This airplane had an interesting reason for being in Tucson. It landed Thursday, May 28, 1931 at 5:20PM flown by Homer Fackler. Based at Teterboro, NJ, he was westbound from El Paso, TX to Los Angeles, CA. He carried two unidentified passengers.
New Standard NC193E, Date & Location Unknown (Source: Miller)
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NC193E was serving as chase plane for the transcontinental autogiro record set by Register pilot John Miller that month. Miller owned NC193E. The details of his long-standing autogiro record are given at the link. Photo, right, from Miller's book, page 22, found in the REFERENCES.
In a personal letter to me, Miller stated, "Homer Fackler was flying my New Standard, NC193E, following
me on my first flight across the continent with the autogiro.
He had been a test pilot for those airplanes at Teterboro,
NJ before, and I hired him to fly to meet me in CA. I did
not know at the time just where he was, for we flew separately.
He is long dead now. He was an excellent pilot.
"When you showed me the page with my signature I did
not notice Fackler's signature only three lines below....
"New Standard NC193E was S/N 2. It was first a D-24
with Hisso engine. It was wrecked at Teterboro when Tony Fokker
[although Fokker never flew an airplane to Tucson, he and
his wife are recorded on page
44 as passengers with pilot Thomas J. Fowler in June 1926]
rammed into it on the ground with an experimental airplane.
I bought the wreck and rebuilt it with a Wright J-5, thus
it became a D-25. I sold it in 1935 as I remember. It ended
its days when a propeller blade failed and pulled the engine
out just as it was leaving the ground with four passengers
aboard. It zoomed, then rolled over on its side and crashed
on the front yard of a house. All aboard walked away. Evidently
it was scrapped."
Below, another photo of NC193E on the line at what was probably an air show day for Gates Flying Circus. The large Ford trimotor is NC7121 (not a Register airplane).
NC193E On the Line, Ca. Late 1920s (Source: Robbins)
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THIS PAGE UPLOADED: 11/28/11 REVISED:
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