The economic miracle which Japan achieved in the late 50s and 1960s was a vindication of the postwar policies of both the USA and new Japanese government. The formation of Japan Air Lines not only contributed to this boom but also began to aid Japan’s rehabilitation amongst it’s Asian neighbours. JAL’s early success was built on a foundation of Douglas propliners and this would continue into the 60s with its first pure jets.
By the end of World War Two the Japanese state had been effectively destroyed by the onslaught of Allied forces, which had obliterated most of the Japanese cities and industry, and reduced the population to near starvation. Nonetheless the successful, if at times controversial, American occupation had created a new Japanese state to which sovereignty could be passed back by the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty.
This allowed Japan to begin its recovery and the 1950s saw the beginning of what has been dubbed the Japanese economic miracle, whereby Japan was able to become the world’s 2nd biggest economy by the mid-60s. Obviously this rehabilitation required aviation to play its part and Japan Air Lines (JAL) was formed on August 1, 1951. Services began domestically in October but had to use American pilots and aircraft flown under charter from Northwest Airlines (3 Martin 202s and a DC-4). The destruction of the Imperial Japanese Navy’s carrier forces at battles like Midway, the Philippine Sea and Okinawa meant that finding Japanese pilots in postwar Japan was far from an easy task.
It wasn’t until October 1952 that JAL tookover full responsibility for its own operations and during 1953 agreement was reached for a transpacific service from Tokyo to San Francisco stopping at Wake Island and Honolulu. The company was reorganised under Japanese law to enable international services, recapitalised and the Japanese government took a 50% share. The fleet stood at 7 DC-4s acquired from Pan Am (3), SAS (2), National (1) and Northwest (1).
To operate the new route 5 DC-6A/Bs were on order with the first arriving in January 1953. These were not cheap however especially as to get the type at short notice JAL had to buyout other airline’s orders. Maintenance was also to be undertaken by United Airlines until JAL’s own staff could be trained.
February 5, 1954 saw the launch of the ‘Pacific Courier’ service to the West Coast. The DC-6s also enabled a Tokyo-Okinawa route, which was gradually expanded as Japan reconnected with Asia. In 1955 the extension was to Hong Kong, 1956 to Bangkok and in 1958 Singapore.
Almost as soon as international services had begun JAL was looking at new equipment for its primary routes and settled on the pinnacle of piston liner development the Douglas DC-7C. Four aircraft were delivered from December 1957 to April 1958. They helped enable expansion to Taipei in 1959 and a second US destination, Los Angeles. As with all DC-7Cs their front line careers were short as they were merely a stopgap until jets arrived.
Indeed a public offering in May 1956 raised $1.38 million to assist in the purchase of jets. JAL kept the faith with Douglas and chose the DC-8-32, with the first of 5 arriving in July 1960. Further public offerings provided financial security and the capability to undertake a rapid expansion of services in the early 1960s. Not only that but the 1957 creation of Airport Ground Service Co Ltd created an arm to provide JAL with its own maintenance whilst in that year personnel training finally allowed the first flights crewed entirely by Japanese staff. In 1959 a JAL crew training center was opened at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport.
The DC-8s introduced the classic tsurumaru (crane circle) logo designed in 1958 by Jerry Huff. Initially this was placed forward on the airframe but during the 1960s it gravitated to the tail. The inaugural jet service to San Francisco took place on August 12, 1960 and quickly the DC-7Cs were replaced by the DC-8s on the transpacific routes. Technically JAL’s first jet service was a joint JAL-Air France transpolar service using one of Air France’s 707s in April 1960 but otherwise the 707 didn’t get a look in. DC-8s extended the route network to London, Paris and Copenhagen from April 1961. Even with the jets the DC-7s still had some life left in them.
Two of the DC-7Cs were converted to freighters in 1961 and replaced the DC-6As on the Tokyo-San Francisco freight service. The rest of the piston liners were transferred to the domestic network when new Convair 880s displaced them from the Asian routes from October 1961. They supplemented the DC-4s and weren’t finally replaced until the mid-60s by new 727s. The tri-jets took over the domestic trunk routes from Tokyo-Sapporo, Tokyo-Fukuoka and Tokyo-Osaka-Fukuoka from August 1, 1965. In fact JAL actually acquired an extra DC-7C in late 1962 albeit at the cost of one of its own in a swap deal with SAS. I’m not sure what the reason was behind that.
