FRED MANNING 1945 - 1952 BOARD OF DIRECTORS LAR SLC DEN Ray Wilson Inc. Incorporated January 24, 1938, in Colorado. Officers; Ray Wilson, President. Major F.W. Bonfils, Vice President. Donna Tracy, Secretary. Donna was Corporate Secretary of Ray Wilson Inc., until July 2, 1946, when the name of the Corporation was changed to Monarch Air Lines Inc., and Donna continued as Secretary of Monarch Air lines. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -1947 Annual Report. Monarch Air Lines. DIRECTORS: Frederick W. Bonfils, Chairman of the Board. Ray Wilson. Hal S. Darr, Frank Beiser, Emil N. Levin. OFFICERS: Hal S. Darr, President. Ray Wilson, Executive Vice President. Fredrick W. Bonfils, Vice President & Chairman of the Board. Emil N. Levin, Secretary & Assistant Treasurer. Jack M. Lewis, Vice President of Operations. Donna Tracy Myers, Assistant Secretary. C.A. "Mac" Myhre, Treasurer. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -1948 Annual Report. Monarch Air Lines. DIRECTORS: Fredrick W. Bonfils, Chairman of the Board, Ray M. Wilson, Hal Darr, Frank Beiser, Emil N. Levine. OFFICERS: Hal S. Darr, President, Ray M. Wilson, Executive Vice President, Fredrick W. Bonfils, Vice President & Chairman of the Board, Jack M. Lewis, Vice President of Operations, Emil N. Levin, Secretary & Assistant Treasurer, C.A. "Mac" Myhre, Treasurer, Donna Tracy Myers, Assistant Secretary. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -1949 No Annual Report issued. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -1950 Annual Report. Frontier Airlines. The Merger-Consolidation of Arizona Airways, Challenger Airlines, and Monarch Air Lines formed the new Corporation - Frontier Airlines - Incorporated in Nevada March 20, 1950. DIRECTORS: Hal S. Darr. Emil N. Levine. Glenn C. Taylor. Ray Wilson. Fredrick W. Bonfils. Fred Manning. Walter Walker. Del E. Webb. Matt Baird. Frank D. Beiser. William Felton. Sam Snead. OFFICERS: Hal S. Darr, President. C.A. "Mac" Myhre, Executive Vice President & Treasurer. Ray Wilson, Vice President of Operations. Donald A. Duff, Vice President of Sales & Public Relations. H.O. "Rocky" Nelson, Vice President, Regional. Emil N. Levin, Secretary. E. William Sexton, Assistant Treasurer. Donna Tracy Myers, Assistant Secretary. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -1951 Annual Report. Frontier Airlines. DIRECTORS: Hal S. Darr. Emil N. levine. Glenn C. Taylor. Ray Wilson. Fredrick W. Bonfils. Fred Manning. Walter Walker. Del E. Webb. Lo W. Linville. William Felton. C.A. "Mac" Myhre. OFFICERS: Hal S. Darr, President. C.A. "Mac" Myhre, Executive Vice President & Treasurer. Ray M. Wilson, Vice President of Operations. Emil N. Levin, Secretary. E. William Sexton, Assistant Treasurer. Donna Tracy Myers, Assistant Secretary. Donna Tracy Myers resigned as an Officer of Frontier Air Lines in 1951, Hal S. Darr being the President of Frontier. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -1952 Annual Report. Frontier Airlines. DIRECTORS: Hal S. Darr, Emil N. Levine, Glenn C. Taylor. Ray M. Wilson. Fredrick W. Bonfils. Louis E. Leverone. Walter Walker. Del E. Webb. Lo W. Linville. William Felton. C.A. "Mac" Myhre. E. B. "Ted" Slocum. OFFICERS: Hal S. Darr, President. C.A. "Mac" Myhre, Executive Vice President & Treasurer. Ray M. Wilson, Vice President of Operations. Emil N. Levin, Secretary. Joe E. Wagner, Assistant Secretary. E. William Sexton, Assistant Treasurer. John D. Lindsay, Manager of Traffic and Sales. L. Preston Blatter, Comptroller. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sent by: -Ken Schultz, Wheat Ridge Charles W. Hirsig II was the founder and first president of Summit Airways, Inc. of Laramie, Wyoming. Summit was the predecessor company of Challenger Airlines Company which was merged in June 1, 1950 with Monarch Air Lines and Arizona Airways to form Frontier Airlines, Inc. of Denver, Colorado. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hirsig came from a pioneer Wyming family which settled in the Cheyenne area in the 1880s. At the age of seventeen Hirsig, in 1928, (received) the first private pilot's license issued in the state of Wyoming. In 1941 Hirsig bought out the branch of Plains Aviation of Cheyenne and renamed his organization Summit Airways, Inc. During World War II Hirsig operated flight training schools for the U.S. Navy. Besides his school in Laramie, he had other branch schools in Cody, Pinedale, Sheridan and Powell, Wyoming. