More interesting and unusual aeronautical photographs from the editor's files

Like most major international airports, Los Angeles International is always in a state of flux. Extremely limited by the amount of land originally allocated for the field (the airport is hemmed in on three sides by residential and commercial buildings and by the Pacific Ocean on the west side). However, the field is always building and adding on within itself so this 1971 view toward the airport's theme building and tower is interesting. A new tower has replaced the old and its design has been criticized as being somewhat similar to Darth Vader from Star Wars. Apparently, it's supposed to represent a biplane in flight but I certainly can't see the resemblance. Currently, the area around the tower and the entrance to the field as been "beautified" by the addition of numerous palm trees and strange lighted columns that appear to serve no purpose except to be lighted columns-all added for the benefit of the August Democratic Convention. In this view, we see a variety of equipment from the late; and lamented, Western Airlines: In the foreground are two Western Boeing 720Bs with the attractive Indian head logo probably not politically correct in today's climate while in the background, two Western Lockheed Electras head for the active.

Not exactly poetry in motion, this Martin MB-2 bomber apparently

participated in a long-distance flight from San Diego to San Antonio to Chicago and then to

New York as can be seen recorded on the forward portion of the fuselage. A study in drag; the MB-2 was powered by two Liberty

12A engines of 40-horsepower each. Ordered in June 1920, Martin would build 20 MB-2s and the bomber could carry up to a 2000-pound bomb. it was armed with five Lewis machine guns and the large mud guards are of note, indicative of the primitive conditions of the early flying fields.

The sandy beach in front of the Earl Apartments in Long Beach,

California, was used as an informal landing field for aircraft operating from Earl Daugherty's airport (now Long Beach Airport). Five Curtiss JN-4Ds line the sand in this 1917 view:

Army troops examine the wreckage of a Curtiss JN-4D Jenny that spun into their training camp during 1918. Training accidents were extremely common but since speeds were so low instructors and students often survived the crashes.

Atlantic (Fokker) C-2A 28-120 at Metropolitan Airport, Van Nuys, California. The aircraft, known as Question Mark, remained aloft over southern California far 150 hours during 1929. The plane carries the Rolling

Field insignia on the sides of the fuselage.

Pilot O.E. Scott and photographer Bixby pose in front of a Travel Air biplane at Lambert Field, St. Louis, Missouri. The aircraft was one of the first practical light aircraft of the 1920s. AC

Copyright Challenge Publications Inc. Oct 2000
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