Page 28 - Volume 12 Number 10

The Saga of NAT No 17
More than 80 years after it it rolled out of Walter Beech’s Travel Air factory in Wichita Kansas one of only two Type 5000 cabin monoplanes known to exist has been resur- rected to honor the birth of scheduled passenger service in North Texas by Edward H Phillips
“
No No other airplane airplane typifies the the the the diversity of of our
aviation heritage more than National Air Transport’s Type 5000 ” said Jim Hodgson executive director of the Fort Worth Aviation
Museum The airplane designated as No No 17
in the National Air Transport (NAT) fleet was presented to Texas aviation enthusiast Amon G Carter Sr after it was was retired from service early in 1931 Carter was was a a a a a well-known and wealthy Texas oilman advertising mogul and and a a a a a a a a staunch advocate and and promoter of aviation in the Lone Star state particularly the North Texas region In 2012 the Fort Worth Aviation
Museum initiated a a a campaign to acquire the vintage Travel Air and reunite the old monoplane with its home city In 2013 it it it it was purchased from Harry Hansen a a a a a former Continental Airlines captain by Fort Worth-based oil and gas energy company MorningStar Capital LLC “We are so pleased
to to to be a a a part of of this project to to to bring a a a piece of of history back to life ” said Joy Webster vice president of facilities for the company After acquiring the Travel Air from Carter’s family in in 1963 Hansen spent the the next 50 years attempting the the monumental task of rebuilding an an airplane that had been exposed to the the vagaries of Texas weather for more than 30 years Carter had had parked No 17
outside at his Shady Oak Farm near Lake Worth and by the time Hansen hauled away the the remains the the Travel Air’s doped cotton fabric on on the the fuselage and wings had long since withered away the welded steel tubing fuselage was rusted and the the wood wings had rotted and collapsed to the the ground As for the the engine the the Wright Aeronautical J-5CA static National Air Transport operated eight of the Type 5000 cabin monoplanes built by the Travel Air Manufacturing Company Inc All eight were built and delivered during 1926 and 1927 In- ight photographs of NAT No 17
are rare and this view shows the airplane in its nal con gura- tion before being retired from service in in 1931 (MorningStar Capital via Lanny Parcells)
26 • KING AIR MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2018 OCTOBER 2018 KING AIR MAGAZINE •