Rare Northrup for sale

One of only two survivors

Jack Northrop had, of course, a major influence in the design of the all-wood Lockheed Vega - a record-setting aircraft that put the Lockheed name in front of the world. However, Northrop had started his own company and was intent on developing a flying wing but he did not want to give up on developing "conventional" high-performance aircraft.

Northrop and his small band of workers put together a new all-metal aircraft that he named the Alpha. Low wing, fixed gear with a passenger/cargo compartment in the forward fuselage and the pilot in the rear, the Alpha looked a bit like the all-wood Lockheed Sirius. Northrop would later recall, "I had previously experimented with a wooden monocoque but now I developed a smooth-skinned metal monocoque. It was the first of its type with the thin skin of the airplane carrying the structural load. As far as the structure is concerned, that which was developed on the Alpha was really the pioneer for every airplane in the sky today."

The first Alpha flew in March 1930 from Burbank and was flown by a number of well-known pilots of the time. However, it did not last a month - crashing after an aileron had torn loose. The pilot parachuted to earth and survived to fly another day. The second aircraft was completed and extensively test flown. The Alphas slowly started to sell and almost the entire production run would go to Transcontinental & Western Air (TWA). TWA vice-president Jack Frye wanted a fast Los Angeles to New York mail plane and the Alpha seemed to fit the bill. Five were ordered and the airline had them by April 1931. On 20 April, TWA inaugurated America's first 24-hour coast-to-coast airmail and express service. Soon, another six Alphas were purchased but during the first six months of operation, TWA's eleven Alphas were involved in eleven accidents of varying severity.

This infuriated Frye and pilots were either temporarily suspended or fired outright. TWA purchased a further two Alphas and actually flew the type for ten months before having one completely destroyed.

This brings us to one particular Alpha - construction number four (it was actually the third Alpha built but Northrop counted his Avion as c/n 1). This aircraft was completed on 10 October 1930 and assigned the restricted registration NR999Y. The cabin had been fitted for six passengers - three on each side facing each other. Northrop loaned the plane for a month to the Army Air Corps where it was utilized for the personal use of F. Trubee Davison, Secretary of War. Returned on 11 November 1930, the aircraft received the standard registration NC999Y.

On 13 April 1931, the Alpha was sold to TWA and assigned TWA fleet number five. On 15 November 1934, pilot George Rice was roaring towards Grand Central Air Terminal, Glendale, California, when some form of problem caused him to crash-land on the side of a mountain near Newhall, not far from his intended goal. The engine was torn off as was the gear while the wing was heavily damaged. Fortunately, Rice received only minor injuries but it took over a day to find the pilot. The aircraft was so heavily damaged that TWA wrote it off the books.

However, the remains survived to eventually be acquired by Edward T. Maloney for his fledgling The Air Museum. Recently, the remains have been put on display in one of the hangars and offered for sale (only one other Alpha survives and it is on display in the National Air and Space Museum).

"This is an extremely significant aircraft for commercial aviation," said museum president Steve Hinton "but we have decided to put the Alpha up for sale in order to raise more funds for our hangar building program." Those interested in the restoration project should contact Steve at 909-597-3722.

Copyright Challenge Publications Inc. Mar 2003
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