Wings over Florida by Lynn M. Homan

Author:Lynn M. Homan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing Inc.
Published: 2011-10-13T16:00:00+00:00

Although not originally organized in Florida, Eastern Air Lines would come to be known as one of Florida’s premier airlines. As did National Airlines, one of its major competitors, Eastern offered attractive airfares and tour packages as an incentive for northern visitors, who were also known as snowbirds, to fly to Florida. (Private Collection.)

An Eastern Air Lines Douglas DC-2 is parked in front of Eastern’s terminal at Thirty-sixth Street, Miami, in 1937. That same year, famed World War I ace Captain Eddie Rickenbacker purchased Eastern’s “Great Silver Fleet,” consisting of ten DC-2s, ten Douglas DC-3s, and two Stinson Reliant trainers, for $3.5 million. By 1941, domestic airlines in the United States had turned over one-half of their aircraft to the military. During World War II, the “Great Silver Fleet” of Eastern Air Lines became “the Great Chocolate Fleet,” when its aircraft were painted army brown. (Florida State Archives.)

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