TALOA (Transocean Air Lines)

  March 1946 to January 1960

  United States of America

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TYPE: Non-scheduled airline

IATA/ICAO CODES: TL / ---

HEADQUARTERS: Oakland, CA

FORMER NAME: Nil

SUBSEQUENT NAME: Nil

TALOA was founded by United Air Lines Captain & Air Transport Command veteran Orvis Marcus Nelson. In March 1946, United Airlines gave him two weeks to set up a non-scheduled trans-Pacific operation that would operate sub-contracted flights for the Air Transport Command. Soon, TALOA was born and operating a twice-weekly service between San Francisco and Hawaii for ATC using Douglas C-54s. From there, TALOA went on to earn many more military contracts from the USAF and US Navy, soon becoming a worldwide operation.

In 1948, TALOA earned a contract to overhaul and ferry 150 Commandos provided by the US Government to Nationalist China. These aircraft were taken from the RFC surplus at Walnut Ridge AAF, AR, de-monthballed, overhauled, fitted with makeshift auxiliary cabin fuel tanks and ferried across the Pacific by TALOA pilots. This daring operation was a success, with ROCAF eventually being handed over 157 Commandos in Shanghai, China without a single airplane lost in the process.

Nelson touted his airline to be the world's largest contract carrier, able to fly "anything, anywhere, anytime". In parallel, he kept a look out for profitable companies to purchase, an TALOA soon became a gigantic conglomerate owning anything from domestic & foreign airlines, to repair shops, flying academies and even a barber shop. The maintenance subsidiary the Babb Co., headed by partner Ray Babb, was also engaged in aircraft leasing to other airlines. Looking for an operations base in the Middle East, TALOA participated in the founding of Air Djibouti in 1949, and to Air Jordan of the Holy Land in 1951 when Djibouti was hit by a coup.

Suffering from overdiversification, TALOA folded in early 1960.

1947* to 1952*

TALOA operated a total of 16 Commandos. These were operated notably in TALOA's Air Djibouti & Air Jordan operations, and to support the construction of military radar stations in the Arctic.

The Babb Co. also owned several Commandos that were leased out to other airlines.

• Curtiss C-46A-35-CU Commando: N4680V
• Curtiss C-46A-45-CU Commando: N51424
• Curtiss C-46A-55-CK Commando: N92854 (TBC), N1548V (the Babb Co.), (43-47196) (the Babb Co.), N1545V (the Babb Co.)
• Other Commandos: N68963, N68964, N68965, N68966, N68967, N68968