AIRWAYS HISTORY
14 15 Convair 240s , the first pressurized airliners to serve for Northeast , arrived in 1949 . By that time the company ’ s slogan was “ The Yankee Fleet ”. // DAVID H . STRINGER COLLECTION
16 This staged publicity photo shows a Convair 240 with crew . // PHOTO : PROCTOR- LIVESEY-THOMAS COLLECTION
17 DC-3s continued to serve the majority of Northeast ’ s routes in the early 1950s . In this photo , a company DC-3 is seen taxiing at Bangor , Maine . // PHOTO : PAUL ZOGG COLLECTION ( ZOGGAVIA . COM ) the controls . In the cabin were Earhart , Vidal , and eight paying passengers . The first southbound service from Portland , flown by Milton Anderson , carried four passengers . Boston-Maine Airways was again in business .
Amelia Earhart , of course , drew a crowd wherever she went . She used her fame to call attention to the new air service and undertook a program of visiting women ’ s clubs in the cities served by Boston-Maine Airways . She convinced the ladies to take sightseeing flights , thus turning the club members into promoters of the airline and of flying in general , hopefully to influence their earthbound husbands . More than 200 women in Bangor took advantage of the free sightseeing flights when the Bangor Chamber of Commerce held a Women ’ s Day promotion featuring Amelia .
15
The new airline did not wait long to expand . In fall 1933 , service began from Boston to Montpelier / Barre , Vermont , via Concord , New Hampshire , and White River Junction , Vermont . This route was over territory served by the Central Vermont Railway , which became a partner in the company now to be referred to as Boston-Maine / Central Vermont Airways .
14
Service on the Central Vermont line was extended to Burlington early in 1934 , then north to Montréal . Economic help arrived that June as National Airways won the new air mail contract from Boston to Bangor and Boston to Burlington .
72 AIRWAYS MAGAZINE NOVEMBER 2024 www . airwaysmag . com