Federated Airlines  Curtiss C-46  N51424                                  (c/n  30430)

                                        
         
                                           In the dosier I had compiled 60 years ago on the non-scheduled airlines of the United States I had
                                           had this carrier noted as Federated Airways.  Clearly I was incorrect, as evidenced by the close up
                                           of this photo (below).     Either that, or (a) the painter got it wrong or (b) this was a different airline.
                                           I think they were the same.   Federated was incorporated in New York in 1948 with a small fleet
                                           of C-46s and C-47s flying irregular, mainly passenger, services.    They also operated, for a while,
                                           the C-54 (DC-4) N56010..  The shot above was taken by Bill Larkins at that mecca for all non-
                                           skeds, Oakland Municipal Airport in November 1952.        N51424 was an ex C-46A-45-CU
                                           (42-96768) which had been civilianized for Aaxico Airlines in 1949.      It was later acquired by
                                           Capitol Airways and crashed into the Gulf of Mexico near Pensacola, FL on 2 April 1955.   The
                                           aircraft was on a military charter positioning flight out of  Mobile-Brookley AFB, AL en route to
                                           Warner Robbins AFDB, GA, when it ran into severe thunderstorm activity and turbulence. Both
                                           the pilot and co-pilot were killed.