Boeing 40 Mailplane of the 1920s

Boeing 40 Mailplane of the 1920s
Courtesy of member Jim Parish

Boeing 40 Mailplane
The first Model 40 was built for a 1925 U.S. Post Office competition as a replacement for the converted military de Havillands that had carried the airmail since 1918. The Model 40 used steel tubing for the nose and curved wood-veneer laminate for the middle of the fuselage. The wings were wood and fabric. The plane was hampered by the antiquated water-cooled Liberty engine, required by the government in order to use up large stocks of surplus war equipment.

The Boeing Model 40A, which first flew May 20, 1927, used an air-cooled Pratt & Whitney Wasp engine that was about 200 pounds lighter than the water-cooled engines used to power its competitors. The biplane used welded-steel tubing throughout its fuselage but could still carry a heavier load and was less expensive to operate.

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Links to Construction Photos, story of the crash of the first B-40 in Oregon and other interesting information:

q Boeing 40 1920s Mailplane Story and Stats.

q 175 Years of Change Boeing built 25 Model 40As in 1927 and formed his own airline, Boeing Air Transport Co., to haul mail and passengers. He headquartered it in Chicago 2,000 miles from his Seattle aircraft plant. Ironically, Boeing headquarters now is back in Chicago.

q Construction Photos Restoration of the B-40 2004 to 2007 (Note – Scroll to the end of the photos for the start of the construction in 2004 then scroll up)