WHBM

BWIA didn't actually own any Viscounts, they belonged to BOAC, as partial shareholder, in fact to a division called "BOAC Associated Companies Ltd", and were handed out to quite a number of the various old colonial airlines in The Caribbean and Asia that BOAC had an interest in. Some of them got passed around from one to another over time, having a livery based on BOAC's but with individual titles. Quite a number of BWIA's aircraft operated what were actually badged as BOAC services. There was a Bahamas Airways in the 1950s, but it only ran domestic DC3s, and BOAC provided flights to Florida and the Caribbean using these Viscounts, with BWIA pilots but a BOAC cabin crew base in Nassau.

jlemon

21. You are darn close, sir! The initial config chosen by Delta for the Convair 880 featured 72 seats in an all first class cabin plus 12 seats in the lounge for a total of 84 seats.

jlemon

13. Yep, Western had more Boeing 720Bs in their fleet at the end of 1968 than any other aircraft type.

However, they had less than 30 so please guess again!

jrl767

here's a "definite maybe" guess -- American with a 727-100; the five stops being:

1. Washington National (DCA)
2. Nashville (BNA)
3. Memphis (MEM)
4. Little Rock (LIT)
5. Oklahoma City (OKC)

13- how about 27 720Bs in the WA fleet in 1968

WHBM

I think Braniff was the only main line carrier serving Corpus Christi. That's a LOT of stops for the network Braniff had at the time, and pretty fast so they must have been short ones, so if I were in Harding Lawrence's place I'd say what's the best aircraft for quick short stops. Well of course, the One-Eleven. New York, Washington National, Nashville, Memphis, Little Rock, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, then Corpus Christi. Did it go on to Brownsville afterwards ? And I wonder if there was a BN 707 that left New York later and ran non-stop to Dallas, connecting into it.

jlemon

13. Correct!

16. An excellent guess! However, the airline was not American, the aircraft was not a Boeing 727-100 and the flight did not stop at DCA, BNA, MEM, LIT or OKC between Philadelphia and Dallas Love Field. Please guess again!

WHBM

The Fairchild F-228 was a variant of the Fokker F-28 jet, I understand it was reduced in size even further. Many of the components were actually shipped over by Fokker to the Fairchild plant in Hagerstown MD (Like the other Fokker/Fairchild products, quite a lot of the structure was actually manufactured by Shorts in Belfast under subcontract), not actually built into aircraft, stored there for a while, and then sent back to Amsterdam and incorporated in later F-28s.

Fairchild then had one last go at the Fokker alliance, and ordered an initial 12 F-28s built in Amsterdam for resale in North America, just acting as sales dealer. These never sold, apart from the couple that Transair of Canada leased, the earlier ones hung around Hagerstown for years and were finally sent back to the Netherlands where they joined the later ones stored there that had never even been flown across the Atlantic. Strangely, Fokker then found it quite straightforward to sell them elsewhere in the world.

The small 50-seat jets of the late 1960s were notable sales dogs, the F-28 probably the best, and that wasn't saying much. The similar sized VFW-614 never sold a single unit of about 20 they built. The Yak-40 from the Soviet Union did quite well there, but despite much sales effort at international airshows didn't sell at all in The West. And then there was the Scott Furlong Sovereign

jlemon

7. An excellent guess, sir! And Braniff International operating a BAC One-Eleven is correct!

Your stops are correct as well with the exception of Little Rock as this flight actually stopped in Fort Worth (GSW) following the stop in Dallas. Here's the 1966 sched.....

BN 215: New York Newark (EWR) 5:30p - 6:27p Washington D.C. National (DCA) 6:45p (EDT) - 6:14p (CST) Nashville (BNA) 6:34p - 7:17p Memphis (MEM) 7:32p - 8:45p Dallas Love (DAL) 9:15p - 9:29p Fort Worth (GSW) 9:44p - 10:21p Austin (AUS) 10:35p - 10:58p San Antonio (SAT) 11:15p - 11:50p Corpus Christi (CRP)
Op: Daily
Equip: "JET BAC One-11"
Classes of service: F/Y
Meal service: Dinner DCA-BNA

This flight did not continue on to Brownsville.

