Category AN AIRIINE AN0 ITS AIRCRAFT

Airofher Passenger Airline

While Western Air Express had introduced passenger service along the California corridor, another enterprising company was doing the same (also without a mail contract) in the south. The Aero Corporation of California, an aircraft deal­ership and flying school, had formed a subsidiary, Standard Airlines, on 3 February 1926, incorporating it (as a Nevada Corporation) on 1 May 1928.

Creature Comforts

The Fokker Universals and a F-VIIa which at first comprised Standard’s fleet were adequate to fly from Los Angeles to Tucson; but the journey was quite long when service started on 28 November 1927. Recognizing a need, it provided on­board “comfort facilities limited to men.’’ But a brief stop was made for women at Desert Center, where “a solitary filling station boasted two crude outhouses.”

Transcontinental Ambitions

Standard’s officers included Lieut. Jack Frye, president; Paul Richter, Jr., treasurer; and Walter Hamilton, 2nd vice-president. As early as 4 February 1929, Frye announced the inauguration of “America’s First Transcontinental Air-Rail Travel Route.” This claim was made by extending its route beyond Tucson to El Paso, where it connected with the Texas and Pacific Rail­road. The claim became more legitimate, albeit still stretching the definition a little, when the coast-to-coast linkage was com­pleted on 4 August of that year by an alliance with Southwest Air Fast Express and the New York Central Railroad.

STANDARD AIR LINES

Purchased by Western Air Express, 1 May 1930

Los Angeles. —*3^ p El Paso

Service opened Phoenix

28 Nov. 1927 Tucson’ __

Douglas

Harris Hanshue expanded Western Air Express’s network considerably during 1929 and 1930, as shown in the map on page 20. The purchase of Standard Air Lines consolidated W. A.E. ’a grip on the airways west of the Rockies, but the T. A.T. merger reduced Hanshue’s influence and he sold this southern transcontinental link to American Airways in October 1930, to complete the latter’s coast-to-coast link-up.

West Coast Enterprise

One of several independent airlines in California that was trying to launch passenger air service without a mail con­tract was Union Air Lines, of Sacramento, concentrating on the more populous cities of the Golden State. On 5 March 1928, it started a daily service between San Fran­cisco and the northwest cities of Portland and Seattle. This also offered express package service, and operated as West Coast Air Transport, which was incorporated in Delaware on 27 June 1929. Its fleet consisted mainly of tri-motored Bach Air Yachts, which, however, must have met with problems when flying across the mountainous areas of northern California.

Western Air Express lakes Over

Harris Hanshue believed in the benefits of expansion and aimed to build an airline empire in the West. As part of this ambition, he acquired West Coast late in 1929, and thus com­pleted a route from Seattle to San Diego, effectively from Canada to Mexico. But unfortunately, the only mail contract along that route was Pacific Air Transport’s CAM 8, which operated, as part of the Boeing organization, from Seattle to

Los Angeles. Without a mail contract, West Coast lost money heavily, and after the crisis of 1930 (see page 24) Hanshue had to retrench, terminating service in December 1930 and selling to Boeing, for $250,000, on 16 March 1931.

Steady Expansion

During the first two or three years of its existence, Western Air Express spread its wings mainly by providing connecting services to the traditional transcontinental air mail route from San Francisco to New York (see map, page 17). No doubt Harris Hanshue felt that he should play more than just a subsidiary role in the national scheme of things, and consequently turned his eyes towards the East.

His most important step in that direction was to open, on 15 May 1929, a direct service from Los Angeles to Albuquerque, and extending this on 1 June to Kansas City. In May 1930, branch lines were opened to Oklahoma City and Tulsa, and to Fort Worth and Dallas. He had also provided, on 21 September 1929, a north-south link from Cheyenne to El Paso, by founding Mid-Continent Air Express. Even without a mail contract, Hanshue must have felt that he was establishing a revenue-earning base from passengers alone.

A line-up of Western Air Express aircraft at the Alhambra airport serving the Los Angeles area. The aircraft are (left to right) a Fokker F-10, Fokker F-14, Boeing 40, Boeing 95, Douglas M 4, and a Steannan 4D. They