Despite the acquisition of the Convair 880s JAL’s long haul future was firmly grounded in the DC-8 and deliveries of improved series 53s began from March 1963. Twelve series 53/54/55s arrived before new deliveries switched to the super 60 series and the DC-8s would be the foundation of the fleet into the early 1980s.
The growth of JAL’s fleet and services in the decade after it was created mirrored the magical rise in Japanese industry that would send the country to the pinnacle of economic measures. It was a startling recovery for what had been a broken country and was empowered with the use of Douglas aircraft. As Douglas themselves used to say you can ‘Go Further with Douglas’.
References
Airplane Issue 17. Orbis Publishing, 1992
Japan Air Lines Company History. Fundinguniverse.com
Thx 2 all those people who shot photos, kept them and this article’s historians.
I’ve emigrated from Japan to the US back in July 1959, flew from Haneda,
en route Honolulu to finally landed in Los Angeles. I still remember the 4 engine
prop plane with braded cable trailing on the main wing’s rear edge thru my port
hole. I just turned 9yrs old upon the final landing. Also remembered the Captain
spoke English w no accent so he must of been a WWII pilot per this article. All i recall
at that time was: “Ladies n Gentlemen, we shall land in Los Angeles in …” w very beautiful clear voice. The meal was fantastic (my bro of 6yo n i were not even in the
1st Class seat) but was served a stake dinner w real metal utensils, no plastic ones,
don’t remember what mat’l was our trays. Back in Honolulu, the plane took time to re-fuel and some passengers went shopping inside the terminal. Meanwhile my bro,
a woman escort assigned from Haneda have sipped a nice fruit drink from bored Pineapple w a straw and tiny paper umbrella stuck on top of the big fruit. And we sat under the bigger umbrellas, tall swaying palm trees. Never had such drink in Japan
B4 this flight and never have seen a palm tree in cold Winter town we lived in near
Mt. Fuji, called Shizuoka (静岡 means Quiet Hill, nut(not) like Beverly Hill, Hollywood or
Cherry Hill, NJ w no hills and no Cherry orchards). Then, we have departed, the escort
had said her task was accomplished in Japanese and we never saw her again nor
remember her name.
Back to the JAL plane:
I was wondering which plane we have boarded. I loosely recall it was DC-6 but this
article w the timeline indicated it was the DC-7C 4 prop-engine plane. I was at least
a bit jealous w my 4th Grade Elementary Teacher in my home city of Shizuoka. Her relative took a flight to France (Air France?) via really sexy looking curvy Constellation
no less! Of course, at the time back in the early 50s US Occupation Forces present, we
kids just saluted the GI’s on the covered olive trucks. We only knew to say “Hello”. And
I wished i can hitch a ride w them. So, during my interim moving to my Aunt in
Nerima-Ku, Tokyo, i got injured chasing butterfly by running thru her neighbor farm
cabbage patch (i didn’t c the barb). I still remember the musty cabbage (some
rotted?) smell that i’ve never smelled such since. My aunt put me up on her back n
carried me onto a 3 wheel gas powered small vehicle. Didn’t feel the pain. I was so
thrilled to ride on that shak-looking rink-a-dink vehicle to get my bleeding thigh
stitched (still have the scars but faded) running on the dusty dirt road. And that
Aunt’s town was in a rural… The place must of turned into paved streets and
tall buildings by now. A cabbage patch farm must of been wiped off the place of
course… We went to my cousin’s elementary school for about a 6 months or so
during this layover. so we won’t loose out in our education waiting for the US
Emigration Dept. to clear our entry. So, when we were told that we will be on an airplane, i was shocked, then thrilled! The only vehicle we’ve rode was a steam train
to visit this Tokyo Aunt and my other Aunt home in Mishima, who with her husband
Serf Farmer no less!
It was in my youth, the most happiest of time in memory in Tokyo. I was not able to
return to Japan till mid 1980s. Twice for family reasons and the other for relating to my job. Never had any touring pleasure there as yet since as of today, 08-02-2026! Getting old …
But happy to greet our US 250th Anniversary Independence Day from GB’s King
George III. And it was a good thing for the Lobster (Red Coats) too bc. of that independence. We were able to help w tremendous logistics and innovation
against their adversary in WWI and of course, against the Axis in WWII, ya, the fall of Imperial Japan too, which came out for the best for all the parties involved today.
Thx again for your efforts to present this DC 7C clarification and to bring back my
memory of youth in Tokyo and the flight experience w that clear n beautifully voiced
experienced American Pilot across the vast Ocean Pacific.
Cheers! N Frosty Oh’s!!!
Dorian N.
So, when i heard that m