An “experimental” DC-4. A high-energy group of hardworking ex-servicemen. A Veterans Air Express UNRRA contract for cargo flights behind the iron curtain. And Newark/Miami winter passenger flights. By mid-1946, the all-veterans organization was becoming recognized and starting to thrive.
“Experimental” DC-4 expedited for UNRRA war relief flights Read More »
A pride hard to verbalize shudders through me every time I see this film footage of my Dad’s crew members disembarking from the Veterans Air Line DC-4 in Prague. Saunie Gravely was 22 when he got the idea of an all-Veterans air service. And this amazing footage is proof of his dream-become-reality. Come watch. Sorry, no popcorn today.
1946 film of UNRRA Prague crew arrival Read More »
UNRRA war-relief. DC-4 flights to Prague three times and Warsaw twice with poultry hatching eggs.
2nd Prague Crew departs for home. 2 May 1946 UNRRA Read More »
By the time these eggs arrive in Warsaw, chicks from the first May delivery will have hatched. Both are historic flights.
2nd-ever civilian flight to Warsaw. 20 May 1946. Read More »
Company techs convert an Army C-54 to second cargo DC-4 in just 13 days. But too slow military-to-civilian airfield negotiations hinder FL ops plans.
DC-4 converted at Sebring FL ops base Read More »
Cargo Ton-Miles and Passenger Miles adding up CARGO. December 3rd to 21st (1945). Here we have the first cargo revenue flights. Flown in the company’s newly acquired DC-3. (Passenger Period) These are reported further down the page. Cargo. April 1 – June 1, 1946. The Ton-Miles reported here are the first four of six war-relief
Growing a 1946 non-sked airline Read More »
Hollywood star Carole Landis christened Veterans Air Line DC-4 on July 24, 1946. The aircraft and attending celebrity Mrs. Gloria Vanderbilt both got champagne-splashed. Still searching for press photo coverage of event.
Carole Landis christens non-sked DC-4. July1946 Read More »
Court decision No. 6582a naming lawyers for petitioner Matson Nav Co, trustee for Veterans’ Air Express Co, and a slew of U.S. Attorneys and General Counsels for the Government. Dated March 19, 1948. Ironically, it was Saunie Gravely’s 25th Birthday. Preparation for potential contract leads to unforeseen outcome. Being a non-sked air line was not easy. The
1948 Legal Action drops the “Final Curtain.” Read More »
John J. Noll was a core founder of Veterans Air with six (maybe seven) other WWII vets, including Saunie Gravely, my Dad.
John J Noll among Core Founders Read More »
Pilot was unknown when this photo was taken in preparation for UNRRA flights to Prague. He was identified in a story about the 2nd Warsaw flight. Captain Morgan Cooper Walker is his name.
Warsaw May 1946. UNRRA relief story lists Crew names Walker and Fagan Read More »
