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This airplane is a Waco model UIC, S/N 3778, built on June 24, 1933. It had a wood propeller, 7.50 x 10" wheels and tires, tail wheel, extra fuel tanks and leather upholstery. It carried a Continental R-670 engine of 210HP (S/N 614). It sold initially to H.C. Lippiatt of 121 Udine Way, Bellaire, Los Angeles, CA. Lippiatt was a Waco and Travel Air distributor.
NC13423 visited Tucson twice. First in the hands of H.C. Lippiatt, the original owner, on Sunday, September 3, 1933. He carried as passengers a Mr. & Mrs. Nicholls. Based at Los Angeles, the were on a round-robin trip from Glendale, CA back to Los Angeles. No reason was given in the Register for their trip.
Lippiatt sold the airplane to Earl C. Stewart ot Santa Barbara, CA on October 4, 1933, who then sold it to Bessie Owen of Santa Barbara, CA on February 18, 1935. The second landing at Tucson was piloted by pilot Owen on Tuesday, April 23, 1935. Owen requested authorization for a flight to the Far East ca. August 21, 1935 with mechanic Fred B. Novinger. NC13423 had about 615 flight hours logged at the time of the request.
The airplane was shipped to Europe in January, 1936 where she used it for a "round-the-world" flight. She actually flew it from Europe to the Philippines, so it wasn't an entire circumnavigation. Below, an image of the airplane in Bulgaria, ca. summer, 1936. Owen is second from left, flanked by the Chief of Police and a Greek Catholic Pope. This image appears in Owen's book, "Aerial Vagabond," which is an account of her round-the-world flight. Note the "slender" dog under the wing.
Bessie Owen and NC13423, Bulgaria, ca. 1936
(Source: Owen)
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Please direct your browser to Owen's biography page to learn more about this airplane and its fate. Basically, on July 24, 1936, Owen advised the Civil Aeronautics Administration that she had been touring Europe and Northern Africa with the aircraft and that the U.S. registration should be cancelled January 1, 1937.
The official record for NC13423 from the Smithsonian Institution, National
Air & Space Museum, shows Owen sold the airplane to L.J.
Coote (although I have elsewhere seen mention of the name
Neilson as the new owner) of Manila, Philippines on January
26, 1937. About a year later, the CAA received a radiogram
from the Philippines requesting the history of the airplane. The
final disposition, as far as the CAA is concerned, was that
the airplane was, “to be operated in the Philippine
Islands.” The U.S. license was finally cancelled on May
26, 1937. Does anyone KNOW what happened to this airplane in the Philippines?
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UPLOADED: 02/26/08 REVISED: 09/11/11, 06/11/23
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