NATIONAL AIRLINES
The third airline to recieve a DC-10, which was also the third costumer for the DC-10-10, was National Airlines an established airline from Miami which already operated the DC-8. The airline ordered eleven DC-10-10s on October 14th of 1969 for use on its main routes. On December 15th 1991, National inaugurated its DC-10 service with a flight from its home base in Miami to New York. The "Sun King" (as the airline was known because of their logo) was not only well-known on the East Coast runs, but also in London where National has been flying to since 1972. Later, also Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Paris and Zurich were added. The DC-10s on these routes were DC-10-30s, which were also used on transcontinental flights and joined the fleet in June 1973 and June 1975. The all-time fleet consisted of 16 aircraft, including one from Air New Zealand leased in 1979. The history of that airline came to an end on January 7th 1980, when Pan Am took over the airline to establish its position in Florida. All DC-10s were taken over by the western world's largest airline. On this date, also the girl names (which first appeared in a campaign from 1972 featuring wording as "I'm Barbara - Fly Me") given to National's DC-10s disappeared together with a part of US-airline history. An interesting fact about this costumer is that beside Laker, Continental and Aeromexico, this was the only airline to order two different DC-10 variants.
Photos:
Right: National Airlines DC-10, Miami, 1979 - BY Don Boyd (www.airliner-photos.com)
Left: National Airlines DC-10 being repainted in Pan Am colors, Miami, 1980 - BY Don Boyd (www.airliner-photos.com)
Following aircraft were operated by or for National Airlines:
Registration | Aircraft | Fleetnr./Name | Operated from - to | Where is it now? |
N60NA | 46700/ 14 | 60, Barbara 60, Suzanne | 01.11.1971 - 07.01.1980 | -stored- |
N61NA | 46701/ 16 | 61, Dorothy 61, Dinah | 19.11.1971 - 07.01.1980 | SCRAPPED |
N62NA | 46702/ 18 | 62, Frances 62, Cecile | 21.12.1971 - 07.01.1980 | SCRAPPED |
N63NA | 46703/ 19 | 63, Phyllis | 12.01.1972 - 07.01.1980 | -stored- |
N64NA | 46706/ 38 | 64, Geraldine 64, Jerry Lewis | 10.05.1972 - 07.01.1980 | -stored- |
N65NA | 46707/ 61 | 65, Eileen | 13.10.1972 - 07.01.1980 | FedEx |
N66NA | 46708/ 62 | 66, Shirley | 19.10.1972 - 07.01.1980 | FedEx |
N67NA | 46709/ 68 | 67, Joyce | 30.11.1972 - 07.01.1980 | -stored- |
N68NA | 46710/ 70 | 68, Sylvia 68, Jane | 12.12.1972 - 07.01.1980 | -stored- |
N69NA | 46942/ 162 | 69, Betty | 25.06.1975 - 07.01.1980 | 10 Tanker Air Carrier |
N70NA | 46943/ 163 | 70, Wisty | 23.06.1975 - 07.01.1980 | -stored- |
N80NA | 46711/ 105 | 80, Tammy 80, Bing Crosby | 11.06.1973 - 07.01.1980 | WRITTEN OFF |
N81NA | 46712/ 106 | 81, Renee | 18.06.1973 - 07.01.1980 | -stored- |
N82NA | 46713/ 165 | 82, Mariene 82, Bob Hope 82, Sammy Davis Junior | 20.06.1975 - 07.01.1980 | -stored- |
N83NA | 46714/ 167 | 83, Timmi | 16.06.1975 - 07.01.1980 | SCRAPPED |
ZK-NZS | 46954/ 227 | 85 | 01.04.1979 - 29.10.1979 | -stored- |
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