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LOCKHEED VEGA Model 5 B NC504K
MEXICO TRANSPORT
This airplane is a Lockheed Vega Model 5B (S/N 90; ATC #93)
manufactured during August 1929 by Lockheed Aircraft Corporation,
Burbank,
CA. It left the factory with a Pratt & Whitney
Wasp C engine (S/N 1900) of 450 HP. It was a seven-place
airplane.
We find NC504K landing at Tucson twice (9/10/29, 1/28/1930). On
September 10th it was piloted solo by Harold
Bromley. He
was eastbound from Los
Angeles, CA to El Paso, TX. On
January 28th it was flown by Theodore
Hull. He was
southbound from Los Angeles to Torreon, Mexico.
This last flight is explained by the fact that Lockheed
sold NC504K in late 1929 to Corporacion
Aeronautica De Transportes (CAT), S.A., Torreon, Mexico. It was painted ivory
with a red arrow. It was flown on CAT’s Mexican air
routes at first under U.S. registration. This was the
third Lockheed Vega operated by CAT, which opened the Mexico
City-El Paso air route on August 17, 1929.
A Mexican license was applied for on October 3, 1929, and
license certificate #15 was issued. A registration
number was not known to be allotted or applied.
According to a letter of November 21, 1930 from the CAT
legal representative, Vega S/N 90 was destroyed May 27, 1930
due to a forced landing near Monterey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico,
while flying the Brownsville-Monterey-Torreon-Durango-Mazatlan
route. There
were no fatalities, but the aircraft was so badly damaged
that the wreckage was burned.
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UPLOADED: 03/11/06 REVISED: 06/02/06 05/18/07
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