I hope you aren’t too tired of photos from 1971, but I found another batch to share with you this week. All of these photos appear to have been taken before June 18, 1971, which as you know was the day we began operation. I used a magnifying glass to look at the name tags in the black and white photos, and they are labeled “Southwest Airlines Preview.” The attendees, judging by their name tags, appear to have come from Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. I am aware that large event was held on the evening of June 17, so these photos may be a record of that event. It’s also possible they were taken at an earlier date, but probably not much earlier because on June 16, 1971, Southwest’s future was very much grounded, until Herb Kelleher could conduct a 48-hour one man legal blitz.
No, I don’t know why the “12:30 p” flight is of so much interest in this photo. It is one of the few daily flights scheduled to operate seven days a week. What is of interest is that this is our initial June 18 flight schedule. It would take several months before the bottom portion of the triangle between San Antonio and Houston is closed. Also note that the timetable uses the phrase “Dallas/Ft. Worth” instead of “Dallas.” At the time, Love Field was the commercial airport for both cities until DFW opens in January 1974. In case you’re adding, the schedule has 18 flights operating Monday through Friday.
It looks like our Flight Attendants (Hostesses back then) were the stars of the preview. The Flight Attendant at the left appears to be enjoying the conversation, and she wears the official uniform handbag. The Employee on the right looks a bit distracted, and I am sure all our Employees wanted to do at this point was get in the air and start their jobs.
The next photo is from a different event, but it is also pre-June 18. The location appears to be the ramp area around our original hangar on the north side of Love Field. At this point, I don’t know who the men are, and they aren’t wearing any kind of badges. In some earlier posts, I have used a different scene from this photo shoot. Note the man holding the fedora in the center of the photo. The sky looks a lot like the June we are having this year, and you can almost feel the humidity. Note how clean the rear fuselage on N21SW is. The 737-200s were notorious for having dirty aft fuselages after only a few flights.
And finally, this photo isn’t from the pre-June 18 period, but it is an early photo taken on the North Concourse at Love Field (you can see the ramp tower on the American or East Concourse through the window). The Flight Attendant is holding a belt of some kind that has a large object attached to it. My guess is that it might be some kind of ancient artifact like a bell with a clapper, but I could be completely wrong. Maybe somebody out there remembers this event.