This week's updates: Air South, FCA, Eagle
Dozens of new photos and route maps have been added to the site this week with big updates to the Air South, Eagle Airline, and Florida Coastal Airlines pages. Each photo links to its respective page. [...]
Sunshine Skies - Updates
Updates
Latest posts
Major updates to Chalk's, PBA, Mackey, Shawnee
The astonishing clarity and color balance of photo restoration programs I've been experimenting with has given me renewed enthusiasm for updating the website. With the majority of the material in my collection now 40 to 60 years old, it had become increasingly difficult to transform old slides and photos into presentable digital images. I'm now winning the battle against dirt, dust, fading colors…
Loads of new and improved photos!
Fun and exciting developments here at Sunshine Skies headquarters. I've been testing out all sorts of AI apps for restoring old photos and the results have been spectacular. Dozens of faded, dirty, and low resolution images have been cleaned up, restored and added to the website this week. Some of the transformations are truly amazing.Here are a few of the newly added images, many of which were…
Restoring old photos with our AI overlords
Hello! My apologies for the small amount of new content during the past few months, but I have been quietly working on the website behind the scenes. I have an enormous collection of low resolution .jpg files of slide scans from the late 1990s and early 2000s that have been collecting digital dust on numerous hard drives for a quarter of a century. For the most part, they are horribly pixelated,…
Southeastern Airlines (1963-1964)
Atlanta-based Southeastern Airlines, unrelated to the Southeastern that flew from Atlanta in the 70s and 80s, had ambitious plans to build a commuter airline empire covering the southeast with routes connecting virtually any city with a suitable airport. This amazing route map, based on their schedule in the November 1963 Official Airline Guide, shows service to 72 cities! Read more about…
Albany Airways
Today's new webpage is about Albany Airways, one of the earliest commuter airlines in Georgia. Albany Airways began scheduled service on June 6, 1946 and was initially known for their unique daily "Shopper's Special" flights that provided day trips to Atlanta for shopping and business, returning to Albany in time for dinner. They also served Columbus, Moultrie, Thomasville and Valdosta. Scheduled…
Air South, Air South & Air South
Two unrelated airlines with the same name have been added to the site this morning, along with new material for a third airline by the same name. Air South, Inc. was a Fort Lauderdale-based charter company that operated day trips to Walt Disney World (via Kissimmee) and Key West from 1976 until 1984. The scheduled nature of those day tours prompted the FAA to classify the carrier as a commuter…
Air Florida Helicopter Airways
We've all heard of Air Florida but have you ever heard of Air Florida Helicopter Airways? Well, I'll admit I hadn't until author David H. Stringer sent scans of an Air Florida Helicopter Airways timetable effective September 6, 1960. The airline served points around the Tampa Bay and Sarasota areas.The history of this obscure airline is the focus of the newest page on SunshineSkies.com and can be…
Argonaut Airways update
New photos and a route map have been added to the Argonaut Airways page including this great shot of DC-3 N142A on the ramp at Miami circa 1963. [...]
Walker's Cay Airlines
Peter Hodgkins kindly sent some photos of Walker's Cay airport from his visit in 1993 and this, along with some recently purchased slides, prompted an update of the Walker's Cay Airlines page with the addition of new photos and information. Enjoy! [...]
ATL's Centennial
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport turns 100 this year and I've been adding loads of new material to various pages. At this point, I'm filling in gaps in the already detailed history, and this month's additions look pretty random when seen together. A sample of recently added material:A fantastic aerial view taken during a stop by the Ford national air tour on October 13, 1929.…
The Mailbag Runneth Over!
Lots of random and fascinating topics shared by our readers. As mentioned in an earlier post, I temporarily lost access to my email and website earlier this year. I've been going through the dozens of messages and am sharing some that are of general interest. I always welcome your comments, info and photos! [...]
Summer 2024 Update
July 16, 2024 update: Earlier this year my messages were overrun with spam, someone tried to take over the Sunshine Skies facebook account and I also lost access to the associated email account for some time. Frustrated and annoyed by the hassle, I took a long break from the website. Access to all accounts has been restored and I will be getting back to everybody who sent messages that I missed…
Updates!
After several months of inactivity on the website I'm happy to say that there is a wealth of new material. I had Covid in late November and during my quarantine was able to spend days organizing, scanning, writing and updating the site. There are roughly a hundred new images spread throughout dozens of pages. I'll be posting many of them on facebook in the coming weeks. The upside of Covid:…
Ocala, Florida
New page on the history of airline service at Ocala, Florida! [...]
Additional Sarasota and Vero Beach photos
David Wick has contributed another dozen photos to the history of Sarasota Bradenton airport and Todd Scher sent an update and some new photos about Breeze's service at Vero Beach. Thank you gentlemen! The links are below.Sarasota Bradenton in the late 1970sDavid's photos are included in the gallery about halfway down the page. Vero BeachTodd's photos of Breeze's planes are at the end of the…
The Walt Disney World STOLport
New page about the rapid rise and fall of the Walt Disney World STOLport, the highly anticipated airstrip that helped lead to the downfall of Florida's two largest commuter airlines. [...]
The Airline History of Jacksonville's Imeson Airport
A major update on the website today! Six new pages and more than 125 new images covering the first 2 commercial airports and the first 4 1/2 decades of airline service at Jacksonville, Florida. Also added a few more photos to the Jacksonville International Airport history. You can begin HERE! [...]
Airports Before & After
I've always been a big fan of now & then, before & after comparison photos. A modern day recreation of an old photo lends extra perspective and context to both images and the juxtapositions can be startling. Thanks to Google Earth, Photoshop, and the Before and After app, I've created several of these comparisons for the website.I'm currently working on histories of Key West International Airport…
Final Jeopardy!
Why did several thousand people simultaneously Google their way onto the Sunshine Skies website? Thank you Final Jeopardy!THE ANSWER HERE, OF COURSE [...]
Marco Island Updates
A wealth of new material has made it necessary to split the history of airline service of Marco Island into 3 pages. There are lots of great new images courtesy of the Marco Island Historical Society (including the one above), Gordon Werner (who runs the Fly PBA and Marco Island Airways pages) and a few photos and advertisements from old newspaper clippings. Part One: 1965-1972 Temporary airports,…
Airport Images Added: Albany, Columbus, Waycross
A total of 10 new photos, courtesy of Blaine Peters, have been added to three Georgia airport pages. You can follow the links below. Thanks Blaine! Albany, GA - ABY Columbus, GA - CSG Waycross, GA - AYS [...]
PBA DC-3 Updates
PBA DC-3s - Where Are They Now? A long overdue update on the latest status of former PBA DC-3s with a half dozen new photos. The 8 Decade History of DC-3 N28AADC-3 N28AA is now at the Shannon Air Museum in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Museum President and owner Luke Curtas sent an update and several photos that have been added to the detailed history of this former PBA aircraft. Thank you Luke! [...]
Air South timetables
19 new pages of Air South timetables have been added along with a new index that links to 43 complete Air South schedules from 1969 through 1980. [...]
Florida Air Lines timetables added
32 new pages of complete Florida Air Lines timetables have been added, covering the time period between 1966 and 1981. They can all be reached through this new index page that shows them all in chronological order. Click or tap on the images to view the full timetables. [...]