Mercer Airlines

In the mid-20th century, Dwight W. "Poddy" Mercer established at least four airlines in the Los Angeles area:
* Irregular air carrier Airplane Charter By Mercer (later known as Associated Airways) (1945–1951)
* Intrastate airline California Pacific Airlines (1950)
* Intrastate airline Golden State Airlines (1951)
* Intrastate and uncertificated carrier Mercer Enterprises dba Mercer Airlines which became active in the late 1950s. Under new ownership this became Pacific American Airlines in 1975 until it collapsed in early 1978.

History

Poddy Mercer

Poddy Mercer was a former South Dakota auto dealer who moved to the Los Angeles area during World War II and became an instructor pilot at Cal-Aero Academy. He flew a P-38 in the 1946 Bendix Trophy race. Mercer's post-war career was involved in aviation enterprises. He established at least four airlines.

Airplane Charter By Mercer/Associated Airways

From October 1945, Mercer was advertising charters from Burbank Airport under the name Airplane Charter By Mercer, under which name he incorporated in California on 20 February 1946. On 28 March 1949, the airline changed its name to Associated Airways, Inc. Among other things, the airline offered transcontinental and Hawaii service. However, the airline got on the wrong side of the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), the now-defunct federal agency that, at the time, tightly regulated almost all US commercial air transport.

Mercer claimed he had sold Associated in 1950, but was unable to produce proof of this to the CAB.
Associated was clearly, at times, under the influence of the partners in North American Airlines Group, a so-called combine (several irregular air carriers under common control illegally engaging in frequent scheduled service, something at the time reserved for scheduled airlines). Further, some Associated flights were Flying Tiger Line using Associated's name to fly passenger air service, which the CAB was also unhappy about. The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) shut down Associated as of 28 April 1951.

Early 1950s intrastate carriers: California Pacific and Golden State Airlines

In 1950, Mercer operated California Pacific Airlines, one of eight California intrastate airlines that started up in a 13-month period from January 1949 to January 1950, six of which (like California Pacific) ceased operation after a short time. The exceptions were California Central Airlines, which lasted until 1955, and Pacific Southwest Airlines, which ultimately went on to great success. California Pacific operated January to February 1950.

In November 1951 Mercer started Golden State Airlines, another intrastate airline, which offered service between Los Angeles and Sacramento. This airline immediately suffered a crash, non-fatal but the Lockheed L-10 Electra aircraft was destroyed (see Accidents). The CAB, which investigated this crash, said it was being flown by Air California, an air taxi service owned by Mercer (no relation to the later 1960s/1970s intrastate jet carrier of the same name), an indication that Golden State was, at least at that time, a dba for Air California. A year later, Golden State changed to flying from Burbank to the California Central Coast. Despite the fact that William A. Jordan interviewed Mercer, there is no mention of Golden State in Jordan's 1970 academic book on California intrastate carriers, which otherwise covers this period in significant detail.

Mercer Enterprises/Mercer Airlines

In the late 1950s, Mercer was flying passengers to Del Mar racetrack in North County San Diego from Burbank with Mercer Enterprises. From April 1964, Mercer Enterprises flew scheduled weekend service from Burbank to San Diego Brown Field, suspended in 1971. In 1969, Mercer Enterprises transferred its intrastate economic certificate, conferred on it by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), to a corporate entity, it having been a sole proprietorship to that point. Mercer Airlines was a dba of Mercer Enterprises.

In the second half of the 1960s, Mercer Enterprises secured a US Navy contract to fly from Naval Air Station Point Mugu to San Nicolas Island. It also flew from Long Beach to San Clemente Island.

Mercer Airlines functioned either as an intrastate airline or an uncertificated carrier, the common thread being that neither was regulated by the CAB. The CAB saw Mercer as unsuitable. He was the subject of a 1959 CAB cease-and-desist case, wherein another irregular carrier, California Air Charter, was revoked for, among other violations, flying excessive scheduled frequencies while under the management of Mercer in the 1956–1957, such violations being "wilfull and knowing".

Pacific American Airlines

On 26 March 1975, Poddy Mercer sold Mercer Enterprises to a new group that operated the airline as Pacific American Airlines as an uncertificated carrier. However, the airline was still operating under the Mercer identity when, in February 1976, it suffered a high profile crash of a DC-6 at a golf course in Van Nuys, California on approach to the airport with the death of all three cockpit crew (see Accidents).

Notable Pacific American activities included a contract with the Kirimati (then known as Gilbert Islands) government to fly from Honolulu to Christmas Island (known today as Kiritimati Island) to Tarawa

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