Museum of Flight's Boeing Model 80A

Flight Journal, Aug 2003 by Parks, Dennis

Boeing developed the Model 80 for its own airline, Boeing Air Transport (later United Airlines), which operated the Chicago to San Francisco route of the Contract Air Mail system. Boeing started operations on the route in 1927 with the Boeing Model 40 airmail plane that seated only two passengers. The increased demand for passenger service on the route led Boeing to develop the Model 80-the first American transport with three-abreast seating.

The September 25, 1928, edition of The New York Times announced the advent of the Model 80s with the headline "More Big Planes For Trips West" and called the planes " ... as luxurious and comfortable as any transport planes yet built." Indeed, passenger comfort was an important ingredient in the trimotor passenger-ship design.

The three-across cabin was more than five feet wide, and a six-foot-tall passenger had plenty of headroom. The heavily upholstered seats were equipped with reclining backs. Each passenger had his or her own reading lamp and air vent. Sliding curtains could be lowered to cover the windows. Soundproofed cabin walls permitted passengers to converse in nearly normal tones. It was specifically designed to compete on all levels with the finest railcars of the day.

During 1928, Boeing Air Transport carried 837,211 pounds of mail, 149,068 pounds of express packages and 1,863 passengers without a serious accident. The Model 80 allowed the Boeing service to grow. The first of four, 12-passenger, Wasp-powered Model 80s entered service on the Boeing route in August 1928. They were so successful that Boeing developed the improved Model 80A, which had the additional power of the new 525hp Hornet engines and an increased seating capacity of 18. The Model 80 originally had a single tail that created stability problems, but this was corrected with the installation of a tripletail.

The Model 80A initiated a number of firsts, but the most far-reaching was the inauguration of stewardess service. In 1930, Miss Ellen Church, a student pilot and registered nurse, convinced Boeing management to hire female cabin attendants for its Model 80 flights. Until then, it had been the copilot's duty to pass out box lunches, serve coffee and tend to the passengers' needs. Church reasoned that the sight of women working aboard the Boeing 80s would alleviate passengers' fear of air travel. On May 15, 1930, Boeing began cabin attendant service with eight female nurses.

Model 80s continued to serve United Airlines into 1934, when they and other airliners were made obsolete by the introduction of the revolutionary Boeing Model 247 all-metal, twin-engine, monoplane transport. Surviving 80s struggled to find employment with small airlines as barnstormers and, during WW II, as heavy-load carriers in Alaska.

After NC-224M left United, it was flown for a time by Monterey Airlines and then by a construction firm. In 1941, it was sold to Bob Reeve, noted Alaskan aviation pioneer, who used it to haul equipment and supplies needed to build an airfield at Northway, Alaska. It was modified with the installation of a cargo door large enough to permit stowage of an 11,000-pound boiler. During one five-month period, the 80A flew daily in an airlift of 1,100 tons of materials. Reeve retired the plane in 1946, and in 1960, it was hauled to the Anchorage city dump.

When Jack Leffler acquired the Model 80A's remains in Alaska, he and Harl Brackin of the Boeing Co. presented a proposal to the Boeing supervisors' club-the Boeing Management Association (BMA)-for assistance in moving the 80A to Seattle and in forming an independent group to restore the aircraft and promote the establishment of a local aviation museum. The BMA accepted the challenge and set in motion the events that led to the formation of PNAHF and the Museum of Flight.

An Air Force C-124 airlifted the Model 80A's remains out of Alaska. The original intent was to restore the aircraft to flying status, but a closer examination of the airplane's condition determined that the undertaking would be too expensive and time-consuming. With a wingspan of 80 feet, a length of 56 feet, a wing area of 1,220 square feet and an empty weight of nearly 11,000 pounds, even a static restoration was a huge undertaking.

After the Model 80A was moved to various sites in the Seattle area, the Boeing Auburn plant's BMA took over the project in 1970. On October 21, 1981, the completed restoration was handed over to the Museum of Flight-52 years after the Model 80A first flew. The airplane was accepted for the museum by Bill Boeing Jr. and christened the City of Auburn in tribute to the Auburn chapter of the Boeing Management Association. Thanks to all of the salvage and restoration efforts, Boeing Model 80A NC-224M now resides at the Museum of Flight, where it oversees the Great Gallery.