Memories of a day at CLE in 65

5:01 PM PST, 2/27/2009

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TWA AIRLINES c1950 ILLUSTRATED BROCHURE...Constellation seat maps & history

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A DAY OF MEMORIES AT CLE IN 1965. I was in high school in 1965. My best friend Dudley and I love commercial aviation and the airlines. In the summer on a week day we would travel to Cleveland Hopkins Airport just to be around the "airline action". We lived in the Eastern suburb of Euclid, Ohio about 25 miles from CLE. It took us two buses and a train to get to the airport. I walked a mile to catch the first bus about 5:30 AM. We would carry cameras and lots of black and white film for the day. Our goal was to get there by 7:30 AM to see the two TWA Lockheed Constellation 749's depart. We would arrive about 7:00 or so, pay a dime at the turn style and head out to our perch on the spectator's deck. That deck was perfect with comfortable green benches surrounded by old airliners. It was open air allowing the sounds and smell of the activity right into your mind. I've made a list of a typical day the CLE in 1965 and what we probably would see. We always saw more planes than I have entries, but I've only made one entry per type. Frequently we would ask the gate agents if they minded if we went out and took a look. We were never turned down. Imagine that today. Two TWA Constellation 749 would be boarding and then leave. The porthole windows were too cool for words. A Zantop Airlines Curtiss Commando C-46 would be parked at the cargo area and leave without schedule. American Airlines would depart a Boeing 707 to Dallas early in the morning. It would be replaced by a Convair 240 and Douglas DC-6. North Central Airlines first flight, a Convair 440, would fire up and take off. Soon another would arrive from Detroit. A United Airlines Boeing 720 would leave in a hurry to O'Hare. An Eastern Airlines DC-8 with the "Fly Eastern" livery proudly leaves for Miami. A Lake Central Airlines DC-3 would arrive. I can still hear the wheels squeaking. Several United Airlines DC-6 and DC-6B would be starting up with lots of blue smoke, and sometimes a backfire. Several United Airlines Sud Caravelles would exchange places at the gates. The Caravelle's takeoff attitude was very impressive, but the noise was incredible with popping sounds above the roar. A couple of United Airlines Vickers Viscount would arrive. If facing them head on your ear drums would almost burst. An Allegheny Airlines Martin 202A would arrive and lower it's tail exit stairs. The dihedral of the wings was impressive. Eastern Airlines Convair 440 would arrive and then leave. Northwest L-188 Lockheed Electra II boards and leaves for points to the northwest.< An Allegheny Convair 440 replaces the Martin 202A at it's gate.< A Northwest Airlines Boeing 720B does it's usual Northwest short field takeoff. A Flying Tiger Line Lockheed Super-H Constellation (1049H) arrives at the cargo area. A Trans-Canada Vickers Viscount would depart as another arrived to take it's place. An Eastern Airlines L-188 Lockheed Electra II would arrive with the powerful yet cricket like sounds of the Allison 501D's. A Mohawk Airlines Convair 240 would lumber to it's gate. It's radar made it look like someone pinched it's nose. A Lake Central Airlines Convair 340 arrives, it's nose still paint left over from the United Convair 340 era. An Allegheny Commuter DeHavilland Heron departs for Mansfield, Ohio. A Northwest Airlines DC-7C arrives with it's classic four bladed props and very curved rudder. 11:00 A mysterious Eastern Airlines cargo Lockheed Super-H Constellation with pink paint would park at a passenger gate and unload packages. A magnificent TWA Airlines Convair 880 would arrive with thick contrails of black smoke and park right next to us. When it left it sounded like a pair of B-58 Hustler bombers. A Trans-Canada Vickers Vanguard with it's huge oval windows would arrive. A Flying Tiger Line Swing Tail Canadair CL-44D (Britannia) arrives and unhinges it's tail. Pretty much more of the same but less frequency. A TWA Lockheed Super-G Constellation (1049G) would arrive signaling us use it was time to leave today. Flight 505 was from JFK. Special one time events that happened on various days first United Airlines Boeing 727-100 does take off runs and stops between other traffic. A LOT Polish Airlines IL-62 arrives. A tail wheel for unloading? A Qantas Empire Boeing 707 V-jet arrives carrying the Cleveland Orchestra A United/Continental Airlines connection DC-6B with both liveries arrives. Lake Central Airlines Nord 262 arrives. Mohawk Airlines BAC-111-200 arrives to CLE. About a dozen USAF C-97 (Stratocruisers) arrive from different states with governors for convention.

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