Braniff did indeed operate a flight with Boeing equipment that connected to the above flight not once but twice. Here's the sched.....

BN 5: New York (JFK) 6:45p - 8:00p Dallas Love (DAL) 8:45p - 9:35p San Antonio (SAT)
Op: Daily
Equip: "JET Boeing" (actual aircraft not specified so it may have been either a 707 or 720)
Classes of service: F/Y
Meal service: Dinner JFK-DAL

And there was another mainline air carrier serving Corpus Christi at this time: Eastern. Here's an EA sched from 1965.....

EA 133: New York Newark (EWR) 7:55a - 8:27a Philadelphia (PHL) 8:55a - 9:29a Baltimore (BAL) 10:00a (EDT) - 10:37a (EST) Atlanta (ATL) 11:25a (EST) - 11:36a (CST) New Orleans (MSY) 12:10p - 1:05p Houston Hobby (HOU) 1:30p - 2:09p Corpus Christi (CRP)
Op: Daily EWR-HOU, Ex. Sat. HOU-CRP
Equip: Boeing 727-100
Classes of service: F/Y
Meal service: Snack in F only EWR-PHL, Snack in F/Y BAL-ATL, Lunch in F/Y ATL-MSY, Snack in F/Y MSY-HOU

It appears that Eastern was the first airline to introduce jet service into Corpus Christi with the 727.

jlemon

9. Excellent commentary, as usual! This 1967 ad was actually placed by Fairchild Hiller concerning the F-228 (note they left the "H" out referencing the FH-227 turboprop) which would have been a 50 passenger regional jet and was based on the successful Fokker F28. But, of course, the F-228 was never built.

And we are still looking for the identity of the first airline to actually order the F-228. Anyone care to fill in the blank?

WHBM

Fairchild F-228 jet :

https://www.flightglobal.com/FlightP...20-%200200.PDF

jrl767

West Coast?

Seat 2A

4. In 1965, this airline operated the world's first Douglas DC-9-10 flight. Name the airline and the departure and arrival airports as well as the one intermediate stop made by this inaugural flight.

I'm pretty sure this was Delta - really sure, in fact. I'm less sure about the route. I suspect it's something short, in the southeast like ATL-MEM-ORD or MSY-ATL-BNA.

14. Also in 1968, how many Lockheed L-188 Electra combi passenger/freight turboprops was Western operating and what was the primary geographical region served by these aircraft?

Strictly guess on the number - 2 - as well as the region - Alaska.

jlemon

9. Correct!

And West Coast actually ran an ad in 1967 announcing the F-228:

"We have plans for you people who don't fly far with us"

"The plan: to have new Fairchild F-228 Fanjets in service by 1970. The first jets built specifically for short-range operations - distances of as little as one hundred miles. Short-hop customers will be "jumping puddles" with all the comfort, flair and flourish of our far-flying DC-9 Fanjet passengers. West Coast is the first airline to order this new type of plane. West Coast was also first with the now-famous F-27 Propjet. And first again when the new seven-passenger MiniLiner joined the fleet. The best plane for every purpose - we plan it that way."

WEST COAST AIRLINES

jlemon

4. Delta is correct! The date of this inaugural DC-9-14 flight was November 29, 1965. So all we need to do now is to fill in the blank here with regard to the routing: Atlanta (ATL) - Memphis (MEM) - ____________

14. Alaska is correct! Western used these Electra combi aircraft to replace Lockheed Constellation service between Anchorage and Homer, Kenai, King Salmon and Kodiak. The Connies were formerly operated by Pacific Northern. I also believe WA was flying L-188 combi service on an Anchorage (ANC) - Cordova (CDV) - Yakutat (YAK) - Juneau (JNU) - Ketchikan (ANN) - Seattle (SEA) routing and may have been flying Kodiak - Seattle nonstop as well.

However, Western was operating more than two Electra combi propjets at this time so please guess again!

jrl767

4- St Louis?
14- six?