Bluegrass Airlines, March 2010
Bonanza Airlines ‘51
by
Allan Lowson
The
history of Bonanza Airlines is covered by the excellent website www.bonanzaairlines.com.
Bonanza Air Services was formed in
1945. The first base was the Sky Haven Airfield, now known as the North Las
Vegas Air Terminal, and they began operating with just one single-engine,
four-seat Cessna. The company offered charter flights to several small Nevada
towns but needed a place to promote its product. The company struck a deal with
the El Rancho Vegas Hotel and Casino to set up a ticket counter in the lobby.
Late in 1945 the name changed
from Bonanza Air Services to Bonanza Air Lines. The home base was moved to
Alamo Field, now known as McCarran International Airport, in early 1946. As the
operation grew, additional aircraft were acquired including three military
surplus twin-engine Cessna T-50 Bobcats for the charter services.
On December 19, 1949, Bonanza inaugurated a newly awarded route
between Reno and Phoenix with stops in Carson City, Hawthorne, Tonopah, Las
Vegas, Boulder City, Kingman and Prescott with DC-3s. Shortly thereafter, the
Civil Aeronautics Board approved a request to provide mail service on the route
with U.S. Mail Permit No. 105.
The
route below covers this service and is taken from the 1951 timetable on Bjorn
Larsson’s site www.timetableimages.com.
Bonanza
Airlines 1951 Timetable
|
Heading |
Distance |
Down |
City Name |
ICAO |
Up |
Heading |
Distance |
|
178 |
0 |
1100 PST |
Reno
|
KRNO |
1555 PST |
- |
29.0 |
|
- |
29.0 |
1121 arr |
Carson
City-Minden |
KMEV |
1534 dep |
358 |
0 |
|
117 |
0 |
1124 dep |
Carson
City-Minden |
KMEV |
1531 arr |
- |
58.9 |
|
- |
58.9 |
1159 arr |
Hawthorne |
KHTH |
1453 dep |
297 |
0 |
|
111 |
0 |
1202 dep |
Hawthorne |
KHTH |
1450 arr |
- |
78.4 |
|
- |
78.4 |
1243 arr |
Tonopah |
KTPH |
1410 dep |
292 |
0 |
|
182 |
0 |
1246 dep |
Tonopah |
KTPH |
1407 arr |
- |
87.4 |
|
122 |
87.4 |
--- |
Death Valley |
L09 |
--- |
002 |
15.8 |
|
104 |
15.8 |
--- |
Death Valley |
L06 |
--- |
302 |
86.7 |
|
- |
86.7 |
1410 |
Las Vegas |
KLAS |
1250 dep |
285 |
0 |
|
119 |
0 |
1440 PST |
Las Vegas |
KLAS |
1220 PST |
- |
16.2 |
|
132 |
16.2 |
***** |
Boulder City |
61B |
***** |
299 |
61.1 |
|
- |
61.1 |
1621MST |
Kingman |
KIGM |
1237 MST |
312 |
0 |
|
115 |
0 |
1624 dep |
Kingman |
KIGM |
1234 arr |
- |
83.0 |
|
- |
83.0 |
1704 arr |
Prescott |
KPRC |
1153 dep |
296 |
0 |
|
163 |
0 |
1707 dep |
Prescott |
KPRC |
1150 arr |
- |
75.8 |
|
- |
75.8 |
1745MST |
Phoenix |
KPHX |
1110 MST |
343 |
0 |
In
the timetable there is a reference to Death Valley without any airports, but we
have added them in to aid navigation, also the Boulder City stop was
not
in the timetable for ’51. If you think you get rushed off aircraft now, just
take note of the three minute turnround operated by Bonanza.
Flight Simulator Files
The DC-3 textures for Bonanza can be found in bas.com at flightsim.com for the MAAM-SIM DC-3 at flightsim.com. There is a Cessna T-50 in the alphasim set t50-fs89.zip, also at flightsim.