Tucked away in a small hangar at Last Delta

AMELIA EARHART AIRPORT IS AN UNIQUE SURVIVOR FROM AVIATION'S GOLDEN AGE

Stuck away in the corner of a dark hangar at the remote Amelia Earhart Airport in Atchison, Kansas, is an improbable survivor from aviation's golden age. During the 1930s and 1940s, some of the most innovative aircraft came from the mind of designer John "Jack" Northrop. Northrop had started his aviation career in the early 1920s and was responsible for the elegantly sleek all-wood Lockheed Vega - the aircraft that put the fledgling company on the map (not to mention in the black on the financial books). Northrop would go on to operate several of his own companies and was, of course, the main proponent behind the flying wing concept. Today, the name is carried on with the Northrop Grumman aerospace giant.

To any aficionado of 1930s aviation, the Northrop Alphas, Betas, Deltas, and Gammas are magic aircraft. All metal, sleek and with high-performance, these aircraft pioneered the world's airways. Today, they are extremely rare with only a few surviving examples and the Northrop Delta 1D in the Amelia Earhart hangar is the only surviving Delta.

TWA's Jack Frye and Jack Northrop conspired to create the Delta - the sleek metal fuselage would carry up to eight passengers while the pilot would be up front behind a bellowing Wright Cyclone pumping out 710-hp.

The first example was rolled out in May 1933 and the Department of Commerce extensively tested the machine but it was finally certificated to carry only six passengers. Instead of directly buying the aircraft, Jack Frye leased the machine so it could be tested by his pilots. TWA put X12292 on its express mail and cargo run (without passengers) between Kansas City and Los Angeles. High over the New Mexico desert at night, TWA pilot Harlan Hall was cruising along on 10 November 1933 when the big Wright began to come apart and smoke poured into his cramped cockpit. Pushing the canopy back, Hall beat a hasty exit just as the firewall failed and flames exploded through and under the instrument panel.

Descending by parachute, which had over two dozen holes burned in its canopy, Hall watched the blazing Northrop plunge into the desert and explode. TWA might have bought more Deltas but Frye was rapidly, and correctly, becoming enamored over the new Douglas DC-1 which he had helped develop. Also, in October 1934, the government placed a ban on single-- engine airliners flying with passengers at night or over hazardous terrain that might foil a forced landing. A few Deltas were sold to airlines but the day of the single-- engine speedsters was pretty much over on scheduled service.

Not one to miss a possible market, Northrop noticed a limited, but lucrative, market for the newly emerging executive aircraft. High-profile business executives needed a way of rapidly getting around the country so Northrop introduced the Delta ID which became known as the Executive Delta. The plane was custom built for a pilot and four to six passengers. Nine were built between 1934 and 1935 and they all were fitted with Wright Cyclones except for one example which had a Pratt & Whitney Hornet. The aircraft found ready markets (after executive use, some would find their way to the Spanish Civil War) including c/n 28 which was sold to Richfield Oil Corp. as NC13777 The Richfield Eagle on 21 July 1934. By December 1935, the company had gone into receivership with William Duffie but, after reorganization, the craft was back with the new Richfield. In early 1938, the Delta was sold to Baker Oil Tools operating out of Huntington Park, California, and they kept the plane until 3 April 1941 when it went to well-known used aircraft salesman Charles H. Babb at Grand Central Airport, Glendale, California. Babb had supplied aircraft for the Spanish Civil War and it is a bit surprising the plane did not go to that location but, instead, it carried on its executive career with Le Tourneau Co. of Georgia, then Minneapolis-Honeywell Regulator Co.

In late 1946, the craft went to Max Conrad who, known as "The Flying Grandfather," set numerous records in various light aircraft but it is not known to what use he put the craft. He kept the plane for ten years before selling it to Christler & Avery in Greybull, Wyoming, who stripped the interior and used the craft for a crop sprayer. Apparently, the plane was damaged and in 1959 it was sold and then went through several owners, all in the Kansas City area. In November 1966, it was purchased by Richard Davis who brought the plane back to airworthy condition but it was heavily damaged when the FAA was conducting an airspeed calibration with the Delta. Once again repaired, the craft was stored for many years at the Kansas City Downtown Airport.

Recently moved to Amelia Earhart Airport, the plane, which is complete but appears to be lacking an interior, will be brought back to flying condition with a first flight "sometime this summer."

Copyright Challenge Publications Inc. Jun 2001
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