Question: Which airline offered scheduled jet service into Naples, Florida?

Answer: Atlantic Southeast Airlines (ASA) operating as Delta Connection with Canadair CRJ-200 regional jets.

Response: I was unaware that ASA flew into Naples. So Make that two jet operators. Back in 1986, I flew MIA-APF in a Piedmont F28, then back to MIA aboard a PBA DC-3. Great day!

Question: Before the advent of regional jets, which two airlines offered jet service into Waterloo, Iowa?

Answer: Ozark has been mentioned (DC-9s). Was the other carrier Braniff International with BAC One-Eleven aircraft?

Response: Nope. It was Air Illinois, just before they ceased operations.

Question: Which airline operated 707-320s between Kansas City and Minneapolis?

Answer: Was it one of these three carriers? Braniff International, Northwest Orient, TWA.

Response: Yes.

Question: What jet equipped airline was based out of Terre Haute, IN during the early 1980s?

Answer: Britt Airways with BAC One-Eleven aircraft. They also flew the Fairchild Hiller FH-227 turboprop.

Response: To quote the late, great Felix The Cat ~ RRRRighty-Oooh!

Pan Am Flt. 1 Back In The Day
 

I'll go ahead and answer the question I posed above concerning the routing of Pan Am flight #1. This was Pan Am's westbound round the world service. Data is taken from the February 1986 edition of the Official Airline Guide (OAG).

On Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, PA flt. #1 had a routing of JFK-SFO-HND-HKG-BKK-DEL-THR-BEY-IST-FRA-LHR-JFK-SFO.

On Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays, PA flt. #1 had routing of JFK-SFO-HND-HKG-BKK-DEL-KHI-BEY-IST-FRA-LHR-JFK-SFO.

The difference in the routing was that four times a week, PA flt. #1 stopped in Teheran, Iran (THR). The other three days of the week, the flight stopped in Karachi, Pakistan (KHI) instead.

Note that according to the OAG data, PA flt. #1 apparently flew the JFK-SFO leg twice (although I'm not sure if the flight actually did this or whether this was simply a continuation of the westbound around the world service).

OK, I'll narrow down my answer concerning the Kansas City-Minneapolis service question: Braniff International with the Boeing 707-320B (B3F).

That's it! I do envy you all those Braniff BAC-111 flights. My first flight on Braniff was between Colorado Springs and Denver aboard a two-tone green 727-27QC in 1975. I also logged a flight on the MEM-LIT-FSM-TUL-OKC-DFW flight (Orange 727-227) back in 1976. I do wish I'd managed a flight aboard the 747 and one of the older DC-8s though...

I don't believe this one's been answered yet:

1) What was the series designation of the short fuselage DC-9 model operated by Air West (which was subsequently renamed Hughes Air West)?

Weren't some of (though not necessarily all) of those RW birds ex-CO machines?
As such, I think most if not all of CO's models were -15RCs. If I recall, some of them went to Air Canada as well.

I think it was DC-9-14.

The DC9-14s were the ex-West Coast ones (N9101-4). The ex-CO examples were DC9-15RC (=Rapid Change). They also had a single DC9-15 acquired from Korean and two more DC9-14s from the merger with Bonanza, one of which had also originally been with CO.

The original Braniff International was quite the sylish airline....I remember sipping on fine red wine from South America shortly after I turned 21 - and I was in coach.

Besides the BAC One-Eleven, I also flew in BN operated B720, B727-100 and B727-200 aircraft. Routings included IAH-DFW, AUS-DFW, DFW-OKC-ICT-MCI-ORD, DFW-MCI-ORD, DFW-ORD and DFW-DTW.

And they had some very pretty lady flight attendants as well!

And this post engenders several questions I'd love to have answered:

What were the various series designations of the short fuselage DC-9s and what were the differences? Did these aircraft have leading edge devices for increased lift on landing and takeoff?

