The astonishing clarity and color balance of photo restoration programs I've been experimenting with has given me renewed enthusiasm for updating the website. With the majority of the material in my collection now 40 to 60 years old, it had become increasingly difficult to transform old slides and photos into presentable digital images. I'm now winning the battle against dirt, dust, fading colors and pixelation.

Roughly 100 new and restored images have been added in the past few weeks including major updates to the Chalk's International, PBA, Mackey International, and Shawnee pages, among many others. Here are a few great examples of recent additions. Each image links to its respective page.

Chalk's Grumman Mallard at Bimini circa 1977.

Twilight view of PBA DC-3 N136PB at Key West in 1985, courtesy of Mike Sparkman.

Dramatic view of Mackey International's DC-6B N37580 circa 1976.

Shawnee Airlines DC-3 N1301 sporting its stunning tropical paint scheme in 1975.

Fun and exciting developments here at Sunshine Skies headquarters. I've been testing out all sorts of AI apps for restoring old photos and the results have been spectacular. Dozens of faded, dirty, and low resolution images have been cleaned up, restored and added to the website this week. Some of the transformations are truly amazing.

Here are a few of the newly added images, many of which were previously unusable because of their poor quality. Each one links to its respective page.

Air Carolina BN-2 Islander N30BN in 1978. 

Vero Monmouth Airlines Piper Aztec N5647Y.

Vero Monmouth's DH-114 Heron N14146 is pictured at St. Petersburg - Clearwater International Airport circa 1974.

This formerly noisy, lo-res image of USAir Express B99 N99GH, operated by Chautauqua Airlines (courtesy of Todd Scher) is now crystal clear.

A great example of how old graphics can be cleaned up. This is an AI enhancement of a photo I took of a Golden Isles Airlines poster many years ago. It now looks brand new.

Using the poster seen above as a reference, combined with the magic of AI, I was able to transform this extremely low resolution newspaper photo from 1960 into this gorgeous color image. Any images of this type will clearly be labeled as AI enhanced on the website.

And, finally, I've also been experimenting with AI as a way to create route maps for many of the obscure airlines profiled in Sunshine Skies. This Winnipesaukee Airlines example is my first attempt at AI mapmaking.

I'll be posting more of these on Facebook and Instagram.

Hello! My apologies for the small amount of new content during the past few months, but I have been quietly working on the website behind the scenes. I have an enormous collection of low resolution .jpg files of slide scans from the late 1990s and early 2000s that have been collecting digital dust on numerous hard drives for a quarter of a century. For the most part, they are horribly pixelated, discolored, poorly lit, and generally unusable for the website, which is a shame, because they are historically significant. In the past few months I've been experimenting with various photo restoration programs and AI editors which have produced some fairly spectacular results. While I've been hesitant to rely on AI programs (older apps distorted and jumbled important details), the technology has finally reached a point to where the restoration results are historically accurate. 

Here's an example of what I've been working on. This is good shot of Aero Coach's Bandeirante N134EM, but it's a typical bad scan from the early 2000s. It's pixelated, has too much contrast, the slide was dirty, the color has an annoying blue tint, etc.

After a little tweaking in Photoshop and some AI noise reduction and white balance, the photo magically looks like it could been taken last week. I'm really happy with the result. It almost looks a little too perfect and smooth, but the alternative is that it would probably never be seen again.

This is a more extreme example. This scan of Air Miami Heron N121G at Marathon, Florida is a mess, but it's an incredibly rare photo and one of the few I've ever found of their short-lived service to the Keys.

Once again, the restored photo looks like it could have been taken last week. It does look slightly unreal, but it's certainly a better representation of the real thing than the deteriorated slide seen above.

To use AI or not?  I think it's an amazing tool when the alternative is being stuck with a photo that is otherwise unusable.

I'd love to know your opinion.

Atlanta-based Southeastern Airlines, unrelated to the Southeastern that flew from Atlanta in the 70s and 80s, had ambitious plans to build a commuter airline empire covering the southeast with routes connecting virtually any city with a suitable airport. This amazing route map, based on their schedule in the November 1963 Official Airline Guide, shows service to 72 cities! Read more about Southeastern HERE.

