Capital Airlines

Capital Airlines
IATA code :	CA
ICAO code :	CA
Call sign :	CAPITAL
Founding:	1926 ( by Clifford Ball)
Operation stopped:	1961
Merged with:	United Air Lines
Seat:	Washington, DC , United States;
Home airport :	Washington National Airport
Fleet size:	74 (April 1961)
Aims:	national
	Capital Airlines merged with United Air Lines in 1961 . The information in italics relates to the last status before the takeover.

Capital Airlines was a Washington- based US scheduled airline that was incorporated into United Air Lines in July 1961 . The company was formed in April 1948 from the name change to Pennsylvania-Central Airlines , which had originally started operations in April 1927 under the name Skyline Transportation Company as a postal airline .

history

1920s

The Waco 9 "Miss Pittsburgh" , with which Clifford Ball began flight operations, is on display in the terminal at Pittsburgh Airport

In 1925, the car dealer and aviation enthusiast Clifford Ball and engineer Barr Peat bought some land from farmer Harry Neel near the town of Dravosburg ( Pennsylvania ) to build the first airfield in the greater Pittsburgh / McKeesport area. The field was initially named Pittsburgh-McKeesport Airport, before being renamed Bettis Field a year later by Ball and Peat in honor of the crashed aviator Cyrus K. Bettis. In the same year wrote United States Postal Service of a transportation contract for airmail between Pittsburgh and Cleveland ( Ohio off), the Clifford Ball won on 27 March 1926th He then founded the airline Skyline Transportation Company , also known as the Clifford Ball Airline . The company began operations on April 21, 1927 with two Waco 9 machines , which were named "Miss Pittsburgh" and "Miss McKeesport" . Shortly thereafter, the company used seven of these aircraft for the US Postal Service . The Contract Air Mail route to Cleveland was flown with a stopover in Youngstown .

In its first year of operation, the company carried $ 58,800 worth of airmail and the occasional passenger. Actor Will Rogers was one of the first passengers . By buying up smaller companies, the route network was quickly expanded and, from 1928, scheduled passenger flights with machines of the type Fairchild FC-2 were offered. In August 1929 a line connection from Cleveland via Pittsburgh to Washington was established and flown in a six-seater Fairchild 71 . The route was called the "Path of the Eagle" .

1930s

Clifford Ball sold its airline, now renamed Clifford Ball Inc. , in November 1930 for US $ 137,000 to Pittsburgh Aviation Industries Corporation , which was founded by attorney George Hann, university professor Charles Bedell Monro and his brother-in-law Fred R. Crawford . The new owners renamed the company Pennsylvania Air Lines ( PAL ). The line network was expanded at the same time from Cleveland via Detroit to Chicago . In 1932, PAL moved its headquarters from Bettis Field Airfield to the newly opened Allegheny County Airport and carried around 9,000 passengers. The Air Mail Scandal in February 1934 led to the US government canceling all postal flight contracts and the company suspending flight operations for a few months. In order to participate in the rewrite of the postal contracts, the spelling of the company name was changed to Pennsylvania Airlines in March 1934 . In June 1934, the company bought Kohler Aviation , which was founded in August 1929, and was able to expand the route network from Detroit via Grand Rapids to Milwaukee ( Wisconsin ).

The contract for the mail transport between Washington and Detroit was awarded in the summer of 1934 to the competitor Central Airlines , which was founded especially for this purpose on March 31, 1934 and started operating with a Ford Trimotor . This airline employed Helen Richey, the first US female airline pilot, from December 1934 and was one of the few companies that ordered Stinson Model A machines , which were used from autumn 1935.

Because Pennsylvania Airlines could not survive economically without the state postal service, their owners bought Central Airlines and merged the two companies on November 1, 1936 to form Pennsylvania-Central Airlines (PCA) , for which the name Penn Central became common practice. The fleet of the merged company consisted of Stinson A, Ford Trimotor and three Boeing 247s , which had been put into service by Pennsylvania Airlines in the spring of 1936 . In the following year, Baltimore , Buffalo , Charleston , Harrisburg and Williamsport were integrated into the route network, followed by Norfolk ( Virginia ) on April 1, 1938. In parallel, PCA acquired fifteen more Boeing 247s from United Air Lines . A scheduled service from Detroit via Flint to Sault Ste. Marie opened on July 20, 1938 after the company won the mail flight contract for this route. In the same year, PCA ordered six Douglas DC-5s in addition to Douglas DC-3s , making it one of the few companies that had ordered this type. All orders for the Douglas DC-5 were canceled due to the war in the early 1940s .

