A luxurious executive aircraft used by Richfield Oil president James Talbot, who invested in Atlantic Fokker and Western Air Express - a photo exists with Talbot, Anthony Fokker and his wife in the midnight blue cabin which was elaborately decorated with a zodiac theme. NC5614 delivered in June 1928. Taken in San Diego, the photo is dated 1930 by the source but aircraft was sold already in January 1929 to Northern Air Lines of Minneapolis, and soon operated by Universal Air Lines with 'Sky Diner' titles. Destroyed in a hangar fire at Chicago on 25 June 1930. Photo from: San Diego Air & Space Museum

The Universal (no F designation) was the first type by the Atlantic Fokker company and lacked the cantilever wing of the European Fokkers, but fulfilled the needs of American aviation companies at the time. Aero Corporation of California was a flying school, workshop and regional distributor of Fokker. NC696 was the fourth Universal to pass through Aero and was used for demonstration and charter flights before delivery to Pacific Air Transport. Standard Airlines, active from late 1927, was a subsidiary of Aero. Photo from: San Diego Air & Space Museum

now resides at the Western Canada Aviation Museum, Winnipeg (photographer not known)

This aircraft was registered to Western Air Express which owned West Coast Air Transport. It was written off at Love Field, Texas, not long after being sold. The small railroad town Montague was a stop on the airline's Seattle-Oakland service via Portland. There was not a ticket office in Montague, which was noted for its cattle industry. Photo from: Merriam Library, California State Library

Registration cancelled in 1932. Anderson Field was the first airport at Las Vegas. Known as Rockwell Field after a change of ownership. Airport closed by 1930. Western Air Express moved its services to what is now Nellis AFB but was then a private airport owned at one stage by the airline. Photo from: University of Nevada Las Vegas

Operated by MacRobertson Miller Airlines. VH-UJT was sold to a Catholic mission in Papua New Guinea in 1939 and crashed soon afterwards. Photo from: State Library of South Australia

Despite two prominent private customers, Harold Vanderbilt and speedboat magnate Garfield Wood, the six-passenger F-11 flying boat was not very successful. This airframe was tested by the US Army as the YC-16. Here it is seen wearing Western Air Express markings. WAE was affiliated with the American Fokker company and may have considered it for its seaplane service to Catalina Island, but WAE never operated the aircraft. Location thought to be the Teterboro factory airfield. Photo from: Nederlands Instituut voor Militaire Historie

Aircraft has a rare US letter registration. To NC54 in 1927. US commercial aviation lagged behind Europe and the small Universal is what Colonial Air Transport commenced flying with in 1926 between New York (Hadley Field, NJ) and Boston, carrying mail only. Photo from: Nederlands Instituut voor Militaire Historie

The route Los Angeles - San Francisco - Oakland is marked on the fuselage. Photo from: Smithsonian Institution

CF-AJH spent years stored at Canadian Vickers. Sold at the end of 1933. Withdrawn from use in 1936. Photo from: Ken Molson fonds - Ingenium

Crashed Fort St John on December 17, 1939. Photo from: Ken Molson fonds - Ingenium

Crashed while landing The Pas, Manitoba, on January 5, 1928. Photo from: Library and Archives Canada

G-CAHH was one of the seven aircraft that took part in the 1927-28 Hudson Strait Expedition - six Universals and a Moth. The five remaining Universals assembled at Erik Cove at the end of the expedition to prepare to fly to Ottawa. G-CAHH crashed on take off after a float strut failed. It was then decided to dismantle the aircraft and ship them out instead. G-CAHH was cancelled from the register after the accident. Photo from: Library and Archives Canada

Blown out into Hudson Bay on August 26, 1929. after dragging anchor during gale and sank during recovery attempt. Photo from: Library and Archives Canada

Registration cancelled in 1934. The building visible below the engine is Hotel Almendares. Photo from: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Crash of a Fokker F-11A amphibian at McDame Lake in northern British Columbia, see other photo for details and the preserved hull of this aircraft. Photo from: Canada Aviation Museum

This rare flying boat was in storage at the Aviodrome. Only six F.11s were built, and this is the only surviving example. Built in 1930, it was first operated by Air Ferries in San Francisco as NC399N, later by Gorst Air Transport in Seattle. Registered as CF-AUV on 1 Jul 1933 and crashed on take-off from McDame Lake, BC, Canada on 13 July 1935, when it struck trees after a limited take-off run. The wreck was salvaged and later acquired by the Western Canada Aviation Museum in Winnipeg (now the Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada). In 1992 it was loaned to the Aviodome, now the Aviodrome.

This is the real VH-UTO, destroyed in a hangar fire on 28 February 1939. The "VH-UTO" preserved at Hamilton, Victoria is in fact a Fokker F.XI, restored as a replica of the real VH-UTO. Photo from: Kevin O'Reilly.

At the short-lived Alhambra airport near LA, which cost WAE $2 million to develop according to the press. The terminal was inaugurated in April 1930 and airline operations already ceased one year later. According to ASN this F.10 crashed here on 22 December 1930. Photo from: Smithsonian Institution