Ransome Airlines de Havilland Canada DHC-7
N173RA (c/n 38)
By the late 1970s Ransome had extended its
route network from Philadelphia (both North and
International
Airports) to Boston with several smaller cities in Connecticut, Rhode
island and
Massachusetts
in between. It was felt that these would be better served
with a STOL type
aircraft
and accordingly it ordered eight Dash-7s from (what was then ) de
Havilland of Canada
(now
Bombardier). These began entering service in 1979. Since,
at that time, Ransome was
code-sharing with Allegheny (later USAir) as an Allegheny Commuter
partner the aircraft were
painted in that
livery, as seen above in this photo by Bob Garrard taken at
Philadelphia International
in March 1981.