LINes - ----".
STEARMAN MODEL 04 (1927)
DOU GLAS M-2 (1926) GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Built in 1925 Passenger Capacity . .... .. Pilot plus one or two passengers
Cargo Capacity ..... . ............ 1,000 Ibs.
Fuel load . . ..... . . . ... . ...... 180 U.S. gals .
Cruising speed .... . . . ... .. ... .... 115 mph
Engine . .. .. ........ .. .415 hp Liberty (one)
Cruising range ... . . . ... .. . ... ... 600 miles
Ceiling . ..... . ...... . . . .......... 15,000 ft .
Cost ......... . ............ . . . .....$11 ,500
BOEING MODEL 95 (1928)
,.
Western Airlines ' first passenger aboard the Douglas M-2 was Ben Redman who flew to Los Angeles from Salt Lake City via Las Vegas on May 23, 1926. First woman passenger: Maude Campbell. Fi rst WAL pilots : Fred W . Kelly. AI De Garmo, Jimmy James and Maurice Graham .
WACO EQC-6 (1937)
BOEING MODEL 40-B-4 (1930) se ngers re placed m ail and fr eight as th e prim e source of revenu e. To refl ect this change, Wes te rn ch anged its n ame from "Express" to Air Lines in 1941. Wo rld War II stripped th e compa ny d ow n to three DC-3s and a couple of Lockhe ed Lodestars . But Weste rn w as give n two important w ar mi ssions: to train pil o ts fo r th e military, a nd to fl y m en a nd mate rial to Al as ka in th e fam ous "Sourdo ug h Opera ti on ." In 1944, a m erge r w ith Inland Air Lines ex pa nded Western in th e Rockies a nd into South Da ko ta. It was al so th e yea r Wes te rn ju st appli ed fo r ne w 13
routes to Hawa ii , to compete w ith Pa n Am erica n. O n Ja nuary 1, 1947, Terrell C. Drink water becam e pres ide nt o f Wes te rn . A lawye r fro m Colo rad o, Drin k wa te r was also edu ca ted in H awaii a nd ho p ed tha t hi s airlin e would secur e rights to the Isla nds . But th e comp any was in fin a ncial difficulty . Drink wa te r acce pted th e ch all e nge a nd bega n a p o li cy o f "cons tructi ve co ntrac tio n" . At o ne stage, th e co m pa ny had to se ll aircraft tires to m ee t the payroll. It wo rked a nd soo n th e airlin e inched backed into th e black. Th e ea rl y Fifti es saw th e introd ucti o n of th e Do u g-
las DC-6B. Western eventu ally bo u ght 31 of th e m . The co mp a n y's ro utes s t re tch e d al o n g th e e ntir e W es t Coas t a nd in 1957 we re ex tended to M exico City. They we nt as fa r east as Minn ea poli s/S t. Pa ul. In 1960, Wes te rn e nt e r ed th e Je t Ag e w ith th e leasing of two Boein g 707s . It was also the year th a t a White H o u se d ec is io n to d e lay inte rn a ti o n a l ro ute awa rd s in th e Pac ific prevented Wes tern from o pe ra t ing new do m estic routes to H awa ii tha t the co mpa ny had bee n awa rd ed by th e C ivil Ae ro na utics Boa rd in th e firs t Tra nspacifi c Route case. (Continued on Page 16)