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- While World War II was still in progress, Hirsig began planning for a scheduled airline to serve a number of cities in Wyoming and Nebraska with corporate headquarters to be in Laramie. The route application before the Civil Aeronautics Board in the Service in the Rocky Mountain States Area Case was decided March 28, 1946. The CAB gave to Summit Airways authority for eight cities in Wyoming, Lovell-Powell-Cody, Greybull, Worland, Thermopolis, Riverton-Lander, Rawlins, Laramie, Cheyenne, Rock Springs, Kemmerer and Evanston, the terminal to the west in Salt Lake City, the terminal east in Denver via Fort Collins and Greeley and the northern terminal of Billings, Montana. Hearing examiner for the CAB in the case was William J. Madden. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Before the CAB came through with its final decision in the Rocky Mountain States Area Case, Charles Hirsig was killed while piloting a two-place trainer aircraft. He died on Monday, January 15, 1945. He was 34 years old at the time of the accident. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hirsig's interests in Summit Airways were purchased by the Wyoming oil man, Fred Manning and Manning's son Jack. George Forbes, President of the 1st National Bank of Laramie became the new president of Summit Airways and Fred Rice, Laramie realtor, was a vice president of the company. Later George Snyder, Jr. of Salt Lake City and President of Challenger Airlines, Inc. purchased controlling interests in Summit with financial backing of Claude Neon Lights Company of New York City. Name of the company was changed from Summit Airlines to Challenger Airlines Company. Challenger Airlines, based in Salt Lake City, Utah initially, began scheduled operations May 3, 1947. -Ed Gerhardt's history of Frontier Airlines (8/6/79) Financing was difficult for many of the feeder airlines just getting off the ground in the late 1940s. The CAB's feeder Certificates of Public Convenience and Necessity were temporary, all of them valid for just three years to begin with. This short-term guarantee did not inspire a willingness on the part of banks or private investors to infuse funds into the companies' coffers. The only guaranteed income was the compensation paid by the government for operating the services, offered in the form of air mail subsidies. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To save money, the two feeders operating in the Rocky Mountain States area, Monarch Airlines and Challenger Airlines, prudently took it upon themselves to share maintenance, sales, and other departmental tasks from their individual headquarters in Denver. The next step seemed natural, to enter into a merger agreement. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monarch was the brainchild of Ray Wilson, who had received his feeder certificate from the CAB under the moniker of Ray Wilson, Inc. After the certificate award was announced, Ray Wilson, Inc. changed its corporate title to Monarch Airlines. Of the carriers created specifically for the purpose of starting a certificated feeder operation, Monarch held the distinction of being the first in the nation to get off the ground. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Service was inaugurated on November 27, 1946, Monarch operated in the area from Denver and Salt Lake City stretching south through Utah and Colorado into New Mexico with a terminus at Albuquerque. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Challenger's history was a little more convoluted. Summit Airways, organized by Charles Hirsig, won the CAB certificate for feeder service stretching north from Salt Lake City and Denver, via intermediate points in Colorado and Wyoming, to the terminal point of Billings, Montana. Hirsig was killed in an aircraft accident before the certificate was issued in the Rocky Mountain States Area Case. Summit's ownership passed to Fred Manning of Denver. -http://www.aahs-online.org/journals/journal_template.php?vol_no=v58n2 (3/13/16) Fred Manning Sr. Dies Los Angeles (AP) Fred M. Manning Sr., a prominent oilman in the West for many years, died in a Los Angeles hospital Friday (Oct 31, 1958) of a lung disorder. Manning, 62, had been in poor health several years. -The Independent dated Nov 1, 1958, page 15. (3/14/16) FLacebook - FL Club FLight West: Fred Manning SLC DEN board of directors member Fred Manning's memorial webpage has been posted: http://FAL-1.tripod.com/Fred_Manning.html Not much info on Fred but he was one of the Challenger Airlines founders and came on the first Frontier Airlines board in 1950. -Jake Lamkins (3/14/16)