Eastern: An Airline and its Aircraft (From the Great Sliver Fleet to the Shuttle)

106 Pages·2003·1.01 MB·English

by  R. E. G. Davies

AN AIRLINE AND ITS AIRCRAFT
~
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'F"L",( "EkS1:'E
• •• • ••
FROM THE GREAT SILVER
FLEET TO THE SHUTTLE
by R.E.G. Davies • Illustrated by Mike Machat
F co
~
• EASTERN
AN AIRLINE AND ITS AIRCRAFT
j
Other Books by R.E.G. Davies
Standard References
AHistory ofthe World's Airlines
Airlines ofthe United States Since 1914
Airlines ofLatinAmerica Since 1919
Airlines ofAsia Since 1920
CommuterAirlines ofthe United States
(with lmre Quastler)
Airline Histories
ContinentalAirlines-The First Fifty Years
PanAm: AnAirline and Its Aircraft
Lufthansa: An Airline and ItsAircraft
Delta: An Airline and Its Aircraft
Aeroflot: An Airline and ItsAircraft
Saudia: An Airline and Its Aircraft
TransBrasil: An Airline and ItsAircraft
TWA: AnAirline and Its Aircraft
Specials
BerlinAirlift: The Greatest HumanitarianAirlift
(with John Provan)
Comet: The World's First Jetliner
(with PhilBirtles)
Fallacies and Fantasies ofAir Transport History
Lindbergh: An Airman, his Aircraft, and his Great Flights
Rebels and Reformers ofthe Airways
Supersonic Nonsense
Titles in bold typeare available through PaladwrPress
E A S T E R N
)
AN AIRLINE AND ITS AIRCRAFT
by R.E. G. Davies
Illustrated by Mike Machat
This bookisdedicatedtoallthoseEasternAirLinesemployees
who, despitethesufferingcausedbytheoften-adversarial
relationshipbetweentheworkforceandmanagementduringthe
lastyears, maintainedsuchahighdegreeofcamaraderiethat
retireeorganizations, suchasEARA, REPA, andtheSilverliners,
continueto thriveatthetimeofthispublication.
©2003 PaladwrPress
All rights reserved. Nopartofthis publication,includingphotographs, maps, and artwork, maybereproduced ortransmittedin
any form orby any means, electronicormechanical,including photocopy,recording, orany information
storageand retrieval system,withoutthewritten permissionofPaladwrPress.
Published byPaladwrPress, 1906Wilson Lane,#101, McLean,Virginia22102-1957, USA
Manufacturedin Hong Kong
BookDesign and Maps byR.E.G. Davies
ArtworkbyMikeMachat
DetailedLayoutbyLizWeaver
TechnicaleditingbyJohnWegg
PrepressandPressManagementbyTheDrawingBoard
ISBN 1-888962-19-4
Contents
Prefaceand Introduction ....•......................•...•....•...•••...•...•....•....•••.....~ LastofaFineLine Boeing757-225 96-97
Florida: CradleofU.S.Airlines Off-LineMail Contract.......................................... 8-9 EasternExpress Lorenzo v. theUnions 98-99
FloridaAirways Ford-Stout2-AT 10-11 TheFinal Hours TheEasternFamilyTree 100-101
WhoWasFirst? FloridaScrapbook 12-13 Acknowledgements ....................... .. 102
PitcairnAviation Pitcairn Mailwing 14-15 Index ...........................................................................102-104
NorthAmericanAviation FordTri-Motor 16-17
EasternAirTransport Curtiss Kingbird 18-19
In addition to Mike Machat's precision drawings (listed in blue), two othersappearon page7and
PassengerService CurtissCondorCO(18) 20-21
page89.Heisalso responsiblefor theaircraftcomparisondrawings.
