LOCKHEED VEGA Model 5B NC107W

TOUCHED A WINGTIP TO THE GROUND

This airplane is a Lockheed Vega Model 5B (S/N 124; ATC #227) manufactured during April 1930 by Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, Burbank, CA.  It left the factory with a Pratt & Whitney Wasp engine (S/N 3160) of unspecified HP.

We find NC107W at Tucson fairly early in its life on July 23, 1930.  It was flown by Russell A. Young carrying three passengers identified only as Mill, Rispin and Barnhart.  They were eastbound from Burbank, CA to Ft. Worth, TX.

NC107W was sold during 1931 to W.T. Ponder, a Lockheed distributor based in Dallas, TX.  Ponder sold it the same year to Bowen Air Lines, Fort Worth, TX where it was flown on Bowen routes between 1931 and 1936.  It was converted by Bowen to a Vega 5C under ATC 384 as of April 22, 1935.

On October 26, 1937 Bowen sold it to Gordon S. Barry, president of Lineas Aereas Mineras, S.A. (LAMSA) Mazatlan, Mexico.  LAMSA bought the airplane for $5,000 with P&W Wasp C engine S/N 2909.  It was imported into Mexico via El Paso, TX on October 30th and received Mexican registration XA-BFR on January 20, 1938.  It was painted red (fuselage) with ivory wings and flew on LAMSA routes in Mexico. Below is an image of XA-BFR shared with us by Tim Kalina.

Lockheed NC107W in Mexican Registry, XA-BFR

Mr. Kalina makes a good point that contrasts the paint scheme given on the NASM with the paint scheme in this photo, which suggests a light fuselage, not red. He states, "... as you can plainly see from this photo, the colors are different (cream with red trim?)." There was no annotation on the back that suggested when or where it was taken.

XA-BFR suffered an accident at the Mexico City Airport on May 5, 1938.  It was on an unauthorized local flight with LAMSA traffic representatives.  It stalled on takeoff from a taxiway, touched a wingtip to the ground and crashed.  Pilot Miguel Angel Padilla was killed.  Passengers Carlos Robles Martinez, Alfonso Pereda, Dorothy Mass Pereda, Cosuelo Carillo and Manuel Carillo were injured.  No further information.

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UPLOADED: 06/0/06 REVISED: 02/19/09, 10/08/09