Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport's terminal opened 40 years ago this morning. In honor of this occasion, and because overkill is sometimes a good thing, the ATL History section of the Sunshine Skies website has undergone a major update and expansion with 22 new pages and 292 additional images. Tap or click the Eastern advertisement to begin your journey.

Six new pages on the history of airline service at Chattanooga spanning nearly a century from 1928 to the present day. Over 130 images! While my intention for the website has been to focus on Florida and Georgia, I was sent such a wealth of great material that I couldn't let the opportunity pass. (Besides, CHA is only two and a half miles from the Georgia state line.) Thanks to Bill Peterson for prompting me to do this. The links for the individual pages are listed below.

Part 1: 1920s-1940s
Part 2: 1950s-1964
Part 3: 1964 Jet Age Terminal
Part 4: 1970s-1980s
Part 5: The old terminal in 1990
Part 6: The new terminal 1992-2000s

A new page about the history of airline service at Waycross, GA. Eastern Air Lines pioneered air service at this south Georgia city in 1948 and was followed by Air South in 1969 and Atlantis Airlines in 1983. 

Loads of new material added this morning: 4 new Georgia airports, 6 new pages, 129 new images, 2 new videos! Vintage photos, old postcards, timetables, route maps, newspaper articles. Dig in and geek out.

Here are the links:

Albany, GA - History of Airline Service 1930s - 2020s

Atlanta PDK - History of Airline Service

Augusta, GA - Part 1: 1930s - 1960s

Augusta, GA - Part 2: 1970s - 1980s

Rome, GA - History of Airline Service

The history of airline service at Columbus, GA has been split into 2 pages. New material has been added to both.

Columbus, GA - Part 1: 1920s - 1970s

Columbus, GA - Part 2: 1980s - 2020s

New material has been added to the history of airline service at Columbus, GA including this early 1950s photo of Delta DC-3 ship 42, NC28342 (s/n 3279).

Commutaire International Airways operated shuttle flights between points in south Florida during their brief 4 month existence in 1976. New material has been added to the Commutaire page on the Sunshine Skies website including this beautiful photo of N856JA on the gravel ramp of the long closed Port Largo Airport in Key Largo.

Don Faber sent in a half dozen photos from a flight aboard an Aero Coach Cessna 402 between Ft. Lauderdale and North Eleuthera in 1989. Don asked if anyone can identify the pilot. "I’m sure he would appreciate the pic!" These and the other photos have been added to the website.

​Lots of new material on the Panhandle Airways page including several photos and a timetable courtesy of former Panhandle pilot Tony Diez. Tony sent in this photo of DC-3 N4996E in action along with some shots of the airline's Beech 18s.

AeroSun International
November 15, 1981
January 1, 1982
June 28, 1982

Air Miami
March 15, 1980
​May 1, 1980

Skybus Express
July 15, 1991
October 17, 1991
 
Skyway Commuter
​Undated circa Summer 1984
 
Slocum Air
Undated circa Fall 1981
December 15, 1981

Busily scanning slides. Here are some of the photos added to the website this week. Each photo links to its respective page.

AeroSun International Convair 440 N920RC at Miami in 1982.

Skybus Express GAF Nomad N418NE at Atlanta in 1991.

Slocum Air Britten Norman BN-2 Islander N67HA at the gate in Miami circa 1984.

GP Express Beechcraft C99 N113GP at Atlanta in 1992.

I'm finally getting around to scanning and uploading over a hundred of new slides and photos I've accumulated in the last year and a half. Lots of great stuff on the way.

Very excited to have finally found a color photo of Vero Monmouth's DH-114 Heron N14146, which was later re-registered N6VM  (msn 14146). Here she is pictured at  Miami in February 1974. Check out the Vero Monmouth page.

I'll be presenting an hour-long journey through the history of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport at 10am on June 22 at the Delta Flight Museum as part of the Airliners International 2019 event. I'll cover 9 decades in 60 minutes with 100 photos showing the transformation from dirt race track to world's busiest airport. Museum admission will be $7. More details in this snazzy poster below. Hope to see you there!

Timetables from Cape Air, Florida Air Lines, Mackey International, Marco Island Airways and State Airlines have been added to the site as well as a few Mackey International airline issued postcards. Much more on the way!

I have been adding images from my slide collection in the past couple of weeks. A few favorites:

Pinehurst Airlines YS-11 N112PH at Atlanta in 1981. Beautiful!

Southeastern Commuter Airlines Riley Dove N808RH at Atlanta circa 1982.

Atlantic Gulf Airlines Vickers Viscount N140RA at St. Petersburg circa 1983-84.

