UNITED AIRLINES

United Air Lines Inc. of Chicago began on July 1st 1931 as the holding company of four mid-1920s US carriers: Boeing Air Transport, Varney Air Lines, Pacific Air Transport and National Air Transport. These airlines were among the first airlines in the USA and came into being as a result of the 1917 Post Office air mail contracts for an airmail service trans-continentally between New York and San Francisco. This was the first main air route for the USA and each airline flew a section. It began on 15 May 1918 with tenders flying ex-Army Curtiss JN-4 Jenny biplanes on the New York to Washington route. When, on 2 February 1925, the Air Mail Act of 1925 was passed by Congress (the Kelly Act) allowing private airlines to fly the doors opened for the airline industry to grow and many airlines bid for the contracts. The four airlines that formed into United Air Lines were all section contract winners... BOEING AIR TRANSPORT won the Chicago - San Francisco section and flew it successfully using 25 Boeing B.40a biplanes, powered by Pratt & Whitney Wasp engines, which could also carry two passengers along with the mail which allowed William Boeing could subsidise the mail flights. Boeing Air Transport set new records for reliability on this route with the Boeing B.80 triplane which cruised at 120mph. The airline carried 6000 passengers and 1300 tons of mail in the first two years of operation. NATIONAL AIR TRANSPORT won the contract for the Chicago - New York section of the route and services were started using single engined Curtiss Falcon biplane, which could also carry passengers. Later it flew the modern Ford Tri-Motor 5AT tri-engined airliners. PACIFIC AIR TRANSPORT won the Seattle - San Francisco - Los Angeles section of the mail route and began its operation with the Ryan M-1. VARNEY AIR LINES was awarded the Elko - Pasco leg and flew it using a Swallow biplane. The beginning of UAL... Boeing Air Transport purchased Pacific Air Transport in 1927. Boeing Air Transport and National Air Transport merged in May 1930 to and flew the resulting San Francisco to New York route in an amazing 28 hours. In June of that year they then purchased Varney Air Lines. So in 1931 the result of these four airlines was United Air Lines. Boeing 247 twins were the first new type to be flown by the new UAL after being ordered by each of the forming airlines prior to 1931. They were finally introduced in June 1933 for the coast to coast route between San Francisco and New York. 30 were delivered and the new type cut the route down to 20 hours. These were replaced in the early 1930s by Douglas DSTs and DC-3s. The DST - Douglas Sleepter Transport - was a converted Douglas DC-2 for use on the Los Angeles to San Francisco route, as were the DC-3s. UAL had a huge fleet of over 100 of the classic Douglas DC-3 which flew the above route and the Chicago to New York 'Mainliner' services and these were painted in silver with dark blue cheatline, as shown below. The Chicago to New York route was UAL's busiest route and it was flown in hard competition with American Airlines so UAL introduced DC-3s on a luxury 'Sky-lounge' service in 1937 with lots of room and swivel-chairs for the passengers. It was discontinued by 1939 as it was uneconomical. Douglas DC-4s were also used and flew mainly the Chicago to New York service. The DC-3 era was coming to an end when, in the 1940s, Convair made the Convair twin range of aircraft. UAL purchased the Convair CV-340 twin. The CV-340 was still in use in the early 1960s when the Caravelle jet came along. Boeing 377 Stratocruisers were used into the 1950s and were one of the most comfortable aircraft to fly as a passenger on long routes on at that time following the idea of the Douglas DST aircraft. The DC-6Bs supplemented the Douglas DC-4 aircraft - introduced after the Second World war. These were used for the Chicago to New York 'Mainliner' route and also on the new route to Hawaii which was first served by UAL in 1959. The DC-6 aircraft were used into the early 1960s but were replaced with the new jet fleet. The DC6 below is seen in 1960 in the then-new 1960s livery introduced with the new jets. UAL operated the long range Douglas DC-7 for a few years in the 1950s before the jet age made the aircraft obselete. Jet Age services began on 18 September 1959 with the introduction of Douglas DC8-10s for use on mainly internal routes. UAL had to wait for delivery of the entire jet fleet and this put it at a disadvantage when competitors were getting their Boeings and Convairs delivered more quickly. These early-model series -10 jets were later supplemented with an order for Douglas DC8-61 stretched jets. One year later in 1960 Boeing 720B jets were introduced on the Chicago to Los Angeles via Denver route in competition with American Airlines, who also ordered this medium haul version of the intercontinental Boeing 707. The first of a fleet of 20 Sud Caravelle 6Rs were delivered for the short haul route between New York and Chicago in 1961 and UAL was the only US airline to use the Caravelle although it quickly gained a reputation among passengers for a pleasantly quiet cabin - the Whispering Jet. The French jet was not to continue as a fleet type though and UAL purchased Boeing 727s instead of a second Caravelle order. In July 1960 UAL took over Capital Airlines, a domestic US carrier, and its highly competitive Viscount turboprops became part of the UAL fleet along with other types. This takeover left UAL as the largest airline in the world with the Soviet Union's Aeroflot airline being the largest (note: Much of the Aeroflot fleet were not actually airliners as all civil aircraft were 'Aeroflot'). Capital Airlines was the fifth largest airline in the US with a dense domestic network in the northeast of the country. By the mid 1960s DC8-50s, a large fleet of DC8s, B720s and Boeing 727-100s, Caravelles, DC7s, DC6s, Convair 340s and Viscounts made up the huge United fleet. By the end of the 1960s Boeing 737-200s and Boeing 727-100 and the newer -200s were used for internal routes. UAL purchased the soon-to-be-defunct PAN-AM Tristar widebody jets and acquired the airline's Pacific services in 1986. Boeing 747-100 'jumbo-jets' were introduced in 1970 with -200s following. United flew a widebody service to Europe in the 1980s with their Boeing 747-200s, by now repainted in the 1970s 'U' livery. Internal routes within the US were served from 1971 by a new fleet of the short-leg/High Density Douglas DC10-10s. Douglas DC10-30 long-range aircraft were also acquired. During the 1980s UAL re-engined some of its DC-8-61s to conform to Europe's noise and pollution regulations. These were called DC8-71. From 1986 UAL also began introducing a standardised fleet of new Boeing 737-300s and Boeing 767-200s to replace some of its wide range of aging jet types. Airliner types introduced before the Boeing 747-100s in 1970 were replaced. UAL now uses several variants of the Boeing 737 the -200, -300, --500. United took over PanAm's Heathrow routes in 1991 with the final demise of PanAm. The 1990s saw UAL introduce Airbus A320 and A319 short-haul jets which, with the Boeing 737 and 767 types, has become one of the backbone mainstay fleet aircraft. Boeing 747-400s were introduced alongside the 747-100 and 747-200 jumbos. Boeing 767-300 jets came along with the success of the original nineteen 767-200 jets. Boeing 757s were also acquired and UAL now has almost 100 of the type. 1994 saw a new dark- blue and grey overall livery wich began replacing the age-old 'double-U' livery. Boeing 777-200s were introduced in 1995, UAL was the launch airline for the type. UAL immediately began using the jet on Europe routes.