Ryan's Brougham

Back in early 2012, when we looked at T. Claude Ryan's airline, we noted that before Claude had sold out his interest in the company to his business partner B. F. "Frank" Mahoney in November, 1926, he had helped design the M-1 mail plane, which was well received by the blossoming airmail industry. That design, and the improved M-2, had helped attract a young airmail pilot named Charles Lindbergh, who was looking for a plane that would be capable of crossing the Atlantic and winning the Orteig prize. Lindbergh had initially wanted to modify a stock M-2, but eventually the modifications resulted in the Spirit of St. Louis having little in common with the M-2, other than its basic lines.

The last B-3, which became the prototype B-5

Shortly before the contract to build Linbergh's plane was signed, Mahoney and the Ryan engineers started building the prototype of their next, follow-on aircraft, the B-1 Brougham. Designed to carry four passengers plus the pilot, the Brougham was intended to be the next-generation of small airliner. Although the lines were similar, there was very little in common between the M-2 and B-1 (except for the tail feathers on the earliest B-1s). While the M-1/M-2 design sold a combined total of 34 airframes, the Brougham (in all its variants) sold over 220 copies, making it wildly successful for its time.

The initial B-1 model, which first flew in early 1927, was powered by a Wright J-5 engine, and sold well. Frank Hawks bought the prototype, named it Gold Bug and went barnstorming. After Lindbergh's flight, Hawks renamed the plane Spirit of San Diego and sold rides in the plane "like the one Lindy flew". Mahoney subsequently hired him to be an official company representative. The company built a special one-off version, the B-2, for Lindbergh to use as his personal aircraft, which he took on tour across the U.S. during 1928.

After building about 150 of the B-1s, Mahoney decided it was time to update the design, and the 1928 B-3 included a larger cabin, larger tail surfaces and swiveling tailwheel. The last few were built with 300 hp J-6 engines, but retained the B-3's 1,590 pound useful load. To take advantage of the bigger engine, the last B-3 was built as the prototype B-5 in 1929, which had a 1,749 pound useful load. This prototype, initially NX-8321, is shown in the first of our two photos, which appear to be offical factory prints.

A Parks College B-5 in flight

Also in 1929, the company changed its name to Mahoney-Ryan Aircraft Co. But as production got undeway, Frank Mahoney started having serious health issues, and so in 1930 sold his controlling interest in the company to Detroit Aircraft Corp., a company that was rabidly buying up the shares of numerous aviation-related companies, including the likes of Aircraft Development Corp, Aviation Tool Co., Eastman Aircraft, Blackburn Airplane, Parks Air College, and held almost all of the stock of Lockheed. They dropped the "Mahoney" part of the name and the company became the Ryan Aircraft Division (althought "Corp" was also used), and was moved to St. Louis.

Since Detroit Aircraft owned Parks, it was natural that the college's fleet would include aircraft built by other divisions of the company, and the aircraft shown in our second photo, NC728M, was one of Park's acquisitions.

Compare the tails of our two subject planes: the first B-5 was built by Mahoney-
Ryan in San Diego, the Parks College plane was built by Ryan in St. Louis MO.

The size of Detroit, though, was not able to save the conglomerate from the effects of the Great Depression, and on October 27, 1931, the company went into receivership. Several divisions, such as Lockheed and Parks, were bought out of receivership by other entities, but the Ryan Division was one that did not survive.

In 1934, T. Claude tried again, and it was this later version of Ryan Aeronautical that succeeded in the long term, and today is a part of Northrop Grumman Corp.

Chalk's Loening

When Grover Loening formed his Loening Aeronautical Engineering company in 1917, he was far from being a newcomer to the industry. Grover had been awarded Columbia University's first ever degree in aeronautical engineering, and had managed the Wright Brother's factory for them before WWI. In 1921, his S-1 Flying Yacht set a speed record and captured the Collier Trophy that year. His next big design success was the OL amphibian of 1923, produced first for the Army, and then for the Navy. With passenger aviation taking off, Loening's team, which included a young engineer named Leroy Grumman, was tasked with turning the military aircraft into a commercial one. The result was the C-1 and then the successful C-2 Air Yacht (which came with your choice of engine...the C-2C used the Wright Cyclone and the C-2H was powered by the Pratt & Whitney Hornet).