NewYorkAirways InclusiveTour 22-23
GeneralMotorsTakesControl CurtissCondorT-32 24-25
LudingtonAirLines Stinson SM6000 26-27
Maps
EasternAirLines DouglasDC-2 28-29
FloridaAirways 8
TheEasternFlyers LockheedL-I0Electra 30-31
OtherEarlyAirlinesinFlorida 8
TheGreatSilver(DC-3)Fleet DouglasDC-3 32-33
TheFirstTwelveContractAirMailRoutes 9
Wedell-WilliamsAirService Lockheed Vega 34-35
FloridaAirways, 1926 10
EasternConsolidation PrideoftheGreatSilverFleet 36-37
PitcairnAviation, 1928-29 14
SilverFleetScrapbook KellettKD-IB 38-39
TheAirlinesofNorthAmericanAviation 16
CalltoArms CurtissC-46 .40-41
EasternAirTransport, 1932 18
NationalChallenge DouglasDC-4 .42-43
NewYorkAirways 22
PressurizedService Lockheed649Constellation 44-45
ewYorkAirways(brochure) 23
DC-3Replacement Martin404 .46-47
Ludington's Routes, 1929-33 26
LocalServices ExpandingHorizons .48-49
EasternAirLines, 1934-35 28
IntensifiedService Lockheed 1049SuperConstellation 50-51
Wedell-WilliamsRoutes. 1929-36 34
TheConstellationFleet Lockheed 1049G"Super-G" 52-53
EasternAirLines, 1941 36
TheGoldenFalcon DouglasDC-7B 54-55
The KellettAutogyroRoute 39
ColonialAirTransport TheFirstColonialFleet 56-57
EasternAirLinesWartimeRoutetoAfrica 40
TheAmericanWay Algonquin Fords 58-59
EasternAirLines, 1943-1955.............................. . .48
RenewedIndependence DC-4stoBermuda 60-61
EasternAirLines, MajorRouteDevelopments, 1951-1964 .49
EasternGoes International Convair440 62-63
ColonialAirwaysCorporation 56
TechnicalRevolution Lockheed 188Electra 64-65
MotorCycleCourierService 56
TheFirstJet DouglasDC-8-21 66-67
Colonial's ewYork-Boston Route(Brochure) 58
AirBus Air-Shuttle 68-69
ColonialAirlines, 1954 60
TheFirstBoeing Boeing720 70-71
ServicetoMexico, 1957 62-
Short-HaulTri-Jet Boeing727-100 72-73
EasternAirLines, 1960 68
TheLongRoutes.. ... and theShort.. 74-75
TheFirstTranscontinental, 1967 74
BahamasHolidays TheyAlsoServed 76-77
MackeyAirlines, J966 76
Short-HaulTwin-Jet DouglasDC-9-14 78-79
EasternAirLines, NewRoutes, 1969 84
TheStretched Eights Douglas DC-8-61 and -63 80-81
Caribair, 1970 90
MoreDouglasTwins DouglasDC-9-51 82-83
SouthAmerican Routes, 1982 95
RouteExpansion (andDenial) Boeing747 .. 84-85
Across theAtlantic, 1985 95
Whisperliner Lockheed L-I0II TriStar 86-87
EasternExpressin NewEngland 98
MoreBoeing727s DC-8ColorVariants 88-89
EasternExpressin theSouth 98
CaribbeanExpansion Caribair 90-91
Short-HaulWide-Body AirbusA300B4.......................................... . 92-93 Chart
BormanBattlesOn IntercontinentalRoutes 94-95 EasternAirlinesGeneology 101
ShadesofYesteryear:AnEasternAirTransportPitcairnMailwingopen-cockpitbiplaneontherampatFloydBennettField, NewYork, in1934. Themailvanisinattendance, butnosecuritywasneeded.
6
Preface and Introduction
Author Eddie Rickenbacker. As a special touch, my Dad had the Paladwr Press airline profiles is now nearing 300 different
Thanks to the Eastem Airlines Retirees Association, and the entire crew autograph the Certificate as well. Colorful airplane types. This book contains both my first airplane
EstateofEastemAirLines,whichprovidedencouragementand Easternbaggagetags, brochures, stationery, and airlinepost drawing, below, and the last new type I drew for Ron, the
support,PaladwrPresshasbeenabletoaddanothervolumeto cards all completed the set of inflight memorabilia consid unusual Kellett autogyro. Also, one of my first efforts for
its list ofGreat Airlines ofthe World. (Coincidentally, earlier ered as expendable promotional material in its day, butcov Douglasisonpage89.
