Cameroon Air Transport, A View of History

History!! A must read!! A must share!! Was Cameroon Airlines also stolen from us???? Cameroon Air Transport (CAT), was founded by the Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC) created in 1947, which traded mainly in bananas,rubber and palm oil. CAT was meant to provide efficient transport from the farms as well as other destinations in a country which had almost no road or rail infrastructure in the 50's and 60's. Later scheduled flights were established between Yaoundé, Bamenda, Mamfe, Douala and Ebolowa.

CAT later on expanded and had good connections with Air Afrique due to the fact that CAT flew many Experts And Administrators of West Cameroon to Douala, which connected with Air Afrique to Paris. Flights via CAT in the 1960's from Tiko-Douala only took 12 minutes, compared to the 12 hour trip by car in those days. The history of CAT must never be told without the name of Mr Constantinus Boniface Banye Vega (July 15th 1928- July 16th 1997) featuring.

Mr Vega was the first Southern Cameroonian and indigenous General Manager of CAT. Born in Bamenda, on July 15 1928, he attended St. Joseph's College Sasse and taught Maths there before heading for the University of Ibadan in Nigeria for further studies. On his return from Nigeria, Mr Vega went on to occupy a number of positions through out his career. He first worked as an accountant with Cameroon Air Transport (CAT) in 1963, rose to become its Assistant GM, and then was appointed General Manager in 1968 when the British General Manager, Captain Ford went back to England.

A well managed Company in the Anglosaxon style, CAT practically consisted of the BOTA AIR STRIP and its headquarters was located in the Middle Farms - Bota area. CAT was forced into liquidation in 1972 and merged with EAST CAMEROON AIRLINES which became CAMEROON AIRLINES. True to its annexationist policies, La Republique du Cameroun didn't retain Mr. Vega, inspite of the fact that he was instrumental in the birth of Cameroon Airlines but wasn't a part of the company when it actually came into existence. He joined POWERCAM, (later SONEL), in the mid 70's as an Administrative Officer, a position he held until his retirement in 1986. He was also The Commissioner of The Boy Scout Movement in the South West Province... Thanks brother Emile Epanty for this information.