OTHER RESOURCES
Very readable volumes about the Grand Central Air Terminal are these books:
Underwood, John. 1984. Madcaps, Millionaires and 'Mose'. Heritage Press, Glendale, CA. 144pp.
And...
Underwood, John. 2007. Grand Central Air Terminal. Arcadia Publishing. Charleston, SC. 127pp.
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A very readable, and brief, online history of the Grand Central Air Terminal by Ron DIckson is at the link.
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Everything you ever wanted to know about the Ford tri-motor series is in William L. Larkins' 1957 book, The Ford Story: A Pictorial History of the Ford Tri-Motor. Robert R. Longo Company. Wichita, KS. 178pp.
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I'm looking for information and photographs of this airplane to include on this page. If you have some you'd like to share, please click this FORM to contact me.
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FORD 5-AT-C NC8411
This airplane, a model 5-AT-C, was S/N 5-AT-49. It was manufactured during June, 1929 by the Stout Metal Airplane Company (Division of Ford Motor Company), Dearborn, MI. It came from the factory with three Pratt & Whitney Wasp engines (S/Ns L 1586, C 1477, R 1601) of 400 HP each. It weighed 13,500 pounds.
It is signed in the Grand Central Air Terminal (GCAT) Register three times. First on Monday, May 18,1931 at 8:32AM. Kansas City, MO was written in the Register, but it was not possible to determine if this was its destination or where it arrived from. Probably the former at that time of day. Only the unidentified pilot and co-pilot were on board.
Its second landing was on Saturday, May 30, 1931 at 9:43AM. This time tower Operator A.J. Lygum identified the pilot as Lamar Nelson. He and his unidentified co-pilot departed with seven passengers eastbound to Kansas City.
The third visit was on Monday, June 1, 1931 at 9:42PM. The unidentifed pilot and co-pilot were the only ones on board on the flight, which was probably a dead-head repositioning of the airplane from Kansas City to Los Angeles. It was operated by T.W.A. on all of its landings. The photograph, below, is from the Larkins reference in the left sidebar. The information above the image is a summary of the chain of custody for the airplane.
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While with T.W.A., NC8411 starred in a serialized motion picture, "Hurricane Express," starring a very young John Wayne. NC8411 also appeared twice, on January 14th and January 24, 1930, in the Davis-Monthan Airfield Register, Tucson, AZ. A still from "Hurricane Express" is displayed at the link, as well as other information about the airplane.
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THIS PAGE UPLOADED: 03/16/16 REVISED: