Western Air
Express Fokker F-14 NC327N
(c/n 1408)
The F-14 was the
last Fokker design to be built in the U.S. It was designed as a
mailplane
with a parasol wing , thus enabling
pilots to see forward under the wing. The above photo-
graph was taken before WAE's
markings
had been applied to the fuselage. The airline only
had four of them,
purchased in 1929, no doubt due to the fact that since WAE were the
majority
stockholders in the Fokker Company
at the time, they felt some sort of obligation
to do so. The two shots below are
both from the Craig Neumayer collection. The upper
one shows
another of WAE's F-14s. However, the lower one shows the
prototype, N150H
and this aircraft never actually flew
with WAE. No doubt it was painted up in their titling as
a sales pitch. It went to Western
Canada Airways, who later merged into Canadian Airways
and the Fokker
was written off following an emergency landing near Pilot Butte in
January
1931. WAE's F-14s
passed to TWA at the time of the merger.
Western Air
Express Fokker F-14 NC328N
(c/n 1409)
(Western Air
Express titled) Fokker F-14 NC150H
(c/n 1401)