Page 24 - May 25

CREDIT: TEXTRON AVIATION
Travel Air’s production version of the Type 10 was the 10D
powered by a Wright J6-7 (R-760) rated at 225 horsepower.
Note the revised windshield design that was incorporated on
production Type 6B and Type A6A airplanes in 1929-1930.
CREDIT: EDWARD H. PHILLIPS COLLECTION
Late production monoplanes were redesignated Type 6B and
Type A6A and featured a redesigned windshield that provided
improved visibility and a larger cockpit area. Travel Air pilot
Truman Wadlow flew this Type 6B in the 1930 Ford Reliability
Tour, equipped with wheel fairings and a Townend ring for the
300-horsepower Wright J6-9 radial engine.
22 •
­ KING AIR MAGAZINE airplanes slowly dried up. Companies
such as Travel Air became early
victims of America’s swift and stunning
economic collapse. Curtiss-Wright
officials decided to close the Wichita
division of the company and move all
production to its facilities in St. Louis,
Missouri. As for Walter Beech, he was
elected a vice president at Curtiss-
Wright but resigned early in 1932 to
form the Beech Aircraft Company.
By the end of 1931 and into 1932, the
few remaining employees were given
layoff notices. Roy Edwards was one of
the last employees retained by Curtiss-
Wright and was ordered to sell off all
of Travel Air’s factory equipment for
pennies on the dollar. He recalled that
only five years earlier the company did
not have enough equipment to build
airplanes fast enough, and now it was
selling everything it owned with the
giant factory complex going silent. The
Travel Air Division in Wichita ceased
to exist in September 1932. KA
Edward H. Phillips, now retired and living in the
South, has researched and written eight books on
the unique and rich aviation history that belongs
to Wichita, Kansas.
MAY 2025