In front of the Babb hangar at Glendale. Jimmie Mattern again used the registration NR869E for this modified L-12. Planned long-range flights did not go ahead. Instead, Mattern used the aircraft to join the search for missing Soviet aviator Sigizmund Levanevsky, who had helped him following the crash of his Vega 5C NR869E (c/n 188) in Siberia. The L-12 was then converted to executive aircraft for owner/sponsor Republic Oil, but destroyed in a hangar fire in Miami in 1938. Photo from: San Diego Air & Space Museum

The first Vega NR869E. Jimmie Mattern and Bennett Griffin, whose names are marked in the circle on the fuselage, flew this plane from Floyd Bennett Field to Berlin in July 1932 as part of a round-the-world attempt. They crashed in Belarus as the cabin door came off and struck the tailplane. Smaller parts of the wreck were returned to the USA and used in the refurbishment of Mattern's second Vega, ex NC106N, with the reg NR869E, too, carried over at his request. Both aircraft went by the name Century of Progress, but it is not worn here. Photo by: Rudy Arnold / Smithsonian Institution

The second Vega NR869E. The first (c/n 69) crashed during a round-the-world flight. Salvaged parts were used to prepare this plane, ex NC106N with Standard Oil, for a second attempt. The Stanovo eagle on the fuselage formed the basis for a spectacular red on blue livery. Jimmie Mattern departed solo on 3 June 1933, but found navigation difficult and crashed due to the use of tractor fuel following an unscheduled landing in Siberia. Photo by: Rudy Arnold / Smithsonian Institution