Riddle Airlines

  1945 to November 1963

  United States of America

TYPE: Non-scheduled cargo airline

IATA/ICAO CODES: Nil

HEADQUARTERS: Miami, FL

OTHER NAMES: Riddle Aviation (1945-1951), Riddle Airlines (1951-1963)

SUBSEQUENT NAME: Airlift International (name change)

Riddle Aviation was founded by John Paul Riddle in 1945 in Miami, FL as a charter and freight airline. The first flights were between Miami and Puerto Rico using Commandos and DC4s. In 1951, it expanded services to serve New York City. Then the route system was expanded to include Chicago and Detroit. In March 1955, a wealthy investor by the name of Arthur V. Davis purchased a majority stake of Riddle and took over the company.

In 1960, two DC7s were added to the fleet and those aircraft were used for charter flights to Europe.

Riddle's was a major charter flight provider to the US military, both domestically and internationally.

With the advent of the jet age and the purchase of DC8 aircraft, Riddle Airlines changed its name to Airlift International on 29 November 1963.

1950 to November 1963

Riddle was a major Commando operator.

It also designed the C-46R civilian conversion of the Commando, which featured several performance upgrades.

• Curtiss C-46A-10-CU Commando: N68737
• Curtiss C-46A-35-CU Commando: N75338
• Curtiss C-46A-41-CU Commando: N5133B
• Curtiss C-46A-45-CU Commando: N7840B (leased), N9904F, N9903F, N9906F, N9891F, N9892F, N9842F (TBC), N9905F, N9902F, N75388, N3964C (TBC), N75335
• Curtiss C-46A-50-CU Commando: N75396
• Curtiss C-46A-60-CK Commando: N5134B, N92856 (leased)
• Curtiss C-46D-5-CU Commando: N5130B, N5131B, N5132B