Air Cameroun
Operator Identification
July 1953 to 1971
French Cameroon
TYPE: Airline
IATA/ICAO CODES: -- / ---
HEADQUARTERS: French Cameroon
FORMER NAMES: Regie Air Cameroun
OTHER NAMES: Societe Anonyme des Avions Meyer et Compagnie
SUBSEQUENT NAME: Cameroon Airlines (taken over by)
Operator History
Regie Air Cameroun was formed in late 1950 by Rene-Fernand Meyer, a former Free French Air Force pilot. The company operated charter cargo flights using two Beech 18s owned by the Haut Commissariat du Cameroun. The latter subsequently gave the airline a Douglas DC3 that was to be used to carry fresh meat from Fort Lamy, Chad to coastal cities of the Gulf of Guinea: Douala, French Cameroon, Santa Isabel, Spanish Guinea, Libreville and Brazzaville, French Equatorial Africa and Leopoldville, Belgian Congo. In 1953, as Meyer was starting to take steps to get into passenger flying, Air France lobbied the French Minitry of Overseas Colonies which immediately ordered Regie Air Cameroun's closure.
Undeterred, Meyer closed down his company, paid his creditors, and started Air Cameroun on 7 July 1953. The new airline was belonging to private investors, including several meat export companies, with Meyer as a minority shareholder. Regie Air Cameroun's old DC3 was purchased, and later complemented by an ex-KLM DC3 in January 1954, still operating cargo services to Chad and Northern Cameroon. To increase the capacity, both aircraft were traded in late 1955 for two Commandos. A contract was signed with shipping company Delmas Vieljeux to carry freight on the return flight from Douala to Fort Lamy. Two additional Commandos were purchased in 1958 and 1960.
In 1961, Air Cameroun started scheduled passenger operations to eight domestic destinations, plus a thrice-weekly Douala-Yaounde-Fort Lamy service. A Douglas DC4 was added to the fleet to carry out these flights. In those days, the 125-mile trip from Douala to Yaounde, the country's two main cities, took 12 hours by road as compared to 1 hour by airplane. In the mid-1960's, the airline was operating a Douglas DC3, two DC4s and two Commandos. By the end of the decade, Air Cameroun was flying to the Central African Republic, Chad, both Congos, Gabon and Spanish Guinea with a Lockheed Super Constellation, two Douglas DC4s and a Commando.
In 1970, Air Cameroun tried to get into the business aviation market using a Falcon 20. However, the following year, state airline Cameroon Airlines was created as a de facto monopoly, forcing Air Cameroun to close. Its assets were sold to the government owed company the same year, and Rene-Fernand Meyer left Cameroon to create other airlines in France.
Commando Operations
August 1955 to 1967
Air Cameroun used a total of 4 Commandos, and used them in cargo configuration on the Fort Lamy-Douala route, carrying fresh meat southbound and imported goods northbound.
The first two Commandos were purchased from Aigle Azur, which had used the aircraft in French Indochina. The latter having obtained its independence from France, they were no longer needed. The first one, F-BESN, was delivered in August 1955 and the second, F-OAFI, in October 1955. In December 1956, F-OAFI suffered an accident in Yaounde. As repairs take a long time, F-OBKA is purchased from Israel in July 1958. By 1959, the first two Commandos are sent to Bordeaux, France for a major overhaul as both aircraft have exceeded 10,000 hours. Air Cameroun's fourth and last Commando was F-BFAS, again purchased from Aigle Azur in Laos, delivered in late 1960 to replace F-OBKA which was damaged earlier in March in Fort Lamy. F-BFAS itself got into an accident in Algier, Algeria, and was later repaired there. In April 1961, a loss of power on takeoff from Bangui, Central African Republic, forced F-BESN to make a crash landing. Everyone walked out safe, but the aircraft was totalled. In March 1965, F-OAFI crashed on takeoff from Garoua, Cameroon, with the loss of all hands.
As the Commando fleet gets older and less reliable, the last two were retired from service on 1967.
Last edited: 20/12/2020