The Boeing Model 95 was a single engine

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

mailplane A mail plane is an aircraft used for carrying mail. Aircraft that were purely mail planes existed almost exclusively prior to World War II. Because early aircraft were too underpowered to carry cargoes, and too costly to run any "economy class" ...

built by Boeing in the United States in the late 1920s to supplement the

Boeing Model 40 The Boeing Model 40 was a United States mail plane of the 1920s. It was a single-engined biplane that was widely used for airmail services in the United States in the 1920s and 1930s, especially by airlines that later became part of United Airlin ...

s being used on Boeing's airmail routes.

Development

Boeing 95 (front) and Boeing 40 (rear) in flight

While the Model 95 was of the same general configuration as the Model 40, it was larger and more sophisticated aerodynamically and structurally, and was optimized for freight instead of passengers. The fuselage was of far more advanced construction than its predecessor, building on what Boeing had learned about all-metal fuselages while developing the P-12 and

F4B The Boeing P-12/F4B was an United States of America, American fighter aircraft, pursuit aircraft that was operated by the United States Army Air Corps , United States Marine Corps, and United States Navy. Design and development Developed as a p ...

fighters, while the wing had stagger and a simplified structure.

Operational history

The majority of Boeing 95s spent their careers flying Boeing's airmail routes, however a small number did find their way to other operators. At least one Boeing 95 was used by the

Honduran Air Force The Honduras Air Force ( es, Fuerza Aérea Hondureña, sometimes abbreviated to FAH in English) is the air force of Honduras. As such it is the air power arm of the Honduras Armed Forces. History The first Honduras military flying took place ...

as a bomber. Another Model 95 took part in Boeing-arranged inflight refuelling demonstrations in

1929 This year marked the end of a period known in American history as the Roaring Twenties after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ushered in a worldwide Great Depression. In the Americas, an agreement was brokered to end the Cristero War, a Catholic ...

but was unsuccessful in either of the two attempts made to fly a round-trip across the continental United States without landing.

Variants

;Model 95: standard production version ;Model 95A: one aircraft built with

Pratt & Whitney Wasp The Pratt & Whitney Wasp was the civilian name of a family of air-cooled radial piston engines developed in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s.Gunston 1989, p.114. The Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Company (P&W) was founded in 1925 by Frederick B. Rentsch ...

engine

Operators

; *

Boeing Air Transport United Airlines is the third largest airline in the world, with 86,852 employees (which includes the entire holding company United Airlines Holdings) and 721 aircraft. It was the brainchild of William Boeing and emerged from his consolidation of nu ...

National Air Transport National Air Transport was a large United States airline; in 1930 it was bought by Boeing. The Air Mail Act of 1934 prohibited airlines and manufacturers from being under the same corporate umbrella, so Boeing split into three smaller companies, ...

Specifications (Model 95)

Accidents and incidents

* On January 10, 1930, a Western Air Express Boeing Air Transport Boeing 95 "NC420E",while flying the US mail on CAM 4 routing from Las Vegas to Salt Lake City crashed in fog and snow south of Cedar City, UT. The pilot, Maurice 'Maury' Graham, survived the crash but died while attempting to hike out. He and the aircraft were found five months later. * On May 24, 1931, a Pacific Air Transport Boeing 95, registration ''NC397E'', crashed into a mountain near

Bellefonte, Pennsylvania Bellefonte is a borough in, and the county seat of, Centre County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It is approximately twelve miles northeast of State College and is part of the State College, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area. The boro ...

in poor visibility, killing the pilot.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * {{Boeing model numbers 1920s United States cargo aircraft 1920s United States mailplanes 095, Boeing Single-engined tractor aircraft Biplanes Aircraft first flown in 1928