WHBM

The Strat was still running Pan Am's Alaska services well into 1960, to the intermediate points which didn't have capability for a 707. Where you have an operation with a given type, as here, it's an effort to change over the flight crews, the ground mechanics, etc, and Pan Am had enough to do with jet introduction elsewhere. There were no other Pan Am piston aircraft out of Seattle. Strats were also still doing residual services from California to Hawaii, in fact the last Pan Am Strat flight ever was 18 December 1960, Honolulu to San Francisco.

Besides the new 707/DC8, in 1960 their principal long haul aircraft on the remaining piston engine flights was the DC7, the long haul DC7C on the intercontinental runs, and the DC7B running to Latin America. The DC6B had become confined to Miami at this stage, and the German services still used the DC4 - there was never much point in using a pressurised aircraft on the Berlin corridor flights as they were always confined to 10,000 feet, that being in the original corridor agreement and was never changed until German reunification in 1991. The DC6B was by 1961 moved on to both the Alaska and the Berlin corridor routes.

As some may know, I was in the Smithsonian Udvar-Hazy museum in Washington DC last week, and they have a P&W R-4360 engine out of the Strat on display, the most complex piston engine ever. The effort to just design and assemble it must have been enormous. I remember an old BOAC engineer writing that there was a certain failure condition (forget what) on the Strat which meant they had to change all the spark plugs, unscheduled work, on overtime, and hopefully weekend rate too. 4 rows of 7 cylinders so 28 cylinders, 2 spark plugs per cylinder. 4 engines. That's 224 spark plug changes. The overtime paid regularly covered some major family holidays. Here's the engine, immaculate, they were usually covered in oil. The Strat was the only civil type to use it, although a few military types did. Last and biggest engine before the jets swept all away. https://airandspace.si.edu/collectio...-radial-engine

jlemon

Interesting to note that by 1963 Pan Am was operating a "change of gauge" flight on its service from Seattle to southeast Alaska, Whitehorse and on to Fairbanks. PA 923 was operated with a Boeing 707 on a daily basis from SEA to the Annette Island Airport (ANN, where deplaning passengers then connected to a seaplane service operated by a local air carrier for the short flight to Ketchikan as there was no road between ANN and Ketchikan proper) and then on to Juneau. Northbound passengers continuing on PA 923 then connected in Juneau to a Douglas DC-6B for the flight to Whitehorse and Fairbanks with this service operating on Wednesdays and Saturdays only. Pan Am was also operating a daily Boeing 707 nonstop at this same time from Seattle to Fairbanks. So it appears that Pan Am had to base a DC-6B (which the airline called the "Douglas Super-6 Clipper") at Fairbanks in order to serve Whitehorse with the aircraft only being operated twice a week in scheduled service. Here's the northbound sched....

PA 923: Seattle (SEA) 09:15 - 09:30 Ketchikan (ANN - see note below) 10:20 - 11:05 Juneau (JNU) 13:35 - 13:35 Whitehorse (YXY) 14:00 - 15:10 Fairbanks (FAI)
Freq: SEA-JNU Daily, JNU-FAI Wednesdays & Saturdays only
Service classes/class: F/T SEA-JNU, T JNU-FAI ("President Special & Rainbow Service - First & Tourist Class: President Special provides the ultimate in First Class service. This includes deluxe food service and extra cabin attendants.")
Equip: JET (707) SEA-JNU, Douglas Super-6 Clipper JNU-FAI
Note: "Ketchikan Airport is located on Annette Island, approximately 20 miles from Ketchikan proper. Connecting service between Annette Island and Ketchikan is provided by Alaska Coastal-Ellis Airlines only. Reservations for direct connecting passengers not required."

And the southbound sched....

PA 924: Fairbanks (FAI) 06:30 - 09:35 Whitehorse (YXY) 10:00 - 12:05 Juneau (JNU) 12:30 - 13:15 Ketchikan (ANN) 13:45 - 16:15 Seattle (SEA)
Freq: FAI-JNU Wednesdays & Saturdays only, JNU-SEA Daily
Equip: Douglas Super-6 Clipper FAI-JNU, JET (707) JNU-SEA

jlemon

Ah, I think KTN was actually ANN. See above......

jlemon

11. Wild guess time.....I recall that Delta was still operating a hub at Dallas/Fort Worth at the time so let's go with DL operating a B737-200 ICT - DFW - SAT.

Seat 2A

Yep, you're right. Goes with the territory staying up late to formulate these questions...

Seat 2A

Seat 2A

We're down to six questions out of an original batch of 35. See how much easier mine are? Once we polish these remaining questions off, I've got yet another batch waiting in the wings - unless one of you wants to step up and present a batch of your own. Following jlemon's lead with his questions, I am going to request that you please limit your response to no more than two questions per day so that all may participate. And as always, we are looking for complete answers here. Thanks!

