Western First Flight Los Angeles Airport - Minneapolis - Lockheed Electra 1959

Description

Western Airlines (later absorbed by Delta Airlines) extended its Lockheed Electra prop-jet service
to include Salt Lake City and Minneapolis / St. Paul on October 10, 1959
.
This cover was carried on the inaugural Western Airlines flight from the Los Angeles, California Airport Mail Facility to Minneapolis, Minnesota
(where it was backstamped
) and is listed in the Jet Age Flights Section of The American Air Mail Catalogue as J-280f.
The Lockheed L-188 Electra is an American turboprop airliner built by Lockheed. First flown in 1957, it was the first large turboprop airliner built in the United States. Initial sales were good, but after two fatal crashes that led to expensive modifications to fix a design defect, no more were ordered. With its unique high power-to-weight ratio, huge propellers and very short wings (resulting in the majority of the wingspan being enveloped in propwash), large Fowler flaps which significantly increased effective wing area when extended, and four-engined design, the airplane had airfield performance capabilities unmatched by many jet transport aircraft even today—particularly on short runways and high field elevations.