Fox Moth NC12739 de Havilland DH.83 American-Owned 1930s Biplane Photo 8x10 For Sale

de Havilland DH.83 Fox Moth NC12739
American-Owned 1930s Biplane Photo 8x10British-built, U.S.-owned, crashed 1939 | 1979 ReprintDESCRIPTIONThis 8x10 black and white photograph shows a de Havilland DH.83 Fox Moth parked on a paved ramp, with the registration NC 12739 lettered on the tail. The Fox Moth was a small British biplane built to carry passengers, with an enclosed cabin up front and the pilot seated behind it in a raised cockpit under a glazed canopy. The print shows the cabin windows, the braced wings and struts, the large main wheels and the nose with its propeller, and a blurred automobile passes in the background.The Fox Moth was designed by Arthur Hagg and first flew on January 29, 1932. It combined the wings, tail and undercarriage of the DH.82 Tiger Moth with a new fuselage built around the cabin.Production records for the Fox Moth list NC12739 as construction number 4026, first registered in Britain as G-ABZD in September 1932 and fitted with a Gipsy Major engine. It was sold to Troubridge Heaton that October and registered in the United States as NC12739 on January 15, 1933, to Heaton at San Mateo, California, and later New York. On January 21, 1938 it was registered to Fanny Martino at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, and on July 13, 1938 to Paul R. Smith of Flushing, New York. The record shows it crashed in 1939 and the registration was cancelled on August 19, 1939.The print carries no caption, so the date and place it was taken are not known. The NC prefix on the tail matches the 1933 registration. The same registration number was reissued in 1961 to a different Fox Moth assembled using parts of a Canadian-built example, so the history above belongs to the original airframe, c/n 4026.This print is a 1979 company reprint made by McDonnell Douglas (MDC) at St. Louis, not an original period print, and it is offered and priced as such. The back is stamped in blue MDC ST. LOUIS, NOV 26 1979, NEGATIVES NOT FILED, and carries an owner's ink stamp for Donald and Barbara Aitken of Irvine, California. It comes from the Aitken Collection. Scanned at 600dpi.Donald Aitken was a Navy-trained aviator who flew helicopters and then spent his airline career as a United Airlines captain on the 747, 727, 757, 767 and DC-10, retiring in 1996. He grew up watching planes overhead in rural North Dakota and flew radio-controlled airplanes well into his later years.Every effort is made toward fact checking and provenance, including background research through news and historical archives. If any listing is incorrect in any way and you're unsatisfied with the item, please connect with me and I'll make it right. Orders placed before Noon CDT ship same day via Ground Advantage with tracking so you know exactly when it will arrive. Returns accepted on all items exceeding $25 in cost. All shipments receive rigid, professional packaging, sealed and protected in acid free protectors. Shipping is free and already built into the price, so the BIN price is exactly what you pay, no surprise shipping costs at checkout.CONDITIONBlack and white 8x10 print on cream-toned photographic paper. The image is soft overall with visible grain, most noticeable in the sky and the blurred background, and the tail registration is legible but not crisp. A few small dark and white dust specks show in the scans. No tears, creases, stains or fold lines are visible in the scans, and there is no writing on the front. The back is clean cream paper with the blue MDC St. Louis stamp and the Aitken ink stamp, as pictured. Please review all photos closely, as they are part of the description.