The fuselage on display at the Alaska Air Museum that does not have a registration painted on it is NC7791, an H-45.
The rudder on display is NC876H, an H-47.
We are going to cover NC7791, NC876H, and the most famous metalplane NC1002, NC879H which is still flying, and a few other metalplanes.
There were approximately 25 H-45s and 21 H-47s were built starting in 1928.
This is one of two in existence today.
(Wikipedia) Thomas F. Hamilton was the founder of (Wikipedia) Hamilton Standard, at one time the largest manufacturer of aircraft propellers in the world.
When Hamilton was a teenager, he started the Hamilton Aero Manufacturing Co. in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
In 1927 he hired (Wikipedia) James McDonnell to help in the design of the Hamilton Metalplane. McDonnell also worked on the design of the Keystone/Loening, model K-84 Commuter. McDonnell later founded McDonnell Aircraft in 1939. McDonnell had previously worked for the Stout Metal Airplane Division of the Ford Motor Co.
The Hamilton Metalplane Co. became a division of Boeing Aircraft in 1929 but was soon dissolved.
Also in 1929, the (Wikipedia) Boeing School of Aeronautics was started at the Oakland Municipal airport.
The planes were first built at the Park Street factory on the south side of Milwaukee.
There were approximately 20 Hamilton H-47 planes built starting in 1928.
In 1928, a Hamilton Metalplane was the twenty first airplane purchased by Northwest Airlines, based in St. Paul, Minnesota.
| H-45 | H-47 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crew: | 2 | |||
| Passengers: | 6 | |||
| Number Built: | 25 | 21 | ||
| Wingspan: | 54 feet 5 inches | 16.59 m | ||
| Length: | 34 feet 8 inches | 10.57 m | ||
| Height: | 9 feet 4 inches | 2.84 m | ||
| Empty Weight: | 3,300 lbs | 1,496.8 kg | 3,450 lbs | 1,564.9 kg |
| Useful Load: | 2,450 lbs | 1,111.3 kg | 2,300 lbs | 1,043.3 kg |
| Payload: | 1,250 lbs | 566.9 kg | 1,110 lbs | 503.5 kg |
| Gross Weight: | 5,750 lbs | 2,608.1 kg | 5,750 lbs | 2,608.1 kg |
| Fuel Capacity: | 140 Gal | 529.9 L | ||
| Oil Capacity: | 9 Gal | 34.0 L | ||
| Engine: | P & W Wasp R-1340 9-cylinder air cooled radial |
P & W Hornet R-1690 9-cylinder air cooled radial |
||
| Power: | 450 hp | 335 kW | 525 hp | 391 kW |
| Engine Weight: | 930 lb | 421.8 kg | 1,014 lb | 459.9 kg |
| Landing Speed: | 50 mph | 80.5 km/h | 53 mph | 85.3 km/h |
| Cruise Speed: | 115 mph | 185.0 km/h | 120 mph | 193.1 km/h |
| Max Speed: | 135 mph | 217.3 km/h | 145 mph | 233.4 km/h |
| Climb (at Sea Level): | 950 ft/min | 289.5 m/min | 1,000 ft/min | 304.8 m/min |
| Service Ceiling: | 15,000 ft | 4,572 m | 16,000 ft | 4,876 m |
| Range: | 650 miles | 1,046.0 km | 600 miles | 965.6 km |
The “Useful Load” includes Fuel and Oil.
If you fill the tanks with fuel and oil, you can add the “Payload” weight into the plane.
