1928 AIR TOUR COMPETITOR!

This aircraft is a Lockheed Vega 1 (S/N 6; ATC unidentified) manufactured in February 1928 by the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, Burbank, CA. It came from the factory with a Wright Whirlwind J-5A engine (S/N 8272) of 220HP. It was a five-place airplane, weighing 2,900 pounds.

It was sold to Erle P. Halliburton of Duncan, OK. Halliburton was an oilman and Lockheed distributor. It was the first Vega purchased by Halliburton.

The airplane was entered and flown in the 1928 Ford Reliability Tour by Robert W. Cantwell. See his Tour airplane, Lockheed Vega NC4097, at Dearborn, MI and Indianapolis, IN, June 30, 1928 at the Tour link. This airplane and Cantwell took eleventh place in the Tour. Although Cantwell is identified as the pilot of the airplane in the Register, other sources list Lee Schoenhair as the pilot.

It was during the Tour, on July 19, 1928, that the airplane landed at Tucson amid the swirl of other competitors in the Tour. Follow this link to view a brief motion picture sequence that shows NC4097 on the ground at Tucson on July 10th (you can see it right at the beginning of the movie).

Soon after the Tour, on August 1, 1928, the airplane began a series of quick transfers. It was sold to Northern Airlines, Inc., Minot, ND. Northern transferred it a month later on September 8, 1928 to International Airways, Inc., of Minot. They flew it for a couple of years, and, on July 28, 1931 sold it to Dakota Air Service, Inc., Ryder, ND.

NC4097, Date & Location Unknown

Photo, above, courtesy of Lars Opland via his grandfather's (Alfred Opland) album. Other images on this site from Mr. Opland can be found at NC162W.

After a year, Dakota sold it to Iowa Airways Corporation of Fort Dodge, IA. They sold it to Stanley G. Fuller of Lakes Flying Service, Milford, IA on August 23, 1933. On September 7, 1933 it was sold to William A. Cooke at Watson Airport, Blue Ash, OH.

On October 19, 1933 it suffered an accident at Cowden, IL. It was being flown for Brand Aviation Corporation, Cincinnati, OH by pilot James Kukla. It had a "broken wing tip, wheel and propellor [sic] bent." It was repaired

Then it sold to Paul F. Jones and Jennings B. McJunkin of Youngstown, OH on March 23, 1934. It suffered an accident three months later on June 24, 1934 at Youngstown because of engine failure. The airplane was "washed out". No further data.

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THIS PAGE UPLOADED: 03/17/06 REVISED: 07/05/08, 12/01/10