YVR Cockroach

Thanks for the link. Had no idea that the Caravelle borrowed parts from the Comet.

WHBM

We have actually discussed this here a while back. Quite a bit of the Caravelle was designed under subcontract by De Havilland, including the nose and forward fuselage, and in fact these parts for the first few aircraft were actually built by dH at Hatfield and shipped over to Toulouse. The Rolls-Royce Avon engines were the same as in the Comet 4, and the engine controls etc all came from the same source.

Unkindly suggested that the nose sections from the withdrawn Comet 1, and the part-built Comet 2/3 (notably more sophisticated), which were all being dismantled and scrapped at the same time, were those shipped over to France ! They look remarkably similar.

Seat 2A

48. Now you are in Palm Beach in 1985 where you've been inspecting a sailboat that's for sale. This catamaran is in excellent shape and you are ready to do the deal. "Ah, there's just one little catch," says the broker you've been working with. "The owner is in San Diego and you will have to meet personally with him in order to complete the transaction." So you're now on a morning flight out of West Palm Beach which will make three stops before arriving into SAN in time for an afternoon meeting with the owner of the boat. Name the airline, all three stops in order and the equipment. PARTIALLY ANSWERED - The aircraft was a Boeing 727 as the air carrier in question only operated the B727-100 and B727-200 with the specific type operated on this flight not being indicated in its timetable. So that rules out TWA, Eastern and American, and stops were not made at TPA, MCO, ATL, STL, PHX or ONT.

A 727 flight that would only show 727 rules out the majors. You've got me wondering if we're talking about New Orleans based Pride Air here? I'd love to have posed a question or two about them but they were only in business for a short time in 1985 and my lone 1985 OAG doesn't reflect their schedules. I was booked to fly aboard a Pride Air 727-100 from LAX to SAN sometime back in 1985 when I had my Unlimited Mileage Pass on United. Alas, my flight into LA was late and I missed my flight. Same thing happened with an Arrow Air DC-8-62 out of Orlando. If only I could go back in time! Anyway, shot in the dark here but given the year and the destination, let's try Pride Air operating a 727 PBI-RSW-MSY-LAX-SAN.

jrl767

time to start engines on these
36- let's try a roundabout routing ... Northwest, operating a 727-251 into O'Hare (ORD) via Seattle (SEA), Spokane (GEG), and Minneapolis/St Paul (MSP)

38- I am intrigued with the idea of a Republic Airlines DC-9-30 out of Hobby (HOU), stopping at Phoenix (PHX) and Las Vegas (LAS) ... the problem is that a third stop in southern California doesn't make sense, given the prominence of PSA and Air Cal ... so maybe Reno (RNO)

jlemon

48. An excellent guess, Seat 2A.....and Pride Air is correct! Your routing is almost on target as well with only your choice of Fort Myers as the being first stop not being correct. And here's a hint: the first stop was made in Florida but wasn't MCO, TPA or RSW.

Please guess again, sir!

jlemon

36. A great guess but, unfortunately, it wasn't Northwest and stops were not made at SEA, GEG or MSP nor was the equipment a B727-200. On the plus side of the column your observation concerning a fairly roundabout routing is spot on.

38. Well, this flight actually departed from Houston Intercontinental and you have correctly guessed the third stop: Reno. However, it wasn't Republic, the aircraft wasn't a DC9-30 and stops were not made at PHX or LAS.

jlemon

And I'm still waiting for my 1/200 scale model of a Caravelle in the livery of United Airlines to be sent to me.

I ordered it last fall; however, something about a situation in China has apparently delayed shipment.....

jrl767

36- ok, let's try American with a 727-23 via DFW, Oklahoma City (OKC), and Tulsa (TUL)
38- United 727-222 via Denver (DEN) and Salt Lake City (SLC) ... this was almost going to be my first guess, with the third stop being SFO, but RNO isn't beyond the realm of belief for UA (even though it was probably mainly a Western destination from SLC)

jlemon

36. Yep, it was a B727-100....but it wasn't American and stops were not made at OKC or TUL. However, you've correctly guessed the third stop: Dallas/Fort Worth.

38. Nope, it wasn't United and the first stop wasn't DEN. However, the equipment was a B727-200 and SLC was the second stop. And you're obviously much closer to the answer here.

jrl767

36- standard 727 DFW-ORD; not AA ... gotta be United, which means the prior stop was DEN (I know from experience that UA ran a number of DEN-XXX-ORD flights in 1983, having taken one thru OKC and one thru MCI) ... and I think that means the first stop was most likely just a short hop from SFO ... maybe as short as the 20-minute block time (probably no more than 8-10 minutes in the air) across the bay to Oakland (OAK)

38- if I’m not mistaken, in the past year or so we had a question about single-plane IAH-SLC service that had the surprising answer of Western via Albuquerque ... given that we’re talking about a 72S that didn’t stop in DEN, I believe it’s time to recycle that guess

jlemon

36. Yep, it was United. However, this flight did not stop at DEN, MCI or OAK. And in fact, the first stop was not made anywhere in California.

38. Western is correct! Here's the sched.....

WA 375: Houston Intercontinental (IAH) 7:15a - 8:15a Albuquerque (ABQ) 8:50a - 10:13a Salt Lake City (SLC) 11:13a 11:28a Reno (RNO) 11:55a - 12:42p San Jose (SJC)
Freq: Daily
Service classes: F/Y
Meal service: Breakfast IAH-ABQ, Snack in F only ABQ-SLC & SLC-RNO
Equip: 72S

Herb687

I struck up a conversation once with a UAL retiree who went to work for UA in DFW sales within a week of BN shutting down. UA beefed up its Texas service as soon as BN went out of business. So, I am going to guess that this UA 727 routed SFO-SAT-AUS-DFW-ORD.

jlemon

36. Correct! Here's the sched..

UA 988: San Francisco (SFO) 8:40a - 1:55p San Antonio (SAT) 2:25p - 2:53p Austin (AUS) 3:30p - 4:21p Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) 4:55p - 7:03p Chicago O'Hare (ORD)
Freq: Daily
Service classes: F/Y
Meal service: Breakfast SFO-SAT, Dinner DFW-ORD
Equip: 727

Inside of the Lone Star state from SAT to AUS, United was operating three 727-100 flights a day at this time on this very short hop while Continental was operating two flights a day with the 727-200 with Emerald operating code share service with the DC9-10 for Pan Am also twice a day.

And from AUS to DFW, this was the only flight operated by United while American was operating nine flights a day with 727-100, 727-200, MD-80 and DC-10 equipment with Delta operating five flights a day with the 727-200 and DC9-30.

jlemon

And according to the on-line publication "Airlinerwatch", passenger numbers here in the U.S. have now returned to what they were back in 1954:

https://www.airlinerwatch.com/2020/0...s-to-1954.html

dfw88

In the name of finishing this up I'll take a go at randomly guessing Florida airports. I'll start with one almost on the GC route from PBI to MSY: SRQ