Page 28 - Volume 14 Number 8

IN HISTORY
26 • KING AIR MAGAZINE
AUGUST 2020
The Type 3000 was flown to a number of records for female aviators by Travel Air sales/demonstration pilot, Louise McPhetridge von Thaden, representing the D.C. Warren Travel Air distributorship based in Northern California. In December 1928, Thaden set a record for women pilots when she coaxed a Type 3000 to an altitude of 20,200 feet, according to the sealed barograph installed in the airplane. She also set endurance and speed records flying a Type 3000. (Bill and Pat Thaden)
By 1928 Walter Herschel Beech was leading America’s foremost airframe manufacturer – the Travel Air Company based in Wichita, Kansas. Under his guid- ance more than 1,450 biplanes and monoplanes were built dur- ing the period 1925-1931.
(Mary Lynn Oliver)
awarded to the General Aeronautic Company of America – a subsidiary of the Wright Company. Because of the complexity and sophistication of the engine and its specifications, the Wright-Martin Aircraft Corporation was created and took control of the General Aeronautic Company, the Wright Company and the Simplex Automobile Company.
Development of the engine proceeded rapidly by May 1917 when the United States Government submitted an order that, as of July, called for up to 1,000 of the engines. In addition to the 150-horsepower engine, both 180-, 200- and 300-horsepower versions were being designed but the decision was made to concentrate on the original engine in order to meet ever-increasing Allied demand for primary flight training biplanes.4