Aircraft photos - 1936 - 1938

From Boston, MA and Hartford, CT airports

By Stephen Sherman, Apr. 2007. Updated July 21, 2011.

Here is a collection of 37 photographs that my Dad took, mostly when he was a teenage aviation enthusiast, during the years 1936 and 1938. The photos were labelled in his ancient little black scrapbook, and I transcribed them here. He used an inexpensive box camera, probably a  Kodak "Brownie," to take these, and their quality is mediocre. The originals are small, about the size of a modern wallet-size photo.  My scans capture about all the detail available on the originals.

He took these at three airports:

• Rentschler Field - East Hartford, CT
  
• Brainard Field - Hartford, CT, just across the Connecticut River from Rentschler Field
  
• Boston Airport - He labelled these variously "East Boston" and "Boston Airport." but these terms were synonymous, for the only airport in the Boston area.  Today, it is Logan Airport.
  

Military airplanes: fighters, bombers, observation planes

Civil aircraft: small high-winged monoplanes, larger passenger carriers

One of the civil airplanes shown here is the Stinson Reliant, a very popular personal airplane for the wealthy of the era, including Connecticut Governor Trumbull.  There are other intriguing labels on the fuselage of some of these planes. The Hartford Courant owned one; I suppose for its reporters' mobility, or perhaps the executives.  Then there is the Curtiss-Wright Condor, a rather large bi-plane, apparently operated as a passenger craft by American Airlines.

Don't miss the picture of Charles Lindbergh at the bottom. My Dad did not take that picture, but he got it from a local photo developer, who apparently passed around a few copies of it to his friends and neighbors. You can see that same photo in various places, but at this point, it surely is in the public domain.

Civil airplanes - general aviation: Stinson Reliants and others
Stinson 105 Brainard Field	Kitty Hawk?, NC 241H Brainard Field,	Beechcraft B17E
Luscombe 8 Phantom, NC1344?	Fairchild 24 Boston Airport July 21, 1936	Beechcraft 17?, NC17073
Gov. Trumbull's Stinson Reliant Rentschler Field	Stinson Reliant fuselage logo "The Hartford Times - First in News"	Stinson Reliant Rentschler Field
Stinson SM8A
Civil airplanes - Racers: "Time Flies" and a Laird Racer
Laird Racer, NC14803 Boston Airport, Shobe Airlines hangar August 8, 1936	"Time Flies" - Granville racer Frank Hawks' racer, the last Granville (see GeeBee) racer. Designed by Howell Miller. Last flown by Earl Ortman in 1942. It broke apart over East Hartford, CT; Ortman parachuted safely.	"Time Flies"
Civil - passenger airliners: Stinson Trimotors, Douglas DC-3, Lockheed Electra, etc.
Stinson Tri-motor, Model T East Boston 1936 Boston & Maine - Central Vermont Airways	Stinson Tri-motor, Model U East Boston 1936 American Airlines	Stinson Trimotor, Model A American Airlines hangar
Stinson Tri-motor, Model A E. Boston 1936	Curtiss-Wright Condor, NC12396 American Airlines
Lockheed Electra, NC 16056 National Airways hangar 1936 Boston & Maine - Central Vermont Airways	Douglas DC3	Douglas DST Sleeper "an idea that didn't work out"
Military - Observation, Pursuit, and Trainers: Curtiss Falcons; Douglas O-25, O-38; Seversky; etc.
Curtiss O-1 Falcon (1920's) East Boston Airport 1936	Curtiss Falcon (1930's) East Boston Airport 1936	tbd
Douglas O38's	Douglas O38 Boston Airport August 8, 1936	Douglas O-25 Boston Airport August 8, 1936
Consolidated Fleet Trainer, NC62V Boston Airport August 8, 1936	Northrop A-17 E. Boston	Douglas BT-2B (O-38???) E. Boston
Consolidated P-30 Brainard Field, Hartford, CT 1938	Consolidated P-30 Brainard Field, Hartford, CT 1938	Seversky fighters
Military planes - Bombers: Douglas B-18 Bolo, Martin B-10
Douglas B-18 Bolo Bomber	Douglas B-18 Bolo Bomber, nose	Martin B-10 Bomber, of VB-10, from Langley Field, VA at Boston Airport
Douglas Dolphin East Boston 1936 Only 15 built in 1934		Martin B-10 Bomber
Three other photographs, not from 1936-38 set (not taken by my Dad)
De Haviland DH-4 1922	Charles Lindbergh, riding with J.H. Trumbull (left) and Houghton Bulkeley (right) Main Street, Hartford, near City Hall 1927	Martin MB-1 The nose has been modified, possibly one of those used in the 1919 Transcontinental Flights. approximately 1922