American Airlines Douglas DC-6  NX90703         (c/n  42856)

                                             

                                                    This has long been one of my favorite airline photographs.  I mean where, today, could you lead
                                                    a horse up to the gate?   Tucson, Arizona, 1948.  The aircraft was on a proving/publicity flight
                                                    junket.   American was a great operator of the DC-6 and were the first to put them into service
                                                    (in April of 1947 on the New York - Chicago route), owning some 85 of them at one time or
                                                    another.  They were a great step forward over the immediate post-war DC-4s and cut the trans-
                                                    continental flight time from 12-14 hours to 9-10 eastbound and 11 back out to the coast, depending
                                                    on stops..  Normal configuration was 48 to 52 passengers in pressurized comfort.  N90703
                                                    enjoyed a hectic career after it left American in 1960 and wound up being scrapped at Hal Far,
                                                    Malta, in 1980.