Registration Number NC7101
Remains Of No Value
This aircraft is a Buhl CA-3C Sport Air Sedan S/N 33 (ATC
#46) built in July 1928 by Buhl Aircraft Company, Marysville,
MI. It had a 200 HP Wright Whirlwind J5-AB engine, S/N 8981.
It weighed 3,200 pounds. It was sold new on 10/4/28 for $11,500
to Frederick C. Porter of Santa Monica, CA. He was from Porter-Hughes
Aircraft, Buhl distributors on the west coast.
We see NC7101 at Tucson on October 16, 1928 piloted by Mr. Porter.
He is carrying his wife as passenger. They were on their way
from El Paso, TX to Santa Monica, perhaps ferrying this new airplane
from the factory. They sold it on March 15, 1929 to Lynn H. Hayes
of Van Nuys, CA “for camera ship and demonstrating.”
Three months later, on June 20, 1929 it sold to Angelus Aero Corp.,
Los Angeles Metropolitan
Airport, Van Nuys, CA “for use as refueling ship
with belt for refueling man.” It was issued an “NR”
registration on July 18, 1929, restricted for refueling only.
Its refueling adventures were short-lived, since, on August 4, 1929
the fuselage was re-covered, seat belts secured to longerons
and seats reinstalled after all refueling equipment was removed.
The airplane had accumulated 169:45 flight hours.
It then changed hands five times up to August 26, 1938 when it suffered
an accident at Pocatello, ID. The propeller blades were bent;
no record of pilot or passenger condition. The airframe had
accumulated about 658 flight hours in nine years. Then, other
than some minor re-covering entries, between 1938 and 1944
there is a gap in the record. No doubt this is due to the
intervention of WWII.
Near the end of WWII it sold another five times in rapid
succession during 1944-45, winding up with A. H. Ferguson
in Dennydale, WA. On April 2, 1946 the tail wheel was re-built to
steerable with parts from a, “Navy tandem trainer.”
The registration was cancelled February 15, 1951 at the request of Mr.
Ferguson, because the airplane was, “crashed and junked;
remains at Duvall, WA of no value.”
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UPLOADED: 07/09/05 REVISED:
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