Boeing Air Transport  Boeing 80-A   (N)C226M    (c/n  1084)

                                  

                                       So successful was the San Francisco to Chicago route that  BAT realized it needed a much larger
                                       aircraft than the Boeing 40-B-4 to satisfy the increasing passenger loads.  The result was the model
                                       80, (so named, I suppose, because it was "twice as good" as a 40!).  Originally an 18 passenger
                                       airliner, some were later modified (NC226M was one of them) into the model 80-A1 which had
                                       room for 12 pax, but with a larger freight and mail compartment.   In 1930 when United Air Lines
                                       came into being, the transcontinental schedule was extended all the way to New York City. To fly
                                       the entire coast to coast route took 27 hours.   In February 1929, Boeing Aircraft Corp merged,
                                       with Pratt & Whitney engines, into the United Aircraft & Transport Corporation.  Later acquisitions
                                       under this umbrella holding company were the Hamilton Propellor Company and Stearman Aircraft
                                       Co.  The operating line became known as the United Air Lines Group in 1930.  Boeing Air Trans-
                                       port retained its autonomy until 1934 when the decree went out (following the air mail fiasco) that
                                       manufacturers of aircraft could no longer participate in the operation of them.  i.e. aircraft building
                                       concerns were forced to divorce themselves from their sister airline companies.   The interior shot
                                       below of the forward part of the Boeing 80-A cabin is courtesy of the John Cilio collection.  Just
                                       love those over-the-window reading lamps!