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La Jetée Press We publish deep dives into the most fascinating moments of aviation history, paired with photography

Got to tick off another airport in my travels, yesterday was my first time at MKE. Didn't fly in on this Skywest E175 (c...
30/06/2025

Got to tick off another airport in my travels, yesterday was my first time at MKE. Didn't fly in on this Skywest E175 (came in on a Southwest 737-700 from DAL which I did not get a good photo of). Funny thing is that one of my favorite airlines to fly on in the 1990s was MKE-based Midwest Express but only now have passed through Milwaukee.

But I digress.

These colors still catch my eye as in my mind, they're still Continental colors. If I am not mistaken, flying as United Express is the biggest part of Skywest's flying.

I remember when these colors debuted in Continental's fleet. The first aircraft painted in these colors I think was an Airbus A300 and actually got to ride it not long after the reveal IAH-LAX. Continental had a very tumultous 1980s with Frankie Smooth Talk screwing all the employees over repeatedly. Morale was in the sh***er. Things turned around when Gordon Bethune took over and the new colors were a part of Continental starting a new chapter.

The flight and cabin crew of my A300 flight IAH-LAX were at the gate when that freshly painted A300 was towed to the gate. The captain remarked to me "Do you like those colors? We like 'em. It's the start of a new Continental."








20/06/2025

109 planes. 7 liveries. One incredible legacy. The de Havilland Dash 8 revolutionized regional airline service across the United States and around the world....

When this striking American Airlines two page advertisement came out in 1988, the airline was coming out of a remarkable...
16/06/2025

When this striking American Airlines two page advertisement came out in 1988, the airline was coming out of a remarkable period of not just fleet expansion but also network expansion. American was expanding its network in Europe along with Asia when not just a few years earlier, the airline didn't even fly to Asia.

The landmark McDonnell Douglas MD-80 deal had been finalized and just a year after this ad came out, American would order the MD-11.

The "On Time Machine" came from American making the top ranking on Department of Transportation data from September 1987 to February 1988.

So yesterday we shared a Martin Aircraft ad for the P6M SeaMaster and mentioned how its strategic attack role had been e...
15/06/2025

So yesterday we shared a Martin Aircraft ad for the P6M SeaMaster and mentioned how its strategic attack role had been eclipsed by the Polaris SLBM.

This Lockheed ad is from 1962 and shows the three variants of the UGM-27 Polaris sea-launched ballistic missile. From L to R:

Polaris A-1 (UGM-27A)- only four years elapsed from contract development to operational deployment for the first US SLBM. It had a 1200 mile range and single 600kT warhead. Deployed to the fleet in 1960.

Polaris A-2 (UGM-27B)- deployed to the fleet in 1962, it had a longer first stage. 1500 mile range and the same 600kT warhead as the A-1.

Polaris A-3 (UGM-27C)- big advance over the A-1/A-2. 2500 mile range and three 200kT warheads. Deployed to the fleet in 1964.

It's really one of the lesser heralded achievements in aerospace engineering, the rapid pace of development and evolution of the Polaris SLBM family of missiles.

The Martin P6M SeaMaster was meant to be the bomber portion of the Navy's "Seaplane Striking Force" where jet-powered se...
14/06/2025

The Martin P6M SeaMaster was meant to be the bomber portion of the Navy's "Seaplane Striking Force" where jet-powered seaplanes would be supported by seaplane tenders and special submarines to form a mobile nuclear deterrent in the wake of the cancellation of the supercarrier USS United States.

12 aircraft were built with the first prototype flying in 1955 to the cancellation of the SeaMaster program in 1959. The Polaris SLBM had been in development since 1955 and the first US ballistic missile submarine (SSBN), the USS George Washington, was launched the same year as the P6M cancellation.

The P6M SeaMaster would be the last Martin aircraft as the company would focus on missiles and electronics systems.