The "timetable a day" continues. Here are some of the recent additions to the website.
Dolphin Airlines - May 1, 1983
Executive Airlines - October 26, 1969
Pinehurst Airlines (4 timetables)
Phoenix Airlines - April 8, 1980
Shawnee Airlines (3 timetables)
​Southeastern Commuter Airlines (7 timetables)
Sunbird Airlines - April 1, 1985

Many of these timetables are filled with great aircraft photos, route maps, vintage terminal diagrams and advertisements in addition to the flight schedules. These are a few highlights. The photos link to the corresponding pages.

Shawnee Airlines fleet overview from the February 1, 1972 timetable. 

Pinehurst Airlines - 1960s airplanes, 1980s hair!

An ATL terminal map from the August 14, 1981 Pinehurst timetable showing the original layout with 4 1/2 concourses.

A wonderful air-to-air photo of Phoenix Airlines' de Havilland DH-114 Heron, an odd and beautiful 4-engine beast.

Route map hidden away in the back of a Dolphin Airlines timetable from May 1, 1983 showing the airline at its peak. The airline began to rapidly downsize after this and went out of business eight months later in January 1984.

And finally, from the same Dolphin timetable, something you're unlikely to ever see published by an airline again.

November 8, 2018
Timetable pages for Air South , Florida Air Lines and Sunbird Airlines

November 2, 2018
Curbside at Atlanta's Temporary Terminal 1958-1960

October 29, 2018
Macon, GA - History of Airline Service, part 1

October 24, 2018
Athens, GA - History of Airline Service

Lots of new material on the website this week! There is a huge backlog that has been sitting untouched on my hard drive for over a year and I'm finally getting around to all of it.

The first of a 2-part look at the history of airline service at Macon is finished. It covers the first 5 decades and includes some great photos such as this one of a Delta Convair 440 at the brand new terminal in 1959.

Also new this week: a curbside look at Atlanta's "Temporary Terminal" which served the city from 1948 to 1961. Some great photos here too including this rare color shot. There are also a few current photos for comparison.

We surpassed 1000 likes on Facebook this week. Thanks!

I continue to upload timetables to the website on the average of one a day. That may sound slow but there'll be over 400 this time next year!  Among this week's additions: Nationwide Southeast Airlines, Cherokee Airways and a 1972 Naples Airlines timetable that features this DC-3 illustration.

Jacksonville International Airport turned 50 this week so I took the opportunity to add more photos on all of the JAX pages.

More on the way!

A brand new page about the history of airline service at Athens, GA. including this great William Sierra photo of Southern Airways' Martin 404 N258S at AHN in 1973.

Former Provincetown - Boston Airline / Naples Airlines DC-3 N137PB has just been repainted in the basic 1970s colors of PBA minus the titles and logo. This gorgeous photo shows "37" at Cape Cod Airfield on October 24, 2018 after having the right side of the aircraft repainted. Also posted new photos of former N136PB and N39PB on the PBA DC-3s - Where Are They Now? page. Photo credit: Chris Siderwicz Jr. via Pete Johnson.

Last but not least, complete timetables are being added to the website almost daily. The latest additions include Aero Coach, Aerosun and Air Carolina. You can find the complete list in progress on the TIMETABLES page. Many of these include terminal maps, company histories and aircraft photos including one of my personal favorites, this Air Carolina Twin Otter photo which was obviously cut and pasted by hand. (Check out the tires!)

P.S. - The Airline Collectibles Show at the Delta Flight Museum in Atlanta was great fun. The setting can't be beat. Photographer Joey Appie has posted an entertaining collection of photos of the event.

Hello there! It's been a busy couple of weeks. The collectibles show in Atlanta on October 6th was a lot of fun. I shared a table with Dale Hartsfield, the man who is largely responsible for convincing the city of Atlanta to retain "Hartsfield" as part of the airport name. (I highly recommend his book What's In A Name?.) It was great to see old friends and to meet many of you in person for the first time. Your support, enthusiasm and suggestions for the website are much appreciated. Also picked up several dozen photos and slides which will find their way to the site in coming weeks. Here's a really cool panorama of the show that was sent through facebook. Our table was in the corner just to the left of the DC-9 tail. Not sure of the photographer's name.

Robert Winter III sent in this fantastic photo of a National Airlines Lockheed Lodestar at Valdosta, Georgia. National served Valdosta during the 1940s and early 50s as one of many stops between Jacksonville and New Orleans.

Robert wrote, "We are digitizing about 23,000 images from slides and negatives made by the Lucian Holtzendorff and Robert Winter photographers.  This picture by Major L.C. Holtzendorff in the US Army Dental Corps shows his wife, Ruth Holtzendorff at left, and sons Lewis, 4 and Lucian III, 9, and grandmother Lilla Holtzendorff."

