Golden West Airlines  de Havilland Canada DHC-7   N701GW     (c/n  21)

                                    

                                        The ultimate type to be used by Golden West was the rather elegant-looking (I always thought)
                                        "Dash-7" as they were called,   This STOL (Short Take-off and Landing) 50 passenger craft had
                                        a pressurized cabin seating 50 passengers.  Double slotted type flaps extending over 80% of the
                                        wing allowed truly short field performance.  Production ceased in 1988 after Boeing took over
                                        de Havilland Canada.    Golden West had ordered seven of them., but I believe only three or
                                        four were actually delivered.  In 1983 debt-ridden and over-extended Golden West Airlines,
                                        which had been such a boon to businessmen traveling from Ontario and  Orange County into
                                        LAX in the 1960s, folded.  Both images on this page were taken by Ellis M. Chernoff, and both
                                        were at Lindbergh Field, San Diego.  The upper shot shows the first DHC-7 delivered in 1980 in
                                        the pen-ultimate markings, whilst the lower shot illustrates the livery applied in 1981, two years
                                        before the airline went out of business. 

                                        de Havilland Canada DHC-7  N702GW    (c/n    36)