Dixieliners: Chicago & Southern Air Lines

RStretton · 07-23-2012, 10:22 PM

So far I've looked, through my model collection, at the histories of 12 of the original US Trunk airlines as well as Pan Am and AOA (in the AA thread). However there were several other certified Trunk airlines in the 1940s and early 50s which at the time were no smaller than airlines that went on to become household names like Continental and Delta. These included Colonial Airlines, Mid-Continent Airlines and Chicago & Southern Air Lines.

The first two have no trace in 1:400 but the latter does - kind of anyway.

C&S was a vibrant carrier flying the 'route of the dixieliners' in the Mississippi Valley and beyond into the Caribbean and Venezuela. Started by Carleton Putnam in 1933 as Pacific Seaboard Air Lines flying the Los Angeles - San Fran airmail route the airline's operations shifted to the Mississippi Valley a year later when all airlines had to reapply for their routes. Putnam got the Chicago-New Orleans route and began service on June 3rd 1934. In 1935 the name was changed to the more apt Chicago & Southern.

The 1940s were a time of great expansion for the carrier which started Memphis-Houston service in 1941. Postwar Detroit was added as well as further destinations in Texas, Arkansas, Indiana and Missouri.

The pre-war fleet of 6 DC-3s had expanded to at least 13 by the end of 1945 and these were joined by several ex-USAAF C-54s / DC-4s.

Indeed C&S gained international routes in 1946 operating into the Caribbean from New Orleans. Eventually destinations included Havana, Cuba; Kingston and Montego Bay, Jamaica; Port-au-Prince, Haiti; Aruba and Curaco, Netherlands Antilles; Cuidad Trujillo [today's Santo Domingo], Dominican Republic; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Caracas, Venezuela.

In 1950 the by then 6 C-54s were replaced by 6 Lockheed L-649 Constellations which flew in the lovely bare-metal yellow and green C&S colours for the next 3 years:

By the early 1950s C&S like many other carriers was looking for a merger partner to offset low revenues, expensive re-equipment and finance growth. Unlike almost all merger proposals however the CAB looked favourably on an agreement between Delta and C&S. The two CEOs had been long-standing friends and a $10 million agreement was reached which saw the two airline's networks blend together well. For more info on the merger see this case-study:

http://www.thebhc.org/publications/B...0009-p0010.pdf

The merger was consummated on May 1st 1953 and Delta became Delta C&S for the next two years (since at the time C&S was as large as Delta was). Delta's became the 6th biggest US airline, almost doubled its fleet (in 1952 C&S had 18 aircraft and Delta 26) and gained its first international routes.

So what is there in 1:400? Sadly no C&S models at all - though we can dream of seeing a C-54 or Connie. However Aeroclassics has seen fit to make two Delta C&S models - though the Connie is rare and expensive. I have however recently purchased the CV-440 and though a type never flown by C&S I hope you can forgive me for including it in this thread. Here she is with my Delta standard CV-440:

Much of the info for this thread came from Delta's online museum at:
Delta Museum - Delta History

and several of the pictures are from http://www.airtimes.com/cgat/usa/cands.htm

For my other threads on US classics see:

Alaska Airlines: http://www.diecastaircraftforum.com/...nes-fleet.html
Aloha Airlines: http://www.diecastaircraftforum.com/...nes-fleet.html
American Airlines: http://www.diecastaircraftforum.com/...nes-fleet.html
Braniff International: http://www.diecastaircraftforum.com/...iff-fleet.html
Capital Airlines: http://www.diecastaircraftforum.com/...nes-fleet.html
Continental Airlines: http://www.diecastaircraftforum.com/...ollection.html
Delta Air Lines: http://www.diecastaircraftforum.com/...nes-fleet.html
Eastern Air Lines Pt1: http://www.diecastaircraftforum.com/...ern-fleet.html
Eastern Air Lines Pt2: http://www.diecastaircraftforum.com/...ick-fleet.html
Hawaiian Airlines: http://www.diecastaircraftforum.com/...nes-fleet.html
National Airlines: http://www.diecastaircraftforum.com/...nes-fleet.html
Northeast Airlines: http://www.diecastaircraftforum.com/...ollection.html
Northwest Airlines: http://www.diecastaircraftforum.com/...nes-fleet.html
Pan Am: http://www.diecastaircraftforum.com/...-am-fleet.html
TWA: http://www.diecastaircraftforum.com/...ollection.html
United Airlines: http://www.diecastaircraftforum.com/...nes-fleet.html
Western Airlines: http://www.diecastaircraftforum.com/...nes-fleet.html

Alaska Fan · 07-24-2012, 04:05 PM

N4809C was a Convair 340 when Delta operated it

RStretton · 07-24-2012, 04:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alaska Fan

N4809C was a Convair 340 when Delta operated it

Partially true. All the Convairs were 340s when bought but they were all upgraded to 440s at some point in the 1950s and 14 saw service until 1970 (1 was written off in 1968 and 5 sold between 1960-62).

N4809C has an interesting history. She was sold to Glenn Aire by 1973 keeping her original registration. In 1974 she was operated by Royale Airlines but repossessed by Carolina Aircraft Corp. By 1978 she was with Charlie Inc of Florida but was sadly written off on 14th August 1978 when she crashed into the sea near South Caicos.

fazeman · 07-24-2012, 07:17 PM

This thread should have been a continuation of the Delta thread considering there are no 1:400 examples.

