AIRWAYS HISTORY
2 3 In 1951 , Midet Aviation got permission from the Civil Aeronautics Board ( CAB ) to fly from Miami and West Palm Beach to West End on Grand Bahama Island ( see map ), site of Butlin ’ s Vacation Village . Mackey Airlines received CAB certification the following year for service from Ft . Lauderdale and West Palm Beach to Nassau . Butlin ’ s Village went bankrupt and Midet acquired the property , rechristening it the Grand Bahama Club . Mackey Airlines bought Midet Aviation in 1956 . // MIDET AVIATION MAP : ROADCAP ’ S WORLD AIRLINE RECORD 1955
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AMONG AMERICA ’ S AIRLINES engaged in international transportation during the regulated era of commercial aviation ( 1938-1978 ), Mackey was an anomaly . As a rule , only big airlines with the money and the legal staff to battle giant Pan American World Airways were successful in obtaining Civil Aeronautics Board ( CAB ) permits to fly to foreign shores . But little Mackey Airlines , based in Fort Lauderdale , Florida , was the exception to the rule .
After World War II , US Army Air Corps Colonel Joseph Mackey had purchased three Lockheed L-18 Lodestars and used them in non-scheduled service between Miami and Nassau ( and , according to one report , between Miami and Cleveland ). However , the CAB then forced Mackey to suspend operations because his service to the Bahamas operated too frequently for an uncertificated airline . Despite turning his attention to other endeavors , including running a farm in Maryland , Mackey nevertheless applied to the CAB for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity to legally operate scheduled air service between Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach on the one hand , and Nassau on the other .
In its ruling handed down in the Florida-Bahamas Service Case , decided on September 4 , 1951 , the CAB denied Mackey ’ s request but , surprisingly , approved the application made by another small outfit called Midet Aviation to operate scheduled service between the terminals of Miami and West
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62 AIRWAYS MAGAZINE AUGUST 2024 www . airwaysmag . com