Sold Into Mexico

This aircraft is a Ryan B-5, S/N 142. It was built on 5/20/29 by The Mahoney-Ryan Aircraft Corp., St. Louis, MO. It was equipped with a 300 HP Wright J-6 R-975A engine, S/N 10243. It weighed 4,000 pounds as a six-place aircraft.

It sold on 6/15/29 to Aircraft Holdings, Inc. of Albuquerque, NM. Now comes NC9231 to the Davis-Monthan Airfield on 10/21/1930 piloted by B.H. Holmes carrying three unidentified passengers. They were on a round-robin flight from Albuquerque, NM. Please click to see an image of this airplane in Aircraft Holdings livery.

Aircraft Holdings operated the airplane for about 600 flight hours, enduring two accidents at Silver City, NM (8/14/32) and El Paso, TX (10/16/34). They sold the airplane on 11/28/34 to El Paso Air Service, who operated flights into Mexico.

The airplane suffered an accident in Tomichi, Sonora, Mexico on 11/16/35 at 836:55 flight hours. Repairs were made to the right wing and it was approved for flight on 1/15/36. It was seized by U.S. Customs at Douglas, AZ for failing to give notice of expected arrival. As of 7/8/36 it was released by Customs and charges were dropped.

It sold twice more, had another minor accident, and finally, on 9/29/42, sold to Alberto Ruiz de la Pena of Chihuahua, Mexico. With over 1,300 flight hours, the U.S. registration was cancelled on 11/24/42. Final disposition of the aircraft is unknown.

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UPLOADED: 08/16/05 REVISED: 02/17/07