Today's new webpage is about Albany Airways, one of the earliest commuter airlines in Georgia. Albany Airways began scheduled service on June 6, 1946 and was initially known for their unique daily "Shopper's Special" flights that provided day trips to Atlanta for shopping and business, returning to Albany in time for dinner. They also served Columbus, Moultrie, Thomasville and Valdosta. Scheduled service was halted in 1949 when Southern Airways began flying the same routes with DC-3s in direct competition with Albany's 3-passenger, single-engine Bonanzas.

Two unrelated airlines with the same name have been added to the site this morning, along with new material for a third airline by the same name.

Air South, Inc. was a Fort Lauderdale-based charter company that operated day trips to Walt Disney World (via Kissimmee) and Key West from 1976 until 1984. The scheduled nature of those day tours prompted the FAA to classify the carrier as a commuter airline, even though they never applied for that status. Tap or click the photo to learn more about Air South, Inc.

The next Air South was based in Mobile, Alabama and operated Metroliners along the gulf coast from a hub at New Orleans during 1981-1982. Tap or click the Metroliner photo to visit the new page.

Lastly, I took this opportunity to add a recently acquired photo of yet another Air South, the Homestead, Florida-based carrier that flew from 1984 to 1987. Tri-Islander N905GD is pictured at Marathon, Florida circa 1986.

New photos and a route map have been added to the Argonaut Airways page including this great shot of DC-3 N142A on the ramp at Miami circa 1963.

Peter Hodgkins kindly sent some photos of Walker's Cay airport from his visit in 1993 and this, along with some recently purchased slides, prompted an update of the Walker's Cay Airlines page with the addition of new photos and information. Enjoy!

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport turns 100 this year and I've been adding loads of new material to various pages. At this point, I'm filling in gaps in the already detailed history, and this month's additions look pretty random when seen together.

Much, much more to follow!

Lots of random and fascinating topics shared by our readers. As mentioned in an earlier post, I temporarily lost access to my email and website earlier this year. I've been going through the dozens of messages and am sharing some that are of general interest. I always welcome your comments, info and photos! 

July 16, 2024 update: Earlier this year my messages were overrun with spam, someone tried to take over the Sunshine Skies facebook account and I also lost access to the associated email account for some time. Frustrated and annoyed by the hassle, I took a long break from the website. Access to all accounts has been restored and I will be getting back to everybody who sent messages that I missed over the last few months. Thanks for your patience! 

During the down time I scanned loads of slides for the website and continued to research more obscure and forgotten commuter airlines from yesteryear. Lots of additional ATL material too. Regular updates will resume next week.

After several months of inactivity on the website I'm happy to say that there is a wealth of new material. I had Covid in late November and during my quarantine was able to spend days organizing, scanning, writing and updating the site. There are roughly a hundred new images spread throughout dozens of pages. I'll be posting many of them on facebook in the coming weeks.

I removed all Google ads from the site. They had become progressively more annoying and revenue had dwindled to pennies a day. I maintain Sunshine Skies for fun, not profit. If you care to donate to the website, please feel free to "Buy Me A Coffee".

I've seen this photo of Atlanta airport on social media well over a hundred times but nobody seems to agree when it was taken or whose plane is in the foreground. Hopefully this settles the confusion!

Luke Curtas, owner of N28AA (known to many of you as PBA's N139PB during the glory days of the 1970s and 80s) kindly sent these photos and video. Luke wrote, "I thought you would like to see N28AA and its new paint scheme as well as its new name. It is now the “Shannon Air Express”. It’s almost ready to fly." The video shows a recent test run in preparation for its return to the skies. N28AA is located at the Shannon Air Museum in Fredericksburg, VA. Thank you Luke!

This was taken during a test run of N28AA in December 2023 in preparation for her return to the air. That sound is AMAZING!

As mentioned earlier, approximately a hundred new images have been added to the site this week and they're spread over dozens of pages. Here's a random assortment of a few favorites. Each photo links to the corresponding page. Check facebook for more updates and links.

