Federal Express Cessna 208 Cargomaster

Additional Information:

The Cessna 208 Caravan is a utility aircraft produced by Cessna. The project began on November 20, 1981 and the prototype first flew on December 9, 1982. The prototype first flew on December 9, 1982 and the production model was certified by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in October of 1984 and deliveries began in 1985. The freighter variant comes without cabin windows and was developed at the request of Federal Express as the Cargomaster.

Federal Express is a cargo airline based in Memphis, Tennessee which first commenced operations in 1973. The carrier operates a “super hub” for cargo at its home base of Memphis. Federal Express began serving Albuquerque from Memphis later in the 1970’s using small Dassault Falcon 20 jet aircraft. Federal Express adopted the nickname “FedEx” and officially took on that name in 1994. The company grew quickly specializing in overnight package delivery and obtained larger aircraft including Boeing 727’s and 737’s and later acquired even larger wide body aircraft. FedEx now serves Albuquerque with morning and evening flights each day to Memphis using wide body Airbus A-300 and Douglas DC-10 aircraft.

Federal Express used the Cessna 208 Cargomaster N837FE on August 18, 1986 to fly airfreight from Albuquerque to Farmington, Gallup, Durango, Colorado and back to Albuquerque. It would then transfer its cargo to a larger Boeing 727 in Albuquerque to be flown to their main distribution hub.

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