AIRWAYS HISTORY Northeast Airlines
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part to their president , Sam Solomon , and his ‘ can do ’ attitude . He offered Northeast ’ s services without reservation and accepted every request for assistance , no matter how difficult .
Northeast ’ s brand new DC-3s carried more than double the number of passengers that the Lockheed L-10A Electras accommodated . But with only three aircraft carrying 24 seats each , the Company found itself with not enough equipment and too much capacity on the flights that were operating . A smooth move on Sam Solomon ’ s part in 1942 solved the problem . In April , Northeast traded its three new DC-3s with TWA , taking five of that company ’ s older 14-passenger Douglas DC- 2s in exchange . The trade seemed a perfect stopgap measure . Now Northeast had more airplanes offering just enough capacity . But , with the war gearing up , this revised fleet did not last long . In July of the same year , the US Army took all five of Northeast ’ s DC-2s for the war effort and gave the Company two DC-3s from the fleet of American Airlines in exchange . Northeast would spend the rest of the war operating its scheduled commercial network with just two DC-3s .
Northeast ’ s operations for the military during World War II included supplying strategic installations in Labrador , Greenland , and Iceland . Northeast ’ s cold weather flying experience made it the perfect vehicle to carry out the wartime needs of the US government in arctic conditions .
In the summer of 1942 , the company proudly set a record as it became the first US airline to
carry a payload from the United States to Europe via the far North Atlantic route , beating out the much larger Pan American Airways . Operating for the Air Transport Command , the historic flight ’ s purpose was to deliver a complete radio station to Stornoway , Scotland . The trip departed from Presque Isle , Maine — the staging point for future transatlantic flights , and also a Northeast Airlines station — proceeded on to Goose Bay , Labrador , Bluie West One ( Narsarsuak ), Greenland , Keflavik , Iceland , and then Stornoway . After delivering its payload , the flight continued on to Prestwick , which would serve as the terminus of future missions . A regular service was established .
For the duration of the war , in addition to its regular service across the North Atlantic , Northeast continued to operate services for the military deep into Arctic Canada and Greenland with twin-engine C-47s and C-46s . It would be natural to assume that Northeast ’ s wartime experience , flying throughout Canada and across the North Atlantic with a readiness to perform any mission requested , would put the company in a good position to be rewarded with new routes after the war . Sam Solomon applied to the CAB for postwar route extensions through Scandinavia to Moscow , and also to London , Paris , and Prague . The request would eventually be denied , but the application reflected Solomon ’ s forward-thinking plans for Northeast .
Solomon ’ s enthusiasm for expansion was not shared by some of the other board members . Paul Collins , in particular , felt that Northeast should limit itself to its New England routes , sticking to the area
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