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6 On June 12 , 1950 , the U . S . Civil Aeronautics Board granted TAN Airlines a Foreign Air Carrier permit to allow scheduled passenger and cargo flights between Miami and Tegucigalpa , making it the first Honduran carrier permitted to serve the United States . C-46 is shown at Tegucigalpa ’ s Toncontin airport . // SCOTT STACHE COLLECTION
7 In September 1950 , a second Curtiss C-46 was added to the fleet to support the growing cargo demand . // TONY YEREX COLLECTION
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to create revenue for his airline to survive .
Realizing the need for beef on the island of Cuba , Shelton built a grass strip in the central grazing region of Honduras , near the town of Catacamas , to provide direct cargo service between the two points . Assembling a slaughterhouse , installing a gasoline-powered electrical plant for power , and hiring a Cuban butcher to supervise the operation , TAN Airlines was ready to start not only beef export flights to Havana but contract flights to Miami as well .
Shelton purchased a military surplus Curtiss-Wright C-46 Commando for US $ 10,000 and , to improve safety and performance ,
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he did something no one had done before : he replaced the original Pratt & Whitney R-2800 2,000-hp engines with the more powerful R-2800 M-2 version , rated at 2,200-hp , which was used on DC-6 aircraft . In Shelton ’ s view , the M-2 version greatly increased the safety factor for takeoff performance at the high elevation airport of Tegucigalpa , in addition to permitting a faster average cruising speed . Shelton made the aircraft adaptable for both cargo and passengers by using bucket seats that could be folded up against the sidewall when not in use . For his customers ’ comfort , he installed a galley and lavatory .
In early 1948 , TAN Airlines inaugurated an international
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contract-only air service with one C-46 aircraft carrying cargo and , occasionally , passengers between Miami and the Honduran capital . Once in Tegucigalpa , the passenger seats were folded up and the plane ferried to Catacamas before nightfall . At 05:00 the following morning , a full load of fresh beef was flown to Havana in four hours . The C-46 returned empty to Tegucigalpa , where the cabin was cleaned , and passenger seats folded down , when necessary , for the contract flight back to Miami the next day . This cycle was repeated twice weekly .
As TAN ’ s contract charter flights to Miami began to excel , it was slowly proving its capability to the CAB for
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