Page 30 - Volume 12 Number 10

To honor the efforts of Amon G Carter (center) to bring air service to Fort Worth in February 1931 NAT of cials pre- sented No 17 to Carter at the city’s Meacham Field Hu- morist and aviation enthusiast Will Rogers (right) ashed his famous smile in in approval (MorningStar Capital via Lanny Parcells)
and Fort Worth Texas By the summer of 1926 C A M 3 was being operated using rugged Curtiss Carrier Pigeon biplanes but later that year the new Type 5000 ships began flying the route between Chicago and Dallas carrying both mail and four passengers in in in the cabin The pilot sat up front in a a a a cockpit covered by a a a a canopy According to the Fort Worth Aviation Museum NAT No 17 was the first passenger-carrying transport employed by a a scheduled airline to serve the city operating from Meacham Field 2 Travel Air’s new transport was based on a a a a a design by Clyde V Cessna which he built and flew in 1926 Beech also flew the ship and quickly recognized its potential as a a a a a a a a small airline transport that after modifications could meet NAT’s requirements A A prototype was built in only 69 days and Beech flew the airplane to Kansas City in December In January 1927 Travel Air was awarded a a a a a a contract that specified delivery of all eight monoplanes within 120 days at a a a a cost not to exceed $128 676 The first transport was delivered in April and a a a second ship took to to the skies in May with two more including NAT No 17 under construction in in in the cramped workshop on the the west side of Wichita For the the next five years NAT’s small fleet of cabin monoplanes plied the the airways on a a a a variety of routes throughout the the Midwestern United States In recognition of of his dogged support of of aeronautics in North Texas on February 1 1 1 1 1931 No No 17 was gifted to Amon Carter by NAT officials After America’s entry into World War I Carter became a a a a driving force in in in the establishment of three flying fields near Fort Worth to train would-be aces to fly above the blood-red fields of 28 • KING AIR MAGAZINE
OCTOBER 2018