Something to Lighten Your Day--Do you know what these are and where this photo was taken?

DaneOriginal Poster

Aug 14, 2020

Unless they have watched old movies, many of the younger generation has never seen these airplanes much less know any of their history. So here is a very rare photo. Do you know what type of airplane these are and can you identify the city and possibly a time frame?

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ME
Member
Aug 14, 2020
Looks like Pearl Harbor
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JI
Jim
Aug 14, 2020
One of the top five planes ever designed and built. Id go anywhere with half wing
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DA
DaneOriginal Poster
Aug 14, 2020
alfmartinez you are way off- Not even close.
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DA
DaneOriginal Poster
Aug 14, 2020
Jim you are correct - A very solid plane, some are still flying today.
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ME
Member
Aug 14, 2020
Looks like a DC-3 in Phoenix. Aka a Tail Dragger.
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DA
DaneOriginal Poster
Aug 14, 2020
Anattin - You are correct, Sky Harbor Airport, Phoenix, AZ - The planes are classed as tail draggers for obvious reasons. Now lets see if anyone can figure out an approximate year the photo was taken and which terminal they were parked at.
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ME
Member
Aug 14, 2020
Douglas DC3 Dakotas, I reckon.
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ST
StevieLorna
Aug 14, 2020
Yes
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NE
nebr4200
Aug 15, 2020
I can't answer the location questions but I would put the year at sometime in the early 60's. I used to fly on one from Chicago to Fort Lauderdale twice a month.
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DA
DaneOriginal Poster
Aug 15, 2020
Correct, the DC3 Dakota.
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DA
DaneOriginal Poster
Aug 15, 2020
nebr4200 - You are 10 years off. Try 1953.
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DA
DaneOriginal Poster
Aug 15, 2020
Everyone---You are looking at a rare photo -The Place: A newly constructed "terminal 1", Gate #3 at the Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix, AZ. Bonanza and Frontier were rivals in providing local airline service to the many small western towns. Bonanza, based in Las Vegas, enlarged, eventually becoming Air West and then Hughes Air West when Howard Hughes purchased it. It fell in a merger upon Hughes' death. Frontier, based in Denver, continues to this day having expanded its routes even to Europe by dropping many of the smaller towns that it serviced.
In the background is the famous Camelback Mountain which is now obscured by many miles of buildings. The 'newly constructed terminal 1' replaced the original terminal 1 which had been a log & adobe cabin. That cabin was so well constructed that it was moved just outside the airport proper to an industrial area and it became an avionics repair shop into the mid-1970s before it was finally replaced. This new terminal 1 had a flat-roofed observation deck open to the public. The terminal also hosted many movie stars until an Executive Terminal was built on the north side of the airport. But it also held the distinction of hosting Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson.
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