Metal Aircraft Flamingo G-2W NC-656E Embry-Riddle Era Airliner Photo 8x10 For Sale

Metal Aircraft Flamingo G-2W NC-656E
Embry-Riddle Era Airliner Photo 8x10
Survived a 1930 in-flight fire — one of only 21 builtDESCRIPTIONThis is an 8x10 black and white company print of the Metal Aircraft G-2W Flamingo, registration NC-656E, construction number 4, lettered UNITED AIR SERVICES with a winged emblem on the fuselage. The hand-lettered caption card on the back identifies it as the Metal G2W "Flamingo" NC-656E, c/n 4, operated by United Air Service, and credits the photograph to D. Russell. The registration NC 656E is legible on the rudder, and the high wing, radial engine and landing gear are all visible in the frame.The Flamingo was built in Cincinnati, Ohio by the Metal Aircraft Corporation, founded by Thomas Halpin, a former inspector at the Stout Metal Airplane Company, with Ralph Graichen, a co-designer of the Ford Trimotor, as chief engineer. It was an all-metal, high-wing cabin monoplane powered by a 410 hp Pratt and Whitney Wasp, built to carry six to eight passengers. Only 21 G-2 Flamingos were built, and the company did not last beyond 1929.Airline registers list the first owner of NC-656E as Embry-Riddle, the Cincinnati carrier that flew Contract Air Mail Route 24 between Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Chicago. On November 8, 1930, the World Airline Historical Society records, 21-year-old Captain Lionel Stephan was flying NC-656E on that route with four passengers when a fire started in the cabin floor near the heater, where heat had built up in the insulation. Stephan put the airplane down in an Indiana pasture among grazing cattle, put out the fire, and with the passengers' approval flew on to Chicago, where a mechanic patched the floor. The aircraft was back in Cincinnati the same day.By 1932 the airplane was flying under the names United Air Services and New York and Chicago Airways. An August 22, 1932 newspaper report describes a New York to Chicago Airways Flamingo arriving at Floyd Bennett Field in New York with six passengers from Chicago, and a photograph from that year places NC-656E there.This print is from the AITKEN COLLECTION. It is a 1979 company print made by McDonnell Douglas Corporation (MDC) in St. Louis, with the MDC St. Louis stamp dated December 12, 1979 on the back, and it is not an original period print. It is offered and priced as a 1979 company print. The back also carries the mailing stamp of Donald and Barbara Aitken of Irvine, California.Donald Aitken was a Navy-trained aviator who flew helicopters and then spent his airline career as a United Airlines captain on the 747, 727, 757, 767 and DC-10, retiring in 1996. He grew up watching planes overhead in rural North Dakota and flew radio-controlled airplanes well into his later years.Images were scanned at 600dpi.Every effort is made toward fact checking and provenance, including background research through news and historical archives. If any listing is incorrect in any way and you are unsatisfied with the item, please connect with me and I will make it right. Orders placed before Noon CDT ship same day via Ground Advantage with tracking so you know exactly when it will arrive. Returns accepted on all items exceeding $25. Rigid, professional packaging on all shipments, sealed and protected in acid free protectors. Shipping is free and already built into the price, so the BIN price is exactly what you pay, no surprise shipping costs at checkout.CONDITIONBlack and white 8x10 company print from 1979. The photograph is soft with some motion blur, which appears to come from the original exposure, and light dust specks are visible in the image area. The tail number, the UNITED lettering and the aircraft's outline remain readable.The back has a hand-lettered caption label, the blue MDC St. Louis stamp dated December 12, 1979, and the Aitken mailing stamp. Overall a clean, presentable print that is ready to display or add to a collection.

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