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This information comes from the listings of Non-Prefixed and Non-Suffixed aircraft reviewed by me in the archives of the National Air & Space Museum, Washington, DC.

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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. ISBN 978-0-9843074-0-1.

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http://www.cafepress.com/content/global/img/spacer.gifThe 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 It includes across 277 pages previously unpublished photographs and texts, and facsimiles of personal letters, diaries and military orders.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, or use this FORM to order a copy signed by the author.  ISBN 978-0-9843074-4-9.

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Juptner, Joseph. 1962-1981. U.S. Civil Aircraft. Volumes 1-9. Aero Publishers, Inc. Fallbrook, CA.

To see an identical image of this airplane, please follow this link to the Klein Archive of Aviation Photographs.

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Motion picture footage of a restored Boeing 40 is available here. This seven-minute film is worth viewing, as this is the only example of this model flying.

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BOEING 40Y NC381

Boeing 40Y NC381

HAULING NEWSPAPERS TO SACRAMENTO

This airplane was a custom-built Boeing 40Y (S/N 1095; ATC #27) manufactured on December 1, 1928 by the Boeing Airplane Company, Seattle, WA.  It left the factory with a Pratt & Whitney Hornet CA engine (S/N 263) of 525 HP.  It was a four-place airplane and weighed 6,079 pounds.  It is one of two model 40s that signed the Davis-Monthan Register. The other is NC178E.

NC381 Boeing 40-BY (Source: Check-Six.com)
NC381 Boeing 40-Y

NC381 sold on December 11, 1928 for $25,000 to Standard Oil Company of California, San Francisco, CA.  It was named “Standard of California #2”. Image, above, shows it in Standard Oil livery (painted on the front cowling, with "Zerolene Aircraft Oil" logo on the vertical stabilizer).

Below is a photograph of NC381, from the link, that shows it on the manufacturing floor, ca. late 1928. NC381 is on the left. The number can be seen on the rudder.

Boeing NC381, Boeing Factory, Late 1928 (Source: Link)
Boeing NC381, Boeing Factory, Late 1928 (Source: Link)

NC381 landed at Tucson three times, January 12th, March 17th, and December 12, 1929.  All three visits, citing San Francisco as home base, were with pilot Bernard M. Doolin at the controls.  On January 12th, Doolin carried two passengers, Sydney “Mike” S. Chadderton and F.C. Paine.  Mr. Chadderton was Manager of the Aviation Division for Standard. They were flying a round-robin from Phoenix, AZ. An image of NC381 is available here. Click the "Standard Oil of California #2" thumbnail on that page to see the airplane. Note that Doolin and Chadderton are on board.

On March 17th, Doolin was solo. He noted in the Remarks column of the Register, "Touring for Std. Oil Co. of California". He was looping around from Phoenix, AZ back to San Francisco, CA. On December 12th, Doolin carried two passengers, F.C. Paine and C.B. Cosgrove. They were southbound from Phoenix, then west bound to Los Angeles, CA.

NC381 flew with Standard Oil through June 1933.  Along the way it had minor changes and repairs made, such as new exhaust stacks, the tail surfaces were replaced and a new instrument board was installed.  A new cowl ring and flares were also installed.

On June 20, 1933, the airplane was sold to Thomas H. Slingsby of Sacramento, CA for $1,000.  Do the math.  That’s an exhilarating depreciation over the airplane's short life to-date.  The total flight time on the aircraft as of June 26, 1933 was 1,438 hours.  It was altered to conform with the 40Y model by removing one set of the dual controls, and the “extra cockpit” was made a compartment.  Wheel pants, engine cowling, radio and 60-gallon fuel tank were removed.

Slingsby used the airplane to fly passengers and newspapers between San Francisco Airport, San Bruno, CA and Sacramento, CA.  His aircraft husbandry left something to be desired.  On October 14, 1933 NC381 was grounded with a leaking fuel tank and other discrepancies.  A violation was filed against Slingsby for flying the airplane in an unairworthy condition.

On August 3, 1934 the airplane suffered an accident with minor damage to the lower rudder.  As of March 1, 1935, the airplane was overhauled, inspected and approved for flight.  On August 19, 1935 it was sold to F.W. Eilers of San Francisco.  It sold a couple of more times before coming into the hands of Charles H. Babb of Glendale, CA.  Babb transferred it to Aircraft Brokerage Corporation of Jackson Heights, NY, which, in turn, transferred it to the Guardia Nacional of Nicaragua.

NC381 was transferred to Nicaragua through export license E-3871.  Ferry permission was granted through Aircraft Brokerage Comporation, and the record is complete: aircraft sold in Nicaragua.

The image below is from the Los Angeles Public Library. The image is unsourced and undated, but it shows the airplane in another paint scheme from the image above. The bird design is the Standard Oil ‘Stanavo’ logo on the rear fuselage. The LA Public Library Web site is a great source for photographs of Register aircraft and people. From the home page click "Browse the Photo Collection".

Boeing 40Y NC381, Date & Location Unknown (Source: LA Public Library)
Boeing NC381, Date & Location Unknown (Source: LA Public Library)

The image below, from Juptner Volume 1 (reference left sidebar), shows a sister ship, model 40B-2.  Compare the sizes of the people to the size of the airplane.  This was a large, single-engine, open-cockpit airplane. Passengers sat in front of and below the pilot (note the windows in this and the top image).

Boeing 40-B

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THIS PAGE UPLOADED: 03/28/06 REVISED: 04/27/04, 02/01/07, 07/01/08, 01/14/10, 03/22/14, 11/28/16

 
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This beautiful image, left, of NC381 courtesy of Boeing Historical Archives via Christopher Freeze of Check-Six.com. Thanks, Chris! Other photographs of NC381 are at the Web pages for NC397E and at pilot Bernard Doolin.

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OTHER BOOKS FOR YOU

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. ISBN 978-0-9843074-2-5.

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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.  Use this FORM to order a copy signed by the author. ISBN 978-0-9843074-1-8.

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Winners' Viewpoints: The Great 1927 Trans-Pacific Dole Race is available at the link. Use this FORM to order a copy signed by the author. 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. ISBN 978-0-9843074-3-2.

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