Rico is set up at Manaus in 1971 to provide nonscheduled passenger and charter flights and contract services throughout the nation’s Amazon basin. Services are started and maintained with a fleet initially comprising 12 Douglas DC-3s, 8 Piper Navajos, 2 Britten-Norman BN-2 Islanders, 3 Beech 18s, 2 Piper Aztecs, and 2 Cessna 310s.
Flights continue apace and in 1997-1998 the fleet includes 4 Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirantes.
RIDDLE AIRLINES: United States (1945-1963). John P. Riddle flies contract flights between Brazil and Florida during World War II. In May 1945, he incorporates at Coral Gables under Florida laws with the purpose of expanding his wartime activity into a permanent airline operation. In late summer, passenger and freight services are inaugurated between New York City and Puerto Rico, but the passenger portion of the carrier’s U. S.-San Juan activity is, by CAB ruling, abandoned in August 1947.
Riddle is awarded temporary authority on January 26, 1951 to fly freight to Puerto Rico and in 1955 the CAB grants a domestic certificate allowing scheduled cargo service on routes to Florida from New York, Boston, Detroit, and Chicago.
On December 17, a C-46A flying mail from New York to Miami crashes at Hollywood, South Carolina, near Charleston, killing its two-man crew.
Curtiss C-46 freight flights are started on the new network on January 20, 1956. New York to San Juan all-cargo frequencies begin on February 10. On June 29, it drops its service to Norfolk, Virginia, which is assumed the next day by Transocean Air Lines (TAL). Employing a newly received Douglas DC-4F, scheduled roundtrip freight services from New York to Atlanta begin on November 15.
As is the situation for most of the U. S. all-cargo carriers, Riddle flies from one financial crisis to another during the 1950s, accepting both civilian and military contracts and strengthening its fleet whenever possible. By 1958, the company’s equipment includes not only 34 Commandos, but 2 Douglas DC-4s as well.
In 1959, Riddle’s authority to San Juan is reissued and the carrier is launch customer for the British-made Armstrong-Whitworth AW650 Argosy 100. A C-46A with two crew is lost at Alma, Georgia, on March 30; there are no survivors.
The company begins to receive the first of seven Argosy freighters in December 1960, placing it on its Logair contract with the USAF Military Air Transport Service (MATS).
On March 15, 1961, a DC-7CF completes a record 6,307-mile nonstop commercial flight from Tokyo to Chicago in 20 hrs. 30 min. On July 8, the company receives a $7.5-million MATS contract for outsize-cargo services, which flights are handled by the new British aircraft. Five days later, a C-46 crashes at Albany, Georgia, and one of the two crewmen is seriously injured.
Despite the reliability of the new Argosy transports and renewal of its domestic certificate in January 1962, Riddle Airlines is in deep financial trouble. On January 16, a C-46F is involved in an accident at Limestone, Maine. Another is lost in a bad landing at Panama City, Florida, on May 24 and a third is damaged in a nonfatal accident at San Juan, Puerto Rico, on June 5.
In mid-June, all services are suspended and in July the Argosies are sold back to their manufacturer. Indeed, they will not leave the U. S., as five will be picked up by Overseas National Airways and two by Zan-top Air Transport.
The company is now reorganized under an entirely new management team and returns to work in July. On August 17, the year’s hard luck flying record resumes as a C-46, on a Miami training mission, crashes after a bounced landing. New York-Puerto Rico service is resumed with DC-7CFs in October and daily New York-Miami C-46 flights are restarted in December. For the second time in six months, a C-46 is lost in a training mission, this time at Macon, Georgia, on December 4.
Riddle’s future looks brighter in 1963 when, in March, it secures a $3.7-million loan enabling it to lease two DC-8Fs from Douglas, which also agrees to relax the payment schedule for the carrier’s DC-7CFs. The right tire blows while a C-46 is taking off from Orlando on September 25, causing the aircraft to crash; neither crewman is hurt and the plane is later repaired. On November 29, Riddle is renamed Airlift International.
RIGA AIRLINES EXPRESS (RIGAS AERONAVIJAS, A. S.): Latvia (1993-1994). RAE is founded at the Latvian capital in the summer of 1993. The privately owned company is outfitted with a fleet that includes 1 Antonov An-26 and 1 SAAB 340A. In October, revenue flights are inaugurated to Amsterdam and Oslo, as Riga becomes the first Baltic airline to operate one of the Swedish turboprops.
Service to Berlin begins in the spring of 1994 and during the year, three An-24s join the fleet. Plans are made to acquire a Boeing 737-200 in the new year. Before these can be realized, the carrier goes bankrupt.
RIG-AIR, LTD.: United Kingdom (1969-1970). Norfolk Airways, Ltd. and Anglian Air Charter, Ltd. jointly form this small airline at Norwich Airport in summer 1969 to provide on - demand support for the increasing offshore oil exploration business. Initially, ad hoc flights are made with small planes chartered from the two founders. The first owned aircraft, a Douglas DC-3, is delivered in November.
In March 1970, the company fleet is enhanced by the addition of a BN-2A Islander and a Cessna 172. Charter work continues. In July, during the national dock strike, the two lightplanes fly a number of charters to France and Holland taking over stranded goods. Rig-Air joins Norfolk and Anglian in a July 22 merger that becomes Air Anglia, Ltd. in August.
RIJNMOND AIR SERVICES, B. V.: P. O. Box 12051, Rotterdam Airport, Rotterdam, NL-3004, The Netherlands; Phone 31 (10) 4378122; Fax 31 (10) 437-1777; Http://www. quickairways. nl; Code RAZ; Year Founded 1988. F. Stevens forms Rijnmond at Rotterdam in late 1988 to provide ad hoc charter services to various European and North African destinations. His initial fleet comprises 7 Piper PA-31350 Navajo Chieftains. Three Chieftains are retired in 1989-1990 and replaced by two Mitsubishi MU-2B Marquises.
Operations continue in 1991-1994, during which years one more Chieftain is retired and Wiebe Bosma becomes CEO. Flights continue in 1995-1999. The fleet now includes 3 Chieftains, 1 Mu-2B, and 1 Swearingen SA-226. A close association, including a shared Web site on the Internet, is now formed with Eelde-based Quick Airways, B. V.
World History
