Page 41 - 2006 DT 12 Issues

I n T h i s I s s u e !

Featured Article
Bonanza Air Lines.................................1
Special
Trail Canyon Hike..................................7
Departments
News & Notes.......................................2
Programs & Hikes.................................4
J u n e 2 0 0 6 Desk Schedule.....................................6

Bulletin Board.......................................8

BONANZA AIR LINES — Nevada’s Own “I was afraid people would jump out
I n T h i s I s s u e !

if they saw me flying . . . women were
and One of a Kind Air Force Base. They decided that NOT in aviation.” It was 1946, and
Nevada needed an air service of its aviation was still a male preserve. In
By Chuck Kleber
own, something beyond the Western addition to fl ying, Murphy handled
n early timetable cover an- Airlines route from Los Angeles to Las personnel, labor relations and was the
nounced “Bonanza Air Lines Vegas. Converse had the money to get sole female vice president of an airline
A– Flying the Route of the the idea off the ground. in the nation.
Gold Strikes.” Another advised, “Reno On December 31, 1945, Bonanza Although Bonanza had expanded

– Las Vegas Only 2 Hours Apart via Air Lines was incorporated. The be- its fleet to include a five-place Cessna,

Bonanza Air Lines.” This was no ginning could hardly have been more two Piper Cubs and a Stearman biplane,
ordinary airline; it was a circa 1945 modest; a ticket counter in the old El “as-is” war surplus C-47’s caught Con-
pioneer of the skies in Nevada, when Rancho Vegas verse’s attention
Las Vegas was still five years away lobby, a few for their poten-

from having just 45,000 people. sticks of furni- tial as much
Bonanza was the product of true ture and a leased larger planes.
entrepreneurs, and particularly, the un- Cessna that car- He leased one
usual personage of Edmund Converse. ried only three and completely
He was no farm boy who made his way people. Char- refurbished the
up the ladder of achievement. Born lie Keene fl ew old carrier in the
into a very wealthy banking family, the plane on commercial DC-
he grew up on a California cattle ranch charter service 3 configuration
before entering Stanford and getting only from Sky for its inaugural
a law degree in 1934. After service in Haven field, passenger ser-
naval intelligence during World War hardly more vice between
II, Converse settled in Las Vegas with than a pasture Las Vegas and
the idea of establishing a law practice. with a landing Edmund Converse Reno on August
He liked the town and the pioneer spirit strip and no 6, 1946. It start-
of the people. Ironically, the career weather station, radio communication ed with just three round-trip fl ights
of this man who hated flying turned or landing lights. The following year, a week, and passenger revenue was

to the air as he saw an opportunity Bonanza moved to Alamo Airport, all that Bonanza could count on for
crystallize through his friendship with now McCarran International. Enter income—no mail contracts or Federal
Charlie Keene, a California charter the multi-talented Florence Murphy, subsidies. One story has it that a pas-
pilot, and June Simon, an executive the fi rst Nevada woman to hold a com- senger quipped as he saw a fuel truck
with the Las Vegas Chamber of Com- mercial pilot’s license and good friend
merce and daughter of the man who of June Simon. She fl ew many of the
built the airfield that became Nellis runs to Reno and recalled with a laugh,

Bonanza, continued on page 6