Continental Airlines Convair 240-3  NC90844                    (c/n  73)

                                 

                                       Until the results of the Denver Route Case were awarded, Continental did not have stage lengths
                                       long enough to warrant the use of four engined airliners.  (The Denver Case in 1955 ultimately gave
                                       them Chicago - Denver - Los Angeles, which changed the whole ball game).  Consequently, in the
                                       1940s and early 1950s it never did fly the DC-4 on regular schedules (although they did lease at least
                                       one of them {see following entry}), preferring, in 1948, to update its fleet with Convair-liners.   Five
                                       of these gleaming new beauties were ordered from San Diego.  Note "Skystreamer" legend on tail.