We were very excited to finally ride aboard the world's oldest flying DC-3, Flagship Detroit, which was delivered to American Airlines in 1937. Here are a few photos...

The DC-3 still seems so modern that we had to "age" this in Photoshop to make the point that this aircraft is EIGHTY ONE years old!

Last week I began adding pages dedicated to individual timetables of commuter airlines of Georgia and Florida starting with Chalk's and PBA. The response was great and I received many encouraging comments. I plan to continue to scan and upload more at the slow but realistic pace of one or two a day, so by this time next year we'll have a large online archive. 

The PBA timetable from December 1985 commemorates the Golden Anniversary of the first flight of the Douglas DC-3 in 1935 and mentions an upcoming episode of the PBS program NOVA about the venerable "Gooney Bird". The program happens to be on YouTube so I added a link.

Jimmy Vach shared these recollections and N136PB update: 
"I grew up with PBA, Naples Airlines and the Van Arsdales. My father was Vice President of PBA for many years, Capt. Jim Vach. He is 71 now and very active living in Oviedo, Fl. I flew in these DC-3's almost every day as a young child with all the pilots, all summer long and have the greatest memories of the airline and the planes. I even remember the old Aztec and Lockheeds, Martin 404's, Bandierantes, YS-11s and world's largest fleet of Cessna 402's. 

Oh... I forgot to mention I filmed [former PBA DC-3 N136PB] flying around my hotel today! 

It may be a bit blurry but it's great to see "Old 36" still in action after all these decades.

"Old 36 was up buzzing around again today. Got some more great video of her flyin’ low over the hotel (in Wilsonville, Oregon). I think she might be getting ready to participate in the Oregon INTL Air Show next weekend!" ​

FLAGSHIP DETROIT
My family went to see the gorgeous 1937-vintage American Airlines Flagship Detroit DC-3 in LaFayette, GA on September 22. Didn't have the time (or cash!) to take a ride but was able to stand near the edge of the runway as she took off and got the see the interior when it returned. Hoping to catch a flight when she visits Collegedale near Chattanooga next week.

​Here's a slow motion video my son took of the takeoff.

And... don't forget!
The 32nd Annual Atlanta Airline Collectibles Show & Sale at the Delta Flight Museum
October 6, 2018
Time: 9am - 4pm
​Admission $7     Kids under 12 are free
I'll be selling books, postcards and other items at this year's collectible show at the Delta Museum. Please stop by and say hello!

Many readers have suggested that I add pages dedicated to timetables of the various commuter airlines on this site and I have taken these comments to heart. For starters, I've added 22 pages of timetables from the two most popular airlines on the site: Chalk's and PBA. You can peruse the timetable list HERE.

This week I also added a few images to the Chalk's International Airlines page including this fantastic poster-sized route map from 1993 painted in the style of an antique pirate treasure map. 

Two new airline pages have been added to the site: Fort Lauderdale-based Walker's Cay / Walker's International and Winnipesaukee, which flew a very short-lived service between Punta Gorda and Tampa in 1976-77.

Thanks to our generous contributors, I have recently received a wealth of vintage airport photos from around the Sunshine State. In fact, so many new photos have come in that I have divided the Sarasota and Jacksonville Airport histories into additional pages covering smaller time frames, splitting decades into 5 year periods, etc. There are nearly 20 new photos spread among these pages and more are on the way.

Some highlights:
Tony Daiuto sent in a photo showing the construction of Marathon Airport in 1943 and a shot of National's first flight to the airport in 1959. Tony is currently working on a documentary to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the airport opening.

Marshall Massengale shared several photos from his time as a summer temporary Delta ramp employee at JAX in 1971-72.  

Shea Oakley sent a treasure trove of late 1960s - early 1970s SRQ photos and postcard views. There are several that show National's short-lived DC-8 service to the airport.

Photos from the JAX archives showing the dedication and opening of Jacksonville international Airport in 1968.

PLEASE CONTRIBUTE!
I'm currently putting together additional histories of airports in Georgia and Florida and can use your help. I am looking for photos from Augusta, Albany, Athens, Macon, St. Simons, Waycross, Rome, Key West, Ocean Reef, Naples and others. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated! Even if the photos are blurry or grainy or the composition is a little "off", they can still help illustrate a particular time or event. Please help us preserve the commercial aviation history of Florida and Georgia.

Added over a dozen photos showing Atlanta's empty 1961 terminal six months after it closed.

Added 7 photos to the Sarasota in the 1970s page courtesy of David Wick. Also added a 2018 Elite Airways timetable to the ​Vero Beach page courtesy of the always generous Arthur Na.