Ozark Air Lines    Douglas DC-3  N15581         (c/n  7328)

                              

                                  Ozark Airlines was a late starter among the United States Local Service Operators.  Although
                                  incorporated in September 1943, it did not commence scheduled services until July of 1950.  The
                                  company was originally an intra-state carrier operating out of Springfield, Mo. with Beech D-17s
                                  and Cessna T-50s.   When the CAB awarded most of the old Parks Air Lines routes to Ozark,
                                  it moved its base to St. Louis, and absorbed the former carrier's modest fleet of DC-3s.  Its first
                                  routes radiated from St. Louis to Chicago, Tulsa and Memphis.   N15581 seen in the above
                                  evocative (and nostalgic - note AT-6 and Luscombe in background) shot was acquired in 1954.
                                  It was a former C-53-DO (42-15533).  In the mid 1950s Ozark white topped its aircraft and re-
                                  registered them in the "D" series.  This one became N132D.    My shot (below) of N134D was
                                  taken at Minneapolis on a January day in 1960.   Most of the fleet by that time had been "modern-
                                  ized" to include fully retractable undercarriages.

                                  Douglas DC-3  N134D       (c/n    11731)