1940s

Mid-1940s put Pennsylvania Central Airlines exclusively Douglas DC-3 a

Pennsylvania Central Airlines phased out their Boeing 247s from early 1940 and replaced them with Douglas DC-3s. The route network was expanded at the same time from Charleston ( West Virginia ) via Knoxville and Chattanooga ( Tennessee ) to Birmingham ( Alabama ). In addition, PCA set up a line route from Norfolk via Raleigh ( North Carolina ) to Knoxville. After the company had relocated its headquarters from Pittsburgh to Washington in 1941 , it used the suffix "The Capital Airline" for advertising reasons from around mid-1944 . New York was served from November 1, 1945 from Chicago via Detroit and Pittsburgh.

In the summer of 1946, PCA put its first Douglas DC-4 into service, which had twice as many seats as the DC-3 and was used on the main routes. Atlanta ( Georgia ), Mobile (Alabama), Memphis (Tennessee) and New Orleans ( Louisiana ) were added to the line network as additional destinations in the late 1940s . As early as November 1943, the company had applied for international route rights from Miami and New Orleans to the Caribbean and South America for the first time, but was not approved by the US aviation authority.

The company name was changed to Capital Airlines on April 21, 1948 . In the same year the company set up low-cost night flights (marketed under the advertising name "Nighthawk" ) between Chicago and New York in order to attract more customers. Capital Airlines was the first US airline to offer such low-cost services in a one-class design .

1950s

From July 1955, Capital Airlines began using Vickers Viscount , making it the first US airline to operate turboprop aircraft

In the early 1950s, Capital Airlines was the fifth largest US airline. The first five used Lockheed L-049 Constellations , whose higher speed enabled shorter flight times on the routes from the east coast of the United States to New Orleans and Mobile, were purchased from the manufacturer on a hire purchase basis in the summer of 1950. From the spring of 1952, Capital Airlines also took over the L-749 version of the Lockheed Constellation from KLM . The company carried around 2.25 million passengers in the 1953 financial year. At that time, the fleet consisted of seven Lockheed Constellations , twenty-five Douglas DC-3s and twenty-five Douglas DC-4s. In June 1954, Capital Airlines was the first US company to order forty, and in December 1954 a further twenty British turboprop aircraft of the Vickers Viscount type , which were delivered from July 15, 1955 and on the route from Washington for the first time on July 26, 1955 were used in Chicago.

From the mid-1950s, the company ran into increasing economic difficulties. In 1955, Capital Airlines ceded its seven Lockheed L-749s acquired from KLM to British Overseas Airways Corporation in return for an equal number of Lockheed L-049s and an additional payment of US $ 3.85 million. The financial problems in the late 1950s meant that Capital Airlines had to cancel its orders for Bristol Britannia , De Havilland Comet 4 and 4A aircraft and Convair CV-880s .

Hourly connections from New York to Chicago and Detroit and between Washington and Chicago were offered from April 1958. At that time, the fleet consisted of a total of 104 Douglas DC-3 (20), Douglas DC-4 (14), Lockheed L-049 (12) and Vickers Viscount (58) aircraft. At the beginning of 1959, the US aviation authority granted Capital Airlines line rights for direct flights from the northeastern states to Miami , Jacksonville , Tampa and West Palm Beach . The company also hired three Vickers Viscount 812s from Continental Airlines for these new routes to Florida .

1960s

From the beginning of 1960, Douglas DC-6s leased from Pan American World Airways were used on the routes to Florida. At the same time, the company introduced a new livery on its aircraft. Due to the sustained high losses in its operating business, Capital Airlines was behind schedule with the installment payments for its Vickers Viscount. By April 1960 the debt to the British manufacturer Vickers was around £ 4.3 million . Vickers then seized several aircraft. At the same time, Capital Airlines applied for state support to avert the impending bankruptcy and prevent further aircraft from being seized. The US Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) saw the main problem in the mismanagement of the management and not in the investments made, so that the company did not receive any public funding.

