All these changes have increased the all-up weight of the Cargo Falcon 20 to 28,660 pounds, compared with the 25,300 pounds of the standard executive Falcon. The inauguration of Federal Express Cargo Falcon service was a new milestone in the history of air transport in the United States. Fred Smith created a new category of airline when he launched his package distribution system from a centralized clearing house at Memphis. The service was an immediate success. Within a few months, more Falcons had been ordered, and by the end of 1974, no less than thirty-three of the French aircraft were flying on the spokes of the Federal Express network.
Success breeds success.
The Falcons had done their job so well that the airline had to buy larger aircraft to cope with the booming demand for overnight air express service. The inclusion of the Federal Express Falcon 20 in the collection of the National Air and Space Museum is important for a number of reasons. First, it is representative of a new category of airline, the exclusive air express carrier. Several other enterprising individuals and corporations, recognizing the essential logic of Fred Smith's innovative idea, have gone into business with similar hub-based systems. The Falcon therefore reminds us that the development of air transport is as dynamic today as in previous decades, and that history is concerned with today's events as well as yesterday's.