Jon Proctor: SJC
Talk about the good old days. Kids hanging on the fence, watching airliners close enough to smell the Avgas! Cousin Dennis Brent was living in Santa Clara in early 1964 and San Jose (SJC) was the closest commercial airport. He would pick me up at SFO, but returning I took took the opportunity to get a Martinliner in my logbook. The short SJC-SFO segment was something like $10. Former Eastern Martin 404 N455A has just pulled into the gate, on January 25, 1964. Two Pacific Air Lines ground agents handled the whole show, one escorting arriving passengers off the tarmac, while the other unloaded bags from the forward door; the No. 2 engine is left running for the brief station stop.
Two months later I repeated the trip and this time drew N40438, the former TWA Martin 404 pictured earlier. It is shown, above,arriving on a wet afternoon.
It looks like we were using a different gate, at the end of the terminal tarmac. A vintage Beech 18 sits to the left. For whatever reason, Pacific seems to have gradually removed portions of its livery; note a bare tail, the third variation seen, with the registration lowered to a point below the window line.
I caught a few pictures at San Jose on October 20, 1984, from a great vantage point that allowed unobstructed photography. Fresno-based Far West Airlines only lasted four months. Its YS-11 wore basic Mid-Pacific colors with its own titles. Piedmont Airlines operated the type back east but it was unusual to see out west. The airline folded a month later.
United 727-22 N7027C begins its takeoff roll. It was briefly leased to Alaska Airlines in 1980, then intended for FedEx as N161FE in 1990 but not taken up, and scrapped four years later.
It was too dark for ground photos, but still good enough for this landing shot, of PSA DC-9-82 N938PS, named The Smile of New Mexico. It migrated to USAir in 1988 as N814US.
