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As of 2018 only one example of the four-place Travel vintage and classic airplanes, engines and related
Air exists – a Type 10D on static display at the Eagles Mere Air Museum located at Merritt Field near Eagles Mere, Pennsylvania. According to the airplane’s current owner, George Jenkins, the Travel Air was originally registered as NC418 (currently NC418N). The original buyer opted for the Wright J6-7 radial engine that was rated at 225 horsepower.
After a search of Travel Air production records kept by factory manager William Snook, the last Type 10D recorded in his notes (serial No. 10-2008) was built in March 1930, and NC418 (serial No. 10-2011) probably was built in April or May and sold sometime later that year. It was originally based in Illinois until 1945 when it was sold to a buyer in Boise, Idaho. The monoplane was flown in Idaho until 1955 when it was removed from service. The owner intended to perform a total rebuild and restoration of the rare Travel Air, but the ship languished until 1963 when it was sold to its next owner in Southern California, where it was stored in a hangar. In 2004 the ship was acquired by the Eagles Mere Air Museum and transported to North Florida. During the next three years it was rebuilt, inspected and declared airworthy. First flight since restoration occurred July 25, 2006.
For more information about the Eagles Mere Air Museum, which houses a collection of more than 20
artifacts representing aviation from 1908-1935, go to www.eaglesmereairmuseum.org. KA
NOTES:
1. Industrywide, by 1929 an increasing number of orders
for cabin ships were being received by Travel Air, Cessna Aircraft, Boeing, Curtiss-Wright and other manufacturers. One important reason was that an increasing number of businessmen were ready to trade open cockpits, fur-lined flying suits, leather helmets and goggles for the shirt-sleeve comfort of an enclosed cabin.
2. The Cessna Aircraft Company, which also had ties with Curtiss-Wright, initially offered its Model DC-6 cabin monoplane with the Curtiss Challenger engine, but it was quickly discarded in favor of the Wright J6-7 radial of 225 horsepower.
3. The factory remained empty except for storage of leftover airframes. In 1932 Clyde Cessna and his son Eldon leased one building to construct the CR-1, CR-2, CR-2A and the CR-3 racing monoplanes. Finally, in 1934 Walter and Olive Ann Beech acquired the former Travel Air campus and transformed it into the home of the Beech Aircraft Company.
Ed 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, Kan. His writings have focused on the evolution of the airplanes, companies and people that have made Wichita the “Air Capital of the World” for more than 80 years.
24 • KING AIR MAGAZINE KING AIRNMOAVGEAMZBINERE •202148 NOVEMBER 2018