West Coast Air
Transport Bach 3-CT-4 Air Yacht (Registration and
c/n unknown)
I gleaned this image when I worked for Western Airlines in
1958. The tri-motor Bachs were
somewhat
of an oddity in that the main fuselage engine was a Wright J5 and the
smaller wing
nacelle power pods were
Ryan-Siemens 9s. Morton Bach originally had an aircraft
maintenance
shop on the old Clover Field in Santa Monica, before building his own
designs. Several airlines
flew Bachs although WCAT were the first to do so, back in 1928.
The airline operated no less
than eight of
these tri-motor aircraft on a service from Seattle to Portland (its
base) and San
Francisco, beginning in March 1928. A year later it was acquired
by Union Air Lines of
Sacramento. Shortly after that (late 1929) Western Air Express
bought the line. . I believe
there were
about 30 Bachs (of all models) built.