Dating to the late 1920s, this film from the collection of Jeff Villencia shows the Kreutzer Air Coach, a trimotor airplane built by the Joseph Kreutzer Corp. at Clover Field in Santa Monica, California. The company opened on the verge of the Great Depression and apparently did not survive for long — operations were suspended in 1931. It was later reorganized as the Air Transport Manufacturing Company in 1935. The Air Coach was the fifth type of trimotor approved in the U.S., the first being the Bach “Air Yacht” and the other three models built by Ford. Kreutzer eventually created three different models: K-2, K-3 and K-5 standard. The Air Coach series could carry six passengers, and were used by small air transport operators in the United States and in Mexico. It sold for between $15,800 and $17,950 depending on engine configuration. The design featured a heated and ventilated cabin and shatterproof glass glazing. The last surviving aircraft of this type is now maintained airworthy by the private Golden Wings Air Museum near Minneapolis Minnesota. The tail # of the plane shown in the film is NC982-H; the surviving aircraft is N612A.
Some of the areas of interest in the film include shots of the aircraft at Clover Field, the Kreutzer machine shops (2:20), where a fuselage assembly is shown. At 3:57 the Kreutzer Auto Laundry, an early car wash, is seen as well as the company headquarters. It was apparently located at 18th and Hope St. in Los Angeles. At 4:33 another business, Kreutzer’s Auto Reconstruction — a body shop presumably — is shown. At 5:30 the wing of a plane emerges from the shop, to be moved to the airport for assembly. At 7:50 the airplane is fueled on the field. At 8:34 a young lady, possibly an aviatrix or starlet, poses with the aircraft. She appears to be about to christen it. Note the seat visible at 9:10, made out of cane material. At 10:00 the plane propeller is hand cranked. Doubtless Joseph Kreutzer himself appears in the film, but we’re not sure where, possibly at 10:35. At 10:48 a Jenny type biplane is seen. At 12:30 the Kreutzer airplane hops into the air, probably on its maiden flight.
At 13:40 the film shows a child in a wheelchair, presumably one of Kreutzer’s children. She poses with a nurse and her mother. We don’t know what ailed her, but it’s easy to speculate she may have been a victim of the polio epidemic which was raging in this era.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
