Are there any U.S. aviation history buffs here? Need help identifying

[CTyankee]

the approximate year a photo of my father was taken.

The small photo shows just the mid portion of a two seated plane. My dad is in the front seat, in back of him has to be the pilot (wearing the hat with ear flaps and goggles) since daddy had extremely bad vision. The signage on the side of the plane is Booth-Henning, Inc. Love Field Dallas Distributors. There appears to be no canopy.

Growing up in Dallas I remember Love Field, of course, before there was DFW. And my father loved aviation and had friends in the wartime industry in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area. I am guessing that this photo was taken sometime in the 30s before I was born....

Can anyone recommend a good online resource that I can research?

Thanks!

[HopeHoops]

1. Can you post the photo?

[CTyankee]

7. I don't have a scanner but my dtr does so I'll get it up on DU evenutally.

Some of the technology has surpassed my computer equipment and skills...

[taterguy]

2. My answer to all questions like this is to ask a librarian

In my state they have a chat service where you can ask questions like that and have a professional reference librarian look up the answer for you.

[BlueCollar]

3. You can start here maybe?

http://www.airheritage.org/f24.html

[CTyankee]

6. Beautiful plane at that link!

My guess is that one is earlier than the one in my picture. The wings in my pic extend from the body of the plane, not over the top.

Just talked to my dtr in CA who has a friend involved in aviation history! So I'm having the pic scanned and sent to her...maybe we'll get the mystery solved.

I love the air heritage link you provided! Thank you so much...I can do lots of other research there once I get a better handle on this plane and this era. My dad loved aviation and was pretty bummed that he couldn't be a pilot, but he had friends who were and I'd like to know more about what it was like in those days...

[r54w32]

4. I.D.

Call these guys and email them a photo...Some of these old buzzards are pretty sharp.

http://www.museumofflight.org/harl-v-brackin-library

[Haole Girl]

5. A google search of Booth-Henning, Inc...

lead me to Fairchild.

Did it look like this (below pic)?

http://www.airplane-pictures.net/type.php?p=1197

[CTyankee]

8. More like the Fairchild PT-13. But I have scant knowledge of aircraft.

I'm pretty sure my pic is pre-WWII and that Fairchild looks later. For one thing the plane in my pic is silver colored.

[Crabby Appleton]

9. Look anything like a Ryan ST?

[CTyankee]

10. Yes, from what I can see of the plane. The photo does not show the

landing gear and the back section right behind the pilot's seat appears to be darker than the lighter silver in front of it. The windshields appear to be the same and the wing attachment, from what little I can see of it, is the same. Could this be the plane?

[Crabby Appleton]

13. Check out the photo at the first link

http://digital.utsa.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/p9020coll008&CISOPTR=1535&CISOBOX=1&REC=8

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_ST

[CTyankee]

14. You found it! Thanks!

So the plane my dad was in is probably the Ryan ST-A! What an interesting background the plane had! My guess is that my pic was taken at Love Field,but it could have been taken at Stinson...Texans really liked being able to get around the big state in planes back then...

A little story unrelated to this pic: Daddy had a very good friend who was an engineer with Chance-Vaught during WWII. He helped design the engines that were used in the bombers that bombed the Ploesti oil fields, from what I was told (my memory of this goes back a lot!). This friend, like my dad, was unable to become a pilot for some reason. And altho his service to his country during the war was vital, he couldn't get over the fact that he wasn't a pilot. So he fabricated a little story that he had flown with the RAF prior to the U.S. declaring war on Germany. Everyone in his circle of friends, including my parents, knew it wasn't true, but no one had the heart to call him out on it...he was a really nice man. My mother told me he was still telling his "story" late in life when he retired to Sun City. She and daddy got a huge laugh out of it...

[EnviroBat]

23. Wow, that's a beautiful plane...!

[struggle4progress]

11. ... Cooper Airmotive's history dates back to the formation of Edward F. Booth Inc. in 1932. This was

launched as an aircraft dealership at Dallas's Love Field by former Army flyer "Doc" Booth. The company became Booth-Henning Inc. in 1934 ... It was renamed Southwest Airmotive Co. in 1940 ... http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/history2/98/Aviall-Inc.html

So the signage dates from between 34 and 40

[CTyankee]

15. And that signage jells with the period of time this photo would have been taken.

My father looks like he would have been in his early 30s.

Thanks for the research on this...

[struggle4progress]

12. Maybe contact the flight museum at Love Field for help?

6911 Lemmon Ave. - Southeast side of Dallas Love Field
http://www.flightmuseum.com/index.htm

[CTyankee]

16. I didn't realize there WAS a flight museum at Love Field, but it makes sense.

Both my parents loved aviation. They were friends with Tom Braniff and my mother got a job at Braniff in the late 50s. I got the impression growing up in the 40s and 50s that a lot of Texans were aviation happy in those days...

[struggle4progress]

17. IIRC it's a museum with a general focus. I haven't been there for many years:

I went on a slow day and had a long chat with a very knowledgable curator

It's probably a natural repository for Love Field records and such, so they might actually like to have a copy of your photo, together with information about watermarks in the paper or printing on the paper &c&c and any other details you could provide

[CTyankee]

18. Incredible...at these moments I wish I could just call up my parents and ask them about it.

I never get back to Dallas. After 2005 with my mother's death and my brother's which preceded hers in 2004, it was the "end of the line" of my immediate family there. What a rich history!

[Skittles]

19. I love that museum!

it's is small but awesome and the folk there are very knowledgeable. I got a couple of coffee cups with certain planes/history on them. :D

[CTyankee]

20. I will definitely contact them. I actually have two photos that they might be interested in.

This one and another of a Braniff Airways "b" Liner. It's a great photo!

[El Supremo]

21. Try the aviation collection at UT Dallas. It's probably the largest in DFW.

BTW, my father was a pilot for Braniff. He had previously flown in the plane that claimed Tom Braniff.

[CTyankee]

22. Was he based in Dallas? When did he pilot for Braniff?

nt

[El Supremo]

24. Here:

Mid-Continent @ Kansas City 1939-1952 with a draft by the ATC in WWII
Braniff (merged with Mid-Continent) @ Kansas City 1952-1961
Braniff @ Dallas 1961-1973 with an assignment with the PACMAC @ Travis AFB during Viet Nam

[CTyankee]

25. Thanks. Your dad and my mother were employed by Braniff about thesame time.

She worked for the Pass Bureau and "pioneered" the "swapping" of passes with other airlines. Because of this, I got to go to Europe via KLM in 1956 and South America via Braniff in 1957, both trips on propellered aircraft! I remember that we had to refuel in Newfoundland on the way to Europe and the excruciatingly long trip down to Rio (but what a magnificent view flying in at night!) from Lima, with a stop in Sao Paulo. Gracious dining on board and coffee served from a silver service!

Things have certainly changed...

[El Supremo]

26. Dad...

was training to transfer to Miami for the South American routes, but Braniff sold all the DC-4s and he had to stay in KC. I'm sure glad, because I wouldn't have liked to live in Miami.