American Airways  Lockheed 9-D Orion         NC12287   (c/n  199)

                                    

                                           This nice image was acquired from American Airlines in the 1940s.  Its predecessor, American
                                           Airways, had ordered a fleet of six of these fast monoplanes in 1933.  They were equipped with
                                           night-flying equipment and used exclusively on air mail and express parcel routes.  Introduced in
                                           1931 as the "World's fastest airliner" they still held that title in 1933.   For instance,the timetable
                                           for the Curtiss Condors between Cleveland and Dallas/Fort Worth called for an elapsed time of
                                           some eleven hours.  The Orions, on the other hand, were able to fly the same route in seven and
                                           a half hoiurs, cutting over three hours off the time.