Chasing the WINGED STAR

Air Classics, Jul 2004 by Wainwright, Marshall

"A great deal of it was luck," Northrop recalled years later. "We used big rubber bags to press the plywood into the concrete molds. Whenever we did this everyone dropped whatever he might be doing, put on overalls, and helped sling casein glue."

While this work went on, aviation received a tremendous impetus: Charles A. Lindbergh fired the world's imagination with a pioneering solo hop from New York to Paris in May 1927. From then on, newspaper headlines almost daily emblazoned another daring flying achievement or, on occasion, an air tragedy. Within a few weeks James Dole, publicity-conscious pineapple king of Hawaii, posted a $25,000 prize for the first air race from California to Honolulu.

Jay found a buyer for the first Vega. He encountered John W. Frost, a San Francisco aviator whom Jay as an Air Service instructor had taught to fly during WWI, and showed him the prototype under construction.

SLIGHT DESIGN NECESSARY

Convinced it was the best airplane he'd ever seen, Frost so informed his brother, who worked for the Hearst newspaper chain. To inspect the new monoplane, Hearst dispatched A. M. Rochlen, one of his executives who went on to become a Douglas vice president in the 1950s. Upon Rochlen's recommendation, George Hearst bought it for $12,500.

"The sale price represented a loss," Allan would later explain, "but we were happy to absorb it. The prestige of selling the Vega to Hearst was tremendous."

On an early flight the Vega revealed one design flaw: Its vertical fin proved directionally unstable. Northrop redesigned to put more area in the fin, less in the rudder.

VEGA ENTERS DOLE DERBY

Stability problem solved, Hearst took delivery, hired Frost as pilot, christened the Vega Golden Eagle, and entered it in the coming Dole race. The plane quickly proved itself the fastest commercial craft in the skies. It flew from Oakland to Los Angeles in 3-hrs 5-min with three passengers, the pilot, and a 400-lb load. And it made the return journey, carrying the pilot, three passengers, and a 1500-lb payload, in less than 3.5-hrs.

For the Oakland-to-Honolulu race, Hearst insisted upon every known safety device for the Golden Eagle. So fitted, it was capable of staying afloat 30 days. Every ship in the race had to pass a rigid instrument check and carry 15-percent more fuel than necessary. But when the Dole Derby began 16 August 1927, four of the eight entries couldn't struggle into the air. There were disastrous crashes.

"The start of the race was a hair-raising sight," Northrop recounted. "I wouldn't go through it again for $10,000."

But the Golden Eagk took off effortlessly.

"It cleared the border lights by 200ft," Lockheed later remembered, "made a graceful left turn, headed for the Golden Gate, and was flying at 3000-ft by the time it reached San Francisco." The smallest, fastest, most beautiful airplane in the race was never seen again.

By the following evening no word had come from Frost or his co-pilot Gordon Scott, and the Golden Eagle was presumed lost. Northrop believed it reached Hawaii and probably cracked up in rough terrain. For a week after the plane's disappearance flares of the same color as those it carried reportedly lighted the area around Kilauea Volcano. Lockheed thought the Vega could have flown right over Hawaii when the islands were obscured by clouds and that somewhere in the Pacific it ran out of fuel.