Pan American-Grace
Airways Douglas DC-2-118A NC14298
(c/n
1370)
A less than
illustrious image received from the airline in 1952 of the last DC-2
acquired. Like much
of the
Panagra fleet it was originally delivered to Pan American World
Airways in 1936. Panagra
named it 'Santa
Elena', and gave it the trade-mark yellow stripes on the wings.
These were designed
to make
spotting the aircraft easier
were they to come down in the rugged Andean terrain over which
most of their route mileage was flown. Both Pan American and Pan
American-Grace were among the
first of the DC-2
operators, putting them into service in 1934. They flew
with Panagra from Cristobal
in the
Canal Zone all the way to
Montevideo in Uruguay. They were relieved by DC-3s
commencing
in
1937. NC14298 was lost in an
accident at San Luis, Argentina, in 1937.