BARNSTORMER'S DELIGHT; SEIZED BY CUSTOMS

This airplane is a New Standard Model D-25 (S/N 147) manufactured under ATC# 108 during September 1929 by the New Standard Aircraft Corp., Patterson, NJ. It left the factory with a single Wright J-5 engine (S/N 13617) of 220HP. It was a five-place airplane, with a pilot cockpit at the rear and an enormous 4-passenger cockpit forward. It was a popular barnstormer's airplane for selling rides.

NC28K sold first to the Cuban Aviation Corp., New York, NY on September 7, 1929. It was designated for use in Cuba, but it didn't get there. It was sold to Hayes Aviation, Inc., Syracuse, NY on May 17, 1930. In what appears to be an internal shuffling of assets early in the Great Depression, the airplane transferred between Hayes Aviation and R.C. Hayes, Inc. twice between 1930 and 1932. It sold on May 16, 1932 to William Keeler of Saratoga Springs, NY. It had accumulated 487 flight hours, a large amount for roughly 2.5 years of service to-date.

The aircraft was seized by the U.S. Customs Bureau and the registration was cancelled on October 10, 1933. The airplane had landed on a farm in Iberville, Quebec, Canada on March 29 and 31, 1933 for the purpose of loading liquor. The legal paperwork at this point in the airplane's official CAA record includes all the seizure, prosecution and monetary fine penalties associated with this law-breaking episode. Would that pilot Keeler had waited just 55 more days to quench his thirst, as the Eighteenth Amendment was repealed by the Twenty-first on December 5, 1933.

Over the next decade, NC28K passed through eight more owners. The penultimate owner used the airplane for banner towing. The final owner, as of August 11, 1943, disassembled it for parts. The registration was cancelled by the CAA on April 29, 1948 when the last known owner failed to reply to a questionnaire. No further information.

NC28K landed at Tucson on Tuesday November 12, 1929 at 3:00 PM flown solo by George Scott.

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UPLOADED: 01/28/08 REVISED: