BLUEGRASS AIRLINES

May 2009   

American Airlines 75^th. 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

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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