thisyear,inthesummerof2002,wedidthesameinourlibrary etedtoday as valuablecollectibles. MikeMachat
series, with Poor Sailors' Airline, Gary Kissel's personal Thegrand finale was a large, full-color lithograph ofa
Technical Editor
accountofthehistoryofP.S.A.) magnificentairplaneinflight overfamedMiamiBeach,with
ReadersofPaladwr'sAirlinesoftheWorldserieswillbefamil
I was reminded of the glorious days of the Great Silver the modem Fontainebleau Hotel in the foreground. When I
Fleet, when Eastemdominated theeastemskies oftheUnited learned thatitwasapainting,Iwas mesmerized. Howcould iar with some of the house-style conventions customarily
States; ofthe almost mass exodus ofNew Yorkers to Florida anyone create something that looked so perfect? The artist adheredto.Inthefleetlisttabulations,forexample,weusethe
termManufacturer'sSerialNumber(MSN), not"constructor's
during the frigid winters ofthe northeast; ofthe dramatic and was Douglas staffillustratorGeorgeAkimoto, and on learn
revolutionaryEastemAir-Shuttle;andofthethefirstEuropean ingthatitwas hisjobtocreate,inmy youngeyes,suchmas number."Thelatterhasfallenintocommonusage, butitis not
sU'ictlycorrect.Inthetables,wehaveusedtheday-month-year
Airbus to fly revenue service in the States, the harbinger ofa terpieces, my mind was made up. Iwould be astaffillustra
stylingofdates,andhaveinvariablyusedathree-letterabbrevi
new departure in airliner procurement patterns in North torforDouglas.
ationforthemonth,toavoidanypossibleconfusion.
America. During the 1960s, measured in annual passenger BythetimeEastern'sfirstjetsenteredservicein 1960,I
boardings, Eastern was the largestairlinein the world, and its was old enough to travel to New York's Idlewild Airport by Wehavetriedtobeconsistentwith manufacturers'offi
namewasaswellknownontheU.S.eastemseaboardasCoca myself.IwouldspendcountlessSaturdaysontheobservation cial nomenclature for aircraft types. The Lockheed TriStar,
ColaorChevrolet. deck of the airline's new terminal building, taking photo forexample,is nottheTri-Star,orTristar,ortheTri Star,and
Whatastorythishasbeen.ItsoriginsdatebacktoFlorida graphs and sketching the multitudes ofairplanes on the tar it is also the L-lOll, not the L.lOll or the LlOI!. The
Airbuses do not have the hyphens, thusA300B4, notA300
Airways,oneoftheearliest(andoftenforgotten) airmailcon mac.LockheedSuper-GConnies,Martin404SilverFalcons,
B4, orA-300-B-4. And the commonly-seen Martin 4-0-4 is
tractors who benefitted from the epoch-making legislation of new turboprop Lockheed Electras, and DC-8 jets filled the
theMartin404on thetypecertificate.
1925-26thatestablishedtheUnitedStatesairlineindustry.With ramp, together with airliners of Aeronaves de Mexico and
the exception of Colonial, the smallest of the "grandfather Mohawk, which sharedtheterminaland ramp. Inthesebooks,thesearchforcompletedataontheoper
rights"companiesof1938,Easternnevermadeamergerwitha Longyearsofschoolingandartisticpracticewerereward ationa
histories of every single aircraft is arduous, even
majorairline,althoughitwaseventuallyapartnerinanassoci ed with my dream job: achoice assignment in the art depart though the resources oftheAirways International data bank
are always thoroughly consulted. In the case ofthis Eastern
ation thatmighthavetumeditinto,onceagain, thelargestair mentofDouglasAircraftatLongBeach,California. Icameto
book, we are also indebted to Bill Hirsch, aformer Eastern
lineintheworld. meetGeorgeAkimotowhowasthennearingretirement.
stalwart, who has, by meticulous record-keeping and
But only memories remain, and the strength of the This background could have been pre-ordained. I have
Retirees Association is a uibute to those memories, the good nowworkedwithmyfriend RonDavies-whomIalsometat research, saved the editors ofthis book many tiringhours of
hard labor. We did, however, refine his individual aircraft
ones,thatis-forthereweremanyindigestibleonestoo.Ihope LongBeach---on manybook projectstogether.Mylibraryof
chronologiestoincludeonlytheinformationthatpertainedto
thatthis bookwill helpalltheformerEastemstaff, andothers
their lives with Eastern. To have included, for instance, the
too, torememberall thegoodtimes.
full DC-3histories wouldhavebeen irrelevantto this book.
