Interviewed on January 10, 2020
The interview describes Marilyn Breen’s career with Flying Tiger Line as a flight attendant, senior flight attendant, check flight attendant, and instructor from 1964 until 1989, and with Federal Express until 1992; childhood in Colorado and her early desire to travel; decision to work for Flying Tiger Line; hiring and training process, emergency procedure training; first flight from San Francisco to Honolulu; flights from San Francisco to Tokyo and reconfiguration of aircraft interior from cargo to passenger for return to San Francisco; cargoes the airline carried; Canadair CL-44, Lockheed Constellation, Douglas DC-8 Stretch, Boeing 707, and Boeing 747; military charters and differences between military and commercial passengers; uniforms she wore, the pay rate, work for and benefits from the Teamsters’ Union; work as an instructor, training new hires; Civilian Air Movement (CAM) military charters / “Freedom Bird” flights during the Vietnam War; routes from McChord Air Force Base through Yokota Air Force Base or Okinawa to Vietnam (Bien Hoa Air Base) and back; mood of the passengers each way and her reactions to their situation; Vietnamese refugee flights around 1975 from Hong Kong and Bangkok; emergency evacuation from a DC-8 in 1975 at Yokota Air Base; charters during the Gulf War 1990-1991 and the contrast she observed between the two different eras; how she felt working for Flying Tiger Line, changes after the airline’s acquisition by Federal Express in 1989, and her work for that airline; life after Federal Express ended passenger flight service; her work with the Tigers’ retirement groups.
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