The C-2C in our photo, NC133H,  was first delivered on June 19, 1929 to New York & Suburban Airlines, one of the Curtiss-Wright subsidiary companies. Sometime shortly after that, the plane was sold to Kohler Aviation, which operated a unique "Air Bridge Across Lake Michigan", offering flights from downtown Milwaukee to Grand Rapids (time was reduced from a 14-hour rail trip to a one hour ten minute plane ride; details and some wonderful photos can be seen here and here as well). The service was popular and successful, but after the air mail contract scandal in the mid-1930s, Kohler was prohibited from re-bidding them, and without that lucrative source of income, the company went down.

At some point, some of the Kohler Loenings, including 33H, were then sold to Chalk's Flying Service, where they were operated from a small seaplane base on Biscayne Blvd in Miami (a wonderful old photo of the base and our plane can be seen here). Arthur "Pappy" Chalk, a WWI veteran, started the air service in February, 1919 and kept it going until he sold it in 1966! At some point, Chalk's moved their operations to Miami's Watson Island. Given the differences in the background between our photo and the one linked above, I'm guessing that our location is Watson. If anyone can confirm that, please comment below.

Another photo of 33H at Chalks can be seen here.

T&WA Fokker at Glendale

Note the lack of "Grand Central Air Terminal" lettering above the arches.

The history of Glendale, California's Grand Central Air Terminal to the Golden Age of Aviation is a particular passion of mine, and thus whenever I have an opportunity to add a Glendale photo to the archive, I jump at the chance. Such was the case with today's photo, an official 8x10 glossy stamped on the back "Courtesy of Transcontinental & Western Airlines".

The Fokker F.10, a 12-passenger outgrowth of the successful eight-passenger F.VII, was the first Fokker to be built in the US (from components imported from Holland by Fokker subsidiary Atlantic Aircraft Corporation).

It was the airplane of choice of Western Air Express for its new first-class service between Los Angeles and San Francisco, and WAE had ordered sixteen of them; NC4458, the plane shown here, was the first of these to be delivered, on April 24, 1928. The type stayed in service after WAE merged with Transcontinental Air Transport-Maddux Airlines to become Transcontinental & Western Air (and later Transworld Airlines) on July 24, 1930. Interestingly, the plane carries the company's titles in three different ways...TWA (instead of T&WA) under the wing, "Transcontinental / Western Air Inc" under the Indian head logo, and "Transcontinental Air Transport - Maddux Airlines And Western Air Lines" under the passenger windows (below).

Evidently, ownership of this plane was transferred to T&WA on March 24, 1931. Only a week later, the usefulness of the F.10 as an airliner was cut short by the tragic crash of sister ship NC999E, flying as TWA Flight 599 on March 31, 1931. Unlike the Ford Trimotor, which was all-metal in construction, the Fokker used wood as the main material in the F.10 wings, and delamination of crucial components was identified as the cause of the crash. All the F.10s were temporarily grounded, and only allowed to fly after significant inspections and preventative maintenance had been accomplished. Even this didn't last long, as one of the key results of the crash was regulation that prohibited airliners from using wooden construction. NC4458 was reportedly retired on April 30, 1931.

A detailed technical article from 1928 describing the F.10 can be found here.

The Ed Coates Collection includes a similar photo of the same plane, possibly taken just a few seconds later as the Fokker taxied past.

A big tip o' the hat to Luc Winance for some of the dates and details!

The Lure of Airshows

The largest event of these three mystery shots is this one...I've seen some photos
of the National Air Races that appear similar to this venue.

