Flying Tiger Line
airline
Flying Tiger Line, also known as Flying Tigers, was the first scheduled cargo airline in the United States and a 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 1989.
History
Early years
The airline was named after the Flying Tigers fighter unit of World War II, officially the 1st American Volunteer Group. After returning to the United States in 1945, ten former AVG pilots led by Robert William Prescott established the Flying Tiger Line on 24 June 1945 under the name National Skyway Freight using a small fleet of 14 Budd RB Conestoga freighters purchased as war surplus from the United States Navy. The pilots and two ground crew provided half of the initial investment, with the balance coming from California oil tycoon Samuel B. Mosher. For the next four years, Flying Tiger Line carried air freight on contract throughout the U.S. and, as the airline expanded, carrying supplies to U.S. troops under Gen. Douglas MacArthur during the occupation of Japan.
In 1949, the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) awarded Flying Tiger Line (along with Slick Airways) a scheduled cargo certificate for a transcontinental route from Los Angeles and San Francisco, California to Boston, Massachusetts. Shortly afterwards, the company began chartering passenger aircraft for group travel as well; its Lockheed Super 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.
“Flying Tiger Line” enters the record as airline. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Flying, Tiger and Line can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 30, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q248637. VIAF identifies the subject as 147927428. The Library of Congress control number is n98027414. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1989, 1945 and 1949.
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This entry incorporates text from “Flying Tiger Line” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.