tnair1974 wrote:The old Piedmont Airlines served London-Corbin KY until about the late 1970s. During the 70s, PI flew YS-11s and F-27s/FH-227s into LOZ. Anybody know if an occasional 732 was used??
The London-Corbin Airport, aka Magee Field, was indeed a regular stop for the original Piedmont Airlines (PI, 1948-1989) during the regulated days of air travel. I actually flew into LOZ aboard a Piedmont Airlines FH-227 on March 12, 1973. I flew there from Louisville's Standiford Field (SDF), now Muhammad Ali International Airport. I had visited my grandmother, along with several aunts, uncles & cousins, and I flew to LOZ to visit an aunt, uncle & cousin who lived near Somerset, KY. The flight was a short hop, but I'm very glad that I took it! I've been threatening to write a trip report about that, and now, since we are under corona virus "house arrest", I'll probably go ahead & pull the trigger on that. Look for it in the Trip Reports forum.
There never was much in the way of commercial air traffic at LOZ, and no, Piedmont's Boeing 737-200s never regularly served LOZ. Piedmont flights out of LOZ primarily went to Louisville and to the Tri-Cities Airport (TRI), serving Bristol, VA/TN, Kingsport, TN & Johnson City, TN. But, as you have noted, mainline jets have flown into LOZ with dignitaries, charters & the like. I remember that my Dad drove down there once to see & hear a speech given by a famous politician, possibly Nixon's first Vice President, Spiro Agnew. I wasn't able to go with him, but he told me later that two Boeing 727-100s were used, one for the press, the other for the VIP & his entourage.
After Piedmont pulled out, Air Kentucky (KN) flew their Beech 99s into LOZ for awhile. Tennessee Airways (ZN) served LOZ, too. I'm not familiar with ZN's ops, but judging from your user name, I'm sure that you could add some interesting info about them.
BTW, I wrote some of the History text for the
Wikipedia article about the London-Corbin Airport. Thanks for asking about LOZ! . . .
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London-Corbin_Airport-SkyVoice