On July 28, 1960, it was announced that United Air Lines was seeking to acquire the company. From January 1961, Capital Airlines started using leased Boeing 720s from United Air Lines on their routes to Florida. In the spring of 1961, the Civil Aeronautics Board approved the merger of the two airlines. Capital Airlines was then bought by United Air Lines and fully integrated into the company in July 1961. The majority of the Viscount fleet was also transferred to them. The merger made United Air Lines the world's second largest airline after Aeroflot .

fleet

Deployed aircraft

During the company's history, the following types of aircraft have been operated:

Boeing 247
Boeing 720 (leased from United Air Lines in 1961 )
Douglas C-54
Douglas DC-3 and Super DC-3
Douglas DC-4
Douglas DC-6B (leased from Pan Am from 1960 to 1961 )
Fairchild FC-2
Fairchild 71

Ford Trimotor
Lockheed L-049 and L-749 Constellation
New Standard D-27
Stinson A.
Stinson SM-6000
Travel Air 4000
Vickers Viscount 744, 745, 745D and 812 (812 series leased from Continental Airlines )
Waco 9

At the time of the takeover by United Air Lines , the fleet consisted of 74 aircraft: 12 Douglas DC-3, 10 Douglas DC-4, 11 Douglas DC-6, 41 Vickers Viscount. In addition, Capital Airlines temporarily used Boeing 720s leased from United Air Lines in their livery.

Canceled orders

Bristol Britannia 305 (five aircraft on order, one already painted in Capital Airlines colors)
Convair CV-880M (seven machines ordered)
De Havilland Comet 4 and 4A (four Comet 4 and ten 4A ordered)
Lockheed L-188 (five aircraft on order)

Incidents

Skyline Transportation Company

On October 21, 1929, a single-seat New Standard D-27 suffered engine failure. The pilot parachuted near the town of Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania.
On August 31, 1929 overran Travel Air 4000 when landing in Morgantown ( West Virginia , the tail). The pilot was killed.

Pennsylvania Air Lines

On November 28, 1931, the pilot of a New Standard D-27 parachuted after engine failure. The machine hit the urban area of Pittsburgh without injuring anyone.
On October 10, 1932, a fire broke out on board a New Standard D-27. The mail plane was destroyed while landing in Somerset ; the pilot survived.

Pennsylvania Central Airlines

On August 31, 1940, a Douglas DC-3 operated by Pennsylvania Central Airlines (NC21789) was struck by lightning. All 25 occupants were killed (see also Pennsylvania Central Airlines Flight 19 ) .

On May 5, 1944, a Douglas DC-3 of the PCA (NC21768) collided over Florida during a military charter flight with a Consolidated B-24 Liberator of the US Air Force . Both machines fell into the sea; the four occupants of the DC-3 were killed in the crash, as were the four on board the Liberator .

On April 14, 1945, a Douglas DC-3 of the Pennsylvania Central Airlines fell below (NC25692) on approach to Morgantown the (West Virginia) safety altitude . The machine, in which there were 20 people, hit a mountain in the Allegheny Mountains . There were no survivors.

On January 6, 1946, a Douglas DC-3 of Pennsylvania-Central Airlines (NC21786) rolled over the runway end at Birmingham Municipal Airport . Three crew members died, all seven passengers and one other crew member survived.

On September 12, 1946, an engine of a Douglas DC-4 / C-54A of the Pennsylvania-Central Airlines (NX91068) caught fire. The crew, who completed a training flight, managed an emergency landing at Washington National Airport , with the damaged engine tearing off the wing shortly before touchdown.

On June 13, 1947, a Douglas DC-4 / C-54 of the Pennsylvania-Central Airlines (NC88842) flew on the route from Pittsburgh to Washington at an altitude of 430 m against a ridge in the Blue Ridge Mountains . All 50 occupants were killed in the accident.