mind was the blast of hot, humid air that swept through the plane when they opened the doors. The women working the cabin on those flights were still known as stewardesses, not flight attendants, and they walked like fashion models down the aisles. As in Korea, these flights carried both cargo as well as military personnel and their dependents. To us, they were all beauty queens! In March 1962, one such personnel-carrying flight went missing en route to Vietnam. each of us inside were scared because for the first time non of us were wearing helmets, flack jackets, no weapons or ammo. Leslie Pfeifer served aboard Flying Tiger Line from 1967 to 1970, making 75 return flights to South Vietnam. Ceased operations. United States. Her sentiments are echoed by Judy Meyer, who flew for United Air Lines, It was some of the best flying I ever did. Although these women were an integral part of the Vietnam War experience, their contributions are largely unknown outside of the veteran community. After airline deregulation, stiff competition buffeted profits and, with some unsuccessful diversification attempts by parent Tiger International, the airline began sustaining losses in 1981. It was important to stay upbeat, to act like every one of the men was coming home. The flight went missing while en route to Vietnam. thank you. If not for you, the World would be much worse off. I know that I should have written to her while I was in Vietnam, but like things go I had more important thoughts on my mind such as surviving and looking out for my men. Like you were going to hang around. In the Vietnam airlift, Flying Tigers provided strategic flights from the US to numerous military bases throughout the Pacific and Southeast Asia geographic region. 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