GONE TO UNCLE SAM
This airplane is a Fairchild 17 (S/N 605; ATC #89) manufactured
in December 1928 by the Fairchild Airplane Manufacturing
Corporation, Farmingdale, LI, NY. It came from the factory
with a Pratt & Whitney Wasp engine of 410HP (S/N 983).
It was a seven-place airplane which could fly on floats or
wheels. It weighed 5,500 pounds.
NC9734 sold on January 25, 1929 to Lionel T. Barneson of
Los Angeles, CA (petroleum business; J.E. Elliott, partner)
for $18, 400. It was shipped to California by ocean steam
ship "S.S. Dakotan".
NC9734 landed at the Davis-Monthan Airfield twice. The first
time, on March 18, 1929, it was piloted by Pat Farris and carried
five passengers, including Mr. Elliott. They were eastbound
from Los Angeles to Ft. Worth, TX. The second landing, also
piloted by Farris, was on May 9, 1929. On this flight he carried
his wife and Mr. Barneson. They were northwest bound from
El Paso, TX to Phoenix, AZ.
General Petroleum Corporation of California bought the airplane
on June 21, 1929 (Barneson was president of this company).
Then the Great Depression kicked in. It sold thirteen times
between 1931 and 1938, moving around from California to Portland,
OR to Salt Lake City, UT to Austin, TX.
On April 7, 1938 it sold to Robert Coltharp operating as
Southwestern Aerial Surveys in Austin, TX. On October 9,
1938 it suffered an accident at Boulder City, NV, which cracked
the left rear spar and damaged fairings, fuselage and tail
surfaces.
It continued to fly with Southwestern until August
10, 1942 when it was purchased by the Defense Supplies Corporation,
Washington, DC. They, in turn, sold it to the War Department
on October 29, 1942 and it was flown under Army auspices
after that. No further information on the final disposition
of NC9734. It, or its remains, are not registered with the FAA.
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UPLOADED: 03/15/06 REVISED:
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