Anyone Remember "Mid-Continent Airlines"?

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:CXqXe.341301$x96.120453@attbi_s72...

Well, although I did work at newspapers for 20 years, it wasn't in the
editorial department.


?



However, I *have* searched the local newspaper
archives, and it's incredibly easy to miss stuff. There are no indexes,
and "research" consists of rolling microfilm while scanning back and forth
looking for "keywords" like "Airport". It's a mind-numbing, horrible
job, made worse by the low quality of the film and equipment.


I've searched local newspaper archives as well. I found that newspapers of
this era loved photographs of airplanes. It's easy to spot airplane photos
and the articles you'd be looking for probably included them.



Interestingly, I just discovered last week that Northwest Airlines served
Iowa City with weekly stops, starting in 1930. (I don't know when it
stopped.) This was part of a rail/plane line, where they would fly all
day and ride the rails all night, ending up in Omaha. No mention of this
has ever been made in any book I've found, or by any person I've spoken
with -- but I found it mentioned in a 2002 issue of "Airline Pilot
Magazine", in an article about a Northwest pilot.


I'm more than a bit skeptical about that. It's true that Northwest Airways
(it didn't become Northwest Airlines until 1934) operated the first
coordinated air-rail service in the US (1928), but I don't think they
provided this service to Iowa City. No carrier was able to operate
profitably in that era hauling passengers only, they needed air mail
revenue, and they could only haul mail on their own contract air mail
routes. The route serving Iowa City and Omaha was operated by Boeing Air
Transport.

I'm more than a bit skeptical about that. It's true that Northwest
Airways (it didn't become Northwest Airlines until 1934) operated the
first coordinated air-rail service in the US (1928), but I don't think
they provided this service to Iowa City. No carrier was able to operate
profitably in that era hauling passengers only, they needed air mail
revenue, and they could only haul mail on their own contract air mail
routes. The route serving Iowa City and Omaha was operated by Boeing Air
Transport.

I know, that's what makes this find so strange -- and exciting. (I know; I
lead a sheltered life... :-)

See:

https://www.alpa.org/alpa/DesktopMod...DocumentID=415

to read the article.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:XTTXe.144456$084.132385@attbi_s22...

I know, that's what makes this find so strange -- and exciting. (I know;
I lead a sheltered life... :-)

See:

https://www.alpa.org/alpa/DesktopMod...DocumentID=415

to read the article.


The article states; "In May 1929, passenger service was started to
Rochester, Minn. Service to Elgin and Rockford, Ill., was added to the
Northwest Airways route map in 1930, as were weekly flights to Sioux City
and Iowa City, Iowa, and Omaha, Neb." I can confirm service to Sioux City
and Omaha in 1930, but not to Iowa City. I have a history of Northwest
Airlines, "Flight to the Top" by Kenneth D Ruble. It contains a Northwest
Airways route map, originally published in The St. Paul Daily News of June
15, 1930. It shows service to Sioux City from St. Paul and on to Omaha but
no further.

Northwest didn't want to serve those cities at all, they were ordered to
provide the weekly STP-SUX-OMA service by Postmaster General Walter Folger
Brown. Northwest wanted to create a northern transcontinental route to
Seattle.

"On occasion, the Postmaster General exercised his dictatorial powers by
telling a carrier: 'I want you to fly from this point to that point, whether
you think it's a good idea or not.' In 1930, for example, Northwest was
ordered to fly once a week from the Twin Cities to Omaha, connecting with
the Central Continental. Like the earlier weekly service to Winnipeg, this
anemic schedule produced little business, so Brown finally authorized a halt
to the money-losing route." -- "Flight to the Top", page 34.

I'll scan the route map and post it to alt.binaries.pictures.aviation.

("Steven P. McNicoll" wrote)
I have a history of Northwest Airlines, "Flight to the Top" by Kenneth D
Ruble. It contains a Northwest Airways route map, originally published in
The St. Paul Daily News of June 15, 1930. It shows service to Sioux City
from St. Paul and on to Omaha but no further.


I grew up with the "Northwest Orient (pause) ...Airlines" jingle.

(From Wikipedia)
On 1 October 1986, Northwest purchased its competitor, Minneapolis-St.
Paul-based Republic Airlines and adopted its three-hub network centered
around Minneapolis-St. Paul, Detroit, and Memphis. Northwest dropped the
word Orient from its brand name after the merger. The legal name has been
Northwest Airlines since 1934.

....which is why 'Steven's' 1930 map is a "Northwest Airways" route map.

Found that interesting, in an airline history kind of way.


Montblack

I grew up with the "Northwest Orient (pause) ...Airlines" jingle.

Me, too!

I used to LOVE that jingle. In it was all the potential adventure and
exploration a young lad in the Midwest could ever imagine. It played
endlessly on the AM radio stations of my youth.

They really should never have dropped "Orient" from their name. After that
they lost their allure, IMHO.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

In article fwdYe.355117$x96.5301@attbi_s72, Jay Honeck
wrote:

They really should never have dropped "Orient" from their name. After that
they lost their allure, IMHO.

I can't tell you how mortified I am that they're going by "NWA" now...

I'll scan the route map and post it to alt.binaries.pictures.aviation.

Sorry, Steven -- my mail server dumped it before I could see it.

If you get a minute, can you email it to me, please?

Thanks!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

They did the long-range tank installations in Minneapolis to prepare the
Doolittle Raid B25's...

"Steven P. McNicoll" wrote in message
k.net...

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:CXqXe.341301$x96.120453@attbi_s72...

Well, although I did work at newspapers for 20 years, it wasn't in the
editorial department.


?



However, I *have* searched the local newspaper
archives, and it's incredibly easy to miss stuff. There are no indexes,
and "research" consists of rolling microfilm while scanning back and
forth
looking for "keywords" like "Airport". It's a mind-numbing, horrible
job, made worse by the low quality of the film and equipment.


I've searched local newspaper archives as well. I found that newspapers
of this era loved photographs of airplanes. It's easy to spot airplane
photos and the articles you'd be looking for probably included them.



Interestingly, I just discovered last week that Northwest Airlines served
Iowa City with weekly stops, starting in 1930. (I don't know when it
stopped.) This was part of a rail/plane line, where they would fly all
day and ride the rails all night, ending up in Omaha. No mention of this
has ever been made in any book I've found, or by any person I've spoken
with -- but I found it mentioned in a 2002 issue of "Airline Pilot
Magazine", in an article about a Northwest pilot.


I'm more than a bit skeptical about that. It's true that Northwest
Airways (it didn't become Northwest Airlines until 1934) operated the
first coordinated air-rail service in the US (1928), but I don't think
they provided this service to Iowa City. No carrier was able to operate
profitably in that era hauling passengers only, they needed air mail
revenue, and they could only haul mail on their own contract air mail
routes. The route serving Iowa City and Omaha was operated by Boeing Air
Transport.

"news.algx.net" wrote in message
...

They did the long-range tank installations in Minneapolis to prepare the
Doolittle Raid B25's...


Northwest did operate a bomber modification center during WWII, but
according to Doolittle's biography the B-25s used in the raid were modified
by Mid-Continent Airlines. So we're back on topic now.