Charles Lindbergh's Lockheed Sirius

In 1931 Charles Lindbergh trained his wife Anne to be a fellow pilot for one of his longest air voyages: his "Voyage to the Orient." On 27 July 1931 they departed Long Island and travelled through Ottawa and up through the north of Canada, crossing the Bering Sea on 14 August and arriving in Tokyo on 26 August. They voyaged on to China and returned to the U.S. In 1935 Anne wrote a book of their experiences on this trip entitled North to the Orient.

These photos were taken 7 August 1931 during Lindbergh's stopover in Aklavik, in the Mackenzie Delta region of the Northwest Territories. The Sirius is in the foreground of both photos; Lindbergh himself is seen alighting from the aircraft on the right.

Frank Hawks' Texaco Sky-Chief

A signed autographed photo of Lt.-Cdr. Frank M. Hawks Texaco "Sky-Chief" all metal Northrop plane. Frank Hawks was knows as the "fastest pilot in the world" for the numerous speed records he broke in the 1920's and 1930's. On 2 June 1933--five days before he signed this photograph--he set the transcontinental speed record in the Sky Chief flying from Los Angeles to Floyd Bennett Field in New York (13 h 26 m 15 sec.) It was the last plane he flew for Texaco. Metal planes were coming in to their own in the 1930's, and of course would prove crucial for all of the warring states in World War II. The moniker "Sky-Chief" was applied to Texaco's premium petrol for automobiles.

Hawks was also the co-designer of the Hawks HM-1 (also known as the Hawks-Gee Bee, shown at right), NX-2491. Exclusively a racing plane (shown here at an air show) it was originally built by the Granville Brothers, who built the Gee Bees. It was sponsored by Gruen Watch for their "Time Flies" promotion. On 13 April 1937, Hawks flew the craft from Hartford, CT, to Miami, FL in 4 h 55 m, and then back north to Newark in 4 h 21 m. On landing at Newark, he bounced three times on landing and broke a wooden spar in the right wing along with other damage. The plane was returned to co-designer Miller, who rebuilt it as the "Miller HM-1" (the photo shows the plane after the rebuild.) The Gee-Bees were very fast planes, but could also be death traps if something went wrong.

Hawks illustrated the dangers of flight in a very personal way on 23 August 1938, when he died when his Gwinn Aircar "safety" aircraft crashed in East Aurora, NY.

A Spartan 7W, 7W-27, NC-17658. Manufactured by the Mid-Continent Aircraft Co., Tulsa, OK

Stinson 10-A, NC-36078

Davis D-1, NC-857N. Note that the photo was taken with the wheels behind the chocks and the engine running. Chet was a dealer for these planes.

Monocoupe 110, NC12370. This was a favourite competition plane, as the Langley Day results show.