Corporate aircraft delivered to tycoon Captain George Whittall in 1936. He owned a vast estate at Lake Tahoe called Thunderbird Lodge. NC16048's registration was cancelled in 1939 as sold in China (CNAC) when the registered owner was Nevada Exploration. The link to Whittall is not known. There is an alternative story for this aircraft and that is it was delivered in 1937 to Pan American which sold it to CNAC. This photo clearly supports the Whittall version. Photo by: Rudy Arnold / Smithsonian Institution
This photo was added on 23 June 2023, and has since been viewed 278 times.