A Capital Idea

Though Capital Airlines has roots dating back to 1926, the Pennsylvania Air Lines and Central Airlines of the 1930s, and later in the decade as Pennsylvania Central Airlines, when this photograph was taken, Capital Airlines was officially just two years old. They received their first Lockheed Constellations (pictured) in 1950. The headquarters were located at Washington National Airport, now Reagan Washington National Airport, where crew training and aircraft overhauls were performed. The airline operated scheduled airline service in the eastern, southern, southeastern, and midwestern United States. 

During their first year, they introduced the "Nighthawk," one of the first coach-class services to compete with the railroads between Chicago and New York City, and with dominant airlines on the route. That same year, they introduced the first television on flights. Capital Airlines was the first U.S. operator of the British-manufactured, four-engine Vickers Viscount turboprop airliner in 1955. Capital was the fifth largest airline behind the "Big Four" of American, United, TWA, and Eastern until its merger with United Airlines in 1961.