Continental Air Lines Lockheed Model18 Lodestar

Additional Information:

The Lockheed Model 18 Lodestar is a passenger transport aircraft introduced in 1940. As a replacement for the Lockheed Model 14 Super Electra, which first flew in 1937, Lockheed decided to stretch the aircraft’s fuselage over five feet which allowed for two additional rows of seats to be added. The revised airliner, designated Model 18 by Lockheed, first flew in on September 21, 1939. The first production model of the newly built Model 18 was introduced on March 30, 1940. A total of 625 Lodestars of all variants were eventually built.

Continental Airlines, which was last based in Houston, Texas, began operating as Varney Speed Lines on July 15, 1934 with a single route from El Paso, TX to Pueblo, CO stopping at Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Las Vegas, NM. Varney Speed Lines, Southwest Division, was created by Walter T. Varney who also created Varney Air Lines based in Pasco, WA which evolved into United Airlines earlier in 1934. The carrier first operated Lockheed 5C Vega aircraft and Wyoming Air Service operated Stinson SM-8A’s followed by Boeing 247D’s. The carriers’ name was changed to Varney Air Transport in late 1934 and Trinidad, Colorado was added to the El Paso-Pueblo route. In 1937 Varney began obtaining Lockheed Electra aircraft and purchased the Pueblo-Colorado Springs-Denver route segments from Wyoming Air Service which extended the north-south route from El Paso all the way to Denver. Robert F. Six joined the airline in 1935 and soon became President and CEO, changing the carriers’ name to Continental Air Lines on July 1, 1937. Six would go on to oversee the carrier for the next 44 years until 1981. A ticket office was first opened in the Hotel Franciscan in downtown Albuquerque, and then moved to the Hilton Hotel by 1939.

Continental Air Lines began service with the Lockheed Model 18 Lodestar in 1939. This was considered excellent and speedy service for “feeder” airlines. Continental flew the aircraft on routes from Denver to Albuquerque and El Paso, Denver to Wichita and Tulsa and Denver to Kansas City, each making stops at several smaller cities enroute. Some of the aircraft that landed here were NC17385, 19993 and NC-25635.

A Continental Lockheed Lodestar at the old Albuquerque Municipal Airport terminal.

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