AVIATION: End of the Line

Of all the nonscheduled airlines* that sprang up after World War II, none was a bigger hit with the traveling public—or more trouble to CAB—than Trans American Airlines. Put together by a former Navy lieutenant commander, an ex-Air Corps transport pilot, and two former Douglas Aircraft employees, the Trans American group of companies started cheap fares, forced scheduled airlines to cut-rate coach fares. Trans American built up a $16 million annual business. All told, it has carried more than 1,250,000 passengers without an accident. But it broke CAB's regulations by shuffling planes about among five interlocking companies and...