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NC489W — - A historic moment at Carson City Airport (KCXP) in Nevada yesterday when five Stearman Aircraft Model 4 Speedmails held a "reunion." br /From left ....br /NC485W, a Stearman Model 4DM Senior painted in its original American Airways colors; NC663K (back row-left side), a Stearman Model 4E Junior painted in National Air Tour colors; NC489W (center front), a Stearman Model 4 Junior painted in Standard Oil Company colors of 1929; NC791H (back row-right side), a Stearman Model 4E Junior painted in Standard Oil Companys 1929 colors; and NC663K, a Stearman Model 4E Junior painted in Richfield Oil Company colors.br /br /SPECIAL NOTE - These aircraft are enroute to San Diego where they will begin a reenactment of the first government airmail flight in America which took place on May 15, 1918. For five days beginning on May 13th, they will be flying United States mail from San Diego to Seattle. They will make several stops along the way.br /br /For info about this reenactment flight, click on the link below ...br /br /a rel=nofollow href=http://www.cam8in2018.com/2018-scheduled-routehttps://www.cam8in2018.com/2018-scheduled-route/abr /br /For more info about the Stearman Model 4 Speedmails, click on the two links below ...br /br /a rel=nofollow href=http://www.opencockpit.net/spedmail.htmlhttp://www.opencockpit.net/spedmail.html/abr /a rel=nofollow href=http://wikivisually.com/wiki/Stearman_4https://wikivisually.com/wiki/Stearman_4/a
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NC489W —

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A historic moment at Carson City Airport (KCXP) in Nevada yesterday when five Stearman Aircraft Model 4 Speedmails held a "reunion."
From left ....
NC485W, a Stearman Model 4DM Senior painted in its original American Airways colors; NC663K (back row-left side), a Stearman Model 4E Junior painted in National Air Tour colors; NC489W (center front), a Stearman Model 4 Junior painted in Standard Oil Company colors of 1929; NC791H (back row-right side), a Stearman Model 4E Junior painted in Standard Oil Company's 1929 colors; and NC663K, a Stearman Model 4E Junior painted in Richfield Oil Company colors.

SPECIAL NOTE - These aircraft are enroute to San Diego where they will begin a reenactment of the first government airmail flight in America which took place on May 15, 1918. For five days beginning on May 13th, they will be flying United States mail from San Diego to Seattle. They will make several stops along the way.

For info about this reenactment flight, click on the link below ...

https://www.cam8in2018.com/2018-scheduled-route

For more info about the Stearman Model 4 Speedmails, click on the two links below ...

http://www.opencockpit.net/spedmail.html
https://wikivisually.com/wiki/Stearman_4

1 of NC489W 669 at KCXP
Gary Schenauer
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Gary SchenauerPhoto Uploader
There are only seven known "surviving" Stearman Model 4s, and the two that were not here are no longer in flying condition. I was extremely honored to be invited to photograph the arrival of three of these wonderful aircraft (NC485W, NC489W, and NC667K) when they came to CXP to join up with the two that are already here (NC663K and NC791H). When the three approached CXP, they flew in formation and then executed a left break maneuver to come around and land. I'll share pics of them in formation and going into the left break.
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Greg Byington
That's pretty cool, Gary! Thanks for sharing.
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Tom Vance
Gman, can I save your a/c data and use it after KO85 stop for ID-ing?

Plus 5 BIG RADIALs x5 stars each!!!!!!!
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peterjp5
that is awesome! nice shot!
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cliff731
Gary - How well I do remember the past halcyon era of "Air Mail" service... with those special postage stamps as always seemed to have an "airliner" or "flying boat" aircraft on them... and the unique Air Mail envelopes with a red/white/blue marked border. Often enclosed would be the very thin vellum paper used for "Air Mail" letter writing... marked in the same manner and both also with the words in French, Par avion... "by airplane"!!!

The Post Office in the United States used unique mail sacks for dispatching Air Mail too. These were bright orange in hue and constructed from a nylon type fabric. Air Mail always received priority and special handling!

Air Mail contracts were a coveted prize for the domestic airlines in the U.S. and a lucrative source of income for the same.
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Tom Vance
Gman- tomorrow is the BigDay - Thundershowers now in RDD area - Hoping for clear wx tomorrow!
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a mentor
@Gary; IMO it's great that such history is being recorded. Would really be sweet to see links to sites with such documentation. The day is getting near when those that did the work will be just memories/memorials and it will all just disappear.

AKA; who remembers Wiley Post, charles chennault and the avg or Greg "pappy" Boyington?
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