R.E.G.Davies
Assembling the data for the earliest fleets was a prob
Artist lem. In the case ofthe early Colonial aircraft, we were able
Forme, Eastern Air Lines will always symbolize amomen todrawon the meticulousresearchesofD.M.lves, who, as a
tous beginning. Ihaveoften shared withfriends the story of young boy living in Albany, New York, became entranced
myfather's return from MiamiinJuly 1956.Iwaspresented with the Fairchilds that flew over his home. Seventy-five
with souvenirs that I still treasure today. From those vivid years later, his acuteobservations now reach print.
impressions, anine-year-oldboy beganalife-longcareer. Perhaps afinal word would betoindicatethat, contrary
Firstwas theCertificateofAppreciationgiven toall the to occasional usage as Eastern Airlines, the company was
passengers aboard Eastern's gleaming new Douglas DC-7B, always registered asEasternAirLines,Inc.
and was signed by none other than the legendary Captain AnEarly "Machat" whentheartistwasagednine. John Wegg
7
u.s.
Florida: Cradle of Airlines
Eastem Air Lines can trace its ancestry back to 1926, in the
StateofFlorida,and, asdiscussedon page 12,canmakesome TIMETABLE
claim to being among the earliest ofUnited States airlines DailyExuptSunday
SouthBound NorthBound
though this is dependent upon certain qualifications. There ALvr..JTaaemkspoan.ville.___..1110::5050aa..mm.. LAvr..FMt.iamMyicr_s~._...~'._h_' 79:;0005aa..lmn..
wereotherairlinesbeforetheAirMailActof1925andtheAir Lv.Tampa__...12:05p.m. Lv.Ft.M)'er&._~__ 9:15p.m.
Ar.Ft.Myers.....-.~ 1:10p.m. Ar.Tampa._~~...10:203.m.
CommerceActof 1926 gave permanency to the air transport Lv.FLMycrs._ 1:20p.m. Lv.Tampa 10:303.m.
Ar.Miami 3:25p.m. Ar.Jacksonville...12:25p.m.
business, butthese were ofshortduration, mainly because of
thetechnicalshortcomingsoftheequipmentandtheeconomic ehanlTl''h'eifnboot,b'"~r.h.,ohu"rdsul.t.or'.ab,·a,".'hl<·!.I•on•npdr...d..""pt.r..t.u.qu' Ilnlt...bdatn~drI.s..r"J"uhjFe.l.otrinto.
busln"u....~n.
impossibilityofflying airplanesforhireandreward.
Florida Wants Air
Theobvioussituationforthoseexperimentalgambleswason
The world'sfirstscheduledairlinewastheSt. Petersburg-Tampa Transportation
shortover-waterroutes, preferablyin areas ofgood weather,
AirBoatLine, whichoperatedaI7-miletrans-Bayservicefor
because the aircraftdid not have much range and the flimsy
threemonths,startingon1January1914, withatwo-seatBenoist l.- ~ ACKSONVfLLE
machines were vulnerable. Floridawas thus afavorite locale
for these flights, so that Eastern's first ancestor's choice of flyingboat. ~dIo
thatState wasoperationally sensible.
!::J • OAYTONA
The first airline in the world started in Florida. The THEROUTE
\
St.Petersburg-TampaAirboatLinewasfounded byPercy I The route, asshown onthe /~
Fansler on 4 December 1913, and started service across t ........._ .... accompanyingmap,istheone d .
Tampa Bay on I January 1914. It lasted only three months, 't.; . nowinoperationandwasde-TAMPA J
butcarried 1,204passengers. '-t;:~o;;;;;;~~ tennined only after many \ '7
pathfindingflightsandcritical \ fl.._
Six years later, on 15 October 1920, Florida West Indies inspection of terminals and FORTMEYE ~-_!~{til:\.-
Airwayswasissuedthefirstairmailcontracttoflymailfrom landingfields. I
Key West to Havana, butitneverflew, and both airline and II
MIAMI-
contract were taken over by Inglis Uppercu's Aeromarine. The CurtissType75flyingboatsofAeromarineWestIndiesAi/ways
WithCurtissF5Lflyingboats,itstartedregularservicefrom startedpassengerflightsfrom Floridato CubaandtheBahamasin
Key West to Havana and from Miami to Nassau on I 1920andopenedthefirstofficialU.S.foreign airmailroutefrom
November1921.UntilSeptember1923,duringProhibition,it KeyWesttoHavanaon1November1921.
carried several thousand passengers to attractive watering
places in Cubaand theBahamas.
