Sep 1, 20222 min read

City of Springfield

Eastern Airlines' fifth Lockheed Electra 10B, 1040, was delivered on October 8, 1935, registration NC14962; in 1937 as Eastern began to phase out their fleet of Electras, Chicago & Southern Airlines, out of Missouri purchased NC14962 to help augment their fleet of Electras purchased the previous year. Chicago & Southern named this particular aircraft the City of Springfield, and likely had it operating on their Chicago to New Orleans route by way of Peoria, Springfield, St. Louis, Memphis, and Jackson. Three years later, in 1940, the aircraft was sold to the Canadians where it was registered as CF-BQW to help import the Electra up to Canada; once in Canada the aircraft was assigned to the RCAF with Western Air Command. Over the next four years the aircraft would serve in different capacities throughout Canada; on October 25, 1944, the aircraft was struck off and eventually sold on March 5, 1945, to Maritime Central Airways, from Prince Edward Island, with registration CF-BXQ. It seems this aircraft flew with Maritime Central for roughly ten years; in 1954 the aircraft was converted from a 10B to a 10A replacing the engines with two Pratt & Whitney Wasps. Two years later, June 1, 1956, CF-BXQ was sold to Matane Air Services, Quebec, and seven years later at the end of July 1963 the Electra was exported back to the US to an unknown owner and registration changed to N8723R. According to most sources this new owner didn't keep it for very long as it was soon registered as N228M to Midwest Airways, Cincinnati, OH. January, 1966, the aircraft was acquired by Provincetown-Boston Airline (PBA) and re-registered as N239PB two years later. Having flown with PBA for seven years the aircraft was sold to Franklin J. Linsey in mid-1973, when it was damaged while landing at Conch Bar at Middle Caicos in July 1974, when the undercarriage collapsed, the aircraft was then shipped back to Miami for repairs. In 1977 the Electra 1040 ended up with John Leibolt and the following year with Old Turkey Inc. The aircraft at one point in time was located in Fort Lauderdale, Texas, after which its fate is unknown.