One day in November 1942 , Shelton was ordered to fly a VIP passenger , Madame Chiang Kai- Shek ( wife of the ruler of free China ) to the United States for medical treatment . The safest route ran over Allied territory , which involved flying over the treacherous Himalayas . While preparing to land at a ‘ friendly ’ military airfield , Shelton sensed that something was odd about the impeccable English he was hearing from the control tower . So , on a hunch , he aborted the landing and continued to the next technical stop , at the risk of running out of fuel . Unbeknown at the time , the airstrip had been taken over by the Japanese the day before . Had Shelton landed , the enemy would have captured Madame Chiang as a valuable hostage . Forever grateful , Mme . Chiang from then on wanted only Shelton and his crew to transport her and her husband during the war . That later included a trip to the famous Cairo and Tehran |
Conferences with President Roosevelt , Winston Churchill , and Josef Stalin .
On one flight , Mme . Chiang asked Shelton what he wanted to do after the war . He replied that , if he ever had enough money , he would like to start an airline for the less affluent in Central America .
The war ended with China becoming communist and the Chiangs fleeing to Taiwan . Forever grateful for their valiant service fighting for their lost country , the former ruler awarded Shelton ’ s crew the Order of the Cloud and Banner , and CN the high honor and Medal of the White Sun .
Shelton returned to flying the line with TWA until , one day in 1946 , he received an unmarked check for the amount of $ 250,000 from the Bank of China , which he presumed came from that brief exchange he had with Mme . Chiang about
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his desire to start his own little airline in Central America .
With his newly inherited resources , Shelton resigned from TWA , moved to Miami , and established CN Shelton & Company as a partnership , with half belonging to some unknown Chinese investor . He then began buying and selling aircraft , mostly to Latin American interests . After gaining local knowledge and contacts throughout the region , he decided it was time to re-enter the airline business .
Now older , wiser , and backed by Chinese money , Shelton returned to Costa Rica to reprove his airline management ability after failing the first time around with ENTA in 1931 . He teamed up with a local businessman and established Transportes Aereos Nacionales , SA ( TAN-Costa Rica ) with three war surplus C-47s ( DC-3s ) conveniently obtained through his own CN Shelton & Company .
At the time , Costa Rica was the scene of domestic competition between TACA de Costa Rica and the Pan American affiliate LACSA ; so , Shelton decided to concentrate on international contract charter service . Shortly thereafter , a revolution broke out and the Costa Rican government expropriated one of TAN ’ s aircraft to use as a bomber while the revolutionaries commandeered the remaining C-47s . The outcome left TAN without a fleet of aircraft . So , Shelton packed his bags and left the war-torn country .
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1 In his early years , C . N . Shelton barnstormed throughout the Southwestern United States and Mexico . During this period , he gained a deep appreciation of Latin America . // SCOTT STACHE COLLECTION |
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He headed north to Nicaragua , but longtime dictator Anastasio Somoza Garcia controlled everything , including the aviation monopoly held by his national airline , LANICA . The |