Western Air Express  Loening C-2H Air Yacht   NC9773       (c/n  22)

                                          

                                               Some of these early WAE images are really grainy.  This does, however, give a fairly good
                                               impression of the general layout of what can only be described as one of the ugliest aircraft
                                               ever built.  In June 1928 Western Air Express purchased Pacific Marine Airways, a small
                                               company which had been flying excursion runs between Wilmington and Catalina Island as
                                               far back as 1922 using Curtiss HS-2L flying boats.   With the purchase came a motley
                                               collection of aircraft, including the Air Yacht seen above.