BLUEGRASS AIRLINES

May 2009   

American Airlines 75th. Anniversary Flights by Bill Von Sennet & Allan Lowson

American Airlines traces its origins back to several companies, one of which—Robertson Aircraft Corporation—began flying regular mail flights on April 15, 1926 using De Havilland DH-4 aircraft. Inspiration for the consolidation that eventually led to American Airlines, however, goes back to the Embry-Riddle Company, an airmail service company founded in 1925 in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1927, Embry-Riddle won the mail contract to deliver mail from Cincinnati to Chicago, and on December 17 of the same year, began operational flights using a fleet of 10 Waco biplanes.

Embry-Riddle needed more money to expand, and Fairchild Aircraft Corporation showed interest in its modest operation. After some negotiations, on March 3, 1929, Fairchild organized The Aviation Corporation (AVCO), a company with the goal of financing not only Embry-Riddle but also a host of other small aviation mail operators, including Robertson Aircraft Corporation. AVCO had a board of 70 directors from the highest levels of U.S. business. Such was its financial power that within six months of incorporation, it had acquired nine airlines—including Colonial Airways Corporation and Universal Corporation. Later, in January 1930, Texas-based Southern Air Transport also became part of AVCO.

The large number of acquisitions set the stage for a reorganization of AVCO. Although AVCO owned many airlines and delivered mail between the east and west coasts, the company itself was a sprawling corporate mess. To streamline its organizational structure, AVCO formed American Airways on January 25, 1930. The new company would now have operating subsidiaries under its direct control. By this consolidation, American Airways became one of the 'Big Four' domestic U.S. passenger and mail airlines—the others being Eastern Air Transport, Transcontinental and Western Air (TWA), and United Air Lines.

By 1931, American Airways had several mail contracts that theoretically allowed a passenger to travel from the East Coast to the West flying only on American's airplanes. The owners of AVCO also aggressively worked toward capturing the important New York-Chicago route by acquiring Transamerican Airlines Corporation. American Airways had also inherited the key southern route for mail delivery after the famous 'Spoils Conference' in 1930 when Postmaster General Walter Folger Brown had distributed specific routes to particular airlines.

Major changes in the airline industry in 1934 affected the fortunes of American Airways. Franklin D. Roosevelt, soon after assuming the nation's presidency, canceled the air mail contracts in February 1934, thus rendering null and void the provisions of the 1925 Kelly Air Mail Act that stipulated how contracts for particular routes would be handed out to specific airlines. Roosevelt's decision was partly motivated by allegations of excessive public subsidy of airlines.

After a disastrous attempt to have the Army Air Corps fly the mail, Roosevelt renewed the mail contract system with the stipulation that airlines that had benefited from Brown's decisions in the past could not participate. Roosevelt also stipulated though the Air Mail Act of 1934 that the old aviation holding companies such as AVCO had to break up. As a result, AVCO sold off much of its share of American Airways. To reflect a break from its past, American Airways renamed itself American Airlines on April 11, 1934. 

American Airlines made their first operational flight in May ’34.

In 1934 American Airlines operated a variety of aircraft.  The Curtiss Condor in the coach configurations was flown on the high density routes and in the sleeper configuration for the Transcontinental routes.

The Ford Trimotor was in use on the Washington-Cincinnati service.  

The Vultee V-1 operated  the longer Midwestern routes and the claim was made that this was the fastest transport aircraft at the time.

The Stinson U (high wing) Tri-Motor  flew  New York-Buffalo, New York-Albany and Boston-Cleveland flights.

The Stinson A (low wing) Tri-Motor flew the Detroit-Chicago flight.

By the end of ’34 the Douglas DC-2 was beginning to be introduced on the Chicago-New York services.

The Lockheed Orion 9 was used on the Cleveland-Fort Worth Mail Express service only.

Stearman 4 mailplanes were used on the Mail and Express service from Washington to Nashville.

Check out the Gordon Reublin Collection for some photos of these aircraft.

Here are the original schedules taken from the www.timetableimages.com images for the American Airlines December 1934 timetable.

 

 

 

 

 

For Flight Simulator 2004 we have an excellent model of the Curtis Condor by Jens Kristensen.

Download is available at www.avsim.com filename is at32_v20.zip

 

Also available is a Vultee V-1 by Jens Kristensen

Download is available at www.avsim.com  filename is vultee_v11.zip

`

After test flying both aircraft, I made one change to the panels.

In the Vultee panel.cfg [Vcockpit01] section,  I changed the location and size of the radio compass.

gauge12=Vultee_V1A!radio_compass,  325,308,120,120

I then copied Vultee_V1A.zip to the Condor panel folder.

In the Condor panel.cfg I substituted the Vultee radio compass for the DC-3 radio compass in the [Window07] section.

gauge00=Vultee_V1A!radio_compass,  0,0,150,150

The Vultee radio compass is an ADF that will track any NDB or VOR signal.