OthersmallcompaniesjoinedintheProhibitionevasion.The
AmericaTrans-Oceanic Company and Aero Limited also
flew to the Bahamas alongside Aeromarine, also using
Curtiss flying boats. When, therefore, Eddie Rickenbacker
camesouth in 1926 to startFloridaAirways, the local pop
ulation had already had a taste ofair transport; and the cli
mate-meteorological and economic-for airline progress
seemedto bepromising.
An extract from the introductory literature for Florida
Airwaysin 1926isreproducedon thispage.Interestingly,75
ThegreatPanAmericanAirwaysestablisheditsclaimtoaperman
years later, a similar route is planned for a high-speed rail
elltairmailcalltractfrom FloridatoCuba whenitcharteredthis
projectto link Florida'smajorcities.
FairchildFC-2ofWestIlldianAerialExpressall 19October1927.
8
Off-Line Mail Contract
As reviewed on page 8, the early 1920s had witnessed the
beginnings ofair transport in the United States. Small com ---- J\.
panieshademerged,mostlyforonlyshortperiods,todemon G'
strate that the airplane could be used commercially, to cany
mail-savingtimeespeciallyonover-waterrouteswherefast
trains could notcompete-andoccasionallypassengers.
But there was no incentive from official quarters, not least
because flying machines were still viewed as novelties, and
more important, were dangerous. This latter aspect was
emphasized all over the country by the barnstormer pilots
who conducted aerial circuses with stunt flying as a major
componentoftheirexhibitions.Theaveragespectatorviewed
the ideaofflying much in the same way as he or shemight
haveviewedtheprospectofjoiningatrapezeact.
But by the mid-1930s, attitudes changed. The politicians in
Washington had dragged their feet in enacting legislation to
govern flying activities. Senator James Wadsworth intro
duced aDepartmentofCommerceBillin 1922, butthis was
shelved,andcontrolofaviationgenerallywasloose,uncoor
-
dinated, and variedfrom Stateto State. Then, on 2February
1925,undersomepressurefromtherailwaystoterminatethe
United States Air Mail Service, run by the Post Office, the
P.O.
ContractAirMailActwaspassed.KnownastheKellyAct,
after Representative Clyde Kelly, its main sponsor, the bill
providedfor thetransferofall thePostOfficemail routes to
privateoperators,who wouldbidcompetitivelyfortheprivi
lege.Thefirsttwelverouteswerepromptlyawarded-seethe formalized in Congress, and the President signed the
map on this page-and all except one were in operation AirCommerceActon20May 1926. Shortly afterwards, on
beforetheend of1926. 3June,anamendmenttotheKellyActchangedthesystemof
payments from a percentage of the actual postage paid to a
Simultaneously with the move towards the privatization of simplepaymentby weight.
the air mail, the U.S.Government, under the presidency of
CalvinCoolidge,wastakingstepstoenactlegislationtocon Interestingly, all exceptone ofthe first twelve air mail con
trol the new transport system. The Secretary ofCommerce, tractors were connected in a mainly transcontinental route
Herbert Hoover, appointed a Joint Committee of Civil network, linking NewYork with San Francisco, with branch
Aviation, involving theAmerican Engineering Council, tak lines on the Pacific coast, the northeast, and from Chicago.
ing note especially of the dramatic progress being made all TheexceptionwasFloridaAirways,whichventuredalonein
over Europe, and sporadically in other parts of the world. the "Cradle ofAviation," probably with ambitions to extend FloridaAirwayshadwishedtolaunchitsserviceingrandstyle
Althoughinten'uptedby thedramaticsofBrig.-GeneralBilly northwards, but which, as narrated on page 10, came to withafleetofall-metalStout2-ATtransportaircraft;butvarious
Mitchell, Coolidge appointed aspecial board, headed by his naught, and illustratingthe difficulties ofestablishing an air mishapsnecessitatedthesubstitutionofotheraircraft, including
friend Dwight Morrow, and the recommendations were lineduring the infantyearsofdevelopmentoftheindustry. thisCurtissLark,fortheinauguralon1AprilJ926.
9