National Parks Airways was an airline operating in the US states of

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

, and

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

in the 1920s and 1930s.

History

Founded in 1927 by Alfred Frank, it began service with a pair of

Stearman C3 Stearman is a surname. Notable people with the name include: * Lloyd Stearman (1898–1975), American aviation pioneer * Richard Stearman (born 1987), English footballer * William Stearman (1813–1846) English cricketer * William L. Stearman (b ...

MB's. Air Mail was the first cargo; passengers came later. The airline flew on a single route from

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

north to Ogden,

Pocatello Pocatello () is the county seat of and largest city in Bannock County, with a small portion on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation in neighboring Power County, in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Idaho. It is the principal city of the ...

Butte __NOTOC__ In geomorphology, a butte () is an isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top; buttes are smaller landforms than mesas, plateaus, and tablelands. The word ''butte'' comes from a French word mea ...

, and Helena, ending in

Great Falls, Montana Great Falls is the third most populous city in the U.S. state of Montana and the county seat of Cascade County. The population was 60,442 according to the 2020 census. The city covers an area of and is the principal city of the Great Falls, M ...

; this was air mail route awarded in 1928, CAM #26. The awarding of the air mail route also brought NPA the ability to upgrade its fleet to Fokker Super Universals. By 1934 service was growing enough for the airline to upgrade its fleet with the acquisition of three ex-United Air Lines

Boeing 247 The Boeing Model 247 is an early United States airliner, and one of the first such aircraft to incorporate advances such as all-metal (Anodizing#Anodized aluminium, anodized aluminum) semimonocoque construction, a fully Cantilever#Aircraft, cant ...

's. This allowed National Parks to feed traffic to

United United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...

's route system at Salt Lake, as there were a growing number of travelers wanting easy access to

Yellowstone National Park Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellowston ...

. This prompted an extension of the route structure to

Idaho Falls Idaho Falls (Shoshoni language, Shoshoni: Dembimbosaage) is a city in and the county seat of Bonneville County, Idaho, Bonneville County, Idaho, United States. It is the state's largest city outside the Boise metropolitan area. As of the 2020 Un ...

, Idaho and

West Yellowstone West Yellowstone is a town in Gallatin County, Montana, United States, adjacent to Yellowstone National Park. The population was 1,272 at the 2020 census. West Yellowstone is served by Yellowstone Airport. It is part of the Bozeman, MT Micropoli ...

, Montana. By 1937 National Parks Airways attracted the attention of the majors seeking to expand their route structures.

Western Airlines Western Airlines was a major airline based in California, operating in the Western United States including Alaska and Hawaii, and western Canada, as well as to New York City, Boston, Washington, D.C., and Miami and to Mexico City, London and N ...

saw NPA as a fit to their route structure in the western United States. In 1937 Western acquired National Parks Airways, and the saga of the little airline in eastern Idaho came to an end.

Accidents and incidents

In 1928 National Parks Airways suffered its only major accident. The southbound flight from Great Falls to Salt Lake crashed at

, with the loss of all 7 passengers and crew aboard.http://planecrashinfo.com/1928/1928-21.htm

Fleet

* 3

D (NC13337, NC13339, NC13354) * 3

Fokker Super Universal ] The Fokker Super Universal was an airliner produced in the United States in the late 1920s, an enlarged and improved version of the Fokker Universal, fitted with cantilever wings and an enclosed cockpit. It was subsequently also manufactured und ...

(C6769, C7048, NC330M, NC7242) * 2

B (C4686)

References

External links

Images of National Parks Airways timetables and route map
''airtimes.com''

Airlines established in 1927 Airlines disestablished in 1937 Defunct airlines of the United States Defunct companies based in Utah 1927 establishments in Utah 1937 disestablishments in Utah {{US-airline-stub

History

Accidents and incidents

Fleet

See also

References

External links