Summer Trip – 1962

Because I was still working at La Jolla Travel, PSA Sales Rep Jack Stoops gave me a San Diego-Los Angeles pass. I caught Flight 719 up to LAX aboard N173PS. Jon Proctor

I rode American 707 Flight 10 overnight from LAX to New York-Idlewild, then cabbed it to La Guardia Airport, where this DC-6, Flight 211 became my ride up to Syracuse. ©Jon Proctor

Pilots board American Flight 244 on a warm morning in Syracuse. I was headed back west, first to Chicago, and could have flown there via Rochester but wanted to get a new type in my logbook, so instead backtracked to La Guardia on board Flagship New Haven. ©Jon Proctor

After another surface transfer, to Idlewild Airport, I boarded a Convair 990 Astrojet, Flight 929 to Detroit. Idlewild reveals typically slow mid-day activity on a hazy day. ©Jon Proctor

My brother Bob took this picture on another 990 flight, but it reflects the same interior, back in the days when there were plenty of first-class seats, 34 on the Convair jet, plus a forward, 4-seat lounge on the left side. ©Jon Proctor

I headed up to the observation deck at Detroit-Metro in time to photograph the 990 that brought me from New York. ©Jon Proctor

On the opposite side of the concourse, an American Electra sits with the main terminal building in the background. ©Jon Proctor

Departing under the watchful eye of a mechanic, Flagship Rochester heads for its departure runway. ©Jon Proctor

"Electra II" titles were added after American's Lockheed turboprops went through the LEAP modification program at Burbank, to strengthen their wings and engine mounts. ©Jon Proctor

Northwest was a major player at Detroit, even back in the early 1960s, as evidenced by this 720B and two DC-6Bs in the background. ©Jon Proctor

Moving counterclockwise around the concourse, we find a Delta Convair 440 between assignments. ©Jon Proctor

Check out the registration on this Pan Am DC-7C, awaiting customers for the daily nonstop service to London. ©Jon Proctor

Just before heading down to my departure flight gate, I caught this vintage Martin 202A in Allegheny's power-blue livery. N93204 flew out its days before being preserved at the Aviation Hall of Fame of New Jersey, in Teterboro. ©Jon Proctor

This Electra was to take me on to Chicago-O'Hare, but was nearly sold out. ©Jon Proctor

Instead, I was able to find a seat on N6133A, Flight 431, which had been running late and left a few minutes ahead of my intended departure. It was my first ride on an American Electra. ©Jon Proctor

I was on one of the two observation decks at O'Hare by the time my intended flight from Detroit taxied in to its assigned gate. ©Jon Proctor

Introduced on American routes in 1948, sturdy Convair 240s were still in service across the Eastern United States, as evidenced by Flagship Wolverine State, complete with a "nipple-nose" radar installation. ©Jon Proctor

Lake Central DC-3s operated from the same O'Hare concourse as this arriving American 990. ©Jon Proctor

North Central occupied a concourse devoid of Jetways, which would not have fit these Convair-Liners nor the DC-3. ©Jon Proctor