Eastern
Air Lines Douglas DC-4
N88707 (c/n
18378)
As
soon as the fighting ended in the Pacific, Eastern began to get back on
its feet. Along with most
other trunk airlines
it began acquiring ex-military C-54s. Eastern's DC-4 conversions
were outfitted
with 68 seats
initially. The first service of a DC-4 under "The Great Silver
Fleet" legend (see image
below) occurred
on 2 April 1946 between New York and Miami. Significantly. some 4
years later
these aircraft would be converted into Air Coach configuration, with
much denser seating arrange-
ments.
Both N88707 above and sister ship NC88706 below were built as US Navy
R5Ds.
Meanwhile, on 1 June 1956 Eastern merged with Colonial Airlines
and three or four more DC-4s
were added to the fleet as
a result.
Douglas DC-4
N88706 (c/n 10297)