It appears there were DC-9-10s, DC-9-14s and DC-9-15s produced in Long Beach. Were there any other variants? And what series short fuselage DC-9s did such airlines as Delta, Eastern, TWA, North Central, Trans Texas (TTa), Southern, etc. etc. fly? And who were the other foreign operators of the smaller, original DC-9?

I'm also aware of an ex-SAS DC-9 that has a very interesting mission these days. I believe the aircraft is a DC-9 Series 21 and I think it is still currently based at the Perris Valley Airport in southern California. This DC-9 is operated by "Skydive Perris" and is actually used to transport skydivers who exit the aircraft via the rear airstairs which are deployed in flight. In other words, the passengers (with parachutes, of course) jump out of the back of the 9. And I believe this airplane even still has a first class cabin in addition to the coach section.

Not a question, but a statement.

The DC-9-21 was a rare variant, only 10 -20 series made. They had -30 wings but a short -10 style fuselage. Only Scandinavian ordered them.

There have been a number of rare variants.

Qantas had some rare 707s. Not many airlines had the 737-100 or 737-600. The 737-200 Combi is not that common. The 757-200 Combi is downright rare, with only 2 made for Royal Nepal. However, the engineering to design the cargo door was reused to design frieghters for UPS and others. Any variant of the Convair 880 and 990 are not that common. F28-1000 are not that common. VFW-Fokker 614, sort of a RJ, is extremely rare. So rare that VFW bought back planes to save money on producing spare parts. The Dassault Mercure also was only sold to Air Inter, selling 11.

This is where collecting postcards for 40 years comes in handy. I'm just going off the top of my head here, so I'll probably miss a few but here goes...

North America
Air Canada
ABACO (Mexico)
Aero California
Aeronaves de Mexico
ALM (I'm pretty sure - Dutch Antilles)

South America
Intercontinental (Colombia)
Aeropostal (Venezuela)

Europe
SAS
Iberia
Spantax
British Midland
Swissair
KLM
Germanair
Finnair
Air One (Italy)
Itavia (Italy)

Asia
Korean

Middle East
Saudia

I feel like there must be a bunch of others, in Europe for sure, but Africa? I can't think of even one...

If you go to www.rzjets.net and search by type, you'll see all the DC-9-14 and -15 airframes and operators' history. It'll take a while to wade through the list though ;-).

Many of the CO/RW DC-9-15s are still earning their keep with USA Jet at KYIP.

Thanks to everyone for your excellent responses with regard to my questions & etc. concerning the venerable DC-9!

BTW, had lunch with a good friend today who is now an aviation safety manager for an oil & gas company in Houston. In his previous life before he joined the private sector, he was a USMC aviator flying the military version of the DC-9-30 for the Marines in the left seat. These 9s were fitted with aux fuel tanks which enabled the airplane to fly nonstop West Coast-Hawaii.....barely.

P.S. - DC-9 Series 10
 

Well, with regard to the DC-9 series 10, I think I've finally got this figured out.....

There were no actual DC-9-10s built. Instead, there were two main subvariants of the short fuselage DC-9 series 10, being the DC-9-14 and and the DC-9-15. These aircraft did not have leading edge devices.

The only other short fuselage DC-9 produced was the DC-9-21 which featured the wing from the larger DC-9 series 30 (apparently with leading edge devices for improved lift during takeoffs and landings) plus more powerful engines. As mentioned in a previous post above, only ten (10) DC-9-21 aircraft were produced at the specific request of Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) which required an aircraft capable of enhanced short field performance.

The DC-9-14, DC-9-15 and DC-9-21 all had an overall length of 104.4 feet with a fuselage length of 92.1 feet. However, the DC-9-21 wingspan was slightly longer as it had the series 30 wing.

Please let me know if I've got any of this wrong!

Hmmmm, haven't seen any new questions in awhile. I'll try to rectify this situation this weekend.....:-:

Happy Friday Everyone! :cool:

This is an outstanding thread.