2 . (1988) You’ve recently relocated to a new job in Ft. Myers, Florida and you now have your first travel assignment – a trip to San Diego. A check of your pocket flight guide reveals lots of connection possibilities, but what’s this? The RSW-SAN market just happens to be served by a single direct flight that will put you into San Diego in perfect time for a late dinner with colleagues flying in from the Pacific Northwest. The flight makes three stops enroute, but hey – it sure beats connecting in Atlanta or Dallas. Name the airline, aircraft and the three enroute stops.
It's not Northwest but it is a 727-200

11 . (1988) You’ve just received an invitation for your granddaughter’s wedding, to be held in San Antonio, Texas late this spring. Normally you’d drive because you don’t like to fly – in fact it’s been 20 years since you last flew – but you’re getting up there in years and the drive to south Texas is a bit farther than you’d like these days. You call Continental airlines – the one you flew last time from Wichita to Texas – and are disappointed to hear that Continental no longer offers a direct flight to San Antonio. A second call to a local travel agent does however reveal a single daily direct flight out of Wichita that makes one enroute stop. You’ll take one seat, please. Identify the usual triumvirate – airline, aircraft and enroute stop.
A N S W E R E D

12. (2001) Summer is not the best time to be visiting the Dominican Republic, but if you want a chance at winning the contract to supply air-conditioning for a new 310 room resort outside of Santo Domingo, then off you go. Logging in on your new laptop, you access aa.com only to discover that all of AA’s flights into SDQ are sold out in both First Class and Coach. What the – alright then, who else flies down there? I mean, outside of AA, there aren’t a lot of options these days. Imagine then your surprise and delight to discover another airline operating a single daily nonstop flight between Boston and Santo Domingo. Even American has never flown nonstop on this route. You quickly book a First Class seat. Identify the airline and the aircraft type operated here.

16. (2001) It’s been an unusually hot summer in Dallas, so when business calls in the form of a weekend conference in Freeport, Bahamas, you couldn’t be happier. In fact, you’re positively ecstatic upon learning you won’t have to make a connection because there’s a one-stop direct flight between DFW and FPO. You quickly book yourself a seat in the forward cabin and start packing your bag. Identify the airline, the aircraft and the enroute stop.
It's not US Air or TWA or AA, not a 737, 757 or MD80 and the flight did not route via CLT, MIA or JFK. The "forward cabin" does not necessarily mean "First Class"

18 . (1959) Your little sister is finally getting married and you can’t wait to go to the wedding. Problem is, she’s getting married in San Francisco and you live outside of St. Louis, MO. This is gonna be an expensive trip. And a long one. You’ll probably have a couple of stops enroute. Imagine then your surprise when you discover a flight operating nonstop between St. Louis and Oakland. It leaves St. Louis at 9:00pm, arriving Oakland at 1:25am so you’ll have to overnight at OAK and then catch the ferry across to San Francisco the next day. Identify the airline and aircraft operating this flight.The aircraft was a DC-6 and the airline was Trans- something or other... That's right. IT STARTED WITH Trans-

24 . (1988) In the years since deregulation, a lot of airlines have offered nonstop service from Long Island’s Macarthur Airport to Florida. By mid-1988 however, only one airline still provides nonstop service from Florida into ISP. Identify the airline and the two Floridian cities served.
A N S W E R E D

32. (2001) Over the years, a number of different airlines have tried their hand at offering low cost single class nonstop service between Chicago (ORD, MDW) and Los Angeles (LAX). In mid-2001, just two airlines offer such flights – one out of Midway and one out of O’Hare. Identify each airline and the aircraft type it operates on its respective route.
A N S W E R E D

YVR Cockroach

16. Going to guess it was AA via MIA. Back in that era, AA dropped domestic First as First outside the U.S. and called it BC. Since it wasn't an MD-80, I'll guess it was a 752.

Seat 2A

jrl767

11- ICT-XXX-SAT, not a DL 737, not via DFW ... let’s try a reincarnated Braniff with a 72S over Kansas City (MCI)

Seat 2A

Seat 2A

Good Morning!

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood. Here in Jean, Nevada the "neighborhood" consists of my hotel, a couple of gas stations and a correctional facility. My kind of town! I'll take this over the bright lights of Las Vegas any day. Soon I'll be off to McCarran where three flights await aboard Alaska's A319, A320 and a 737-900. As such, my internet availability will be limited but I'll do my best to respond to your responses in a timely manner, mainly in the Alaska Lounges enroute of which there is one - in Seattle for about an hour later this afternoon. Thanks!

jlemon

11. Let's try Northwest with a DC9-30 via Memphis.

Seat 2A

JoeDTW

2. I'll get this one started with an NW 727, via DTW, MKE, and MSP.

The comments about Interstate Barbecue are dead on, although their sandwiches are messy. In 2008, I was on a NW Express CRJ from MEM to EVV. When the flight attendant came by with the beverage service, she saw an Interstate take out bag and gave me two extra paper towels, which I needed; luckily, the seat next to me was empty so I could spread out.

I flew home from the 2016 MSY airliners international convention via MEM, to log short lived Glo Air. While I was in MEM, I stopped at Interstate, and the food was just as good as ever!