speaking of Combi jets, here's a Bonus Question to which I don't know the answer: I've flown on a DC-9-30CF (Convertible Freighter) (TWA; I think they inherited the jet in the Ozark acquisition), and I think Douglas also offered a large cargo door on the Series 10, but I can't recall a D9M code for DC9 Mixed Configuration ever appearing in an OAG ... did any airline(s) ever operate a DC9 as a Combi?

Yes indeed, the aircraft type was a Boeing 727. And I suspect the equipment was actually a Boeing 727-100QC, the "Quick Change" variant, although I am not completely sure about this.

Here are the scheds....

LA 153: New York JFK 20:15 - 22:45 Miami International 23:45 - 03:05 Cali Calipuerto 03:50 - 05:00 Guayaquil Simon Bolivar 05:45 - 07:20 Lima Jorge Chavez 08:15 - 13:15 Santiago Pudahuel 14:15 - 15:55 Buenos Aires Ezeiza 16:40 - 17:15 Montevideo Carrasco
Op: Tuesday only
Equip: 727
Service class: Y

LA 155: New York JFK 20:15 - 22:45 Miami International 23:45 - 02:15 Panama City Tocumen 03:00 - 04:10 Cali Calipuerto 04:55 - 07:15 Lima Jorge Chavez 08:15 - 13:15 Santiago Pudahuel 14:15 - 15:15 Buenos Aires Ezeiza 16:40 - 17:15 Montevideo Carrasco
Op: Thursday only
Equip: 727
Service class: Y

The other 727 combi flight operated by LAN-Chile at this time departed JFK at the same time on Saturdays and terminated at Buenos Aires. The other four flights which rounded out the daily flight schedule with one flight a day operated by LAN-Chile from JFK in 1970 were operated with 727 aircraft configured with two class, F/Y cabins.

In 1968, LAN-Chile was operating three flights a week from JFK with Boeing 707 equipment configured with a first and coach cabin. The airline was also operating 707 and Caravelle service from MIA at this time. LAN-Chile was not operating the 727 in 1968. So it appears that by 1970 the 707 aircraft had been shifted to the airline's new European route to MAD, ORY and FRA as well as to the extension of the Santiago-Easter Island route to Papeete which was previously being flown with a DC-6. Thus, all LAN-Chile flights departing from JFK and MIA at this time in 1970 were being operated with Boeing 727 aircraft either in an all-passenger configuration or as combi services. And that must have been one very long flight if one were a passenger seated in the back of the combi in coach from JFK to MVD.

1. Nope, the airline operating the first flight wasn't Pan Am, the equipment wasn't a 707 and NAN was not served on the routing we are looking for. So here's a rather large hint: PPT did not exist as an airfield at the time of the flights in question in 1960. And on the plus side of the column, HNL was the stop served by the first flight and the DC-7C was in the mix.

I've never seen a DC9/D9S listed as a combi in the OAG. Of course, variants of the aircraft could be operated as an all-cargo freighter. I also seem to recall that Continental may have operated DC-9-15RC equipment. But I cannot think of an airline that ever operated combi services with the Nine.

TAI, a UTA forebear along with UAT (although both had common ownership, and to an extent management long before the formal merger) ran a DC7C from LAX via Honolulu, which used the French AF base at Moorea. The sector on to Tahiti was by flying boat. RAI (Régie Aérienne Interinsulaire) had a range of these, Grumman Mallards, Catalinas, and even a Short Sandringham (hooray). The latter was managed by TEAL, the UK-Australian-New Zealand joint carrier of the 1950s, who also operated their Sandringhams all the way from Papeete to Auckland on "The Coral Route", via points along the way, one of the classics of flying boat history. If you want to see the RAI Sandringham, it's now in Paris Le Bourget aircraft museum :)

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ra...=1506806614711

http://www.aussieairliners.org/short...apg/vhapg.html

The DC7C carried on to Paris, the long way round. It was away from home for over a week making the trip.

The UK independents liked offering such charter services, outside the main summer season when they were fully occupied down to the Mediterranean. You can do that with charter flights where you cannot with regular schedules. But Airtours, onetime BEA Airtours, and later British Airtours, would have especially enjoyed having the equipment to do Hong Kong. There was a long-running feud, at all levels from ramp staff up to top management, between BEA and BOAC, which lasted for about 15 years after the "merger" into BA, which was long effectively run as two airline divisions that just happened to have a common name. Staff allegiances to different unions was a start. Every management decision was immediately traced back to the origin of the relevant manager and criticised by all from the "other" side. I believe that staff travel concessions were often interchangeable with other foreign carriers, but NOT between BEA and BOAC flights. At a more trivial level, there are stories of schoolyard brawls between children of rival-employed families in Harmondsworth, the neighbourhood just north of Heathrow where many lived !

