Transamerican Airlines   Stinson SM-1D-300 Detroiter   NC486H

                                      

                                           The above rare photograph came from the Mrs Joan Lynch (daughter of Scenic Airways pilot
                                           F.H. Christensen) collection, via Craig Neumayer.  Transamerica had been founded in 1928 as
                                           the Thompson Aeronautical Corporation and was the successful bidder for CAM 27 which
                                           provided for service between Bay City, Michigan and Chicago.   In 1931 the airline operating
                                           division of Thompson became a subsidiary of the parent company and the name was changed
                                           to Transamerican Airlines.   Six Stinson Detroiters* were used and the route was soon extended
                                           from Bay City to Detroit and then across Lake Erie to Cleveland.  In 1929 the airline operated
                                           Keystone-Loening amphibians between the lakefronts of these two latter cities.  By 1932 the
                                           route had been extended into northern Indiana.     That same year American Airways acquired
                                           Thompson (and Transamerican with it) which in so doing gave it a through route from Buffalo to
                                           Chicago.
                                           * NC486H was one of the 225 hp SM-1Ds which had been modified to take the 300 hp
                                              Wright J6 engine.