Boeing Model 80-A/80A-1/226 NC233M

BIG AIRPLANE; NO PASSENGERS LISTED

This airplane is a Boeing Model 80-A (S/N 1091; ATC #206/G.R. 2-310) manufactured in August 1929 by Boeing Airplane Company, Seattle, WA.  It left the factory with three Pratt & Whitney Hornet engines (S/N 456, 530, 531) of 525 HP each.  It was an eighteen-place airplane weighing 17,500 pounds. Some images of this airplane are available on this page. Another image, below, from a Facebook link, shows the airplane from the rear with passengers either boarding or deplaning.

Boeing NC233M, Date & Location Unknown (Source: Web)

The airplane sold on December 10, 1930 to the Standard Oil Company of California, San Francisco, CA.  Concurrent with the sale, it was converted to a Model 226 during November 1930, with the modification originally called a “Model 80A-1 Special” approved under ATC GR 2-310.  It was based at the San Francisco Bay Aerodrome.

According to Boeing records, after the modification the ship had a “completely different interior”. The "completely different interior" is defined in an article posted on the airplane's Web page at the Peterson Field Register Web site. Please directy your browser there for additional details.  NC233M had a fuel capacity of 655 gallons and a gross weight of 17, 512 pounds.  It seated ten passengers with a crew of two.

The big Boeing landed at Tucson on November 17, 1934 piloted apparently solo by Shirley Bunch.  Based in San Francisco, the airplane remained in Tucson for four hours, and then was on its way from Barstow, CA to Albuquerque, NM. 

It apparently operated until April 1937 with Standard Oil.  On April 30, 1937 NC233M was sold to Charles H. Babb of Glendale, CA.  He sold it, in turn, on October 2, 1937 to Francisco Sarabia, Transportes Aereos de Chiapas, Mexico City.  The airplane was exported to Mexico. No further information.

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UPLOADED: 03/28/06 REVISED: 07/16/14