Western Air Express  Boeing 247   NC13315                           (c/n  1696)

                                    

                                        To meet the provisions of the Air Mail Act of 1934, WAE pulled out of TWA in December of that
                                        year.  A new Western Air Express Corporation was formed with Alvin P. Davis as president.  And so,
                                        when Western Air Lines used to state that its heritage went back to 1926 that was not strictly true, since
                                        the company which was formed after the original WAE merged with TWA was not the same one, and
                                        merely a resurrection of the old name.  Anyway, Davis recognized that his only chance for survival was
                                        to be associated with, and linked to, an airline with a transcontinental contract.   He therefore made an
                                        arrangement with United Air Lines for through ticketing, the sharing of facilities etc.  In fact, so intense
                                        was this cooperation that the traveling public was often confused as which of the two lines they were
                                        flying!   The Boeing 247 above (like all of WAE's) was at first leased, and then purchased from United
                                        in 1935.  It had originally been built for Boeing Air Transport in April 1933 as a model 247, but had
                                        been converted to 247-D status by the time WAE acquired it.   NC13315 crashed at Newhall,
                                        California on 12 January 1937 with the loss of five of the thirteen souls on board.
                                        On 1 Aug 1937 WAE acquired National Parks Airways.  This acquisition not only gave it a route
                                        from Salt Lake City to Great Falls, but also augmented its Boeing 247-D fleet, since NPA also
                                        operated the type.