Navigator Gorden Scott and pilot John Frost, next to the Golden Eagle. Its fuselage and landing gear were damaged, about a week before the air race and the temporary repairs that were made can be seen in this photo.
FLIGHT POSITION: 15, which was revised to 4.
PILOT:
John "Jack" W. Frost, age 29.
NAVIGATOR:
Gorden Scott, age 26.
SPONSOR:
This airplane was purchased for the race, for $12,500, by George Hearst,
Jr. of the San Francisco Examiner newspaper. Eddie Cooper was hired,
by George Hearst, to be the chief mechanic and a crew member, but Jack
Northrop, from Lockheed, refused to permit him to fly, after he learned
that he was married and had a baby girl.
AIRCRAFT:
Lockheed
Vega 1 monoplane. Its landing gear and fuselage were damaged, and temporarily
repaired, about a week before the air race, during a takeoff from Naval
Air Station North Island, in San Diego, where it had gone to have its instruments
checked.
COLOR:
Orange fuselage with red trim. The Lockheed star was on its tail fin.
ENGINE:
220-horsepower Wright Whirlwind J-5 engine.
MAXIMUM
SPEED: 135 mph.
WINGSPAN:
41 feet.
LENGTH:
27 feet 6 inches.
FUEL CAPACITY:
350 gallons.
REGISTRATION:
NX913, which was changed from 2788, before the air race.
RACE RESULTS: This airplane took off at 12:30 p.m. and was lost at sea. It was one of the four airplanes in the air race to have a radio, but only for receiving. Denham Scott, Gorden Scott's younger brother, believed that the Golden Eagle had reached Hawaii and had crashed on Mauna Loa, so he made a three-month search for the aircraft with the help of Martin Jensen's Aloha, and United States military aircraft and soldiers, in May 1928.
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Navigator Gorden Scott and pilot John Frost, next to the Golden Eagle. Its fuselage and landing gear were damaged, about a week before the air race and the temporary repairs that were made can be seen in this photo. |
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