Republic Airlines  McDonnell Douglas DC-9-51  N773NC    (c/n  47775)

                                       

                                            When North Central merged with Southern to form Republic, the former carrier was already
                                            operating a fleet of stretched, series 51, DC-9s.  Ten of these had not yet been delivered when
                                            the deal was consumated, and these were picked up by Republic. N773NC was one of the last
                                            to be acquired by the old NCA before the merger.  It is seen in the shot above by Pierre Langlois
                                            at Montreal's Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (the old Dorval) in November of 1982.
                                            Three years later (April 1985) George W. Hamlin took the evocative image (below) of it at Wold
                                            Chamberlin Field, Minneapolis in the ultimate Republic livery taxiing next to a departing Convair
                                            580 wearing old NCA style markings. By this time the airline was serving cities from Canada to
                                            Mexico, New York to California and almost everywhere in between, or so it seemed.