Thank you to Greg Hattaway for contributing this great old image of National mechanics and maintenance staff on the 3rd shift at National's Miami hangar. Greg's father Nathan Hattaway is the 4th man from the right in the front row of employees and he was employed by National from 1946 until his death in 1977.
Facebook friend Bob Andrews recognized his father Kenny Andrews in the bottom left corner of the front row. He believes that Johnny "Willie" Williams is in the top left corner.
The new DC-7 aircraft behind them set a transcontinental speed record, probably from Santa Monica, California to Miami, by making the trip in 5 hours 50 minutes according to the lettering on the aircraft. Straight line distance between Santa Monica and Miami is 2353 miles so they had an average speed of 403 mph for the trip. The aircraft is either N8205H (l/n 44171/412) that was delivered to National on 11/12/53 or N8206H (l/n 44172/421) that was delivered in December 1953. N8205H flew with National until April 1964 and N8206H flew with National until June 1964.
Please click on "original" below to see this photo at the largest size. Please see the next photo to see a closeup version of the above photo so you can see the employee faces better.