Wings of Texaco 1930 Travel Air Model R Mystery Ship Die Cast Model Coin Bank

It was June of 1930 when the Travel Air Manufacturing Company of Wichita, Kansas began construction on their fourth Travel Air "Mystery Ship"- this one being built at the request of Capt. Frank Hawks, transcontinental record-holder of 1929. Hawks was a pilot for The Texas Company, and after an okay from Texaco, work began on what was to be the most talked about plane of the 1930's. Built in utmost secrecy, the local newspapers clamored in vain for photographs of what they dubbed the "mystery ship", and the nickname stuck. Hawks was on hand throughout the construction of the plane to see that it was built to suit him in every way. In August 1930, Capt. Hawks set a new transcontinental record in his Travel Air, landing in Los Angeles 14 hours, 30 minutes, 43 seconds after leaving New York; a week later, he broke his own record on the return trip, reaching New York in 12 hours, 25 minutes, 3 seconds. Capt. Hawks established more than 200 new speed records in America and Europe and earned the Lique Internationale des Aviateurs medal as the world's outstanding airman.

The Travel Air Model R "Mystery Ship" Texaco No. 13 can still be seen today in Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry, a symbol of American speed flying of the 1930's and a tribute to a great speed king.

Authentically Scaled Replica - Highly Detailed - Rotating Propellor - 5th in the Series - For the adult collector.

New and NRFB.

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