727 in BWI about 1986. Meeting the plane one snowy morning doing a quick walkaround & finishing the daily check, I secured everything & took off completing the first part of my normal split shift. I returned that evening to get things ready for departure in plenty of time, with everything looking good I relaxed even more in the office. With the call for the final fuel load, I strolled out to finish things off & met the FE finishing his walkaround. After exchanging pleasantries, he mentioned they were not going anywhere with a plane in that condition while pointing to one of the main tires where plain as day, right on top is a nice flat spot worn through several cords. So much for my relaxing evening! Snow had stuck to the tires on arrival that morning long enough for my walkaround & then melted away. A friend stopped by to say hello & I promptly got him involved by prepping a tire in the shop while I removed the offender. About the time I got the old one off, he was passing under the plane rolling out the new one. When I turned to get it, he was laying flat on his back on the ramp having squarely connected with the aft drain mast! All I could do was talk to him while chasing the tire to keep it from falling over & continue the job. He managed to shake it off & we got the plane out on time but I have not missed another tire on walkaround! I'm sure he had a lasting impression too!

Line Hydro Crew

The swing shift Line Hydro crew. I think at that time our lead man was Mozel James and he wasn't in the picture.  Dennis Boyle was our lead, but had transferred to day shift.  I had some experiences at Tigers that have had an everlasting effect on me and had the opportunity to work with an extraordinary group of people.  Picture provided and comments written by Larry Singler.

Tigers Polecat

N322F Tiger's Boeing 707, "Polecat," first to fly around the world, pole to pole.

Dean HealdApr 26, 2012 12:40 AM

My father, Wayne Heald, worked for Flying Tigers at LAX from 1969 until 1981. He worked at the hangar off of World Way West. He was referred to as "Sarge" since he was a retired USAF Master Sergeant. I remember that Davey Cervantes was a good friend of his. I also remember Vic Schneider as being a friend of his.

I remember traveling on the DC-8s riding stand-by from LAX to ORD (Chicago). I distictly remember the tele-types that were coming across the printer while in Chicago.

My couple of rides in the DC-8s are very memorable now. Riding behind the pilot, I remember that the pilot said that we will be going beyond my dad and I's final destination of Fort Madison, IA. I remember not believing them, although it was actually true.

I also remember that my father had a good friend - H. Ueno (from Japan) that would occasionally come to Los Angeles for training. He was a flight engineer.

Stan McElrath is a person who comes to my mind. He was a Sprint Car driver and an employee of Flying Tigers at LAX. My father painted his race car for him. Stan was a CRA Sprint Car Champion in the early 1970s.
One thing that sticks in my mind is that people used to mention to my dad that he should take me to the simulator...He never took me there.

To post a story or a picture, sign in to the blog and click on the pencil, I think it's orange, write your story and then click on the word "Publish."  If you post a picture, let's have at least, a short story with it.  Enough with the comments, let's have a post, tell us a story!  Don't worry about the spelling, it's the story that counts.  Who's going to be first?
Ernie
4-26-2012

    The way it was at Tigers

       Some more experiences at Da Nang. I worked with Jack Arnowitz and he was a very resourceful fellow in deed. We had a 

cochran loader, power unit, belt loader and about 20 igloo dollies to maintain at the same time work the airplanes. Their was only the two of us. Just like at Cam Rahn Bay and Bien Wa we worked on every airline that flu DC-8's into each station.  Pan Am had 10 mechanics and they had an agreement to rent our equipment from us and every time it broke they would come running to get it fixed.       Jack would send them to the Air Force and make them use the K-Loaders the G.I.'s would operate and the G.I.'s didn't care when the flight left. It was an ongoing battle to keep the equipment up to speed for our own flights. 

    I remember one night I had a flight come in at 2:00 a.m. and the field was under Yellow alert which meant imminent attack. After I had parked the aircraft and pushed the stairs up to gain access to the cockpit the crew asked how long they were going to be on the ground. I said that it wouldn't be very long. I just needed to squirt some gas and offload a few pallets and some belly mail. Well the crew said they were going to eat their meals. I said maybe you should eat them on the way back to Tokyo, that the base was under yellow alert. They insisted that they were going to eat them their. Well when the flight was ready to go I closed up the airplane and hooked up the air start unit to the front of the aircraft and positioned myself off to the side with a headset on. In about 5 minutes the sappers were overrunning the base heading for the ammo dump. Dropping mortar rounds from across the field. Looked like 4th of July. All I heard on the head set was Air Up, Air Up were ready too go. I thought to myself should I let them stu a bit, but they were making things worse by flashing their landing lights making another target. So I dispatched the flight as quick as a could. The next few flights that came in the crews were very agreeable to anything we had to say. More latter......... Cheers, Larry

    