Another photo of the Bristol Hercules-powered Avro Lancaster Mk.II. It was thought that being a radial engine, the Hercu...
14/06/2025

Another photo of the Bristol Hercules-powered Avro Lancaster Mk.II. It was thought that being a radial engine, the Hercules would be more robust than the liquid-cooled Rolls-Royce Merlin engine. While the Hercules was a fine engine for the Bristol Beaufighter and the later marks of the Handley Page Halifax, it never lived up to its promise on the Lancaster- some sources I read indicated that the supercharger on the Hercules-powered Lancaster was the culprit as it was not as good as the one on the Merlin-powered Lancasters.

Of the 7,377 Avro Lancaster heavy bombers built in the Second World War, only 300 were the Lancaster Mk.II variant with ...
13/06/2025

Of the 7,377 Avro Lancaster heavy bombers built in the Second World War, only 300 were the Lancaster Mk.II variant with Bristol Hercules radial engines instead of the Rolls Royce Merlin engines.

Early on in the Lancaster Mk.I's production run, there was concern about the supply of Merlin engines as they were also used on the Supermarine Spitfire. In addition, Packard Motors in the United States began producing Merlin engines in August 1941 and there were also concerns that if the US entered the war, Packard-built Merlins would be diverted to US fighter designs.

Armstrong Whitworth began work on the Lancaster Mk.II using the more plentiful Bristol Hercules radial engine that was also used on the Vickers Wellington and Bristol Beaufighter.

By the time the Lancaster Mk.II entered service in October 1942, the supply concerns of Merlin engines receded and only 300 radial-engined Lancasters were built. Unfortunately the Mk.II had unforseen altitude limitations and a higher than expected fuel burn that impacted range and bomb loads.

By the end of 1943 the Mk.II was being phased out with only 2 squadrons using it by the time of D-Day. Most were used by either RCAF squadrons or Wellington squadrons. Some lingered into 1950 as testbed aircraft.

Interestingly the conversion from Merlins to the Hercules radial worsened the Lancaster's performance but the same engine change to the Handley Page Halifax improved that bomber's performance!

Something from the archives, this is N439QX as it crossed one of the runways at SEA back in September 2021. It was at th...
12/06/2025

Something from the archives, this is N439QX as it crossed one of the runways at SEA back in September 2021.

It was at the 1999 Paris Air Show that Bombardier secured 15 firm orders with 15 options from Horizon Airlines, making Horizon the North American launch customer for the new turboprop airliner. Horizon's order came the day after the Q400 was issued its type certificate by Transport Canada following a 1900-flight hour test program.

Horizon would end up operating 57 Q400s in its history with the most being 51 Q400s at one time, making the airline the largest operator of the type in the world. The aircraft was highly economical in Horizon's network with a breakeven load factor of only 29 passengers on routes under 200 miles. At one point Sea-Tac was the king of turboprop operations in the United States on account of Horizon's use of the "Mighty Qcumber"- one in five departures at one point at SEA was a Q400.








With growing passenger traffic boosting tourism in Hawaii in the early 1960s, both of the state's intrastate carriers, A...
11/06/2025

With growing passenger traffic boosting tourism in Hawaii in the early 1960s, both of the state's intrastate carriers, Aloha and Hawaiian, were making the transition to more advanced equipment to increase passenger appeal.

This ad ran in 1966 just after Aloha introduced the BAC One-Eleven on the interisland routes just two weeks after rival Hawaiian introduced the Douglas DC-9 Series 15.

In the early 1960s on the heels of Hawaiian statehood, Aloha's routes were well served by four Fairchild F-27s delivered 1959-1960 to augment the DC-3 fleet. But they were too small for the growth in passenger numbers. The airline wanted pure jets but being a small intrastate airline, getting them was tough. As a stopgap, Aloha got four use Vickers Viscounts 1963-1965 and fitted them with high density seating which proved immensely unpopular with both passengers and crews.

In March 1965, Aloha ordere two BAC One-Elevens for delivery the following year and took on a third one. The One-Elevens were flying up to 20 sectors a day and were popular with passengers but were soon upstaged with Hawaiian got its first DC-9 Series 30s which had a big capacity advantage over the One-Eleven.

Frustrated with BAC's indecision on producing a stretched One-Eleven (the Series 500), Aloha would turn to the Boeing 737-200 starting in 1969 and phased out the One-Elevens that same year after only operating them for three years.

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