Background
Hunter was born on February 18, 1893, in Casselton, N. Dak. , the son of John Croil Hunter, a wholesale grocer, and Emma Schulze. His father, a Canadian immigrant of Scottish ancestry, built a thriving business in Fargo, N. Dak.
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Croil Hunter
Edit ProfileEducation
In Fargo, N. Dak. , young Croil attended public school. He entered Yale in 1912 and left in 1914 without graduating.
Career
After his study he returned home and worked in the credit department of his father's firm until he entered the army in 1917. He served overseas with the 338th Field Artillery, attaining the rank of captain. After his discharge in 1919, he was for nine years treasurer of his father's enterprise.
In 1928, Hunter became eastern representative and New York office manager of the First Bancredit Corporation, an installment loan affiliate of a Minnesota-based holding company. Two years later, the business interests with which Hunter had become associated acquired Northwest Airways, an airmail and passenger carrier with a 350-mile route from Minneapolis-St. Paul to Chicago and extensions to such places as Green Bay, Fargo, and Winnipeg. Although Hunter had no experience in aviation, his business acumen and familiarity with the territory in which the airline operated led to his being appointed traffic manager in 1932, followed by promotion to vice-president and general manager in 1933, the year in which the enterprise was reorganized as Northwest Airlines. Four years later he became president and general manager.
From the beginning of his association with Northwest, Hunter pursued an aggressive policy of new route acquisition, fleet expansion, and technological innovation. By the end of 1933, the company's route system stretched to Seattle and Tacoma, Wash. In 1934 it became the first airline to operate the Lockheed L-10A Electra, setting a speed record on the Twin Cities-Chicago route. Still newer, faster, and larger planes were added later in the decade. Hunter, however, had larger goals in mind, laying plans to connect the American Midwest with a number of Asian destinations by following the "Great Circle Route" via Alaska. In 1939, Northwest applied to the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) for a route from Chicago to Calcutta via Seattle, Fairbanks, and points in Siberia and China. Shortly thereafter, having personally taken part in a survey flight to the Far East via the Great Circle, Hunter filed an amended application with the CAB for a route from Seattle to Tokyo via Anchorage and the Aleutian Islands. At the same time, he tried to elevate Northwest to transcontinental status by seeking CAB approval for flights from the Midwest to New York City.
United States entry into World War II temporarily sidetracked Hunter's expansionist efforts but soon brought Northwest opportunities that solidified its claims to postwar preferment. Under a contract with the armed services' Ferrying Command, the airline established military supply routes from Minneapolis-St. Paul and Seattle to various Alaskan destinations. By the end of the war, Northwest pilots had flown approximately 21 million miles transporting military personnel and cargo and had gained indispensable experience coping with adverse weather and difficult terrain. In addition, the company conducted government-sponsored research in high-altitude flying and aircraft deicing, and operated plants at St. Paul and at Vandalia, Ohio, to modify bombers for cold-weather performance. In 1943, Northwest renewed efforts to secure postwar routes to such destinations as Peking, Shanghai, Calcutta, and Manila.
The return of peace brought fulfillment to many of Hunter's visions. Even before the end of the war, the CAB granted Northwest a route from Milwaukee to New York, making it (along with United, Trans-World Airlines, and American) the fourth transcontinental air carrier. In September 1946 the Great Circle Route mapped out by Hunter before the war began to materialize when Northwest inaugurated commercial service from Seattle to Anchorage, followed by flights from Chicago to Anchorage via Edmonton in January 1947. In July 1947, following survey flights in which Hunter personally took part, Northwest began service from the Twin Cities and Seattle to Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai, and Manila, with stops at Edmonton, Anchorage, and Shemya on the westernmost fringe of the Aleutians. Within the next few years, service began to Okinawa, Honolulu, and Hong Kong, while Taipei on the island of Formosa (Taiwan) was substituted for Shanghai after Communist forces took control of the Chinese mainland. At home, new routes were won to Pittsburgh and Washington, D. C. While these route accessions took place, Northwest continued to expand and modernize its fleet, adding four-engine Douglas DC-4's in 1946 and Boeing 377 Stratocruisers in 1949. The latter, with a range of 4, 600 miles, were particularly well suited to Northwest's transcontinental and Great Circle routes. The company was also the first to use a postwar twin-engine passenger plane, the Martin 2-0-2, though the aircraft proved accident-prone because of a structural deficiency in the wing. Northwest's experience in flying the Great Circle proved its value after the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950. The company flew approximately 13 million miles of airlift operations for the Military Air Transport Service, transporting 40, 000 military personnel and 12 million pounds of cargo while maintaining its regularly scheduled commercial service. One of Northwest's planes, a Douglas DC-3, was also acquired by the United Nations and gained fame as "UN-99, " shuttling wounded servicemen and military cargo between Japan and Korea.
In 1953, Hunter resigned the presidency of Northwest and became chairman of the board. Hunter retired from the board chairmanship in 1965 but continued to be active in company affairs until his death in St. Paul.
Achievements
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Hunter's enduring legacy is the role he played in the development of the Great Circle Route, which greatly reduced flying time from New York, Chicago, and many other American and Canadian cities to the Far E. It was due to Hunter's tireless efforts that the airline he led became familiarly known by the name that was for many years emblazoned on its distinctively red-tailed planes: Northwest Orient.
Personality
Hunter was described in his prime as "wiry, energetic, as friendly as the dogs he slightly pampers, as casual as the snap-brim hat he wears. "
Quotes from others about the person
Business Week commented in 1947 that "the growth of Northwest Airlines from a regional air carrier is strictly the history of Croil Hunter's association with the company. "
Connections
On February 24, 1923, he married Helen Floan; they had two children.
