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BELLANCA MODEL CH NC224E
THE “SWING TWINS” COME TO TUCSON
This airplane is a Bellanca CH (S/N 121; ATC #47) manufactured
November 1928 by the Bellanca Aircraft Corporation, New Castle,
DE. It left the factory with a Wright Whirlwind J-5
engine (S/N 9340) of 200 HP. It weighed 4,050 pounds as a
six-place airplane.
It sold on March 25, 1929 to Pal-Waukee Airport, Inc. of
Chicago, IL. The
price was $13,900, less 15% discount ($2,085) for a net price
of $11,815. Below, image DN-0087901, Chicago
Daily News negatives collection, Chicago Historical Society. The
breeze was stiff that day!
Bellanca NC224E
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Still with Pal-Waukee, on March 25, 1931 it had some bracing
tubes placed in the fuselage, as installed on later model
Pacemakers. On March 16, 1932 it had engine S/N 9129
installed. At some point it was probably leased (there is
no record of sale) to the Chicago Daily
News for use as a
press airplane. Below, image DN-0088907, Chicago
Daily News negatives collection,
Chicago Historical Society. People are Clifford L. Condit,
left, Chicago
Daily News editor,
and Harold S. Johnson, Chicago Daily News pilot.
The Bellanca they stand in front of is not NC224E, but a
sister ship in newspaper livery (perhaps the airplane in
the background is 224E?)
Cliff Condit, Left, Editor of the Chicago Daily
News
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Now comes NC224E to Tucson on May 8, 1932. It was
piloted by Cliff Condit, who identified his passengers as
the “Swing Twins”. Based in “Chgo”,
they were on their way west from El Paso, TX to Los
Angeles, CA and other points (“L.A. & U.S.A.”). It
seems like they were having a good time. I have no
information on the purpose of their voyage, but one could
speculate that it was a charter flight under the auspices
of Pal-Waukee Airport, Inc. of Chicago, a publicity voyage
involving the Chicago Daily News.
Further speculation, and with a little help from Google,
the Northwest Monthly (Vol. 23 No. 1 December 1938)
cites the, “’Swing Twins’ featuring Marlyce
Grout, vocalist, and Viola Johnson at the piano.” Could
be the twins were a musical group from the
west coast. If anyone knows about the "Swing Twins", please
let me KNOW.
NC224E returned to the Midwest and sold on August 11, 1933
to Michael A. Caffarello of Chicago, IL for $1,000 without
the engine. Caffarello turned it around on August
12, 1933 and sold it to Joseph Lenard of Chicago for $1,500
including a J-5 engine S/N 9723 installed. The airplane
had accumulated 1,124:40 flight hours up to this date (about
280 hours per year).
The airplane sold eight more times through 1940, moving
from Chicago to Arkansas to the New York City area to California. It
finally came to rest on December 17, 1940 (the 37th anniversary
of powered flight) with Aero Brokerage Service, Inc., at
Metropolitan
Airport, Van Nuys, CA. Its airworthiness
certificate was to expire on April 15, 1941.
Indeed, the file on the airplane was cancelled April 15,
1941 because no application was made to extend the certificate. The
record states, “Ship probably sold into Mexico or Central
America.”
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UPLOADED: 03/28/06 REVISED: 06/30/07
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