FORTUNATELY FOR Piedmont, Tom Davis's management team had ordered 10 Fairchild-Hiller FH-227Bs to replace the smaller F-27s in the company's fleet. The new type entered service with the airline in 1967. The FH-227B was equipped with 44 passenger seats, creating the potential for eight more customers per flight than could be accommodated aboard the airline's smaller F-27s. The company was still reeling from the tragic loss, that July, of its Boeing 727 named Manhattan Pacemaker -one of only two jets in the fleet at the time (see The Piedmont Airlines Story, Part One, Airways, Nov-Dec 2020).
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