Airlines Serving Taipei During The Late 1960s

There are lists for just about everything. You'll see in this post some of the airlines which had offices in Taipei during the 1967-69 time period.

Some are now defunct, but many live on. The one thing in common: Taipei International Airport. You can see my baggage tag on the right side of this page.

Our scrapbook had to be checked to make sure this picture is in it. Funny how often picture locations were so similar although taken years apart.



The red blob to the left is the approximate location of the old East Compound. The airport  runway is shown directly east of it

When some of those planes were making their landing approach, it seemed as though the wheels might hit you in the head.

Not only were they loud, but they interrupted quite often what was going on such as a softball game or sleep at the hostel. 



Photo courtesy of Taipics.com

CAT Airlines had a short but colorful lifespan.

Created during the early 1950s, it was eventually taken over by Air America, the airline group of our CIA during the Vietnam War.

Its existence ended abruptly after a  February, 1968 crash of a Boeing 727 near Taipei.

There were two American pilots. Both survived, but 22 others died, including the wife of one of the pilots.

To read some declassified documents about Air America, click HERE.







Either landing or departing, this is the same plane shown in the previous photo.



Poster courtesy of Taipics.com



We had been following the path of a typhoon the week my wife was leaving Taiwan in the middle of August,1969.

Final plans were made at the Northwest Orient office on the northeast corner of of Chung Shan/Min Chuan intersection.. 

Surprisingly, she ended up leaving Taipei International on a Cathay Pacific jet, bound for Tokyo.

With no overhead compartments and a shiny metal floor, it was pretty basic. Carry-on luggage was sliding all over the place during turbulence.  



A year earlier, I went to the airport to pick her up. Two JAL flights landed, but neither had my wife on them.

The folks at the counter didn't have her on the flight list either. Little did I know she was in Anchorage, Alaska as the NWO plane she was on had engine problems.



China Airlines was the second airline to show the ROC flag on its tail.



For many service people and their families, NWO was the airline which brought them to and took them away from Taiwan.

Poster courtesy of Taipics.com











Airlines and locations in Taipei