The Metalplane fuselage on display is NC7791, the rudder, marked NC876H is from another plane.
| Model: | H-47 |
| Engine: | P & W Hornet R-1690 525 hp (391 kW) |
| S/N: | 50 |
| Sept 21, 1928 | Manufacture date |
| Nov 2 1928 | Application for Airplane License by Northwest Airways, Inc., St Paul Minnesota Date stamped by the Department of Commerce, Aeronautics Branch |
| May 11, 1932 | Northwest Airways, Weight and Balance included: Two-way radio - 200 lbs Hand inertia starter - 22 lbs Landing lights - 29 lbs Two Wiley flares, type three - 49 lbs |
| Feb 4, 1935 | Northwest Airlines, Inc. purchased all the property of Northwest Airways, Inc |
| June 7, 1937 | Registered by: Charles Babb, Glendale, California |
| 1939 | Used in Columbia Pictores movie "Only Angels Have Wings" as BARRANCA AIRWAYS #11 "F-AOD" Probably used in movie "Men with Wings", painted as Army Air Corps aircraft. |
| March 20, 1939 | Sold to Wein Alaska Airlines, Inc., Fairbanks, Territory of Alaska Signed by Noel Wein, Notary Public from Los Angeles. |
This photo courtesy of Dan Shumaker - Visit Dan's hangar at www.shu-aero.com
According to an AOPA article by Barry Schiff, Wien Alaska Airways received its second Hamilton in 1939 after the airplane had been used in the filming of Howard Hawks’ “Only Angels Have Wings”, starring Cary Grant, Jean Arthur, and Rita Hayworth. Also stars Noah Beery, Jr. the nephew of Wallace Beery who owned a Travel Air. According to Wikipedia a Travel Air 6000, the same model as AAM’s Travel Air 6000 was in the film also.
The advertised empty weight of an H-47 is 3,450 pounds.
In 1933, NC7791 had an empty weight 893 pounds heavier than the specifications number.
That is because the Northwest Airways plane included things like a two-way radio, a starter, a generator, a battery, landing lights, a booster magneto (to start the engine), an oil radiator, and wheels and tires.
Take a look at the “Two Wiley flares, type three” that weigh 49 pounds!
The Hamilton Metalplane Co. became a division of Boeing Aircraft in 1929. Also in 1929, the (Wikipedia) Boeing School of Aeronautics was started at the Oakland Municipal airport, so it makes sense that a Hamilton Metalplane was uased at the Boeing School of Aeronautics. In the background you can see tail number NC795H, a Stearman Model 6A converted to a 6L according to airhistory.org.uk also owned by the Boeing School of Aeronautics.
The roundel (a circular disc used as a symbol) definitely says “Costal Air Freight”, but if you look at the left and right of the roundel, could “Boeing School of Aeronautics” have been painted over?
NC10002 is the sister ship to the fuselage on display here. Noel Wien made the 1st flight from North America to Asia in March 1929.
Ben Eielson crashed Metalplane NC10002 near North Cape, Siberia on Nov 9, 1929.
Harold Gilliam flew the open cockpit Wien Stearman NC5415 (around the corner) in Siberia in the winter while searching for Eielson and Borland.
The December 28, 1928 edition of the Fairbanks News-Miner reported the arrival of the Hamilton Metalplane NC10002.
“The task of assembling the giant Hamilton monoplane of Wein Airways which arrived in pieces on the freight train yesterday will take five days or so say mechanics for the company.”
NC-879 H was built in 1929 at the Hamilton Metalplane Division of Boeing Aircraft Company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Although originally licensed as NC-875 H, its number was changed to NC- 879 H by Jack Lysdale so that he could restore it using the Northwest Airways logo and number 27 thereby making it more authentic. This H-47 model, powered by a Pratt & Whitney Hornet engine, was sold originally to the Ontario Provincial Air Service in 1930 with Canadian license CF-OAJ. It was used primarily as a float plane. After going through several owners, it was eventually stored at Deering, Alaska. Its logbook showed it had a total time then of 5183 hours.
The first and fastest nonstop transcontinental airline service was provided by a Hamilton Metalplane on floats. This is when Isthmian Airways offered 30-minute, north-south passenger flights across the Panama Canal Zone between the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans. In 1929 the fare was $10 one way and $15 round trip. They started with four Hamilton H-47 planes.
In the January 1931 issue of ‘US Air Services’ The Cleveland Pnumatic Tool Company of Cleveland, Ohio ran an ad for the Aerol shock absorbing Strut that mentioned “Wein Alaska Airways, Inc., operating Hamilton Metalplanes along the Siberian Coast.”
