A Northeast Airlines Douglas DC-6B sits on the tarmac at Boston’s Logan International in 1966.
Northeast was founded in 1931 by the Boston and Maine Railroad and Maine Central Railroad at a time when the railroads were starting to get into the airline business. The company took the name Northeast Airlines in 1940 and operated contract flights for the US Army Air Forces during the war, but lost out on transatlantic routes when the Civil Aeronautics board awarded them to Pan Am and TWA following the war. In the 50s, the airliner branded out and began flying southward to Washington, DC and Florida, and entered the jet age flying a Boeing 707 and Convair 880s. Howard Hughes took control in 1962, but left when the CAB continued to deny the company routes to Europe. Faced with continued financial difficulties, Northeast finally merged with Delta Air Lines in 1972. The merger gave Delta access to Boston, and made them the largest operator of the Boeing 727 at the time.