2) Actually Delta. Routing with the L10 was DTW-TPA-FLL and FLL-TPA-ATL.

7) Correct! I believe that FedEx and UPS had ordered A380 freighters but then cancelled these orders.

BTW, the only A340 flight I've ever taken was roundtrip LAX-PPT on Air Tahiti Nui (down to Tahiti in coach and then back to LA in business class). I have yet to fly on an A380.

10) Excellent response, although as Seat 2A points out, CO also operated the B737-100 and -300. And I think that CO also operated the B747-200 or am I mistaken?

BTW, I've flown on every jet aircraft CO ever operated with the exception of the B707s, the B737-100 and the DC-9-10. My first flight on CO was back in the late 60's on a B720B LAX-IAH. Continental ceased to exist last night at midnight and will be missed by many good folks. Back in the day, CO was truly "The Proud Bird With The Golden Tail" and later on was also a great airline to fly on when Gordon Bethune and his team were on the job and making lots of positive changes. I was Platinum Elite with CO for many years and also met Gordon in Houston when he was CEO.

So long, Continental, and thanks for the mostly great memories!

With regard to the answers submitted by Wally Bird above.....

3) Pro Air is correct! This air carrier also operated at least one B737-300 in addition to the B737-400s and had ordered the MD-90, one of which was painted in the airline's livery but never operated by Pro Air as the carrier went out of business before placing the aircraft into service.

10) As mentioned above, Continental actually operated the A300B which I believe were ex-Eastern aircraft. I flew on CO operated A300s several times LAX-IAH and SFO-IAH.

4) And the highest commercially served airfield in the U.S. is......Telluride, Colorado (TEX) at an elevation of 9,078 feet. TEX is surrounded on three sides by several 14,000 ft. peaks which are part of the beautiful San Juan Mountains. Air service is currently provided by Great Lakes from DEN with B1900D turboprops and seasonally by US Airways Express (Mesa) with Dash 8s from PHX. This is a very interesting place to fly into on a beautiful day! And yes, Leadville Airport (LXV) is higher at 9,927 feet; however, this airfield currently does not have scheduled air service, although Rocky Mountain Airways did operate the DHC-6 "Twin Otter" on a routing of DEN-LXV back in the day.

8) Excellent response! Also Avianca and SAM (Colombia), Intair (Canada) and TAM and TABA (Brazil).

Thanks jlemon and Seat 2A for the additions about CO's 737s. I will make a note of that! Also, thanks for the correction about the L10 routing. It had to be either EA or DL.

I've actually flown on a lot of A340s, on the 300, 500 and 600 series. One of my favorite flights was on SQ's A340-500. It was an interline routing that began in CGK to SIN. Then the plane would continue on nonstop from SIN to LAX. I was seated in Executive Economy class, which is no more on SQ's 340-500s.

I remember flying on CO's A-300s and MD-80s. One itinerary was LAX-DEN-CLE/CLE-BOS. LAX-DEN-CLE was on an A-300. I stayed on the plane while on a stopover in DEN. We were late departing from DEN because the plane had weight issues on a hot/high departure from Stapleton Airport. CLE to BOS was on an MD-80. The return flight was BOS-CLE-DEN on an MD-80. Then DEN-LAX on an A-300. :D

Old United Airlines History on this day of transition
 

I have one question but this might be a tough one for at least me because I don't know the answer. So I am relying on our good team of history experts here to confirm. Here goes:

Way back in the day before jet aircraft, United Airlines used to have ads with illustrations of their propliner fleet flying in formation. The illustrations were of their Convair 340, Douglas DC-6B and Douglas DC-7. They used to call the four-engine propliners, the "Mainliner 300s". What was the history behind this name and why did it refer to just certain aircraft, which were mostly to the Douglas four-engined propliners?

Way back in the mid-1930s United's marketing team came up with a publicity map of the USA with United's route structure, which was a bold east-west straight line from New York through Chicago and Denver to San Francisco, plus the north-south routes on the Pacific Coast. The map was done in a similar style to the railroad maps each rail company used to print in the Official Railway Guide (I'm guessing several here will be familiar with this old monthly publication, OAG's predecessor) and it was titled "Main Line across the USA". The term then became a feature of United's promotion.

Here's the prewar map (and a timetable cover using the term) from May 1939

http://www.timetableimages.com/ttima...a39/ua39-1.jpg

The first aircraft titled Mainliners were pre-war DC2s and DC3s.

Mainliner 300s came after the war, and were a reference to those new aircraft in the fleet capable of 300 mph.

WHBM Thanks for the awesome history of United's Mainliner concept! I do remember seeing some of those early maps myself. :)

And speaking of the venerable VC10, attention Seat 2A!

Were you able to come up with the actual routing of the BA VC10 service that stopped in HNL?

Thanks in advance! :cool:

Actually, the question (post #612) said North America.

Haven't seen answers to these two yet, so...

5. Both NC and RC, various aircraft at different times: DC-9-10, and DC-9-30.

6. WA, 737.

:eek::eek::D:D

Now did 500 mile minimums exist back in those days?

Nope. FF programs were not yet in existence....

However, some years later, Bob Crandall had an idea.........

5) Correct! Back during the North Central days, aircraft was a D9S and the routing was DLH-MSP-ATY-ABR-PIR-RAP. The aircraft did a RON and then took off the next morning on a routing of RAP-PIR-ABR-ATY-MSP (ATY is Watertown, South Dakota)

6) Actually, Western never served Cody (COD). However, Continental did. Back when CO had a hub in DEN, their primary service to Cody was provided by Continental Express with ATR-42, EMB-120 "Brasilia" and B1900 turboprop service. However, one summer CO decided to operate a B737 into Cody from DEN, probably in order to try and take advantage of the seasonal traffic into nearby Yellowstone National Park. Frontier also served Cody at one point with Convair 580s but I am unsure whether FL ever operated jet equipment into COD.

Oops, you're right :o . Cubana it is then, who also had a scheduled stop at Goose Bay on TATL.

ETA: Wasn't there also IL-62 service (eastbound) to SEA by a Russian airline other than Aeroflot. My memory may be faulty, but I'm sure I saw them there late 1980s.

Never saw an IL-62 at SEA; however, I did see a wide body, four engine IL-86 several times at SEA operating a scheduled service to Russia. Unfortunately, I do not recall just what Russian airline was operating the flight!