Fairchild 24 NC15093 Vintage Airplane
Photo 8x10 — Bird on the Tail, 1930s
1979 MDC St. Louis Company Print — Aitken CollectionDESCRIPTIONThis 8x10 black and white photograph shows a Fairchild 24 cabin monoplane wearing the registration NC15093, parked on a sunlit ramp. The tail end of the print gives you the tall, rounded fin with its small winged emblem and the black NC15093 lettering, and a small bird is perched right on the tip of the fin. Past the tail, a second airplane is just visible in the sky, with a water tower and a white rail fence along the edge of the field. The nose end shows the airplane up close: the radial engine cowling, the propeller, the strut-braced high wing, the cabin windows and a streamlined wheel pant with a tapered stripe.The Fairchild 24 was developed at Hagerstown, Maryland as the enclosed-cabin successor to the open-cockpit Fairchild 22, aimed at private owners and small commercial operators. The braced tail seen here is the early style. The cantilever tail did not arrive until the C8E of 1936. Neighboring registrations NC15076 and NC15084 belong to Fairchild 24s built in 1935, which fits the period of this airplane. The type went on to serve in large numbers in World War II as the UC-61 Forwarder and the RAF Argus. Ventriloquist Edgar Bergen, father of actress Candice Bergen, owned and flew a Fairchild 24 for many years.The Fairchild 24 also sits at the center of one of hockey\'s best known mysteries. On August 26, 1951, a Fairchild 24 floatplane carrying Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Bill Barilko and pilot Henry Hudson, a dentist, disappeared on a flight home from northern Quebec. Barilko had scored the Stanley Cup winning overtime goal that April. The wreckage was found north of Cochrane, Ontario in June 1962, weeks after the Leafs won their first Cup since his goal. That airplane was a later model than the one in this photograph.This print comes from the AITKEN COLLECTION. It is a company print made by McDonnell Douglas Corporation in St. Louis, stamped on the back MDC ST. LOUIS DEC 12 1979 and NEGATIVES NOT FILED. It is offered as a 1979 company print and not as an original period photograph. The back also carries the typed collector stamp of Donald and Barbara Aitken of Irvine, California.Donald Aitken was a Navy-trained aviator who flew helicopters and then spent his airline career as a United Airlines captain on the 747, 727, 757, 767 and DC-10, retiring in 1996. He grew up watching planes overhead in rural North Dakota and flew radio-controlled airplanes well into his later years.The photos in this listing were scanned at 600dpi.Every effort is made for fact checking and provenance, including background research through news and historical archives. If any listing is incorrect in any way and you are unsatisfied with the item, please connect with me and I will make it right. Orders placed before Noon CDT will ship same day Ground Advantage with tracking so you know exactly when it will arrive. Returns accepted on all items exceeding $25 in cost. Rigid, professional packaging on all shipments, sealed and protected in acid free protectors. Shipping is free and already built into the price, so the BIN price is exactly what you pay, no surprise shipping costs at checkout.CONDITIONUsed. A company print in very good condition, approximately 8x10 inches. In the 600dpi scans the front shows no creases, tears, stains or fading. The image has natural film grain and soft detail in the distant background. The back is cream paper with the blue MDC ST. LOUIS DEC 12 1979 and NEGATIVES NOT FILED stamps, which are pale in places, and the typed Aitken collector stamp. There is no writing, tape or adhesive. Please see the photos, which are part of the description.
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