PP-NAM  Douglas DC-3                               (c/n  42980)

                               

                                   Navegacao Aerea Brasileira was founded in 1939 as a public company in direct competition
                                   to Syndicato Condor and the Pan Am/Panair do Brasil consortium.  A bold move indeed. 
                                   It was one of many small airlines which came into being in Brazil in the 1945-1960 era.  The
                                   initial route was from Rio to Recife via Belo Horizointe, Bom Jeses de Lapa and Petrolina
                                   using a pair of Beech D18s (PP-NAA and PP-NAB).    By the late 1940s the airline had a
                                   fleet of some 15 DC-3s (and a like number of C-46s).  The airline acquired the rather rude
                                   acronym of "Nao Anda Bem" ('It doesn't go well!'), although, having said that, it was certainly
                                   a lot safer than many other contemporary lines!     PP-NAM was a new post-war (and actually
                                   the penultimate) DC-3.   This shot (by Peter R. Keating via the Jennifer Gradidge collection)
                                   was taken at Rio in 1952.   LAB was purchased by the Loide consortium in 1961 and less than
                                   a year later, in the wave of mergers and acquisitions that was going on in Brazilian airline circles
                                   at that time, Loide was acquired by VASP.   The color shot (below) of it in full VASP livery
                                   was taken in 1973 and comes from the Helio Bastos Salmon collection.