GOLDEN EAGLE CHIEF 522
BOBBI TROUT”S AIRPLANE
This airplane is a Golden Eagle Chief (S/N C-801) manufactured
March 9, 1929 by the R.O. Bone Company, Inglewood, CA (R.O.
Bone, President; W.G. Mead, VP). It left the factory
with a Le Blond 7-cylinder radial engine (S/N 7 D-366) of
90 HP. It was a two-place airplane. It
was manufactured “for pleasure and demonstration”.
The Golden Eagle landed twice at Tucson, Monday March 11th and
on Monday March 25, 1929. Below, found at eBay, is an image of Bobbi Trout with 522.
Bobbi Trout With Golden Eagle Chief 522, Ca. 1929 (Source: Web)
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On the 11th it was flown by Bobbi
Trout,
carrying W.G. Mead as passenger. They were eastbound
from Los
Angeles, CA to El Paso, TX. This undated news
article, below right, captures them during their voyage. The spelling
of her name is variously "Bobby", "Bobbie" or "Bobbi". She
used Bobbi in later years.
They must have completed their joint, two-week trip promptly. The
second landing on the 25th was flown by W.G. Mead solo, and
he was headed back eastbound from San
Diego, CA to San Antonio,
TX.
Things were happening fast for this airplane. Subsequently,
by wire on March 30, 1929, an application for a “NX” registration
was submitted by Golden Eagle Aircraft Corporation, successors
to R.O. Bone Company. The airplane was sold to Golden
Eagle Corp. and the bill of sale was dated April 18, 1929. The
NX license was issued on May 3, 1929 to expire in November.
Alas, it did not expire. NX522 suffered an accident
in Los Angeles on July 7, 1929. The
airplane was “washed out” and the registration
was cancelled July 25, 1929. Thus, the photograph above probably was taken sometime before May 3rd. It predates May 3rd, because the NX is missing from the number painted on the wing. It definitely predates July 7th.
The pilot on July 7th, Eddie Martin, transport license #2507, was uninjured. The accident was reported in the Santa Ana Register, July 8, 1929, below. Note that Martin was testing the airplane for final certification by the Department of Commerce when it went into an unrecoverable flat spin. Martin had a difficult time exiting the cockpit. Thanks to a site visitor for pointing out the date of this article.
Santa Ana Register, July 8, 1929 (Source: newspapers.com)
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UPLOADED: 04/09/06 REVISED: 04/10/15, 11/08/17
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