Meteor Air
Transport Curtiss C-46
N1535V
(c/n 22376)
Meteor Air
Transport was formed at Teterboro, NJ in 1946 by Oscar L. Morrow and
Richard
M.
Ludlow. It initially had a fleet of
some six or seven DC-3s, four
C-46s and three DC-4s.
It began service with
low fare irregular schedules between New York and Detroit. Later,
cargo
and passenger charters were
operated. Bill Larkins' photo
above of this C-46 example with the
starboard engine running was taken
at Oakland in December 1952. An evocative shot, it does
reveal the
registration (just) on the rudder as seen in the enlarge ment below.
Like many non-
skeds of
its ilk, Meteor had its share of accidents and went out of business in
1958. N1535V,
a
C-46F-1-CU (44-78553) was initially leased from the USAF in 1951
although purchased out-
right by Meteor
in
1954. It had several other owners from 1960
until it was withdrawn from
service in 1977.