CH-168 Lockheed Orion 9B
(c/n 190)
Unfortunately the image on the original of
this print, acquired from Swissair in the 1940s, is very
small.
This enlargement, therefore, suffers from lack of clarity.
Swissair purchased two of these
high
speed mail/passenger aircraft in 1932. (The other was CH-167, c/n
189). They were orig-
inally
built with US registrations NC12231 and NC12232
respectively. In 1934 CH-167 was
re-registered HB-LAH and CH-168 became HB-LAJ. They were sold in
1935 and wound up
on the
Republican side during the Spanish Civil War. In the 1970s,
Orion c/n 180 (NC12222)
was
acquired from the Paul Mantz collection and was completely restored as
CH-167. It is now
on
display at the Transportation Museum in Lucerne.