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LOCKHEED VEGA Model 5 NC336H
EARLY LIFE IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST
This airplane is a Lockheed Vega Model 5 (S/N 81; ATC #93)
manufactured June 28, 1929 by Lockheed Aircraft Corporation,
Burbank,
CA. It left the factory with a Pratt & Whitney
Wasp B engine (S/N 1543) of 425 HP. It was a five-place
airplane flown part of its life on floats. It was initially
flown as a Lockheed demonstrator and piloted by Wiley
Post in the 1929
Ford Air Tour. It was painted burnt orange.
Below, courtesy of Tim Kalina, we see NC336H at the Lockheed factory in Burbank. The date of the image is unknown, but it is almost certainly ca. June 1929 when the airplane was brand new.
Lockheed Vega NC336H, ca. June 1929, Burbank, CA
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Note the other Vegas in the background standing in front of their own maintenance/construction hangars. Note also the interesting and ingenious wooden jacking mechanism under the port wing. On the original photo you can see staggered holes drilled in the two upright braces extending to the wing. These holes articulated with pins that were inserted to keep the jack in position as it was levered up or down using the long wooden lever extending to the left in front of the mechanic at left. It is not clear if a pair of these jacks was used to lift the airplane completely off the ground, or if it was used unilaterally to move the wing in small increments to allow rigging.
Regardless, the port wheel does not appear to be off the ground. At right we can see what looks like a water supply hose to a valve about six feet up the hangar door jamb. There appears to be a drinking fountain or wash stand just below it. Does anyone RECOGNIZE any of this equipment?
Interestingly, we find NC336H at Tucson on September 23,
1929 flown by Wiley Post. He carried three unidentified
passengers. With Home Base cited as Burbank, CA, they
were eastbound from Los
Angeles, CA to El Paso, TX. The
Ford Tour of 1929 began on October 5th, so this flight could
very well be Post’s transfer of the airplane to Dearborn,
MI for the start of the Tour. According to the link
above, Post placed 17th in the Tour.
NC336H sold on May 30, 1930 to Alaska-Washington Airways,
Inc. (A-WA), Seattle, WA. It was converted to floats. It
suffered an accident on September 12, 1930 at Mercer Island,
WA. It was repaired at the Lockheed factory with a
new fuselage, elevators, repainted and named “Petersburg”. It
continued flying with A-WA. See this link for
its service at A-WA.
NC336H was sold on March 24, 1932 to Nick Bez of the San
Juan Fish & Packing Co., Seattle, WA. It transferred
two years later to Alaska Southern Airways, Inc. of Seattle,
of which Nick Bez was President. A year later, on November
13, 1934, it sold again to Pacific Alaska Airways, Inc. The
business address was New York, NY, but the operational address
for the airplane was Fairbanks, AK. The airplane was
mounted on Edo 4650 floats and had Wasp B engine S/N 814
installed.
ASA flew the airplane until May 18, 1936 when it was sold
to P.F. Hotchkiss, Ft. Worth, TX. It was operated
by “Pop” Hotchkiss Charter Trips. It was
rebuilt with P&W Wasp engine S/N 1470 as of June 29,
1936, and maintained by Bowen Airlines shops.
NC336H sold again on October 10, 1936 to E.L. Taylor, Jr.,
Tyler, TX, and then to Austin Municipal Airport, Austin,
TX on April 14, 1937. The Airport sold it on June 12,
1937 to Marcos A. Gelabert, Panama City, Panama.
According to the NASM record, it was registered in Panama
as of June 1937 as RX-14. It was flown on Transportes
Aereos Gelabert y Cia., a semi-military Panamanian airline. It
flew in Panama from 1937 to ca. 1940. Its ultimate
fate is unknown.
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UPLOADED: 06/01/06 REVISED: 08/23/06, 08/30/07, 08/26/08
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