A new page about Del Airways which flew between Jacksonville, FL and Valdosta, GA during 1971.

Something different on the website today: six decades of vintage travel posters advertising Atlanta.

New on the website: a two part look back at the history of airline service at Marco Island, Florida

Part One: 1960s-1970s
Part Two: The 1980s

I'd like to welcome a new contributor to Sunshine Skies: Hans Wiesman, better known to aviation enthusiasts as The Dakota Hunter. Hans has spent a lifetime tracking down DC-3s across the globe and is the author of the excellent book The Dakota Hunter: In Search Of The Legendary DC-3 On The Last Frontiers. He will be sharing his incredible adventures with us in this and upcoming posts. This one holds particular interest for me as I spent a lot of time finding and photographing old mosquito sprayers in south Florida during the 1990s. The yellow and white aircraft in the second photo, Monroe County's ship 13, flew over my wife's and my outdoor wedding ceremony in the Florida Keys in 1995 (luckily with the sprayers off!). We considered it a good omen. Anyway, I'm sure you'll enjoy this and future stories. Thank you Hans! 

The second installment of our five part look back at Panama City Bay County Airport is now online. We take a look at the 1970s and the early effects of deregulation at Fannin Field.

Lots of new material on the Ocean Airways page: additional and larger photos, route map and timetables.

This is the first of a five part look at the history of airline service at Bay County Airport at Fannin Field which served Panama City from 1945 till its closing in 2010. Many thanks to Brent Mooney for his assistance with this!

New page about Sunair, an ambitious Florida commuter airline that stayed in business for less than 24 hours!

A new page about short-lived Ft. Pierce, FL-based commuter airline Golden South, which operated flights in east central Florida during the first half of 1979. Also added a route map to the GP-Express page.

Ocean Reef Airways was the southern division of Montauk Caribbean Airlines of New York. The airline flew during the winter months between Miami and the Ocean Reef Club Airport at the northern end of Key Largo between 1970 and 1982. Click the map to read more...

Added a beautiful photo of DC-6 N4354B and additional information to the Mackey International Airlines page.

New on the Dolphin Airways/Airlines page:
A great photo of Dolphin Airways pilots posing with a Bandeirante shortly before the airline began flying in late 1981, sent in by Bill Bagley.

Also added several Dolphin timetable scans courtesy of the always helpful Arthur Na.

A new page on another obscure commuter airline, Southern Airlines of West Palm Beach. Thanks to regular contributor Arthur Na for pointing out this airline.

We take a look back at 10 abandoned and forgotten airports of metropolitan Atlanta.

Added an additional timetable to the Valdosta Phoenix Airlines page, courtesy of Arthur Na.

Added new photos and information about Elite Airways CRJ-200 service from Vero Beach to Newark. This is the first airline service at VRB in nearly 2 decades. Photos and information courtesy of Todd Scher, the Assistant Director of Vero Beach Regional Airport.

35 years ago today, Atlanta opened the world's largest airport terminal. Originally nicknamed "Midfield" because of its central location between the runways, the terminal is still in use today. In honor of this anniversary, I added this before and after comparison, taken from the October 1980 issue of Delta Digest. More HERE.

Next week marks the 35th anniversary of the opening of Atlanta's midfield airport terminal and the closing of the famed turquoise "Jet Age" terminal opened in 1961. Added two wonderful photos of the old terminal to THIS PAGE. They were taken a few weeks before closing day and are courtesy of the AJC archives hosted by Georgia State University.

I posted galleries of Air South and Florida Air Lines timetables last week and here is a page featuring their sister company Shawnee Airlines. CLICK HERE to see it.

Added a gallery of over 3 dozen Florida Air Lines timetables tracing the history of the airline from 1966 to 1981.

A new page featuring a massive gallery of Air South timetables tracing the history of the airline from 1968 to 1980.

Added several aircraft photos and a 1969-vintage advertisement to the Air South page. Georgia-based Air South operated from 1968-1980.