Founded by Thomas H. Davis in 1948, Piedmont Airlines was one of the most respected regional airlines of its time. This exhaustive history follows the airline from its humble beginnings at Smith Reynolds Airport in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to its 1989 absorption into USAir after a buyout at the highest price ever commanded by a regional airline.
Drawing upon corporate documents, local news stories, and countless personal interviews with former Piedmont employees, the author tells the airline’s history in detail. Nearly 100 photographs show the airline’s development, and two appendices provide comprehensive lists of its fleet and service destinations. Fully indexed.

Richard E. Eller is a history professor at Catawba Valley Community College in Hickory, North Carolina.

Richard E. Eller
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 317
Bibliographic Info: 91 photos, appendices, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2012 [2008]
pISBN: 978-0-7864-6914-7
eISBN: 978-0-7864-9181-0
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      vii

Preface      1

Introduction: Speedbird      5

1. Winston-Salem Air, 1918–1944      9

2. First Flight, 1944–1948      31

3. Puddle Jumping, 1948–1958      50

4. Speedy Petey, 1958–1968      81

5. Experience Comes with Age, 1968–1977      113

6. The Hazards of Flight, 1959–1988      145

7. The Great Outfit, 1978–1984      173

8. The Last Virgin, 1985–1987      205

9. Another Airline, 1987–1989      226

Afterword: Last Flight Out      246

Epilogue: Flying West      252

Appendix A: The Piedmont Fleet, 1948–1989      259

Appendix B: Piedmont Destinations, 1948–1989      265

Chapter Notes      269

Bibliography      287

Index      301

“Eller has documented the birth, life, and demise of Piedmont Airlines”—The North Carolina Historical Review; “very detailed”—Journal of Southern History.