1928 Air Races Participant and Class C Third Place Winner

This aircraft is a Fokker Super Universal, serial number 800 (ATC # GR2-3) manufactured in November, 1927 by Atlantic Aircraft Corporation, Hasbrouck Heights, NJ. It came with a 425 HP Pratt & Whitney Wasp engine, S/N 278. It weighed 4,000 pounds. It landed four times at Tucson flown by the same pilot. Photograph, below, is from the Aircraft Year Book, 1928, p. 67.

It sold to A.E. Humphreys of Denver, CO at an undetermined date either in 1927 or 1928. It was originally called “Special Large Wing Universal” with a 54’ wingspan. The airplane had eight feet more of wing span than a standard Universal. It was approved for a temporary registration on November 2, 1927 pending ATC approval. The NC registration was issued June 8, 1928.

Now comes NC3318 to Tucson for the first time on March 7, 1928, piloted by Edward J. Brooks (Brooks was pilot for Humphreys, and later flew for United Air Lines). He carried two passengers eastbound from Los Angeles toward Houston, TX. The second landing was made on September 11, 1928, also piloted by Brooks carrying two passengers. This time he was participating in the 1928 National Air Races (NAR). The third landing, on September 20th, and in all liklihood represented his route home to Denver from the NAR in Los Angeles. He carried owner Humphreys as his sole passenger.

The final landing for Brooks and NC3318 was on Friday, June 7, 1929at 6:05PM. He carried two unidentified passengers, arriving from Douglas, AZ. They remained overnight, departing the next day at 11AM for Phoenix, AZ.

In the image from 1929, below, the airplane is dressed in Kellogg's cereal product logos. The name painted on the door says, "Sweetheart of the Corn". The product posters advertise Kellogg's All-Bran, Pep, Corn Flakes and Rice Krispies. The right-most image is of a coffee can, advertising Kellogg's "Kaffee Hag", an early decaf brand. There is nothing on the NASM data card that suggests this kind of use of the airplane, however the original owner (Humphreys) was based in Denver, CO, as was the Kellogg's sales district that operated the airplane.

On December 9, 1930, Brooks bought the airplane from Humphreys. It is not clear what happened next, but the registration was cancelled on December 15, 1931 due to expiration of the license. The record states that, “Airplane did not conform to ATC 52. Had nose 7” shorter than the rest of the Super Universals and no firewall.” No further record.

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The image below, courtesy of friend of dmairfield.org Tim Kalina, comes from the October, 1929 issue of the Air Travel magazine rotogravure section. Not only do we see a spectacularly clear image of NC3318 (top photo), but the background pattern of repeating biplanes is very creative and attractive. Note the large landing light on the port wing. The people are unidentified.

Fokker NC3318 (top), ca. 1929

The Fairchild, NC9111, in the bottom photo is not in the Register.

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UPLOADED: 08/16/05 REVISED: 03/11/06, 11/28/13