The Air Express was a parasol-winged development of the Vega. The eighth and last example was built for a transatlantic flight by Laura Ingalls. She used it for a voyage through South America instead. Photo likely taken before she changed to a Lockheed 9D Orion, NC14222, late in 1934. The Air Express became NC974Y, see other photo. Photo from: Nationaal Archief (Netherlands)

Built for transatlantic flight by Laura Ingalls but Amelia Earhart became the first female to solo across the Atlantic instead in 1932. Ingalls then flew the aircraft around South America and over the Andes in 1934. It was NR974Y then and had the cabin windows faired over. It passed to other operators and is reported destroyed in a wind storm in Nevada in 1942. Ingalls, meanwhile, had developed outspoken Nazi sympathies and was arrested as a German agent. Photo from: Browning Studio / New-York Historical Society