This was just too good to pass up. Near Hampton TN.
Monthly Archives: September 2015
Grumman F11F-1 Tiger
This a Grumman promotional card, not a postcard. It must have been printed in 1962 or later (before that date, this aircraft was just known as the F11F). The Blue Angels flew the F11F from 1957 to 1969. Grumman made 200 of these aircraft. The Wiki citation on the F11F is here.
Here’s what’s on the verso:
(Grumman logo)
BLUE ANGELS FLYING GRUMMAN’S F11 F-1 TIGER
The world’s first supersonic fighter-bomber to employ a “coke-bottle” shaped fuselage, Grumman’s F11F-1 Tiger carries the most modern armament and is currently in service with Navy fleet units all over the world. Powered by a J65 axial-flow turbo-jet with afterburner, the Tiger was designed to fill the Navy’s need for a fast, hard-hitting aircraft with had the ability to carry the fight to the enemy’s home ground. The “coke-bottle”, or indented fuselage (area rule), provides the optimum drag characteristics at sonic speeds. Like all Grumman planes, the Tiger is a reliable, easy to maintain aircraft – one of the major reasons the high flying “Blue Angels,” depicted in a back-to-back formation on this card, use the airplane. The Blue Angels are the Navy’s precision flight demonstration team. Since the team’s inception 13 years ago they have flown Grumman planes exclusively.
Note: the Blue Angels were formed in 1946. “…13 years ago” would put this card at 1959. Somebody lifted some boiler-plate without checking it…
Want to know what (area rule) means? Click here.
Roger. Over and out. “Roger! Roger! Darn, where is that cat?”
Princess Ernestine
This is a borderless chrome postcard, postally unused.
On the back:
PRINCESS ERNESTINE
Princess Ernestine of Cherokee, North Carolina, poses in a modern adaptation of an ancient Cherokee Costume.
copyright date is 1969 Aerial Photography, Inc., Charlotte, N.C.
Pub. by Aerial Photography Services, Inc., P.O. Box 27112, Charlotte N.C. 28208
Printed by Dexter Press, Inc., West Nyack, New York
inventory number is 47031-C
This picture had to have been taken over 42 years ago. There’s a later card I’ve seen with this exact image, but it was dated to 1988.
I did a search on the web for Princess Ernestine and found that her last name is/was Grant. And that’s about all.
Bristol TN/VA: Early parks
In a 1915 municipal report, Bristol included these two parks as being part of Bristol’s system.
This is an early undivided back (1901 – 1907) card. The postmark year is unreadable.
It was mailed to Mr. Jno D Cox, Jonesboro, Tenn. “E.L.C.” mailed it with “will write you right soon” on the front border (you couldn’t put a message on the back of the card in those years). It was published by Caldwell-Sites Co., Bristol, Roanoke and Staunton, Va.
I can’t find Big Creek Park on the map and references to it on the web are few.
This is “Island Park Boat House, Bluff City, Tenn.”
Six of the people in this picture are looking at the camera.
I can conclusively date this card to 1914 by the postmark. There’s no publisher shown, but, in the bottom right on the face there’s the number “65755”.
It was mailed to Mrs. W.H. Roberts Bristol Tenn R.F.D. 1
Her sister mailed it and there’s some writing on the back concerning an upcoming trip.
Tennessee Airways
This postcard shows a Brazilian-made Embraer EMB 110 (?K?) “Bandeirante” (“pioneer” in Portuguese) in Tennessee Airways livery. The airline worked out of Knoxville from 1978 to 1987. Here’s the skinny on this regional carrier.
On the back: TENNESSEE AIRWAYS 18 passenger “Bandeirante” Prop-jet…Meeting Tennessee’s air travel needs with old fashioned courtesy and space age technology…FLYING YOUR WAY!
Printed by L&M Printers, Maryville, TN 37801
Update 01/21/20: The airline was owned by Stuart Adcock, Jr. In 2009, he died in a crash of his Grumman American AA-1B near Fingerville NC.
Piedmont Postcard
A Piedmont Airlines Boeing 737-200. It came rolling out in 1968. Read all about it!
And now you can go read about Piedmont Airlines!
I have heard that TRI was once considered for hub status, but, er, wiser heads prevailed. What? Wiser!?!
Convair Aircraft Postcards
This is the Convair CV-240. You can read all about it here.
It was a workhorse for maybe seven years and then, ta da!
Along came the Convair 880.
“Delta’s modern jet fleet includes the Convair 880 Jetliner…cruises at 615 mph…provides both deluxe first class and jetourist accommodations for 96 passengers. Delta Jets serve the Caribbean and the U.S.A.”
As you can read here, it was a failure.
It’s kind of interesting that I found both these cards on the same day in the same antiques store in downtown Elizabethton TN. Will wonders never cease…
Uncle Bob's Pix 