Kenneth Giles Friedkin (September 1, 1915 – March 16, 1962)"Kenneth G. Friedkin
Ancestry.com, California Death Index 1940–1997 was an American aviator and businessman.

Biography

He was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

during World War I, the son of a Russian-born tailor and American mother. He and his parents moved to

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...

, and later

San Diego, California 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 eighth most populous city in the United Stat ...

. Friedkin became interested in aviation after he saw an air show in San Diego at the age of 8. Friedkin obtained his pilot license at the age of 17. In 1945, he opened a flight school called the Plosser-Friedkin School (later named the Friedkin School of Aeronautics). The parent company to the school was Friedkin Aeronautics Inc. The school was not making enough profit. He tried numerous business methods from aerial fish delivery to banner towing with the help of his comrades J. Floyd Andrews and Bill Shimp. Friedkin tried a charter airline called

Friedkin Airlines Friedkin Airlines was an unsuccessful charter airline created by the businessman and aviator Kenneth Giles Friedkin. The airline flew between El Centro and San Diego, California. History The first customer was flown by J. Floyd Andrews (who la ...

. Friedkin Airlines was a failure. Using the lessons learned from Friedkin Airlines and receiving advice from a

travel agent A travel agency is a private retailer or public service that provides travel and tourism-related services to the general public on behalf of accommodation or travel suppliers to offer different kinds of travelling packages for each destinati ...

, he and his wife Jean Friedkin created an airline called

Pacific Southwest Airlines Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA) was a regional U.S. airline headquartered in San Diego, California, that operated from 1949 to 1998. It was the first large discount airline in the United States. PSA called itself "The World's Friendliest Airl ...

in 1949. The airline was a success, and gave Friedkin Aeronautics Inc. profit. Friedkin died at the age of 47 in 1962 of a cerebral hemorrhage. His wife, Jean, died the following year. After he died, J. Floyd Andrews became the president of PSA. His only child, Thomas Friedkin, lived to see PSA purchased by USAir. In 2015, Friedkin was inducted into the

International Air & Space Hall of Fame The International Air & Space Hall of Fame is an honor roll of people, groups, organizations, or things that have contributed significantly to the advancement of aerospace flight and technology, sponsored by the San Diego Air & Space Museum. Si ...

at the

San Diego Air & Space Museum San Diego Air & Space Museum (SDASM, formerly the San Diego Aerospace Museum) is an aviation and space exploration museum in San Diego, California, United States. The museum is located in Balboa Park and is housed in the former Ford Building, ...

.Sprekelmeyer, Linda, editor. ''These We Honor: The International Aerospace Hall of Fame''. Donning Co. Publishers, 2006. .

Friedkin's companies

* Friedkin Aeronautics Inc. (later Pacific Southwest Airlines Inc.) - Parent company for most of Friedkin's businesses ** Plosser-Friedkin School (Friedkin School of Aeronautics) **

* Giles Inc. - Aviation leasing company

References

External links

Pacific Southwest Airlines By Alan Renga, Mark E. Mentges
1915 births 1962 deaths American people of Russian-Jewish descent Businesspeople in aviation 20th-century American businesspeople Airline founders Businesspeople from New York City Aviators from New York (state) Businesspeople from San Diego Aviators from California {{aviation-bio-stub