NORTHROP ALPHA 2 NC11Y

HANGS OUT (LITERALLY) AT THE AIR & SPACE MUSEUM

This airplane is a Northrop Alpha 2 (S/N 3; ATC# 381) manufactured during November 1930 by Northrop Aircraft Corporation, United Airport, Burbank, CA.  It left the factory with a Pratt & Whitney Wasp C engine (S/N 3162) of 420 HP.  It was a three-place airplane, painted black and orange.  It is one of two Northrop Alphas that landed at the Davis-Monthan Airfield during the period of the Register.  The other is NC933Y.

Initially, our Alpha was sold to the U.S. Department of Commerce and was registered as NS-1.  It was tested for Northrop by test-pilot Edward T. Allen and flown by Asst. Sec. of Commerce Clarence M. Young.

On April 16, 1931, the DOC sold the airplane to the Ford Motor Company, Dearborn, MI.  Ford sold it immediately to National Air Transport, Chicago, IL.  It was registered as NC11Y and flown briefly by N.A.T. in five-place configuration. 

NC11Y descended into Tucson on June 2, 1931 at 5:10PM.  It was flown by Gage Irving carrying one unidentified passenger.  They were eastbound from Burbank, CA to Kansas City, MO.  Neither the Register, nor the NASM record, suggests the purpose of the flight.  We can assume it was a N.A.T. charter, or perhaps a post-maintenance flight from the factory.

Northrop Alpha NR11Y

Image, above, from Tim Kalina. Regarding the "NR" registration, upon further research at the Smithsonian, I discovered the airplane never was officially registered "NR". While the photo clearly shows the rudder painted so, it was illegal.

On November 27, 1931 it was sold to Transcontinental & Western Air, Inc., New York, NY.  It was painted with “T.W.A. #12” and flown on T.W.A. mail routes from 1931 to 1935.    Charles Lindbergh flew it on T.W.A. business on February 21, 1933. Key players in T.W.A. were Davis-Monthan pilots Jack Frye and Paul Richter.

NC11Y then passed almost annually, over the next fourteen years, through ten owners as follows.  Transcontinental & Western Air, Inc. (a new company) on 12/27/34.  Please follow this link for an image of the airplane in TWA livery. And follow this link for another image in TWA livery taken in 1933 with Charles Lindbergh as pilot. Frederick B. Lee, NY, on 4/26/35 (Lee purchased floats and was planning a long-distance flight.  He did not make the flight. See the PDF download available in the left sidebar).

Harry V. Spaulding, NY, on 9/12/37 (as a single-place airplane).  Richard E. Conley, Ridgefield, CT, 1/20/38.  Murray B. Dilley, Jr., Kansas City, MO, 12/20/40.  Dilley Aircraft Company, Kansas City, 6/20/41.  Victory Aircraft School, Kansas City, 2/23/42.  United Aircraft Training, Wichita, KS, 5/16/42.  Harold V. Leslie, Detroit, MI, 6/12/45.  Stephen Tuttle, Dearborn, MI, 9/10/45.  Foster Hannaford, Jr., Winnetka, IL, 9/18/45. An image of NC11Y in 1940 is on this site and can be found here.

It remained with Hannaford until 1971, when it was acquired by the Experimental Aircraft Association, Hales Corners, WI.  In 1975 it was completely rebuilt and refinished in TWA livery by the TWA Technical Services Center, Kansas City, MO.

It was presented to the National Air & Space Museum and hung in the Hall of Flight in 1976.  It is there today, and you can see images of NC11Y here.  Note the “trousered” landing gear.

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UPLOADED: 06/25/06 REVISED: 11/06/07