WHBM

Hello S2A, all the way down there, in the land of huge steaks and fine red wines.

The big British Short Sandringham flying boat was sold to a range of operators down there operating out of BA in the 1940s-50s, the main route being from BA across the River Plate to Montevideo in Uruguay, with operators from both countries, but also substantial runs upriver in the days before runways were built. Several of Graham Green's novels about seedy colonial outposts mention them in passing. Argentina at this time was one of the major export markets for British-built airliners, right up to the jets, Comets and One-Elevens.

Any signs of the flying boat base still there ?

http://www.histarmar.com.ar/AVIACION...RiverPlate.htm

BeatCal

Piano lounge
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Eb_5jJb...%3DEb_5jJbTqTM

miniliq

Zero! -- if you'd added Calgary I would have said YYC-YVR 6 days per week. But otherwise there were no flights between those major cities.

miniliq

According to my 1950 OAG, there were two RTW flights: on PA6 the Constellation was used on Tuesdays from New York all the way to Tokyo, at which point a B-377 Clipper took over. On PA4 the Constellation was used on Fridays as far as HKG, then a DC-4 to MNL; then the Clipper for the remainder of the trip -- which BTW was not really round the world -- they ended in SFO

WHBM

Yes, I'm afraid this was the trick question. Although Canadian Pacific had scheduled flights from each of the major Canadian cities listed in 1949, they were just bush operations headed northward. It was a long-running issue between CP and the Canadian government, owner of Trans-Canada, that was only very gradually rescinded over time.

WHBM

I'll BET grandfather, flying for them over that period, had some great stories. Did he write a book ?

Yes, it was a DC4 that went on from Calcutta across to San Francisco, three times a week. Surprising that by mid-1949 Pan Am still couldn't find a pressurised aircraft for this, but they had plenty of DC4s getting used on multi-day runs elsewhere as well. The Stratocruisers at this time were just coming on line, two appear used on transatlantic routes and another four on California to Hawaii flights. Everything else across the Pacific, north, mid and south, was still DC4s.


Thanks all, that just leaves one question from this set open.

Seat 2A

Greetings gang! There's been a slight change of locale since I last checked in. I've left Buenos Aires and am now sitting here in the Rose CIP Lounge in Ho Chi Minh City waiting and watching as my Lufthansa A340-600 is being prepared for the short flight up to Bangkok. There's a refrigerator at one end of the lounge that's stocked with an admirable selection of beverages including a Czech pilsner. Alas, it's not working but my room temperature water helps a bit. Unfortunately, the air-conditioner is also struggling so the water is... tepid at best.

While I wait, let's have a go at the one unanswered question:

7. Yet another DC3 leaves Spokane WA at 0630, with no less than 14 intermediate stops to Idaho Falls, where it arrives mid-afternoon. Which airline ? Looking at it, I think you could outrun this flight end-to-end nowadays with a good sports car.

"Roughly alphabetical" order notwithstanding, this all seems like West Coast Airlines country. W comes a long ways after N, but even so West Coast seems the only logical choice for my overheated brain.

P.S. Saw the A350 remotely parked in Singapore this morning. There's also a nice group of AN-24s resting quietly beside the taxiway as we made our way into the terminal at SGN earlier this afternoon.

P.P.S. Thanks, WHBM, for the history re. the Argentine flying boats. Are there any good videos about them?

jlemon

Seat 2A, my man, you do get around! I for one am looking forward to your latest trip report, especially with regard to your impressions concerning Lufthansa as I'll be on board no less than four intercontinental flights on LH this summer (two on the A380 and two on the A340-300), all in biz class featuring what I hope will be their new lie-flat C seats.

And speaking of aircraft sightings......

How about a brand new Biman Bangladesh Airlines B777-300ER? Saw one recently, of all places, the Acadiana Regional Airport (ARA) in New Iberia, Louisiana less than a mile from my office at ARA. The stretched triple seven had just emerged from one of the huge AvEx paint hangars at ARA with new paint and was being readied for a nonstop ferry flight under the command of Boeing pilots to Paine Field (PAE) north of Seattle prior to its delivery flight to Biman Bangladesh.

BTW, I believe WHBM had commented awhile back concerning the service operated by Biman Bangladesh (BG) into the U.K., I think with the DC-10. I also believe that BG is the sole remaining operator of the DC-10 in scheduled passenger service in the world. And that will come to an end on Feb. 20 when BG 1015 operates a routing of Dhaka (DAC) - Kuwait (KWI) - Birmingham (BHX) as their final scheduled DC-10 flight. But wait, there's more! Biman Bangladesh will then operate special "scenic" flights for aviation enthusiasts on Feb. 22, 23 and 24 from Birmingham with aisle and window seats only being sold. So if you're looking for one last nostalgic ride on board the DC-10, you might want to consider traveling to BHX in the U.K. and getting on board the old girl!

WHBM

You're close, S2A, because the carrier later merged up into West Coast, which is how these routes came into their network. There's a WikiStupidedia entry for the carrier of the time, but it's grossly wrong for when the merger took place. The carrier has a name that a number of other US operators elsewhere have had over time. One last chance, folks ..... oh, and if you're interested, here's the routing :

Spokane
Coeur d'Alene
Pullman
Lewiston
Walla Walla
Pasco
Pendleton
La Grange
Baker
Ontario
Boise
Gooding
Twin Falls
Burley
Pocatello
Idaho Falls

How many of those don't have any air service at all nowadays ? It looks like a classic air-mail run, probably with few passengers normally.

