BusTalk

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

traildriver:

Good points, all.

Recall, also,TWA took delivery of their last "Connies" ("JETSTREAM") in 1957; just two years later (1959) TWA was already placing 707's in service.

The "JETSTREAM", though a magnificent-looking aircraft, to be sure, was a plane that was built too late to be able to compete with the new jets (TWA replaced overseas Constellation flights with jets in 1961)

Only a few years later (1960), TWA began converting some of its L-1649A Constellations into freighters.

Ironically, when TWA retired its last "Connies" in 1967, the older models were the ones still in service; the newer Constellations had already been retired.

The massive and majestic BRISTOL "BRITANNIA" prop-jet was also a "prop" plane that was introduced too late to compete with pure jets.....

"NYO"

["FLY TWA SUPERJETS!"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Recall, also, that TWA was an airline that did not operate any prop-jets; when they retired the last "Connies" in 1967, TWA became an all-"pure jet" carrier.

EASTERN had been using its last Constellations in shuttle service until 1968, one year after TWA retired the last of their "Connie" fleet.

These venerable aircraft were, in turn, replaced by L-188 ELECTRA prop-jets, which lasted in the service for another decade.......

"NYO"

["EASTERN SHUTTLE"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Did a little research and came across this most interesting page; this is a very interesting article with a number of intriguing images......

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/passenger-planes-future-look/index.html

["NATIONAL-THE AIRLINE OF THE STARS"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Some of these proposed future "airliners" are indeed bizarre, to say the least....(!!)

https://listverse.com/2016/02/28/10-proposed-airliners-of-the-future/

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

With rising fuel costs always in the news these days, it is basically a "no-brainer" that future airliners are going to be designed to be as "green" as possible, and to usher in a new era of fuel-efficient commercial aircraft.

Recall, TWA's sleek, rouguish-looking CONVAIR 880, which was withdrawn in 1974, due to the then-current fuel crises; these now-=classic airliners entered service with TWA on January 12, 1961....the very same day that Your's Truly turned four! (ANCIENT history, four sure!)

The first-generation jet airliners dated from a long-ago time when fuel was both plentiful and cheap (compared to 2022)

What will the future hold for the airliners of the future?

We can only speculate......

"NYO"

["FLY TWA SUPERJETS!"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

"Flying the FRIENDLY skies"!?!?

The recent massive meltdown at Southwest just recently......a computer glitch that grounded all flights in the country.....SOMETHING is indeed going on.

Who is REALLY in charge, here?

WHY are such massive and disruptive failures happening more and more frequently?

Sadly, we now live in an age where unruly, unstable passengers get violent during flights; flight delays and cancellations are becoming more and more frequent.

The days of sane, stable, and well-dressed airline passengers have, sadly, vanished forever.

Hard to believe, that, as recently as several decades ago, fine meals on fine chine was served to well-dressed passengers, observation decks at many airports were commonplace, and there were no long, tedious lines for passengers (and their luggage) to be scanned like a loaf of bread at a supermarket check-out.

"Progress"?

Hardly..........

"NYO"

["GET AWAY-JET AWAY-ON TWA!"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Just thinking.........

As in the late 1960's, when older, non-GM buses (WHITES, MACKS, ACF-BRILLS) were rapidly disappearing from many rosters, so were the last of the piston airliners, especially with the larger,"front line" carriers.

A 1966 photo of the old Newark Airport (which is in one of the books in my aviation library) shows almost an equal number of older piston airliners and the new jets (I well recall those long-gone days, on family jaunts out to the airport)

The first jets flew out of Newark in late 1961.

TWA flew their last Connies out of Newark (or anywhere else) in 1967; ironically, these were older models, as the newer Connies had already been retired (some were converted to freighters before TWA became all-jet in 1967)

The following year, 1968, saw EASTERN's Connies on the shuttle out of Newark replaced by turboprop L-188 Electras, which, themselves, were retired in the later 70's..

It was about that time when UNITED and DELTA also retired their last piston craft.

It indeed was a thrilling experience to see, hear, and smell those classic propliners of another age, alongside the sleek, new, stylish jets, from the old observation deck.

It's all so long ago, now..........

["NYO"

['FLY EASTERN AIRLINES GOLDEN FALCON"

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

.......anyone interested in the "Golden Era" of air travel would do well to snap up a copy of Robert D. Archer's OUTSTANDING pictorial, "AIRLINERS AT LAX 1956-1976".

Chock-full of magnificent color photos, virtually every type of airliner then in use (prop/prop-jet/jet) are represented here.

It is sobering, indeed, to see how many of the once-commonplace airlines represented within these pages no longer exist.

Excellent photos of planes taking off and landing, on the taxiways, and at the terminal.

One mid-1960's photo shows a veteran UNITED DC-6 on finals, with one prop feathered!

Quite a few "Connies" here, shown in the liveries of several airlines, including TWA, FLYING TIGERS, and, even an "upstart" carrier, "TRANS CALIFORNIA", which mostly operated flights from LAX to Havasu, then a growing resort area on the Colorado River.

Quite a few DC-6's and 7's here as well!

The graceful Bristol "Britannia" (aka "the Whispering Giant") prop-jet is also represented here.

Classic jets include 707s, DC-8's, 727's, DC-8's, DC-9's, Caravelles, Convairs and Comets; in later years, we see the original "big boys" in all their original splendor: TriStars, DC-10's, and, of course, the original "Jumbo", the now-iconic 747.

Veteran DC-3's, Convairs, and Martins are also to be seen here, in all of their original, colorful glory.

I heartily recommend this outstanding book to anyone interested in commercial aviation, as it was, so long ago........

"NYO"

["DC-7C"]