Jens has also produced a Lockheed Orion 9 which is available from www.avsim.com as orio_v11.zip. 

Finally Ed Knapp produced an American Airways scheme for the default Ford Trimotor which is available on www.flightsim.com as trimtraa.zip.

Here are some representative flights from the American Route System

 

Ford Trimotor Flight Washington DC-Cincinnati Table 2

Heading

Distance

City Name

State

ICAO

NAV

Freq.

Schedule

-

0

Washington

DC

KDCA

DCA

111.0

10:38ET

279

55

Lindon

VA

 

LDN

114.3

 

279

77

Elkins

WV

KEKN

RQY

284.0

 

258

39

Braxton

WV

 

JTM

234.0

 

252

48

Charleston

WV

KCRW

HVQ

117.4

 

-

0

Charleston

WV

KCRW

 

 

13:18

263

9

Charleston

WV

 

HVQ

117.4

 

 

37

Huntington

WV

KHTS

 

 

 

 

0

Huntington

WV

KHTS

 

 

13:59

 

5

Huntington

WV

 

HT

226.0

 

292

21

York

KY

 

YRK

112.8

 

300

71

Cincinnati

OH

 

LUK

335.0

 

230

5

Cincinnati

OH

KLUK

 

 

15:01

Curtiss Condor Flight Dallas-Los Angeles Table 3

Heading

Distance

City Name

State

ICAO

NAV

Freq.

Schedule

-

0

Dallas

TX

KDAL

CVE

116.2

22:25CT

269

26

Muffin

TX

 

FT

365.0

 

165

4

Ft Worth

TX

KFTW

 

 

 

-

0

Ft Worth

TX

KPNE

CSX

116.45

22:55

252

33

Milsap

TX

 

MQP

117.7

 

246

89

Tomhi

TX

 

AB

353.0

 

352

7

Abilene

TX

KABI

 

 

24:00

-

0

Abilene

TX

KABI

 

 

 

287

11

Abilene

TX

 

ABI

113.7

 

258

82

Big Spring

TX

 

BGS

114.3

 

182

10

Big Spring

TX

T49

 

 

01:00

-

0

Big Spring

TX

T49

 

 

 

248

90

Wink

TX

 

INK

112.1

 

259

155

El Paso

TX

 

ELP

115.2

 

143

6

El Paso

TX

T27

 

 

02:22MT

-

0

El Paso

TX

T27

 

 

 

323

6

El Paso

TX

 

ELP

115.2

 

253

170

Douglas

AZ

KDUG

DUG

108.8

04:04

-

0

Douglas

AZ

KDUG

DUG

108.8

 

285

90

Tucson

AZ

KRYN

RYN

338.0

04:59

-

0

Tucson

AZ

KRYN

RYN

338.0

 

328

74

Phoenix

AZ

KIWA

IWA

113.3

05:59

-

0

Phoenix

AZ

KPHX

IWA

113.3

 

264

157

Blythe

 

 

BLH

117.4

 

268

85

Palm Springs

 

 

PSP

115.5

 

267

69

Pomona

 

 

POM

110.4

 

271

29

Los Angeles

CA

KBUR

UR

253.0

07:46PT

Curtiss Condor Flight  New York-Chicago Table 5

Heading

Distance

City Name

State

ICAO

NAV

Freq.

Schedule

-

0

New York (Newark)

NJ

KEWR

 

 

09:00ET

320

76

Lake Henry

PA

 

LHY

110.8

 

310

78

Elmira

NY

 

ULW

109.65

 

315

88

Buffalo

NY

 

BUF

116.40

 

289

4

Buffalo

NY

KBUF

 

 

10:47

-

0

Buffalo

NY

KBUF

 

 

10:57

264

186

Windsor

ON

 

YQG

113.8

 

326

12

Detroit

MI

KDET

 

 

 

-

0

Detroit

MI

KDET

 

 

12:24

259

152

Gipper

MI

 

GIJ

115.4

 

270

61

Kedzie

IL

 

MX

248.0

 

315

4

Chicago

IL

KMDW

 

 

13:10 CT

Vultee/Ford Trimotor Flight Chicago-Indianapolis-Cincinnati Table 8

Heading

Distance

City Name

State

ICAO

NAV

Freq.

Schedule

-

0

Chicago

IL

KMDW

 

 

09:10CT

134

4

Kedzie

 

 

MX

248.0

 

147

75

White Co.

IN

 

MCX

377.0

 

147

57

Indianapolis

IN

KUMP

UMP

338.0

10:15

-

0

Indianapolis

IN

KUMP

UMP

338.0

10:20

116

64

Oxford

OH

 

OXD

282.0

 

134

26

Madeira

OH

 

MDE

379.0

 

205

7

Cincinnati

OH

KLUK

 

 

12:05ET

 

 

Other Resources

1939 American Airlines schedule from DC-3 Airways

Bluegrass Sept. 2006 Feature – Oct 1935 American Airlines