Seen here after suffering a landing accident at Bridgeport. The registration was cancelled in October 1, 1939, but by then Air Line Feeder System had already ceased services. Photo by: Rudy Arnold / Smithsonian Institution

Air Line Feeder System was a small airline that served the New England region of the US. Ceased operations in September 1939. NC15109 flew on into the 1950s in Alaska. The last registered owner was Grand Central Airport Co at Glendale, CA. Registration cancelled in 1955 and the airport closed a few years later. The airport was run by Corliss Moseley, who continued to restore old aircraft on the airport site until 1972. What happened to NC15109 (N15109) is not known. Photo by: Rudy Arnold / Smithsonian Institution

On a flight from Buchanan Field, Concord, to Napa. It had recently arrived from Alaska and was being flown solo by Bob Gardner, a WWII B-24 pilot.

Airworthy 1934-built Stinson A undergoing final restoration in American Airlines scheme.

Sold in Panama in 1938. 1940s Delta Air Lines photo. Photo from: Civil Aviation Historical Society, Melbourne, Australia

Crashed at Lamington National Park on February 19, 1937.

VH-UHH crashed in the Lamington National Park in February 1937. The other aircraft are VH-UKK and Rapide VH-UBN

The novelty of flying in 1936 meant whole families turned out to watch the sleek Stinson be refuelled.

Three 260hp Lycomings replaced by two 550hp Pratt and Whitneys in 1943. Destroyed on January 31, 1945 when port wing separated. Rest of aircraft disintegrated. Metal fatigue blamed, exacerbated by the more powerful engines.

Converted to a twin (P&W Wasp) in 1942. Withdrawn from use the day sister ship VH-UYY, also a twin, shed a wing in flight.

VH-UHH was involved in one of the most famous accidents in Australian aviation history. On February 19, 1937 it vanished on a flight from Brisbane to Sydney with two pilots and five passengers on board. Nine days later, Bernard O'Reilly, of the Lamington Guest House, hiked into the McPherson Range convinced that was where the plane had come down. On March 1 he found the wreckage and the two surviving passengers. Two passengers and the pilots died in the crash and the fifth passenger fell to his death over a waterfall trying to reach help.

VH-UGG crashed at Archerfield on March 28, 1937, Photographed over Melbourne by John Harrison.

We've come a long way since this airliner was state of the art! There is a short article about the restoration of this airplane in the June 2001 issue of Air Classics