Southeast Airlines Martin 404 N40424 on the ramp at Marathon, Florida circa 1972.

North American Airlines DC-3 N3XW in October 1983.

Atlantic Gulf Convair 580 N73168 in Frontier colors at Atlanta on December 30, 1983.

Pompano Airways Piper Aztec N62743 in December 1981.

Gull Air timetable cover from July 1, 1984 with a particularly goofy but charming drawing of a CASA 212.

National Commuter Airlines Nord 262 N274A at Miami in February 1982.

Mackey International Shorts Skyvan N3419 at Ft. Lauderdale circa 1972.

Slocum Air BN-2 Islander N32MN in Munz Northern colors at Ft. Lauderdale November 1, 1981.

Southeast Airlines Martin 202 N93205 (msn 14075) at Miami circa 1970.

Atlantis Airlines Metroliner N1013G at Atlanta.

National Florida Metroliner N602AS at Miami.

More updates soon!

New page on the history of airline service at Ocala, Florida!

David Wick has contributed another dozen photos to the history of Sarasota Bradenton airport and Todd Scher sent an update and some new photos about Breeze's service at Vero Beach. Thank you gentlemen! The links are below.

Sarasota Bradenton in the late 1970s
David's photos are included in the gallery about halfway down the page.

Vero Beach
Todd's photos of Breeze's planes are at the end of the article.

New page about the rapid rise and fall of the Walt Disney World STOLport, the highly anticipated airstrip that helped lead to the downfall of Florida's two largest commuter airlines.

A major update on the website today! Six new pages and more than 125 new images covering the first 2 commercial airports and the first 4 1/2 decades of airline service at Jacksonville, Florida. Also added a few more photos to the Jacksonville International Airport history. You can begin HERE!

I've always been a big fan of now & then, before & after comparison photos. A modern day recreation of an old photo lends extra perspective and context to both images and the juxtapositions can be startling. Thanks to Google Earth, Photoshop, and the Before and After app, I've created several of these comparisons for the website.

I'm currently working on histories of Key West International Airport and Jacksonville's long-closed Imeson Airport and plan to post them in the next few weeks. Here's a preview of some of the then-and-now comparisons that will appear on the new pages. Move the sliders left and right.

Modern day Key West International and the newly constructed gravel runways in 1928. The original Pan Am hangar can be seen in the first view.

Jacksonville's Imeson Airport in 1963 and the current Google Earth view of the Imeson Industrial Park. Commercial flights moved to the present-day JAX when it opened in 1968 and Imeson was closed the following year.

Here's a golden oldie that appeared on the website several years ago. This is a 1920 view of the old Candler race track that was located on what is now the north side of Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson Airport along Virginia Avenue. Delta's headquarters now occupies the site.

Check the updates soon for the histories of airline service at Key West and Jacksonville Imeson.

Why did several thousand people simultaneously Google their way onto the Sunshine Skies website?

Thank you Final Jeopardy!

THE ANSWER HERE, OF COURSE

A wealth of new material has made it necessary to split the history of airline service of Marco Island into 3 pages. There are lots of great new images courtesy of the Marco Island Historical Society (including the one above), Gordon Werner (who runs the Fly PBA and Marco Island Airways pages) and a few photos and advertisements from old newspaper clippings.  

A total of 10 new photos, courtesy of Blaine Peters, have been added to three Georgia airport pages. You can follow the links below. Thanks Blaine!

PBA DC-3s - Where Are They Now? 
A long overdue update on the latest status of former PBA DC-3s with a half dozen new photos. 

The 8 Decade History of DC-3 N28AA
DC-3 N28AA is now at the Shannon Air Museum in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Museum President and owner Luke Curtas sent an update and several photos that have been added to the detailed history of this former PBA aircraft. Thank you Luke!

​The January-February 2022 issue of Airways Magazine features an excellent article about commuter airline "empires" written by David H. Stringer that includes a half dozen images from the Sunshine Skies collection. (Hope they don't mind me posting this lo-res image here!) Plus, the cover story is about Mikey McBryan's Plane Savers DC-3. Great stuff!

Updated link: You can purchase a copy of this issue over at the Airways store.