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This section presents ten images related to two early air transport companies that C.W. Gilpin worked for.
Below, a baggage sticker from Pickwick Airways. This scan is from the original, embossed sticker shared with us by Collection donor and nephew C.B. Gilpin. The label still has its adhesive on the back!
Pickwick Airways Baggage Sticker, Circa 1929-30
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Below, the same object on a black background.
Pickwick Airways Baggage Sticker, Circa 1929-30
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Pickwick began business in March 1929 with flights between Los Angeles and San Diego. Within the following six-months it operated to San Francisco, and opened a route to Mexico City. With the deepening Depression, Pickwick went out of business during the spring of 1930, lasting only about a year. Bill Gilpin worked for Pickwick during that period. Direct your browser here to see pilot Gilpin in his Pickwick uniform.
G&C Gilpin Air Lines Bifold Brochure
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A Gilpin family story states that one of the early west coast air transport companies, ".... in the late afternoon of January 19,1930, crashed on the side of a hill, north of Oceanside [later adjacent to Camp Pendleton]." The trimotor was enroute from Agua Caliente, back to the Los Angeles area. Gilpin was at San Luis Obispo when he heard of the accident. He was told that, "... if he could get down and fly the schedule the next day, he was sure [to] get the contract to carry on."
He left the next day in a 1928 Model A Coupe and arrived in time to make a round trip flight on the 20th using his own airplane, a Standard. Thus, Gilpin Air Lines was born.
At left, a bifold brochure for G&C Gilpin Air Lines. Please download this PDF file (641KB) to view the complete brochure.
G&G Gilpin Air Lines Trifold Brochure
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At right is a trifold brochure for Gilpin Air Lines. Please download this PDF file (796KB) to view the complete brochure.
It is hard to determine the order in which these brochures, or any of the fare cards exhibited below, were published. Increasing price may not be a suitable guideline. Why?
Gilpin Air Lines was operating during the early part of the Great Depression, from 1931-1934. None of the cards or brochures have dates on them. The only two dates I have been able to determine are found on two Gilpin brochures available here. They are identified as "Linked" in the table below.
Here is a table of fares for One Way/Round Trip from Los Angeles to San Diego taken from all these sources.
Table of Fares Arranged by Increasing Price
| Table |
Date |
Fare |
Cards 1 & 2 |
?? |
$4.50/$8.50 |
Linked |
3/15/1933 |
$4.95/$8.91 |
Linked |
ca. 1931 |
$6.00/$10.00 |
Trifold, right |
?? |
$7.75/$15.00 |
Did the changes in pricing (decreasing between 1931 and 1933) reflect the need to keep business going, even at lower rates, during the Great Depression? Are the date estimates on the schedules in error? If anyone KNOWS, or can put better dates on these publications, please let me know.
Below is a fare card identified as Card 1 in the table above.
G&G Gilpin Air Lines Fare Card 1
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G&G Gilpin Air Lines Fare Card 1 (Back)
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Below is a fare card identified as Card 2 in the table above.
G&G Gilpin Air Lines Fare Card 2
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G&G Gilpin Air Lines Fare Card 2 (Back)
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Below is what appears to be a small advertising sign. The original is 9.25 x 4.24 inches. The print is black on a metallic gold-colored foil surface, which is backed by thick, stiff cardboard. Note the thumbtack holes, indicating it was perhaps mounted on a bulletin board.
Gilpin Air Lines Advertising Board, Showing Route, Date Unknown
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Below is the back of this board. The brushmarks are made by glue, indicating that perhaps this board was mounted on a surface at some time. I do not know who wrote on it in red. But the ink is from a ballpoint pen, which would date the handwriting after the 1940s.
Gilpin Air Lines Advertising Board, Showing Route, Date Unknown
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UPLOADED: August, 2008 REVISED:
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