AnonCollector · 07-24-2012, 07:34 PM

If you did this for the airlines that don't have any 1:400 in any form, I would still read them happily, and maybe buy a model I wouldn't have otherwise considered if it was ever released. This is good stuff.

Quite a change in business plan overnight there, from Pacific coast to Mississippi valley.

RStretton · 07-24-2012, 08:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fazeman

This thread should have been a continuation of the Delta thread considering there are no 1:400 examples.

Could have done that but I wanted to raise the profile of C&S - so if you like think of this as a wishlist!

Kind of disrespectful to the airline to submerge it within Delta and only talk about it in the context of DL I thought too. I think C&S like Western, Northwest, PNA etc should be remembered in their own right regardless of when they became part of the DL family.

fazeman · 07-25-2012, 12:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RStretton

Could have done that but I wanted to raise the profile of C&S - so if you like think of this as a wishlist!

Kind of disrespectful to the airline to submerge it within Delta and only talk about it in the context of DL I thought too. I think C&S like Western, Northwest, PNA etc should be remembered in their own right regardless of when they became part of the DL family.

I agree. Probably one of the best ideas for a standalone wishlist. With regard to submerging airline mergers within the context of the surviving carrier, there is nothing disrepectful to the former carrier. In fact, the reference you pulled (http://www.thebhc.org/publications/B...0009-p0010.pdf) was taken directly from a great book I have, "Delta - The History of an Airline" by David Lewis and Wesley Newton; 503 pages (1979). There are four chapters with plenty of pictures dedicated to Chicago & Southern Air Lines. Additionally, there are instances from your U.S. Classic presentations where small mention is made about pioneering airlines that were later absorbed into the so-called legacy airlines.

The only reason C & S might receive passing thought about a diecast model is because they had big metal propliners like the Connie. But even those were short lived post WWII. During that period, Carleton Putnam's old guard management team almost drove the airline into the ground with careless expansion. To their credit, they did crack the Pan American monopoly, but the already semiretired Putnam had to appoint a new team that won better government subsidies, drastically cut employees, canceled flights, dumped a few DC-4s and canceled its order for the Martin 2-0-2. These and other measures brought C & S into line with other comparable carriers like Delta.

Mystère · 07-25-2012, 03:28 PM

I agree, a C&S release would be very appreciated by all classic lovers, especially when you consider the fact that we haven't seen an 1/400 Connie since a long time !

vagabond · 07-26-2012, 05:32 PM

Quote , "So what is there in 1:400? Sadly no C&S models at all - though we can dream of seeing a C-54 or Connie."

Well Richard, all is not lost for you. No need to dream as there is a C & S model in 1:400 scale. It's in Delta basic scheme with C & S titles. Keep an eye out for this one but with only 144 made they'll be like hens teeth :-
BRAND Other Brand - Aurora 400
MODEL NUMBER AM008A
AIRLINE Delta - Chicago and Southern
AIRCRAFT L-749
REGISTRATION N86535
DETAILS Transition Livery ~ Limited 144pcs
RELEASE DATE 11/1/2005

stevec · 07-26-2012, 06:17 PM

Hi Guy's Found this post quite interesting, and thought of this one I had in my collection, made by western in 1/200 and is the connie in the C&S DELTA livery.

RStretton · 07-26-2012, 06:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vagabond

Quote , "So what is there in 1:400? Sadly no C&S models at all - though we can dream of seeing a C-54 or Connie."

Well Richard, all is not lost for you. No need to dream as there is a C & S model in 1:400 scale. It's in Delta basic scheme with C & S titles. Keep an eye out for this one but with only 144 made they'll be like hens teeth :-
BRAND Other Brand - Aurora 400
MODEL NUMBER AM008A
AIRLINE Delta - Chicago and Southern
AIRCRAFT L-749
REGISTRATION N86535
DETAILS Transition Livery ~ Limited 144pcs
RELEASE DATE 11/1/2005

I did mention this in the text. Delta C&S isn't a transition for C&S to Delta a la an interim scheme, it was an official name change that Delta undertook as part of the merger deal seeing as C&S where about equal in size and stature at the time. Delta reverted to their original name two years after the merger. So there are actually no real C&S models in 1:400.

There are two of these Delta C&S releases including the Convair in the first post here. The Connie is a model I'd own except it goes for very high values. There was one for sale at Waffle just recently but I wasn't willing to pay over $50 for it.

vagabond · 07-27-2012, 03:55 AM

[QUOTE=RStretton;972011]I did mention this in the text. Delta C&S isn't a transition for C&S to Delta a la an interim scheme, it was an official name change that Delta undertook as part of the merger deal seeing as C&S where about equal in size and stature at the time. Delta reverted to their original name two years after the merger. So there are actually no real C&S models in 1:400.

Sorry Richard, I mis-read that bit. You may yet find a Delta C&S L749 for $20. In the meantime, carry on dreaming.

Connie Lover · 07-27-2012, 05:35 PM

Great thread! Wherever the topic is it located, it does not matter really. What matters is that people responded. I attached a contact print of N4809C without the radar nose-probably at Newark.

RStretton · 07-28-2012, 07:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Connie Lover

Great thread! Wherever the topic is it located, it does not matter really. What matters is that people responded. I attached a contact print of N4809C without the radar nose-probably at Newark.

Nice shot. Sadly it confirms that Aeroclassics erred in using the long nose 440 mould rather than the short nose 340 mould with the Delta C&S livery