A long way and a long time from my first sighting of United's first Caravelle. See photo #20949...

In a very sorry state showing (or trying to show) Aero Service Corporation markings, Houston, Texas, 1990. Used as a test aircraft by Goodyear Aerospace

In NewCal Aviation's maintenance hangar at Safi.

For maintenance at MIACO's Safi facility. Litton Industries Group logo and title on fin. Crashed on 19 April 1989 during emergency landing at golf camp Las Palmas Country Club after engine failure.

"Litton" title and logo on fin.

'Hunting for uranium, copper, lead and other metals is made easier and quicker with a new electromagnetic detector developed by Newmont Mining Corp. and engineered by Philadelphia's Aero Service Corp. The detector consists of two coils mounted on fore and aft booms on a Sikorsky helicopter. The front coil transmits a tuned electrical signal as it flies over the survey area. The metals cause disturbances in the signal, which are picked up by the rear coil. The aircraft covers more terrain in a day than foot-slogging ground crews do in months.' Photo from: Temple University Libraries

Delivered to the USAAF as 43-16009 in 1944. Registered as N4766C in 1953 later N950 and N5000C. To Aero Service as N5000E in 1966 then to Starflite Corp in 1989. To ZS-LVR in 1990 and 5H-LVR in 2010. Withdrawn from at Dar-Es-Salaam in 2010.

Delivered to United Airlines in June 1961 as N1001U. To Aero Service Corporation in January 1971. Registered PT-DUW when it was operating in Brazil. To Pima in June 1990. The registration was cancelled in November 1990 and even though FAA records may say the aircraft was destroyed, here it still is in one piece.

Ordered by Pan Am but diverted to the USN as an R4D-4 following the outbreak of war. Operated as a personnel transport without a cargo door or a strengthened floor. Survey-equipped N9032H was sold in Australia as VH-MJT. Later VH-MMT

Ex 44-34762 converted by Wold Corp. Damaged during a wheels up landing at Manilla July 4, 1972. Later withdrawn from use and abandoned at Dili, Portuguese Timor. Seen here with small titles on the rear fuselage and logo on the tail. Also has the Litton logo on the tail.

Aero Service was a Geophysical Service company, conducting aeromagnetic surveys. The 'tail stinger' housed a magnetometer that made observations of the earth's magnetic field. This later became EC-JQI.

Ex UAL, now preserved at the Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson. Litton logo is on the fin.

This was the first Caravelle for United, delivered in 1961, and still carries their cheat-line and name "Ville de Toulouse" in this photo. Seen here in its electronic testbed guise on a visit for overhaul by ATEL, she now resides in the Pima Air Museum, AZ

Ex USAAF P-38L Lightning 44-53247. Converted to F-5G standard postwar with glazed nose for survey work with Aero Service Corp. and has their titles on the nose. Seen here stored at the Pima County Museum. Restored and to the Musee de l'Air Paris in May 1989. Destroyed by fire there on 17 May 1990.