Bonanza Air Lines  McDonnell Douglas DC-9-14   N945L            (c/n  45728)

                                 

                                        Here's a different angle of a Bonanza DC-9 scurrying away from the camera ship over a snow
                                        strewn Mojave Desert.  N945L was the first of five DC-9s ordered by Bonanza and was delivered
                                        in December of 1965 when this image (reproduced here courtesy of Bonanza Air Lines) was taken.  
                                        Bonanza was the first Local Service airline to fly the DC-9.  The more convential shot of N946L
                                        below, taken at LAX  is from the Jennifer Gradidge collection.    By the mid 1960s the airline had
                                        non stop services from Phoenix to Salt Lake City and to Reno, Nevada, in addition to service from
                                        those cities and Los Angeles to Las Vegas.   Despite the introduction of the jets, traffic on the Las
                                        Vegas routes, the biggest money earner was still not  sufficient  for the line to remain solvent and on
                                        17 April 1968 Bonanza merged with Pacific Air Lines and West Coast Airlines to form Air West.
                                        All of its equipment passed to the asset register of the new line.

                                        McDonnell Douglas DC-9-14    N946L    (c/n   45729)