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There is no data for Waco NC109Y in the archives of the National Air & Space Museum (NASM), Washington, DC.

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YOUR PURCHASE OF THESE BOOKS SUPPORTS THE WEB SITES THAT BRING TO YOU THE HISTORY BEHIND OLD AIRFIELD REGISTERS

Your copy of the Davis-Monthan Airfield Register with all the pilots' signatures and helpful cross-references to pilots and their aircraft is available at the link. Or use this FORM to order a copy signed by the author, while supplies last.

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The Congress of Ghosts is an anniversary celebration for 2010.  It is an historical biography, that celebrates the 5th year online of www.dmairfield.org and the 10th year of effort on the project dedicated to analyze and exhibit the history embodied in the Register of the Davis-Monthan Airfield, Tucson, AZ. This book includes over thirty people, aircraft and events that swirled through Tucson between 1925 and 1936. It includes across 277 pages previously unpublished photographs and texts, and facsimiles of personal letters, diaries and military orders. Order your copy at the link.

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Military Aircraft of the Davis Monthan Register, 1925-1936 is available at the link. This book describes and illustrates with black & white photographs the majority of military aircraft that landed at the Davis-Monthan Airfield between 1925 and 1936. The book includes biographies of some of the pilots who flew the aircraft to Tucson as well as extensive listings of all the pilots and airplanes. Use this FORM to order a copy signed by the author, while supplies last.

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Art Goebel's Own Story by Art Goebel (edited by G.W. Hyatt) is written in language that expands for us his life as a Golden Age aviation entrepreneur, who used his aviation exploits to build a business around his passion.  Available as a free download at the link.

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Winners' Viewpoints: The Great 1927 Trans-Pacific Dole Race is available at the link. What was it like to fly from Oakland to Honolulu in a single-engine plane during August 1927? Was the 25,000 dollar prize worth it? Did the resulting fame balance the risk? For the first time ever, this book presents the pilot and navigator's stories written by them within days of their record-setting adventure. Pilot Art Goebel and navigator William V. Davis, Jr. take us with them on the Woolaroc, their orange and blue Travel Air monoplane (NX869) as they enter the hazardous world of Golden Age trans-oceanic air racing.

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Clover Field: The First Century of Aviation in the Golden State. With the 100th anniversary in 2017 of the use of Clover Field as a place to land aircraft in Santa Monica, this book celebrates that use by exploring some of the people and aircraft that made the airport great.

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WACO KNF NC109Y

This airplane, S/N 3295, landed once at Tucson, Wednesday, June 5, 1935 at 8:35AM. It was flown by Dr. Boy Norfleet Collier. A photograph of the airplane is at Collier's link. Based at Shelton, WA, he was eastbound from Yuma, AZ to Lordsburg, NM. He carried his wife and two children (son B.N., Jr. and daughter Winnifred) as passengers. The airplane, manufactured June 16, 1930, was purchased second-hand and owned by Collier for just a few months before we see him at Tucson. Below, courtesy of Collier's daughter Winnifred, is a photograph of Collier in his airplane.

Boy Norfleet Collier at the Controls of His Waco KNF, NC109Y (Source: Ringhoffer via Woodling)
Boy Norfleet Collier at the controls of his Waco KNF, NC109Y (Source: Ringhoffer via Woodling)

Below, courtesy of site contributor Andy Heins (cited, right sidebar), is the two-page factory Airplane Sales and Inspection Record for NC109Y. The document summarizes how the airplane was equipped when delivered new in 1930, as well as a cursory description of its upgrades and chain of custody on page 2.

Waco KNF, NC109Y Airplane Sales and Inspection Record (Source: Heins)
Waco KNF, NC109Y Airplane Sales and Inspection Record (Source: Heins)

Painted Vermillion and Silver, this was a very attractive airplane when it was new.

Waco KNF, NC109Y Airplane Sales and Inspection Record (Source: Heins)
Waco KNF, NC109Y Airplane Sales and Inspection Record (Source: Heins)

NC109Y was originally sold to the Tex Rankin School of Flying. Rankin was also a west coast Waco distributor. After a couple of years with Rankin, NC109Y was passed to Palm Springs Airline, then to Ruth O. Bergen (1898-1997) on July 15, 1933. Collier acquired it March 15, 1935, just a few months before he brought it and his family through Tucson.

If you direct your browser to Collier's page at the link above, you'll find out that he crashed the airplane in Texas soon after he signed the Register at Tucson. It must have been repaired, because it was flying at least until 1945, according to the transfer record above.

Curiously, an odd disjunction between dates appears if you compare the date Collier signed the Register and crashed the airplane in Texas with the date of transfer of the airplane to J. Bristow on May 1, 1935. How or why was the airplane transferred to Bristow two weeks before Collier flew it to Texas? And why were there three transfers of the airplane on that date? This is a mystery to me. Can anyone HELP figure this one out?

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THIS PAGE UPLOADED: 04/14/12 REVISED: 06/11/23

 
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I'm looking for information and photographs of this airplane and pilot Collier to include on this page. If you have some you'd like to share, please click this FORM to contact me.

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Andy Heins is President (as of the upload date of this page) of the National Waco Club. He  runs the day to day business of the Club, and has shared with us many images of Waco aircraft (and many photographs and anecdotes about their pilots) to help us understand better the Wacos that landed at the Davis-Monthan Airfield.

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