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Registration Number NC8058
Powder Puff Derby, 1929
This aircraft is a Spartan C-3, S/N 85 manufactured December 22, 1928
by the Spartan Aircraft Company, Inc. of Tulsa,
OK. It had
a 120 HP Walter 9 cylinder radial engine installed, S/N 11026.
It weighed 2,191 pounds in three-seat configuration.
It sold on December 21, 1928 to Roy A. Westbrook of Fort Worth, TX.
In a confusing bit of sleight of hand, it was sold on April 4, 1929
to Margaret Perry of Beverly Hills, CA and almost simultaneously,
on May 28, 1929 it was bought back by the Spartan Aircraft Co.
for $5,250. It was designated race #11 and flown by Ms.
Perry in the Women’s Air Derby during the Los Angeles
to Cleveland Air Races, which began on August 17, 1929.
Unfortunately, she became ill and dropped out of the race
in Abilene, TX (see
this link).
Coincidentally, her husband (or soon to be husband), Larry
Cooper, was flying
from Cleveland to Los Angeles near the time of the Race and
landed at Tucson.
We find NC8058 at Tucson Friday April 5, 1929 piloted by Margaret
Perry with passenger Ray Theis. They were inbound from Tulsa,
headed for Los Angeles, CA, probably bringing the airplane to
California from the factory. After the Derby, the airplane
sold to the Spartan
School of Aeronautics, Inc., Tulsa, OK (the link gets
you a PDF download of the Spartan School advertising brochure
for 1930). It suffered an accident at Sapulpa, OK on December 22, 1929
when, “fast
landing caused plane to roll off runway, plane nosed over.”
It was repaired and remained with Spartan until October 6, 1933 when
it was sold to the Mexican government. Its U.S. registration
was cancelled February 15, 1934.
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UPLOADED: 07/28/05 REVISED: 03/23/06, 10/21/06
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