Carco Air Service Fokker F27 Friendship

Additional Information:

The Fokker F27 Friendship was a turboprop airliner developed and manufactured by the Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker. It was the most numerous post-war aircraft manufactured in the Netherlands and the F27 was also one of the most successful European airliners of its time.

The F27 was developed during the early 1950s with the intent of producing a capable successor to the earlier piston engine-powered airliners that had become commonplace on the market, such as the Douglas DC-3. A key innovation of the F27 was the adoption of the Rolls-Royce Dart turboprop engine, which provided improved conditions for passengers. Another major added comfort feature was cabin pressurization along with Innovative manufacturing techniques used in the aircraft’s construction.

Carco Air Service was established in 1947 to operate an air taxi service between Albuquerque and Los Alamos, New Mexico for the Atomic Energy Commission. The carrier used mainly small Beechcraft Bonanza aircraft and as Los Alamos was referred to as “The Atomic City”, Carco was referred to as “The Atomic Airline”. During the World War II years while atomic weapons were being developed, Los Alamos was kept secret and simply known as “the city on the hill”. Carco also flew to many other Atomic Energy Commission cities as needed. In July 1964 Carco was officially certified as a commuter airline. On the companies’ April 25, 1965 schedule, seven daily roundtrips were operated between Albuquerque and Los Alamos. Interestingly, this schedule showed that Los Alamos was observing daylight savings time and Albuquerque was not. Clark Carr who founded the airline, sold it to Ross Aviation in 1969 which continued the shuttle flights until 1995.

Carco Air Service operated the Fokker F27, aircraft #N1004, as well as the longer model F-227 aircraft # N2784R for the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), Service was provided between Albuquerque and Las Vegas, Nevada as well as the Nevada Test Site supporting the Sandia and Los Alamos labs and the contractor EG&G from 1966 until 1970.

This F-27 was formerly aircraft #N1004 as seen on the aircraft model.

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