Back in the '70s, I remember an airline called Yellowbird. They had an aggressive advertising campaign, but I never seemed to hear anything about the airline in the ensuing years. After doing some searching on the Internet, I have come to believe that Yellowbird was actually a Northeast Airline plane painted yellow for marketing reasons. And now I have the barf bag. Oh Happy Day!
One interesting thing to note about this bag: There is space for 6 gin rummy players. Now can someone explain to me just how 6 people could possibly play cards together in an airplane?
As usual, ask and some amazingly altruistic angel swoops in with the answer. Sally Sullivan aka Dr. Dialtone says, "In the old DC-6 they had a lounge in the very back of the plane that people sat in, in a half moon shaped seat, I believe that it could fit between 6 and 8 people. I was about 9 years old when I flew on one but remember it was a real treat to sit back there. The bag you have would fit that area but is probably pre "Yellowbird". I filled more than my fair share of those bags but never spent much time reading them as there was never anything written on the inside which was all I ever saw! Northeast used the Yellowbird song and colors for its East coast flights and advertised extensively on TV with John Cameron Swazey from Miami. The ads ran heavily in the Boston Metro area and New York in the mid to late 60's."
Bob Dingley of Pace, FL has more concrete info on Northeast Airlines. "They served the New England area with DC-3's until the 1960's. They used a blue & white paint job. They acquired Fairchild FH227's about the mid 60's. Then they got a single B-707 for the Boston-Miami run. Sometime after 1966, they picked up a few B-727's that happened to be painted yellow. They were called "Yellowbirds." The rest of the fleet stayed blue and white. About 1972, NEA merged with DELTA and lost their identity."