During the Golden Age of aviation, airshows were the thing...much more of a hoopla-filled civic event than the are today, which is truly a shame, in my book. The three photos featured today are mysteries...there is no information accompanying them to indicate when or where. If you recognize any of these venues, please comment!

Curious crowds gather behind these planes. The line-abreast formation is remniscent of a race

This gathering has less of a formal feel to it, and seems more like a gathering of barnstormers.

Tales from the Flying Circus, Part Deux

Usually, the archive only acquires actual photos, not printed material, but the
connection with our Inman photos made this postcard-sized advertising card
hard to pass up. Cards like this would be mass-mailed to addresses in the towns
that the Circus would be visiting. The card was published sometime between
1935 (when Donald was killed) and 1937 (when Melvin Hart went to Alaska).

One of the first major posts on Vintage Air featured a couple of trimotors flown during the Great Depression by the Inman Brothers Flying Circus, a barnstorming act that toured the Midwest during the 1930s.

The Inman Brothers, Rolley, Arthur and Donald, developed one of the most successful aerial stunt acts during the inter-war period. Various other pilots (including Tex Johnston, as we mentioned in that original post) also flew with the Circus. Since that original post, my fascination with the Circus has grown, and the archive has been able to acquire a few more pieces. Personally, though, I don't feel that the exploits of the Inman Brothers have yet been adequately covered on the web. Someone should write a book....

Donald, the youngest of the three brothers, was killed at the age of 22 during a flight in Ellenton, Florida, on February 10, 1935, as reported in an article in the Southeast Missourian (the article is slightly confusing, and it's not clear if this was a Flying Circus flight, or whether Donald had set off barnstorming on his own). While the newspaper doesn't identify the type of aircraft, Donald was flying with another pilot, Charles Hoanes, when the aircraft suffered an engine failure on takeoff and dove into some trees. While Donald was killed, the newspaper credits him with saving a 17-year-old woman, Miss Corrine Edwards, as he "threw himself across Miss Edwards, to prevent her from being more seriously hurt." Though soaked with gasoline, fortunately the plane did not burn.

The caption taped to the back of this glossy reads, "QUEEN
OF THE FLYING TIN GOOSE -- Mrs. Leona Pemberton of Sun
City was one of the first women to achieve serial noteriety as
she worked with the Inman Bros. Flying Circus out of Coffeyville,
Kan."

One of the "other" pilots, Merle Smith, on the far right in the adverstising card photo above, was also a Kansas native. Smith taught himself how to fly as a teenager, and after flying with the Inmans for a few years, he felt the "call of the wild" and headed for Alaska, where he hired on with the Cordova Air Service. After a mishap on a soggy, muddy bush field that caused him to nose over his Stearman (he reportedly got the plane running and flying again using nothing more than a screwdriver, putty knife and an old rag), he picked up the nickname "Mudhole". Smith eventually became the president of Cordova, and led it into a merger with Alaska Airlines in 1968. From then until his retirement in 1979, "Mudhole" served on the Board of Directors and as a VP at Alaska. A more detailed bio of his adventures in that state can be found at this Alaska Airlines page.

Recently, the Archive acquired two 8x10 glossy publicity photos featuring one of the Inman wives, Leona, who was married to Art (she's the second from the left in the ad card picture). Leona had served as Stewardess on the Ford Trimotor that the Circus used for giving passenger "thrill rides".

The caption provided by the PR firm and taped to the back
reads, "RETIRED NOW -- In her garden at Sun City, Mrs.
Leona Pemberton recalls her early days as "Queen of the
Barnstormers," when each flight was full of adventure,
excitement and danger."

Both photos appear to have been printed in the 1960s or 1970s by the Dewey W. Linze Company, a Hollywood PR firm (I can't find any trace of them these days), and the one on the left bills Leona as once the "Queen of the Barnstormers", although I have yet to find a period reference to her as this. I'm not sure why these photos were produced (was she trying to build a career as a speaker, trading on her old days of glory?), but interestingly, the photos don't note that she was an Inman at the time!