 Remembering back when I first started at Tiger's I had put applications at all the Major carriers down World Way West and they all wanted some different requirement of some sort. When I got to Tiger's I asked if they were hiring and the receptionist said go back to the hangar and see the foreman. I was working at Douglas Aircraft in Long Beach at the time in Final assembly building DC-8's and DC-9's .  With a short interview he asked if I could go to work that night I said OK.
     I started on graveyard shift like everyone else and I worked both jobs until I could give my 2 week notice at Douglas. After about a Year Tiger's were in the process of closing down the Tiger Air Service in the Pacific and they had a large work force stationed at Tachakawa Japan and at that time if an American national was out of the country for 18 months you didn't have to pay income tax and the company paid room and board. Then the Japanese Government imposed their income tax that doubled every year. So about 20 mechanics came back to LA and other stations in the US.
     When I applied I had to wait a few months because the manager didn't think I had enough experience, But then relented and I was on my way to Japan and was assigned as the Relief Maintenance Representative. In December of 69 in Seoul, Korea freezing my butt off for about a month. Then to Saigon during the monsoons season, lucky I was only 23 at the time and could handle the climate change. I worked with Robert (Scotty) Scott and he showed me the ropes in Viet Nam. If it wasn't for him I might not have learned some street smarts that kept me ahead of the war. I kept moving in Viet Nam next station was Cam Rahn Bay and worked with Bob Vega and Walt Schneider.
    When I was in Cam Rahn Bay I meet up with Wayne Seer a fellow mechanic that hired on with us at Tiger's and had quit because he wanted to go to Viet Nam and the company wouldn't send him. So he quit and went to work for Lycombing in Conn. and after his training on the power plant of the UH-1H. He became the Liaison Rep. for all of central Viet Nam between Lycombing and the US
Army. He would send a gun ship over from across the river at Dung Ba Tin to Cam Rahn to pick me up and bring me to a BBQ they were having. Both Bob Vega and I would have Hibachi pots sent down from Japan for their BB Q's. That area in country was the best protected because the Korean Marines guarded it. I really didn't know their was a war on until I went to Da Nang and all hell broke loose. Getting mortared at the field and small arms issued for protection. Having to offload and on load the DC-8's in the dark with flash lights with 20 to 30 min. turnarounds Da Nang was quit a wake up call for me.
    I will send you some more interesting stuff later when I have more time............... Cheers, Larry

Alfred C. St Pierre
Sept. 9, 1940 - April 4, 2012

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Published on Wednesday, April 11, 2012 12:02 AM PDT

Al passed away on April 4, 2012 in Bakersfield, Calif. He was born Sept. 9, 1940 in Edmunston, New Brunswick Canada. Al later became a U.S. citizen and married the girl next door, Nancy Wall. In 1961, Al made the decision to serve his country and enlisted in the United States Air Force. Al and Nancy had two wonderful children, Barry and Kim. During his service Al was sent to Vietnam where he performed flight engineer duties onboard the C 123 aircraft and was honorably discharged in 1968. Once home with his family, Al went to work with the Flying Tigers airlines based out of Los Angeles International airport. The St Pierres enjoyed 51 years of marriage. In passing Al leaves behind his wife Nancy, his son Barry and daughter Kim, four wonderful grandchildren: Cortiny, Danielle, Devon and Jack. "Papa" is loved by all! Military service will be held at Kern Valley Cemetary, Wofford Heights on April 12, 2012 at 11 a.m. His family invites all to celebrate his life in the VFW post, Lake Isabella following the service.





On Apr 15, 2012, at 5:27 PM, Lawrence Singler wrote:

    Sorry to have to inform you that Al St. Pierre passed away April 4th and was interned at
Lake Isabella CA. in Kern County Cemetery. Leaving Wife Nancy and son Barry, Daughter
Kim. He had a Military Service performed by V.F.W.

Welcome to the FTL Mech. Blog

This blog is dedicated to all the mechanics and other maintenance personnel that ever worked for FTL during it's existence, 1946-1989.  Posting on this blog is not restricted to mechanics, anyone that worked for FTL may post a story, memory or an interesting experience.  The purpose of the blog is to share these stories with other former employees of this great company we worked at, or anybody that is interested in reading Tiger tales of our many unique experiences.

This blog is also dedicated to Al St. Pierre, since it was an email about his recent passing away that is responsible for it's creation.  Al was a fellow mechanic and a fellow brother in arms, as many of us remember stories he told about experiences in Vietnam.  And finally, many of you guys also fit both categories, so here's to you!

Some guidelines for posting on this blog, no political or religious discussions, no personal attacks on anyone and no bashing of anyone.  Let's leave those things behind us and concentrate on stories of the many great times we all shared at the LAX hangar and the many FTL line stations.  In writing a story, write it like you're sharing it with the guys you worked with, back in the Good Old Days, but also how you would want your grandchildren to read your story, because they may.  In writing these stories, we're writing history and this may be the only place they could read about how it was and the working conditions that grandpa or grandma, experienced working for the all cargo airline, Flying Tigers. This will probably be the only place most of those stories will ever be written down.