Well first this is a link to the History Page which is interesting to read given we are repeatedly told the airline industry has always been self sufficient…yeah right.
Anyway, I remember flying them in 1972 on their new Bahamas route. Lockhead 1011 from Chicago to Miami as I recall and a 727 from Miami to Nassau.
Can’t keep the dead down forever.
Now if they could bring the late Cap’n Eddie Rickenbacker back as well…
A hero of mine when I was a kid, and nothing I’ve read about him since those days has changed my opinion of him.
I long for the old Pan Am – and NOT just seeing the logo on old Guilford locos!
Flew on an Eastern Super Constellation LGA-Bermuda in 1956 just after they took over Colonial.
Braniff’s name was revived twice, neither succeeded. Ozark Air Lines was revived as a regional, not sure if it’s still flying.
Awesome! As much as I love trains there’s sure a lot to be said for four radial engines! Now, if Pan Am was revived…
Pat Ryan and Terry Lee were on thier way to the Orient and many adventures with the Dragon Lady.
“…China Clipper calling Alameda…China Clipper calling Alameda…”
There is a ‘flyable’ Constalation currently in KC . Painted as 1960’s TWA
Current registration - N6937C
After completed as L1049H N5400V, stored at Lockheed Aircraft, Burbank, CA due to cancelled order, til sold.
Info and Photo @ http://www.conniesurvivors.com/N6937C.htm
I rather like the idea of Eastern rising from the ashes.
I’m somewhat less thrilled with the idea of piston power. Having worked on aircraft with up to 28 cylinders per engine I know that they are far more complex and failure prone than anything with a large exhaust pipe and a gutful of discs and blades. Want proof? Just look at the mandatory overhaul intervals, pistons versus turbines.
Chuck (retired USAF maintenance technician)
It’s a PR photo of the turboprop, they are using modern jets…
The PR picture shows a Douglas plane, a DC 7B, in an older paint scheme. The engines were not turboprops, rather radial reciprocating engines, from Wright.
Eastern has indeed “risen from the ashes”; I saw a Boeing 737-800 in Eastern livery at BWI. I think it’s either a charter airline or one with very limited destinations. I believe I still have my long-expired Ionosphere Club membership card somewhere. [:)]
What I don’t have is my “junior pilot” badge from Pan Am as well as the booties we had to wear when we toured a 707 on a class trip to Idlewild Airport in 1962. The girls were all junior stewardesses. I still have the coloring book from Pan Am that everyone was given. I did a nice job of coloring the Pan-American Grace (Panagra as I recall) DC-6? in the proper gold hue if I say so myself!
[:)]
I can’t hear the name Alameda without thinking about that movie.
Eastern (EAL) operated DC-6s, DC-7s, and Constellations L1049 (g?)s in the earl 1960s.
EAL first got rid of the DC-7s and kept the -6s and connies. It all came down to the engines. Although connies and -7s both had R-4360s engine the DC-7 had a much higher engine faiure rate. Old timers claimed it was due to inadequate cooling on the -7s. If you study the cowlings you can see that the -7s are much more streamlined and have been told cowl flaps were inadequate. The PRT ( a type of tubro charger ) often failed on -7s being swallowed into the cylinders.
So EAL started operating the shuttle with -6s and Connies. The -6s had R-2800s which were also on CV-440s. -6s were retired next with Connies staying on shuttle. Since it was so reliable EAL kept one Connie for ferrying jet engines around its system until the airline acquired B-727-QC passenger/freighters.
Another factor for the Connies was they took off at a much lower gross weight and mostly did not need to use the PRTs for takeoff power. Connies also had a sophisticated engine analysis system that could predict certain failures. Remember the USAF and weather service kept them in hurricane hunter service for a long time.
TWA was still operating L-1049Hs in transatlantic service while Pan Am had started using B-707s quickly because it was in a rush to get rid of its DC-7s.
Delta also got rid of its -7s first and kept three DC-6s that were converted into freighters. It retired the -6s when it acquired three L-100s ( civilian version of C-130 ).
Eastern had both the L 1049 and mostly L 1049 Cs. Eastern got 76, operated from 1951-1968. Eastern operated 49 DC-7Bs. They leased 13 DC-6s and DC-6Bs. The OP’s picture is a 7, as they had 4-bladed props, while 6’s had, at least originally, 3-bladed props.
R-4360’s? For the DC-7 try R-3350 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_DC-7 .
And how can the power recovery turbine (PRT) be “swallowed into the cylinders”? Each PRT was driven by the exhaust gas from a group of cylinders, and it was connected mechanically to the propeller shaft through, yes, an automobile automatic transmission torque converter, hence the name power recovery turbine.