Allegheny Airlines McDonnell Douglas DC-9-31   N970VJ                 (c/n 47050)

                                          

                                                 This image shows the DC-9 in original Allegheny livery, before the adoption of the multi red
                                                 and purple design, plenty of samples of which can be found on various web sites. Theoretically,
                                                 this machine should be described as a "Douglas" DC-9,  since the merger of the Douglas Aircraft
                                                 Company with the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation had not taken place when the original order
                                                 was placed.  The merger was effective April 28 1967, whilst N970VJ was delivered in June of
                                                 that year.   In 1968 Allegheny merged with Lake Central Airlines, and in 1972 it acquired Mohawk
                                                 Airlines.  With deregulation in 1978 came an expansionist period within the airline industry (actually
                                                 the beginning of the end of the industry as we once knew it) and in 1979 it was decided to change
                                                 the corporate name from the regionally suggestive Allegheny to the all ranging U S Airways,
                                                 (truncated to USAir).  Further acquisitions merged PSA with the airline in 1988 and Piedmont
                                                 Airlines in 1989.  By 1997 management decided to revert back to the corporate name of U S
                                                 Airways.  Once a low cost carrier itself, U S Airways faced increasing competition from upstarts
                                                 and filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2004.  Hopefully a recent (fall of 2005) merger with America
                                                 West Airlines will ensure that the successor of Allegheny Airlines continues to fly into the foreseeable
                                                 future.