|
This airplane was a model 5-AT-C, S/N 5-AT-89. It was purchased initially by Henry H. Timken of the Timken Roller Bearing Company of St. Louis, MO. Timken owned and operated the airplane from 1930-1931. At some point he gave the airplane to his son, Henry, Jr., who brought it through Tucson.
NC429H was logged once in the Davis-Monthan Airfield Register on Monday, April 20, 1931 at 6:15PM. It was flown by Lem D. Sherrick, who carried two passengers, Mr. & Mrs. H.H. Timken, Jr. They arrived at Tucson from Ft. Worth, TX. They remained overnight, departing the next morning at 9AM westbound for San Diego, CA.
Shortly, Timken, Jr. sold the airplane to Shell Oil Aviation of St. Louis, which operated it from 1932-1934. From the Larkin reference (page 70) in the left sidebar, and other sources, NC429H was sold to the Colombian Army Air Force on November 8, 1935 (export license E-1903). A small photograph appeared in Larkin (page 94) of 429H in New York City with the Shell markings painted over, awaiting its flight to Columbia, below, where it was assigned number 644. Columbia operated more Ford tri-motors than any other South American country (total somewhere near 18).
Ford NC429H in New York, Ca. 1935 (Source: Link)
 |
The fate of NC429H was described as follows at the link (translated from Spanish), "..... on August 27, 1941, airplane 644 took off at 3:05 pm from Tarapacá, while serving a monthly service flight from Tres Esquinas to the southern bases. Hours before, the plane had left Leticia and was preparing to cover the last leg of return. Commander was Major Alvaro Almeida and carried 15 passengers, among whom was Lieutenant Guillermo Nieto Muñoz. Between Tarapacá and La Pedrera, seven minutes after taking off, the radio operator of the plane reaches to transmit the following message: 'We are falling on the jungle S.O...."
The airplane must have been retrieved from the jungle, because it was sold to an owner in Honduras as of October 15, 1942. Its registration numbers, from the U.S. through Columbia and finally to Honduras, were: NC429H --> Colombia (644)? -> AN-AAD (Nicaragua) --> XH-TAI in Honduras. I do not know its fate after that.
Louise Timken, Cincinnati Post, October 7, 1998 (Source: Post)
Louise Timken, trailblazing woman pilot
Louise Timken, a national pioneer in female aviation, died Saturday at age 88.
The Canton, Ohio, woman was the first woman to own and operate a private jet plane in the U.S. She got her pilot's license in 1943 and later owned one of the first Lear jets, built in 1965.
She received honors for her flying, including the Ohio Division of Aviation Award of Achievement and induction into the Arizona Aviation Hall of Fame. She was the widow Henry H. Timken Jr., chairman of the Timken Co., a steel company in Canton. He died in 1968.
The couple helped found the Akron-Canton Regional Airport. Mrs. Timken later served on the airport's board of trustees and was president in 1978.
Mrs. Timken, a native of Cleveland, also founded the Cultural Center for the Arts in Canton. She and her husband had no children. She is survived by a sister, Jane Fornell, of Grayling. Mich.... |
Louise Timken, Henry Jr.'s wife, was a pilot in her own right. Her obituary appeared in the Cincinnati Post (OH) October 7, 1998, left.
NC429H is also logged once in the Grand Central Air Terminal (GCAT) Register on Thursday, May 14, 1931, about three weeks after its landing at Tucson.
Although not a certainty, with the Tucson and GCAT landings only three weeks apart, the visits could be part of the same itinerary if the Timkens were on an extended business or pleasure trip. Please direct your browser west to GCAT for further information about NC429H, and photographs of it in Shell Oil Company livery.
---o0o---
THIS PAGE UPLOADED: 06/09/17 REVISED: 04/15/18
|
