Early U.S. air carriers experimented with aircraft from dozens of startup manufacturers. An early favorite were the open-cockpit biplane offerings from the Weaver Aircraft Company from Troy, Ohio, a firm that started in 1920 and changed its name to WACO in 1928.
WACO developed dozens of models and subtypes over its 27-year history and even got into closed-cabin craft used by airlines and early corporate transports. The manufacturer appears not just in the Northwest timeline, but also at the beginning of the North Central story!
Since 1986, WACO Classic Aircraft has been constructing new-build aircraft to modern standards using the heritage blueprints, so it’s not unusual to see one of these timeless designs at an airfield near you.
If you use these photos, please credit the Northwest Airlines History Center – please also contact us to let us know how you’re using them and if we can be of further help!
Northwest
NWA was an enthusiastic operator of WACO airframes, with four examples of the model 10-9 GXE (registrations C4774, C4775, C4776, and C5274); one Model 10W (C7446); one Model DSO-150; one Model JTO, and a pair of Model JYM (NR731K and NR631N).
1930 shot at the Minneapolis terminal. NWA publicity department. The Railway Express Agency logo sits below the cockpit – no Northwest logo appears on this example.NR731K at St. Paul, likely 1929, with Bill Hoffman in the cockpit and Ted Anderson standing alongside. C.W. Opsahl photo in the James Borden Collection at the NWAHC.Mal Freeeburg is in the cockpit of NR731K, with ground agent Leo Torsten preparing to load night mail. 1929 photo from Geo. Weir thru Vince Doyle in the James Borden collection at the NWAHC.Mal Freeburg and NR42M in front of the St. Paul hangar doors, fall 1929. James Borden collection.Loading night air mail at the St. Paul passenger terminal onto NR731K, winter 1929-30. Mike Myers photo from the James Borden Collection at the NWAHC.Summer 1932 shot of the well-lit St. Paul shops sees both of the Waco JYM models being serviced, with NR731K in foreground. Also two Hamilton Metalplanes are being worked on, and in the back, what was for the time a massive Ford Tri-Motor. Photographer unknown, from the James Borden Collection at the NWAHC.Fred Whittimore was the NWA operations manager in the early 1930s and had much input on the design of the Waco JYM “Taperwing.” This July 1933 shot is at the St. Paul Downtown Airport and shows off its newly-installed engine cowling and streamlined landing wheel covers. Also note the large lamps under each side of the lower wing to illuminate runways and airfields for night flying, as airports had not yet adopted the forest of differently-colored guideway lights modern flyers are accustomed to. Wright Ratcliff / George Johnson photo in the James Borden Collection at the NWAHC.NR42M at St. Paul, August 1933. James Borden collection. Waco aircraft were not front-line flyers at this time, but ran flights on company business and handled some air mail to smaller ports of call.NR42M at St. Paul, August 1933. James Borden collection; G. Johnson photo.NR42M out at Boeing Field in Seattle in 1934, sporting a streamlined engine cowling! G. Williams/Boeing photo in the James Borden Collection.“Speed” Holman’s Waco, still hanging on the G concourse at Minneapolis-St. Paul in October 2009 before being taken down and shipped to the Delta museum in Atlanta. D. Scott Norris collection.
NC4576, built in 1928, still with the Northwest Airways logo and “Speed” Holman lettering under the cockpit, now hangs over the theater at the Delta Flight Museum at company headquarters in Atlanta. This shot was taken June 22, 2019 by Scott Norris.
Waco JYM NC991H built 1929 for Northwest’s mail service, preserved at the Historic Aircraft Restoration Museum, Dauster Field, St Louis. Photo by RuthAS, via Wikimedia Commons; CC 3.0 license.
Wisconsin Central
When the Four Wheel Drive Auto Company of Clintonville, Wisconsin decided to set up a corporate flight wing, their first purchases were for a pair of WACO four-seat biplanes. The first was a model UIC, registration NC13434, and the other was a model C-7, registration NC2270. In the summer of 1944, these were traded out for Cessna Bobcats as the outfit began its evolution into Wisconsin Central.
