Seaboard & Western was founded on 11 September 1946 by Arthur and Raymond Norden, both World War II Army Air Transport Command veterans. It began operations as a non-scheduled carrier with Douglas DC-4s and was the first to fly an all-cargo flight across the Atlantic.
N91085 Douglas DC-4 'Brussels Air Trader' taxiing at Honolulu, Hawai, in 1951
Seaboard & Western Airlines was also the first airline to land and take off at Idlewild (now John F. Kennedy) Airport and fly support for the Berlin Airlift on 30 April 1948. On 3 July 1950, it was the first to fly a Military Air Transport Service (MATS) charter and provide support for the Pacific Airlift for the Korean Conflict with a planeload of Air Force fighter pilots. Seaboard & Western Airlines placed an order worth USD Mio. 8 (value 2023: Mio. 95) L1049Ds, a type exclusively developed and built for the carrier, on 12 December 1951.
On 14 September, they started non-scheduled North Atlantic all-freight services, and after the CAB approved scheduled services in 1955, Seaboard ordered a further five Super Constellations (L1049H). The scheduled, five-times weekly North Atlantic cargo service started on 4 April 1956, with routes from New York to London, Brussels, Amsterdam, and Frankfurt and via Paris to Zurich. The Super Connies continued the non-scheduled and scheduled mainly freight and passenger services until January 1962, when Canadair CL-44s took over the operations. Although the company's name changed to Seaboard World Airlines on 4 April 1961, after Richard M. Jackson started as the new Chairman and President, few Super Connies carried these markings.
On 1 October 1980, The Flying Tiger Line, Inc. took over Seaboard World Airlines. Eight years later, on 16 December 1988, The Flying Tiger Line, Inc., was absorbed by Federal Express Corporation.
N702SW Boeing 747-245F (SCD) taking off from Zurich in 1980
Over the years, Seaboard would establish itself as the preeminent carrier of cargo on the world's most prosperous trade routes, routes that would eventually give rise to 25 different airline competitors. Seaboard earned the respect of the entire aviation community for its remarkable safety record with 33 years of flying all over the globe, often with minimal support, without a single fatal accident.
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