DALLAS — Today, in 1964, the three-engined Boeing 727 entered service with launch customer Eastern Air Lines (EA), one of the "Big Four" domestic airlines created by the Spoils Conferences of 1930.
“It was Eastern Airlines, 537, Nov. 1 of 1949.” In that crash, an Eastern Air Lines-operated Douglas DC-4 aircraft collided with a military fighting plane over the Potomac River, killing 55 people.