DCA Time Warp No.1

DCA Time Warp No.1

A proud member of Captain Eddie Rickenbacker’s Great Silver Fleet of Eastern Airlines from the early 1950s,
this lovingly restored Martin 4-0-4 “Silver Eagle” basks in the warm sunlight of a July afternoon in 1997,
and the admiring glances of visitors, as she participates in open house events for the new terminal and
control tower at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA).

While she may not recognize the sleek modern architecture of the concourse behind her or the soaring
new control tower from her previous visits to DCA (and is probably a bit shocked at the clothing “fashions”
of some of the visitors on the tarmac), she stands proudly iconic of the distinguished history of a
great airline whose passengers and crews she safely transported over Eastern’s routes…
as well as of a perhaps classier era in American commercial aviation.

From a Fujichrome transparency.

©Steve Ember