Well it looks like one more real airline joins the ranks of history. Heard on the radio today, that Delta has taken over Northwest. The combined airline will keep the Delta name and Northwest is gone.
A few of the greats : Flying Tigers, bought by Fed Ex. Western, bought by Delta. Hughes Air West, merged into Republic, then (I think) into Northwest. Got to check that. Of course TWA and my personal favorite Pan Am. All gone, replaced by airlines run from cubicles rather that the cockpit.
Still got to get to my rants on TWA 800, and Pan Am 103. As they say watch this space. I’ve got some thinking to do on both of these subjects. But believe me it will be interesting.
Pan Am 103 is more a personal story, we all pretty much know what happend there. TWA 800, well I don’t go with any theory about what happened, I do know what didn’t, and I know that we we’re “told untruths” by officials.
OK stop. Before I get started on that, I’ve got some thinking to do.
Back to the original rant. We could really use an airline cut from the old form. Eastern, TWA, Pan Am, Northwest, Western. I’ve worked with these people and these where airlines that where run by people that liked flying, and took some pride in what they where doing. To many of the Mega Airlines are made up of groups of people, just there for the job. This is OK most of the time, but when things get demanding, (weather, equipment falure, etc) , well then you want real AIRLINE PEOPLE running things. Beyond Alaska Air, and Horizon, and some overseas airlines, British Air, BMI, I don’t see much in the way of real airlines any more. Might not seem like a big deal, but I don’t want a bean counter making decisions about aircraft maintenance.
February 22, 2008 -
Posted by
klausrl |
Airline Stories |
Airlines, Northwest |
4 Comments
Thanks for the memories! Note however that the Flying Tigers were pilots of the American Volunteer Group (and if you want to stretch matters, pilots of the 14th Air Force who succeeded them in China). Some AVG veterans did indeed form an airline called Flying Tiger Line, which was bought out by FedEx. What a pity it retired the name!
Another set of mergers saw Northeast Airlines fold into Eastern Airlines, which in time folded into Delta. My local airport sometimes hosts a Northeast DC-3 for months at a time.
More about the Flying Tigers at http://FlyingTigersBook.com and http://WarbirdForum.com/avg.htm
Blue skies! — Dan Ford
Dan, you are of course correct. The Airline, or rather cargo carrier I fueled was Flying Tiger Lines. I was working with them when Fed Ex bought the line. Many of us thought that the name should have been retained, as the international long haul division of Fed Ex. That name was known around the world.
I worked for Northwest for thirty five years, I rember Capital, Pacific Northern, World Airways, People Express, Wien, Hawain, Aloha, Reeve, Ozark, PSA, North Central, Southern Braniff, Midway along with the carriers already mentioned in other peoples comments.
These airlines were started and grew and ran by people who wanted to see them grow. The current management at both Northwest And Delta have never built anything but their own golden parachute. They have nothing but down size farm out and sell off the companies they have run both filled for bankruptcy and destroyed the value held by their stock holders. like the junk bond dealers before, them these people have no interest in operating a airline. get the money and run is the only thing they believe in.
Thanks for the comment Bob. I was out at the airport this week, haven’t been in some time.
People that have been in the business for years are talking about getting out. It’s just not the same any more.