Braniff International Airways Douglas DC-7.

United Air Lines premier airliner in the 1950s prior to the advent of jet travel. It was built at Cloverfield in Santa Monica, California. Photo courtesy of United whom I once worked for.

Sabena Douglas DC-7 1962

Sabena Douglas DC 7 C 1958

Was good to spend a few hours in the National Air and Space museum on a hot and humid summerday. Must have been the busiest aviation musuem I have ever been to, all tourists seem to flock to the nationa's capital in summer and almost everyone stops in this free museum. This DC-7 cockpit was a nice birthday present. - Photo taken at Washington [OFF AIRPORT] in District of Columbia, USA on July 21, 2008.

Chartered AA DC-7 Flagship Texas awaiting departure to Van Nuys, California carrying troops from the 146th Fighter Bomber Wing. - Photo taken at Boise - Air Terminal / Gowen Field (Municipal) (BOI / KBOI) in Idaho, USA in August, 1957.

Sabena Douglas DC 7 de Seven Seas 1964

Antique miscellaneous such as this are historical limited editions (date of manufacture is 1950). Cherished back then - rare find today. Priced at £2,995. For sale by Puckerings.

Photo taken at Stockholm - Bromma (BMA / ESSB) in Sweden on June 19, 1969.

Title: Douglas DC-5 Catalog #: 15_000923 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: KLM Collection: Charles M. Daniels Collection Photo Album Name: US Manufacturers III D - K Page #: 37 Tags: Douglas DC-5, KLM PUBLIC COMMONS.SOURCE INSTITUTION: San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive

On tow to its gate. Registrations used by this airframe: F-WWJV, HB-JMH - Photo taken at Zurich (- Kloten) (ZRH / LSZH) in Switzerland on September 7, 2016.

Good bye, MD-90! JAL's MD-90 became the history on Mar.30th 2013. Another uniquely designed aircraft disappeared from Japan's sky. Seen here approaching on short final to R/W34L in some lovely evening sunlight with the amazing moon in the background. [Nikon D300s, SIGMA 120-400mm F4.5-5.6] - Photo taken at Tokyo - Haneda International (HND / RJTT) in Japan on January 7, 2012.

Photo taken at Berlin - Tempelhof (THF / EDDI) [CLOSED] in Germany on July 7, 1971.

"Harold Crary". Seen on short final landing runway 25R from HNL. Manufactured on May 5, 1969. Delivery date was June 15, 1969. Built as DC-8-62H, cvt'd to DC-8-62H(F) freighter in March 1986. Other serials - 9XR-SC with Sliverback Cargo Freighters - leased on May 7, 2002, N816ZA with Air Train & Zantop Int'l Airlines, N8967U with Zantop Int'l Airlines, and also N990F with Emery Worldwide, CF Air Freight, & Compass Air. Wears FN 2267 with United Airlines. Stored at KGL (Kigali) in 2010 as 9XR-SC. - Photo taken at Los Angeles - International (LAX / KLAX) in California, USA in April, 1976.

ACCIDENT SYNOPSIS: June 30, 1956. Two transcontinental airliners departed three minutes apart from Los Angeles International Airport in California. Trans World Airlines Flight 2, (N6902C), a Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation en-route to Kansas City, MO and then continuing to Baltimore/Washington D.C. TWA Flight 2 carried 70 passengers and crew, many of which were TWA employees and families traveling on company passes. United Air Lines Flight 718 was a Douglas DC-7, (N6324C) bound for Chicago, IL with 58 passengers and crew. Based on their destinations and routes, both aircraft would be flying converging courses to their destinations; however a request for altitude change by TWA Flight 2 due to weather brought both aircraft to fly at a cruising altitude of 21,000 feet. At 1030 AM (PST), both aircraft collided over eastern the Grand Canyon in Northern Arizona. There were no warnings, no alerts, and no survivors among the 128 persons. Only a garbled distress call received from United flight 718 would give any hint of a problem. After an hour of repeated calls from air traffic control, the two flights were officially reported as missing and overdue. A search for the airliners was initiated by several military and state agencies, but it was Palen Hudgin and his brother flying an air tour with Grand Canyon Airlines that would later recall seeing smoke near Temple Butte earlier in the day. The two returned before dark and confirmed the impact site of the TWA Constellation on the northeast slope of Temple Butte. Not far from the burning wreckage was the Constellation's distinctive triple tail smashed against the boulders. Authorities acted quickly on the Hudgin's report of the downed aircraft and the following morning a military helicopter would not only confirm the brother's sighting, but also discovered the smoldering impact site of the DC-7 atop a 1,000 foot ledge of Chuar Butte. At the time it was the worst air disaster in the history of civil aviation. *********************************************************************************************************************************** HISTORICAL SUMMARY: The following photos depict this historical but tragic event in aviation history. As a result of this accident many improvements were made to the national airspace system such as nationwide radar coverage and ATC transponder requirements. After a series of congressional hearings, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was also created as a result of this tragedy. Since 1990, I have made five trips into the Grand Canyon to map and document the impact sites and remaining wreckage. Each examination visit required a 6-7 day backpacking trip (40+ miles) as well as a solo crossing by raft of the Colorado River to reach the sites.

Airlift International headed for takeoff at San Francisco in Jan 1967.

Photo taken at New York - John F. Kennedy International (Idlewild) (JFK / KJFK) in New York, USA in July, 1959.

Photo taken at Dusseldorf - International (Rhein-Ruhr / Lohausen) (DUS / EDDL) in Germany in April, 1969.

"City of Hong Kong", to SAS SE-CCI as DC-7CF 9-62 - Photo taken at Tokyo - Haneda International (HND / RJTT) in Japan in February, 1961.