While JFK has always been famous for its themed terminals and record-breaking passenger traffic, Air Cargo has always been a big part of JFK’s history. In fact, as an Airport Modeler, I recently built a 1:400 scale diorama of the North Corner of “Cargo City” as it appeared in the seventies.
I was surprised at how many dedicated buildings, airlines, and aircraft were focused on cargo support at JFK. Searching for these rare aircraft models and displaying them at the cargo terminals and hangars used in the seventies was great fun.
Introducing Cargo-only jets became very popular with the advent of the 707 and DC-8. Airlines who operated these jets with passengers for several years converted some to all cargo aircraft and extended their life span for several more years. The seats and galleys were removed, and side loading doors and container tracks were added. The most famous cargo aircraft was, and is the Boeing 747. The 747 was originally designed to be a freighter aircraft, hence the upper deck and capability for nose-in loading.
The North Cargo Area was just as busy and colorful as the terminal area, although a bit more chaotic. Several air carriers come to mind, including Seaboard World Airlines, Lufthansa Cargo, Flying Tigers Line, TMA of Lebanon, British Airways Cargo, Northwest Cargo, and Japan Airlines Cargo. Brand new Boeing 747 Freighters were purchased (Lufthansa being the first in 1972), and it was common to find large numbers of these behemoths loading and unloading hundreds of container pallets in the north corner of JFK’s Cargo City. In addition to cargo, three prominent hangars supported maintenance for several U.S. and foreign carriers.
JFK has been the premier cargo hub for everything from racehorses to race cars, computers to oranges, millions of fresh-cut flowers from Columbia, and tons of mozzarella cheese from Italy. It also was the site of the famous Lufthansa Cargo heist, where thieves made off with $6M in cash and jewelry!
Sadly, many of these buildings, cargo carriers, and aircraft are long gone. However, if you ever wondered what it was like, these images in miniature scale serve as a reminder of the rich cargo history of JFK International Airport.
4 Comments
Rich aviation history. Thanks for sharing! Planes, jets, cargo being transported faster and more efficiently from one part of the world to another. So glad to have reminders of the past. The future will show us what’s next. L. Corwin
Thanks for sharing this. Amazing job on the recreation. Having worked at Bldg 261 for many years in the 80’s & 90’s this article was greatly appreciated. Have to say though, there would never be a sky chefs truck at the cargo facility and the building is missing its side door. There was rarely ever 2 planes at that building at the same time and where you have sound deflection barriers was a storage area for empty ULD’s .
Thanks for your insight Frank. I figured that even Cargo jet pilots receive catering for long flights and since LSG is owned by Lufthansa, I thought it would be a good fit. Surprisingly, there are very few photos of the the LH Cargo building doors so had to assume most of the entry/ exit was on the ramp side. The two LH 747’s were deliberately displayed with one on a delayed mechanical. (It could happen) 🙂
Hello Brian, Matthias here…you remember my night with you at Newark-Airport when you had to change the gates of many People’s Express planes…..I still remember…would like to have contact with you again..please reply to my email, Thanks! Matthias