Howard J. Korth

Howard J. Korth was born in Saginaw, MI in 1920. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame where he studied engineering and business management and played football for the Fighting Irish. During World War II, he served as a gunnery officer in the US Navy where he was honored with the Navy and Marine Corps Medal of Heroism and from which he retired a Lieutenant Commander.

After the war, Korth became one of America's true aviation pioneers that formed and shaped the supplemental airline industry in the United States. He started AAXICO airlines in the late 1940's, and thereafter acquired and merged his way through Saturn Airways, Trans International Airlines and ultimately Transamerica Airlines, the largest charter airline in the world. He retired in 1985, and passed away on 15 February 2011 in Piedmont, CA.

Howard J. Korth personally owned several of the Commandos operated by his airline AAXICO, sometimes in shared ownership with his wife Geraldine F. Korth. Some were leased back to AAXICO, others were just brokered to other airlines. These included the following:

• Curtiss C-46A-15-CU Commando: N3953C
• Curtiss C-46A-40-CU Commando: (42-61006)
• Curtiss C-46A-55-CK Commando: N3954C, N3959C, N75393
• Curtiss C-46A-60-CK Commando: (43-47373)
• Curtiss R5C-1 Commando: N10426, N7767B, N7768B, N7769B