Consairway (also Consairway Division or Consolidated Airway) was an American civilian wartime airline created in late-1941 as a subsidiary of the Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation. The airline worked under contract to the United States Air Corps Ferrying Command, primarily for supplying the South West Pacific theatre of World War II. Its very first flights, starting April 23, 1942, however, were

Lend-Lease Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (), was a policy under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and other Allied nations with food, oil, ...

deliveries of American-built aircraft to Great Britain and the Netherlands. The airline performed hundreds of missions delivering munitions and personnel; and supporting

USO The United Service Organizations Inc. (USO) is an American nonprofit-charitable corporation that provides live entertainment, such as comedians, actors and musicians, social facilities, and other programs to members of the United States Armed F ...

activities from 1942 to 1945, including transporting passengers such as

Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was a British-American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer and dancer. With a career that spanned nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in more than 70 short and feature films, with 5 ...

Joe E. Brown Joseph Evans Brown (July 28, 1891 – July 6, 1973) was an American actor and comedian, remembered for his friendly screen persona, comic timing, and enormous elastic-mouth smile. He was one of the most popular American comedians in the 19 ...

and

Eleanor Roosevelt Anna Eleanor Roosevelt () (October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four ...

. Consairway originally operated out of

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

but then moved to

Fairfield-Suisun Army Air Base Travis Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base under the operational control of the Air Mobility Command (AMC), located three miles (5 km) east of the central business district of the city of Fairfield, in Solano County, Californ ...

in 1943. The airline operated land-based aircraft, as opposed to similar airlines operating flying boats, out of Hickam Field,

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

Guadalcanal Guadalcanal (; indigenous name: ''Isatabu'') is the principal island in Guadalcanal Province of Solomon Islands, located in the south-western Pacific, northeast of Australia. It is the largest island in the Solomon Islands by area, and the seco ...

, Australia and

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

. During its peak in 1943, the airline had 800 employees and operated twice-weekly flights to the South West Pacific. Consairway was reported to have flown more than 101 million ton-miles of cargo and 299 million

passenger mile The units of measurement in transportation describes the unit of measurement used to express various transportation quantities, as used in statistics, planning, and their related applications. Transportation quantity The currently popular units ...

s by its closing in 1945. The airline flew the LB-30 Liberator II, Consolidated C-87 Liberator Express and

Consolidated B-24 Liberator The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models des ...

bomber, as well as a converted XB-24B that was used as a luxury airliner for the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

. In 1992, the civilian employees who had worked overseas for Consairway between December 14, 1941, and August 14, 1945, received status and benefits as military veterans under the

Veterans Benefits Administration The Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. It is responsible for administering the department's programs that provide financial and other forms of assistance to veterans, their dependents ...

References

Air Transport Command Airlines established in 1941 Airlines disestablished in 1945 Defunct airlines of the United States South West Pacific theatre of World War II {{US-airline-stub

See also

References