Two flights each way a day, leaving Boise (the airline's HQ) early morning out to both end points, returning in the afternoon, and leaving the two endpoints likewise early, for the throughout run. Therefore needed four DC3s to hold it down.

An oxymoron, surely ..... how can a video of a Flying Boat not be good But I can't see any.

jlemon

Ah, this sounds like Empire Airlines!

And here's a bonus quiz item:

Looking at the sixteen destinations listed above by WHBM, Boise and Spokane have most certainly had scheduled passenger jet service operated by a variety of air carriers for many years. However, a number of other small cities on this list also had jet service in the past. Name as many as you can and also identify the airlines that operated such service as well the respective jet aircraft (other than more recent regional jet types such as the Canadair CRJ-100/200 series) flown by these air carriers into these destinations.

jrl767

here are a handful, but I'll guess this list is probably neither 100% accurate nor complete

LWS - RW DC9
ALW - CZ B11
PSC - CZ B11; DL 733, 737, 72S, 319?; RW DC9; WC DC9
TWF - RW DC9
PIH - WA 737
IDA - WA 737

WHBM

Correct. Empire were previously called Zimmerley Airlines, and were taken over by West Coast in 1952. In all their history they had four DC3s, tail nos N62373 to 62376. As they used four all day, every day, they must have been tremendously reliable. You couldn't do that for years on end with modern turboprops.

I'm a bit surprised there's only one Lewiston in the listing. Having driven up that way a couple of times over the years, we commented on the continuous string of Lewisburg, Clarkston, Lewisville, Clarksburg, Lewis County, Clark County ...... they must surely get mixed up with one another regularly. Reminded of their big expedition only this week by a UK explorer just back from walking to the South Pole. His name, unbelievably ...... Lewis Clark http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25884398


And that closes the 1949 quiz ! On we go.

jlemon

An excellent start! I'll begin here with a list of the smaller cities in alphabetical order that had jet service and include some comments:

Idaho Falls (IDA) - Western Airlines (WA) with B737-200 service is correct. WA also served IDA with the B727-200. Plus Delta with B737-300 service and Hughes Airwest with DC9-10 and DC9-30 equipment followed by Republic. There are least two other airlines that also served Idaho Falls with jets not counting Canadair CRJ service (for example, Northwest Airlink operated nonstop IDA-MSP service with the CRJ at one point). And here's a hint: one of these air carriers was (and currently is) a major airline that operated mainline equipment into IDA.....and that airline was American with MD-80 service. And let's add Cascade Airways (CZ) to the list with BAC One-Eleven service. ANSWERED

Lewiston (LWS) - Cascade (CZ) with BAC One-Eleven service is correct. And there was at least one other airline that operated jet service into Lewiston: Hughes Airwest with DC9-10 and DC9-30 service followed by Republic. ANSWERED

Pasco (PSC) - Cascade (CZ) with the BAC One-Eleven, Delta with the B727-200 and B737-300 (which was preceded by Western (WA) which in turn operated the B727-200 and B737-200 into PSC), Hughes Airwest (and predecessor Air West) (RW) with the DC9-10 and DC9-30 (followed by Republic) and West Coast Airlines (WC?) with the DC9-10 are all correct. Plus Horizon Air (QX) with the DC9-10 followed by Fokker F28 Fellowship service. Let's mention the original Frontier (FL) as well with Boeing 737-200 equipment. Plus, let's add Alaska Airlines (AS) and PSA (PS) to the list, AS with B727s (I think) and PS with BAe 146-200s (I believe). ANSWERED

Pendleton (PDT) - United with B727-100, B727-200 and B737-200 service. ANSWERED

Pocatello (PIH) - Western with the B737-200 is correct. Prior to operating the 73S into PIH, WA served Pocatello with Douglas DC6 and Lockheed L-188 Electra aircraft. Plus Hughes Airwest (RW) with DC9-10 and DC9-30 service followed by Republic. And let's add Cascade Airways (CZ) to the list with BAC One-Eleven. ANSWERED

Twin Falls (TWF) - Hughes Airwest (and predecessor Air West) (RW) are correct with the DC9-10 and DC9-30 followed by Republic. I also seem to recall that Western may have operated seasonal B737-200 service into TWF during the winter months at one point as the airport served as a jet gateway to Sun Valley and its ski resorts (RW advertised Twin Falls at Sun Valley's jet gateway). ANSWERED

Walla Walla (ALW) - Cascade (CZ) with the BAC One-Eleven is correct. And as we have previously discussed, CZ had a maintenance base located at ALW for the BAC One-Eleven as well as its turboprop aircraft. West Coast Airlines served Walla Walla as well with DC-9-14 service. ANSWERED

jrl767

I managed to omit my speculation that Horizon (both as QX and as AS codeshare) operated F28 jets into ALW, IDA, LWS, and PSC ... and I would not be surprised to find those at PDT and PIH either

Seat 2A

My goodness! Y'all've been busy in my brief absence. It's a muggy morning here in Bangkok (Is it ever not?) but I've got the air-conditioner cranked and the coffee on, so we're off to a good start. In a couple hours I'll relocate to Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport where a Thai A330-300 awaits to transport me up to Hong Kong. That's where the real fun will begin as my next flight is in First Class aboard an Emirates A380 on to Dubai - oddly enough via Bangkok. I'm already looking forward to that first glass of Woodford and a nice presentation of Arabic mezze.