Capital Airlines Lockheed Constellations. In 1955 they became the first U.S. operator of the British manufactured, four engine Vickers Viscount, the first passenger turboprop airliner. The Viscount propjets were deployed on the flagship Washington-Chicago route and the airline had planned to fly them on expanded service; however, Capital was mostly stymied by the federal Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB). The CAB also refused Capital a requested subsidy. Still, Capital's passenger-miles in 1957 were 88% more than 1955. On November 14, 1956 a Capital pilot reported seeing a blue-white ball in the sky. The pilot, Captain William J. Hull, was a senior captain who
Airliner 14 hours and 38 minutes with one intermediate landing. However, it was never used as a commercial airliner due to the onset of World War I. In 1915, the first airliner (for commercial use) was used by Elliot Air Service. The aircraft was a Curtiss JN 4, a small biplane which was used mainly in World War I as a trainer. Later, it was also used as a tour and familiarization flight aircraft in the early 1920s. In 1919, after World War I, the Farman F.60 Goliath, originally designed as a long-range heavy bomber, was converted for commercial use into