The last item that I've found on the Flying Circus was this 1987 obituary from the New York Times for Margie Inman (far left on the ad card). The wife of Rolley, she performed in the act as a wing-walker, among other duties. The article notes that Rolley died "in a crash" in 1944, though it doesn't say whether this was in the War or stateside.

Sadly, her end seems like a sad one, in failing health and living in a lean-to with numerous pets in Fort Lauderdale. The same 1935 newspaper article that talked about Donald's death also gives some insight into her love of animals...evidently for a while, the Circus included a pet lion - named "Kitty" - who lived with Rolley and Margie, and accompanied the couple both in the air and "on motor car journeys as well. Often the animal may be seen occupying the rumble seat of Rolley Inman's automobile."

And lastly, this tidbit...while I've not been able to find any references to the post-Flying Circus career of Carl Hall (second from the right on the ad card), it's interesting to note that the Canadian Air & Space Museum is located at 65 Carl Hall Road in Toronto. Coincidence?

Wooden Seagull

The Curtiss MF Seagull (not to be confused with the later Curtiss SOC Seagull) was the culmination of Glenn Curtiss' early work in developing the seaplane concept. Curtiss had hit success with his Model E seaplane, which was bought by the U.S. Navy as the A-1 Triad (see our 31 Dec 2011 blog entry). He then improved on the design with the Model F in 1912, which replaced the main pontoon with a boat-like hull. The Navy selected the Model F as its standard flying boat training aircraft in April 1917, and ordered the type in large numbers. Our first photo shows a Model F leaving the beach for a water takeoff. The person I obtained the small print from said that the location was San Diego Harbor, but I can't confirm.

Any guesses to what the writing on the building says?

In 1918, the design was tweaked, with the upper wing now incorporating ailerons and having a different span than the lower wing; these aircraft were known as Model MF, or Modernized F. In addition, the MFs had bigger 100-hp OXX6 engines and sported sponsons on the sides of the hull to improve water handling. The Navy took delivery of 22 MFs from Curtiss and another 80 from the Naval Air Factory (which was established to license-build aircraft during WWI in quantities that the original manufacturers couldn't handle).

With the end of the war, many of the aircraft had never seen operation and were surplused to the civilian market. In addition, Curtiss built around 16 civilian versions which they called both the Model 18 and the Seagull.Many of the surplused Navy MFs were also rebuilt but Curtiss and others to the Seagull configuration. It is likely, though, that the aircraft in our second photograph is one of the original factory-built Seagulls.

Charlie Chaplin's brother Sid became a Curtiss dealer in Southern California, and bought one of the first Seagulls for use in a charter operation to Catalina Island (NASM has this great photo of a Chaplin Seagull).

Only five have survived into the 21st Century, and one of these was recently put up for auction at Bonhams in New York. The Hemmings Daily Blog carried a wonderful post on this spectacular aircraft, with a number of photos and some detailed background information. Gizmag also did a great piece on the auctioning of this MF. The Canada Aviation and Space Museum also owns a Seagull, and the restoration process of that aircraft is documented on their website.

Fury Three

Today's photo is an official 8x10 glossy from North American Aviation showing one of their FJ-3 Furies. The aircraft pictured isn't the first of the type, rather it comes in the middle of a production block. Although the BuNo is partially obscured in this photo, it appears that this is the same aircraft, on the same photo mission, as shown in this November, 1956 issue of Naval Aviation News (you'll have to scroll down to page 18), which would make it BuNo 136135.

The lack of tail markings suggests either a pre-delivery photo, or else this aircraft was used by NAA for flight test operations. The only reference I could find of this particular airframe was in FJ-3 Flight Operations Manual, an obscure reference that there was a change in the markings of the oil pressure indicator starting with this particular aircraft (it appears as a footnote in the above link).