For the intermediate refuelling stop, each carrier seemed to have its own favourites. Bahrain in those days was a major and more developed place than Dubai, how times change. Lloyd International used Karachi, which must have been a bit of a disappointment for the crews ...

Looks like the international airport at PPT opened in 1960 so the unnecessarily circuitous PA/TI routing I posited above might have been possible in late 1960.

Assuming early 1960, you look to be almost correct. The TAI DC-7C operated LAX-HNL-BOB (Bora Bora, not Moorea). From BOB, one could then connect to the RAI flying boat.

Looks like also in late 1960 the DC-7 service was replaced by a DC-8 around the same time that BOB was switched to PPT as the French Polynesia stop between HNL & NAN.

Per jrl767: I think Douglas also offered a large cargo door on the Series 10, but I can't recall a D9M code for DC9 Mixed Configuration ever appearing in an OAG ... did any airline(s) ever operate a DC9 as a Combi?

Per jlemon: I've never seen a DC9/D9S listed as a combi in the OAG. Of course, variants of the aircraft could be operated as an all-cargo freighter. I also seem to recall that Continental may have operated DC-9-10CF equipment. But I cannot think of an airline that ever operated combi services with the Nine.

If I recall correctly, some of those ex-Continental DC-9-15RCs went to Air Canada, which I could see possibly operating some occasionally as a combi to small towns in outback Quebec or some such place. That said, I have no idea if AC ever did use the aircraft in this capacity.

Another possibility is some of them may have eventually made their way to some third world carrier and were used as such.

That'd be a good one to research. But not for me. At least not right now. I've got a 600am wake up call for a morning flight to Las Vegas, hopefully arriving in time to pick up my rental car and make it to St. George, Utah in time for the big game.

Night, now...

Great answers from WHBM and Herb687 concerning the above quiz item.

The two airlines were indeed TAI (Transports Aeriens Intercontinentaux) and RAI. I used the August 15, 1960 Air France system timetable for this quiz item. The connecting service from Los Angeles to Papeete was part of a schedule that originated at Paris Orly. AF 001, flown with a 707, operated on a routing of ORY-YUL-LAX on Fridays. Passengers then spent the night in LA before boarding a TAI DC-7C configured with first and tourist classes (and featuring sleeping berths and "Sky-Lounge" seats for an additional charge, of course) the next afternoon. TI 89 departed LAX every Saturday at 4:50 pm and arrived in Honolulu at 10:55 pm. This flight then departed HNL at 11:55 pm and flew nonstop to Bora Bora (the airport there had been a military airbase in WWII) arriving at 8:55 am. Passengers then transferred to a "Bermuda" flying boat (which I believe was actually a Short Sandringham) operated by RAI for the one hour and 15 minute flight to Papeete. Meanwhile, TI 89 sat on the ground all day and then into the evening hours at Bora Bora before finally departing at 10:00 pm for Nandi and Noumea.

Just two more to go here......

8. Now it's 1969 and you are Burbank. You are about to travel to Santa Barbara for a visit with your old sailing buddy. Of course, you could drive or take the train but are prepared instead to drive to LAX and take a United 727 on the short hop up to SBA. Then your old friend tells you about a nonstop service to SBA from BUR. It's operated with a jet and he says the flying time is only 19 minutes. You book a seat and off you go. Identify the airline and the jet aircraft type. The airline wasn't Air West and the equipment was not a DC9 or D9S. Hint: This jet service was not operated by a major air carrier.

Any chance the aircraft involved was built overseas?

Air California on a 737 ? I believe they had an early but unsuccessful stint at Burbank.

I think the train, as well, was pretty non-existent by 1969, down to just one a day which you had to go to downtown LA to pick up, which then came back right along the Burbank airport boundary.

Yep, it sure was!

Ah, it was not Air California with a 737. In fact, the aircraft in question was smaller than a 737. And I do not believe Air California ever served SBA.

As for the train, I believe one could still board at the Glendale station which is not too far from BUR.

Burbank to Santa Barbara would be something like a studio exec and actor shuttle.

Any chance it was actually someone running a corporate jet on a schedule ? The main foreign ones at the time were the Dassault Falcon and the HS.125.

I will of course pick the Hawker.

Monarch Airlines
 

One of the grand old names of UK aviation, Monarch Airlines, alas, suddenly disappears

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41464934