Kingsport Air!

Kingsport's Homegrown Passenger Airline, Southeast Airlines

Peggy Norris passed away last week. Peggy was the daughter of Mason-Dixon co-founder E. Ward King. I had talked to her a couple of years ago about getting together for an interview about her dad’s airline, Southeast.

But my column went out of business before we could have our chat.

Do you remember Southeast, Kingsport’s own airline. It provided passenger and cargo service exclusively to Tennessee airports. (See map)

But Southeast ran afoul of government regulation, and also to a lot of pressure from other, bigger commercial airlines, and went out of business for good in 1960 after almost four years in service.

Over the years some have speculated that the beginning of the end was when a Southeast plane with ten people aboard crashed into Holston Mountain.

There have also been conspiracy theories about the crash because one of the passengers was former head of research at Eastman, and the inventor of dry ice, Rudolf Hasche.

I think this story from the time of the shutdown tells the actual story.

But I sure wish I had gone ahead with the interview with Peggy to get her thoughts on Kingsport’s airline.

August 4, 1960

Rejection Ends Last Hope For Southeast

By FRANK CREASY

The last thread of hope that Southeast Airlines might resume local service across Tennessee was broken Wednesday.

The Civil Aeronautics Board – in another of its incredible decisions – refused Governor Buford Ellington’s appeal for a review of the case.

On Tuesday governor Ellington requested the CAB grant him, members of Congress, mayors, presidents of Chambers of Commerce and others an audience on behalf of “air transportation for our state.”

The governor's telegram to CAB Chairman Whitney Gilliland was prompted by Southeast’s suspension of operations Sunday night. Southeast was forced to stop its scheduled flights because, according to President E. Ward King, it was losing about $2,000 per day without subsidy. That situation had existed for 31/2 years. During that 3 1/2 years southeast has waged continuous fight for federal certification, But, the CAB awarded the Tennessee routes to Southern Airways of Atlanta.

Southern is now in its ninth week of a pilot’s strike and has not set up a schedule for the routes previously served by Southeast.

The rejection of Gov. Ellington's plea for CAB review was received in Nashville yesterday afternoon. Here is the text of the CAB chairman's telegram of refusal:

“Records show Southeast was denied certification and Southern granted certification after extended hearings including consideration of the position of affected communities, and the decision has been affirmed upon judicial review. The board regrets temporary inability of Southern to provide service, but the situation is not one within the board's control. Under the circumstances we believe the suggested conference would not be appropriate.”

Gov. Ellington had no comment on the rejection, However, last week he said if the CAB failed to re-open the case Tennessee congressmen should seek a Congressional investigation of the action,

Southeast president King declined comment other than to say he was very disappointed.

John Roberts, Southeast’s vice president of operations, said the Kingsport based airline would make no further attempt to resume business.

“We have consulted with our attorneys and there appears no legal recourse,” Roberts said. “There’s nothing left but to close the doors at southeast.”

BONUS POST

If you saw the Oscars last Sunday you may remember the woman with the shaved head who won for Best Documentary (“American Factory” from the Obama’s production company at Netflix). She ended her acceptance speech with “Workers of the world unite!”

Now do you remember?

That woman was Julia Reichert who is suffering from bladder cancer.

It was, as the announcer noted, her fourth nomination and first Oscar.

I remember her first nomination. It was in 1978. I covered it for the Dayton Daily News. I wrote about her several times over the two years I was in Dayton but nothing was more memorable than covering her at the Oscars.

Here are the three stories I wrote about my Hollywood adventure. That was my first, last and only time covering the Oscars.