In the early days, Naples Airlines operated as Provincetown-Boston (hence PBA) and were not even in Naples during the off season.The "official" tourist season (Apr15 through Dec 15) began after the "snowbirds" had recovered from Thanksgiving "up north".
PBA operated in the (you guessed it) New England area including Boston (Logan airport pictured), and serviced folks at Provincetown, Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard and the surrounding area.
In the fall, the planes (there were 2, I think) would make the trip south where they became the link between Naples and the larger commercial carriers in Tampa and Miami. There were just a couple of round-trip flights per day in the morning and afternoon. One plane did the Tampa loop and the other did Miami. We used to wave at the Tampa guys whilst playing sand-lot football out in Seagate.
This question may have already been answered, but my memory has gaps . . .
. . . is this airplane a Lockheed, Beechcraft or Grumman, and did these planes become the first "mosquito bombers" upon the arrival of the DC-3's?
Seagate Homeboy
NHS Class of '67
10:23 a.m. PST
Photo credit: Bill Armstrong at Airliners.net
Hey, Danny--
ReplyDeleteThat's a Lockheed Electra, I believe.
--Jim
I'm pretty certain these were Lockheeds and came AFTER the venerable DC-3s.
ReplyDeleteThis plane is a Lockheed 10. I had the honor of riding 'shot-gun' beside the pilot on a run to Miami in about 1972. As far as I can remember, it was not a mosqueto plane, they started the spray with the DC 3's.
ReplyDeleteHi Chris, I'm quite sure that the Lockheed's preceded the DC-3's.
ReplyDeleteAs Naples grew, the idea was to carry more passengers not less.
I know that the DC-3's were WWII (or slightly after) vintage but in the early days of PBA they just weren't economically feasible. The Lockheed's sufficed until there was enough cash flow to support the larger plane.
Seagate Homeboy
NHS Class of 1967
12:37 a.m PDT