Whatsit??

[Baldeagle]

What is the airplane in the background??





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[m50a1ontos]

Bellanca Air Bus?

[TD McCoy]

Engine and prop look strange too.The prop almost appears to be Counter-rotating but actually
turns the same direction..
Looks to be quite large, may even be a trimotor...
Not a Boeing, Fokker, or Stinson...

[Baldeagle]

A little research has discovered that the photo was taken in Arrigo Balboni's famous aircraft junkyard in Los Angeles, in about 1933, but still no ID on the mystery plane-

http://www.corbisimages.com/stock-photo ... l-airplane



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[Mike]

I thought it was Kermit's back lot.

[The Inspector]

It's toughy, it looks from the bracing on the fuselage and the wide tread gear like it might have been a tri motor but not the usual suspects (FORD,STINSON, BACH, FOKKER, etc) the wing being well above the cabin is throwing me-

[Tiger Tim]

The cabane struts look like they have a Huff-Daland/Keystone thing going on but that's about as far as I've come with it.

-Tim

[Chris Brame]

Re the plane in the foreground:

the plane is to be worked over and used in a forthcoming motion picture.

Any chance this DH-4B may be a survivor? (anyone know of any 1930s movies that had one?)

[Roger Cain]

Woah, Shreeve is stumped??

[WallyB]

Woah, Shreeve is stumped??

Me too, and it's bugging the he11 out of me because I know I've seen picture(s) of it.

[m50a1ontos]

Stinson Detroiter? The 4 blade prob looks like 2 two bladers bolted together 90 deg apart.

[b29flteng]

I think "m50a1ontos" is right. I googled Stinson Detroiter, and Wikipedia says there were 11 different versions. The version in the original post has a parasol wing.

[Champ driver]

I don't think it's a Stinson Detroiter, and positively not the model that's shown in m50a1ontos's photo. There's about 6 photos of Detroiters in my Stinson book by John Underwood, and all of them do not look like the photo in question. All the Detroiter's have vertical cabane struts, the plane in question has wide "N" struts well splayed out from the fuselage. Also, there looks like a center "A" strut on the center of the cabin to the top wing, none of the Detroiters have this feature. All of the Detroiter's have different cabin windows than the photo in question too.
Jim

[WallyB]

I don't think it's a Stinson Detroiter

Agreed.

The cockpit windows are reminiscent of a Cunningham-Hall but I don't think that's it either.
Someone suggested a Paramount Cabinaire - too small - or a Zenith, bit neither seems to fit.
I'm beginning to lean towards it being a lash-up possibly for Hollywood, but I haven't given up yet....

[Harry Fenton]

It's not a Detroiter. The airfoil on top of the fuselage is all wrong- thin, undercambered. The airfoil configuration suggests 1920's design, not 1930's.

Harry