9. Vanguard Fleet Feature #2 - The Boeing 707

By the late 1940s, Vanguard was a small regional carrier from the Southeastern United States with service stretching from Memphis down to Houston and New Orleans, and east over to places such as Jacksonville and Charleston. Primarily hauling mail and cargo across the Cotton States, the company did a fair bit of passenger service between larger southern cities. By 1951 however, management had taken a different stance on the future and decided the airline needed to grow to survive. Determined to expand its role as a regional airline, the carrier took a big step in its quest for growth when in 1951 it agreed to share service across the connecting routes of North American Airlines and Columbia Air Lines. The agreement soon produced Vanguard's longest route of the time, from Houston to El Paso. Then, in 1954 the airline placed an initial 7 orders for it's first jet aircraft, the Boeing 707.

Introduction of the Boeing 707 into the fleet immediately set the airline apart from its competitors, who were just then joining the jet age. The airline reported record profits in 1960, its first full year of all jet operations. By 1962, Vanguard had acquired four Boeing 707-120Bs to help service the growing long-haul route structure, with the addition of Houston to Los Angeles, and Memphis to Las Vegas. As the 707s kept coming, the route structure continued to grow. By 1964, the airlines' route map had doubled what it was in 1959. Also in 1964, the airline added a handful of 707-320Cs for expanded charter service to Southeast Asia for the Vietnam War Effort. In 1967, Vanguard won a five-year contract for routes to Micronesia. It created a new enterprise, Vanguard Micronesia, to fly the routes. Initially flown by the companies 707s, the service was eventually replaced by 727s.

Becoming an icon of service, the Vanguard 707s were some of the luxurious airliners of their day, and with bases in New York, Memphis, Los Angeles, Honolulu, and Las Vegas, they quickly became the "aircraft of hollywood" by flying big names such as Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Grace Kelly and many more. In 1977, the last 707 was retired from the airlines service, with the final flight taking place from Memphis to Las Vegas.