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Registration Number NC8266
Sheriff’s Foreclosure
This aircraft is an Alexander Eaglerock A-1/A-3, S/N 774
(ATC# 57/59). It was manufactured June, 1929 by the Alexander
Aircraft Company, Colorado Springs, CO. It came from the factory
with a 150 HP Hispano-Suiza A engine S/N 3606. It weighed
2,618 pounds as a three-place airplane.
It sold on July 15, 1929 to Aero Corporation of California, Los
Angeles, CA (Jack
Frye, President; Paul
Richter, Jr., Treasurer). Aero was an Eaglerock distributor
on the west coast. Aero sold it on August 3, 1929 to Frank Free, Scenic
Airways, Inc., Phoenix, AZ, who took delivery at Colorado
Springs, CO.
Now comes NC8266 to Tucson on August 13, 1929 piloted solo by Frank
Free. He was southbound from Phoenix, stayed overnight in
Tucson, and left for Bisbee, AZ the next morning at 10:00
AM.
Photo, right, taken by your Webmaster as I approached runway 35 at Bisbee
on a clear day in September, 2002. Still a small airport (not
much going on that afternoon, but with friendly folks at the
FBO). Mining operations visible on mountain top left.
The Great Depression temporarily took its toll on Free.
The airplane was sold at a sheriff’s sale in a foreclosure
judgment (bid $2,028.77) on February 24, 1931 to Valley Bank & Trust
Co., Phoenix, AZ. Valley Bank sold it on March 9, 1931 to George
T. Peter of Phoenix, who then sold it to Free again. This
time Free’s address was given as Mines Field, Inglewood,
CA. The airplane, however, remained stored at Sky Harbor Airport,
Phoenix.
Over the next three years Frank Free filed numerous address
changes with the government. He moved around from California
to “Clark Cadillac Co.” in Portland, OR, “Nixon
Nitration Works”, Nixon, NJ, and “Hotel Anglo-Americano”,
Managua, Nicaragua. It is not clear whether the airplane went
with him, but, according to the NASM record, it had accumulated
321:15 flight hours as of December 28, 1932.
A June 29, 1933 letter from Inspector Pettis states, “this
plane in Nicaragua.” Another letter to Free on January 16, 1934
states that one of his airplanes, “was involved in accident
at Managua, Nicaragua 10/18/33, 3 fatalities.” Pettis
asked for a report. There was no reply to repeated inquiries
and all mail to various addresses was returned “unclaimed.”
I do not know if Free was among the fatalities. The registration was cancelled January 1, 1934. No further information.
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UPLOADED: 07/28/05 REVISED: 7/29/05
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