FTL - Flying Tiger Line

[Hirohitoswaifu]

Airline Name
Flying Tigers

IATA: FT / ICAO: FTL / Callsign: TIGER

Country of Origin
United States of America

Aircraft Types Used (from those available in WoA)
B741 (747-100 (SF)) (13 operated),

N800FT wore the below livery for a short time but I can’t find a real photo of it atm (Resembling the shark mouth painted onto the Warhawks (I keep typing Kittyhawks ) during the war,

Courtesy of Flying Tiger Line B747 100SF - Theaviationspotter's Painting Hangar - Gallery - Airline Empires

B742 (747-200F) (15 operated in total (They operated pax aircraft from time to time and a couple of combis too)),

They also operated 727s and DC8s in the 1980s and CL44s earlier in the 1960s/70s but if they come in the future I’ll suggest them then.

Why should this airline be added?
This airline was founded in June 1945 by 10 pilots from the 1st American Volunteer Group, known as the ‘Flying tigers’, who were infamous during the Second Sino-Japanese War and then WW2, in flying for the Chinese Nationalist government against the Japanese onslaught into China (WW2 and especially the Asia theatre like Burma, China and Malaya is a subject I’m very passionate about so I’m keeping it brief ), flying P-40 Warhawks donated to the Chinese government for use by these American and Chinese pilots. The airline began with a small fleet of Budd Conestoga flying supplies to General MacArthur’s occupation army in Japan before getting a license to operate commercially in the USA in 1949, the first commercial freight license ever issued. The airline went from strength to strength throughout the 50s and into the jet age before buying 747-100 freighters in the mid-1970s and then -200s throughout the 1980s. They were bought up by FedEx in 1988 and merged into their fleet in 1989 bringing a really cool airline to an end. Would be an ace airline to see as a special livery, especially given they flew into Kai Tak on the regular.

A P-40 Warhawk guarded by a Nationalist Army Infantryman

Flying Tiger Line - Wikipedia

Flying Tiger Line A Great Cargo Airline 1945-1989 - Vintage Airliners

Flying Tigers: The Story Of The First US All-Cargo Commercial Airline