American Flyers Airline
Encyclopedia
American Flyers Airline Corporation was a United States "supplemental" charter airline that operated from 1949 to 1971.

History

The airline initially started in Fort Worth with Douglas DC-3
Douglas DC-3
The Douglas DC-3 is an American fixed-wing propeller-driven aircraft whose speed and range revolutionized air transport in the 1930s and 1940s. Its lasting impact on the airline industry and World War II makes it one of the most significant transport aircraft ever made...

 aircraft. From 1960 to 1967 it took delivery of fifteen Lockheed Constellation
Lockheed Constellation
The Lockheed Constellation was a propeller-driven airliner powered by four 18-cylinder radial Wright R-3350 engines. It was built by Lockheed between 1943 and 1958 at its Burbank, California, USA, facility. A total of 856 aircraft were produced in numerous models, all distinguished by a...

 and Lockheed L-188 Electra propeller aircraft. Following the owner's death in the late 1960s AFA was acquired by an affiliate of the Hillman Co. of Pittsburgh. It then began equipping itself with jet aircraft, starting with two Boeing 727
Boeing 727
The Boeing 727 is a mid-size, narrow-body, three-engine, T-tailed commercial jet airliner, manufactured by Boeing. The Boeing 727 first flew in 1963, and for over a decade more were built per year than any other jet airliner. When production ended in 1984 a total of 1,832 aircraft had been produced...

 aircraft. The American Flyers 727s made history by being for the first airframes of the 727 type to operate transatlantic flights, from the mainland US to London Gatwick and Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

 in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, and to Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...

, Germany. Around this time the airline moved its operations to Middletown, Pennsylvania
Middletown, Pennsylvania
Middletown is the name of more than one location in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania:*Middletown, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania: 17057, of the Harrisburg metropolitan area*Middletown, Northampton County, Pennsylvania: 18017...

. By 1970, American Flyers was operating just two leased Douglas DC-8
Douglas DC-8
The Douglas DC-8 is a four-engined narrow-body passenger commercial jet airliner, manufactured from 1958 to 1972 by the Douglas Aircraft Company...

 Series 63CF having sold the Electras and later the 727s.

AFA was taken over by Universal Airlines
Universal Airlines
Universal Airlines was an airline based in Georgetown, Guyana. The Universal Airlines operated a scheduled passenger service to the USA and to nearby Trinidad and Tobago...

 on May 25, 1971, which in turn was absorbed by Saturn Airways
Saturn Airways
Saturn Airways was a US "supplemental carrier", i.e. a charter airline. It operated from 1948 until 1976. Its headquarters were located on the grounds of Oakland International Airport, Oakland, California.- History :The airline was initially known as All American Airways and used Curtiss C-46...

 the next year. Its DC-8s went to Flying Tiger Line
Flying Tiger Line
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 .- History :...

.

AFA was founded by Reed Pigman who was an early aviation pioneer who was instrumental in developing the VOR navigation
VHF omnidirectional range
VOR, short for VHF omnidirectional radio range, is a type of radio navigation system for aircraft. A VOR ground station broadcasts a VHF radio composite signal including the station's identifier, voice , and navigation signal. The identifier is typically a two- or three-letter string in Morse code...

 system that is currently used worldwide today. Many of the employees of both the airline and its related Aviation School had a very affectionate relationship with Pigman, who frequently piloted AFA's Lockheed Electras on military charter flights nationwide.

Accidents

On September 20, 1965 a Lockheed Constellation
Lockheed Constellation
The Lockheed Constellation was a propeller-driven airliner powered by four 18-cylinder radial Wright R-3350 engines. It was built by Lockheed between 1943 and 1958 at its Burbank, California, USA, facility. A total of 856 aircraft were produced in numerous models, all distinguished by a...

 L-1049 Super Connie (N9719C) landing on Ardmore Municipal Airport
Ardmore Municipal Airport
Ardmore Municipal Airport , also known as Ardmore Industrial Airpark, is a general aviation airport located 10 miles northeast of the central business district of Ardmore, cities in Carter County, Oklahoma, United States....

 overshot the wet runway into ditches. The aircraft was destroyed, no fatalities.

Reed Pigman died on April 22, 1966 of a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...

 at the controls of an Lockheed Electra (N183H) and the resulting crash killed more than 80 military transients that were being flown under a Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...

 contract charter from an east coast location en route to Fort Ord
Fort Ord
Fort Ord was a U.S. Army post on Monterey Bay in California. It was established in 1917 as a maneuver area and field artillery target range and was closed in September 1994. Fort Ord was one of the most attractive locations of any U.S. Army post, because of its proximity to the beach and California...

, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 with a service stop and crew change in Ardmore, Oklahoma
Ardmore, Oklahoma
Ardmore is a business, cultural and tourism city in and the county seat of Carter County, Oklahoma, United States. As of the 2010 Census, the city had a population of 24,283, while a 2007 estimate has the Ardmore micropolitan statistical area totaling 56,694 residents...

.

Existing weather at Ardmore that evening was scattered thunderstorms, tornado warnings and also indications of wind sheer in the approach route to Ardmore Municipal Airport. Reed Pigman had apparently concealed his heart problems from the authorities. There is a memorial at the Ardmore Municipal Airport for the crew and passengers that were involved in this accident. Pigman's widow, Virginia, continued to operate the American Flyers School of Aviation after her husband's death.

External links

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