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Alpha # |
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Photo: Robert Deering 1977 Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Washington, DC |
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The
Northrop Alpha
was an American single-engine, all-metal, seven-seat,
low-wing monoplane fast mail/passenger transport
aircraft used in the 1930s. Design work was done at the
Avion Corporation, which in 1929, became the Northrop
Aircraft Corporation based in Burbank, California. The Alpha entered service with Transcontinental & Western Air (future TWA) making its inaugural flight on April 20, 1931. The trip from San Francisco to New York required 13 stops and took just over 23 hours. TWA operated 14 aircraft until 1935, flying routes with stops in San Francisco, California; Winslow, Arizona; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Amarillo, Texas; Wichita, Kansas; Kansas City, Missouri; St. Louis, Missouri; Terre Haute, Indiana; Indianapolis, Indiana; Columbus, Ohio; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and New York. Three Alphas were operated by the US military as C-19 VIP transports until 1939. TWA's were initially operated as a passenger service but the Alpha's were later modified at the Stearman factory in Wichita into the cargo-carrying 4A model with a new type certificate. Stearman and Northrop had the same parent company at the time. The third Alpha built, NC11Y, was re-acquired by TWA in 1975, and is preserved at the Smithsonian National Air and Space M0useum. |
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