Originally Posted by
Seat 2A
I've logged alot of flighte between Seattle and Alaska and I don't think we ever get more than about 20 miles from land. Check it out on a map. The route, even to Kodiak, is never far from the coast.
In terms of intercontinental trans-oceanic flights, here's what I've found so far from my November 1966 OAG:
Havana to Madrid: IBERIA Constellation via the Azores
Havana to Prague: CSA Czechoslovakian Brittania via Gander and Shannon
Perth to Johannesburg: QANTAS Electra via Christmas Island and Mauritius
Perth to Johannesburg: South African DC-7 via Christmas Island and Mauritius
New York to Luxembourg: Icelandic Loftledir via Iceland
So far as I know, Western was the only 720 operator to Hawaii, though Northwest might have run one or two back in the early 1970s. I'm gonna go with Western on the 720B.
As for the DC-8 - man, it's a toss up between United's -71s and Hawaiian Air's -62s. I'm gonna go with United.
And now the 707... I'm thinking TWA. Maybe American on those daylight runs to Australia... Even Western ran 707s now and then... Pan Am and Braniff were done with 707s to Hawaii by the late seventies. Nah - let's go with TWA.
Confession time....I posed those questions but I am unsure of the answers!
That being said, I think Western is correct with regard to their B720B "Islander" service.....
And I also think it may be a toss up between UA and HA concerning DC-8 ops, although I seem to recall that HA was still flying the DC-8 when UA had transitioned to DC-10-10s, DC-10-30s and B747-100s for their Hawaii services (this was before B757-200 and B767-300 ETOPS flights were introduced by UA).
As for 707 services, it may well have been TWA, although as you point out WA operated the B3F to Hawaii. I also remember TW operating an elderly B747-100 STL-HNL as well......