Editing Flying Tiger Line (section)

===1960s-1970s: Jet age===
[[File:Flying Tiger Line DC-8 63F N779FT.jpg|thumb|The airline's first DC-8-63F delivered to the airline, seen at Seattle airport in 1972.]]
Flying Tiger Line began operating jet aircraft on September 27, 1965, when the first (as N322F) of four [[Boeing 707]]s was delivered. On 15 November that same year, a modified Flying Tigers [[Boeing 707]]-349C made the first ever aerial circumnavigation of the Earth via the poles, in 62 hours 27 minutes.  The aircraft carried additional fuel in two additional tanks installed in the main cabin.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=CNN|last=Patterson|first=Thom|title=How Pan Am Flight 50 flew from pole to pole|url=https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/pole-to-pole-pan-am-flight-50/index.html|date=6 July 2018|access-date=15 May 2019}}</ref> The Boeing 707 remained in the fleet for only a few years and was replaced by the higher-payload [[Douglas DC-8]], the largest civilian airliner until the Boeing 747 entered service. The first Douglas DC-8-63F, registered as N779FT, was delivered to the airline on June 26, 1968, and the other eighteen followed until 1972.<ref name="war">{{cite book|first=David|last=Mondey|title=World's Airliner Registrations|publisher=Ian Allan Ltd.|year=1974|isbn= 0711005486}}</ref>

In 1974, the airline took delivery of its first [[Boeing 747]]. Flying Tigers then placed orders for brand-new Boeing 747-200F freighters designated the Boeing 747-249F, which at the time were among the heaviest commercial airplanes flying, weighing {{convert|823000|lb}}. These aircraft had the powerful "Q" ([[Pratt & Whitney JT9D|Pratt & Whitney JT9D-7Q]]) engines and heavy landing gear and could simultaneously carry both {{convert|250000|lb}} of fuel and {{convert|250000|lb}} of cargo loaded through both the nose door and the side door at the same time.  Aircraft loaders had earlier refused to work at the extreme {{convert|30|ft|m|0}} height necessary for loading freight on the upper deck, so the "supernumerary area" or "hump" was configured with 19 first class seats instead which were used to transport livestock handlers, charter agents and mechanics as well as dead-heading pilots and flight attendants.