Delivered to LA Airways in May 1953. Photographed by Gary Vincent as C-FUNT in 1980. Photo by: Loomis Dean / Life

Difficult to read, the reg looks more like N739A than N738A and, while the latter was an S-55, it does not seem to have served with LA Airways. The 1950s LAX tower is seen and, together with the tail of Convair 880 N826TW which shows in the original photo, probably dates the photo in mid-1961 before the modern airport west of Sepulveda Boulevard opened. N739A was returned to Sikorsky in 1963 and sold to the Argentine navy. Photo from: Greg Gayden

The right landing gear collapsed while the helicopter was starting up. A ground crew member was seriously injured by debris. The helo was repaired and would eventually end up with Air Palace, a Korean firefighting operator, as HL9478. Note that Carson Helicopters had another N302Y, c/n 61472. Photo by: George Fry / Los Angeles Times

Taking off from the roof of the Terminal Annex post office in downtown LA, inaugurating a helicopter air mail service that was sustained for some time. Sister ship NC92812 crashed here on 21 January 1949 due to improper distribution of its load of 44 mail pouches. Photo from: Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Airways served a heliport near The Pike in Long Beach - note the roller coaster. Photo from: Vertical Flight Society

Landing at the Disneyland Heliport in Anaheim, behind the TWA-sponsored Rocket to the Moon attraction. The heliport was moved a short distance south soon after this photo was taken and then to the west side of the park in 1960. Photo from: Vertical Flight Society

Helicopter company Los Angeles Airways started flying the mail from the roof of the large white Terminal Annex post office, to the left of Union Station and partly obscured by the high-rise City Hall - see photo 362455. The company started scheduled passenger services using S-55s in November 1954. The S-61L was introduced on 1 March 1962, this being the S-61L prototype. The cheatline is orange and black. N300Y crashed on a flight from LAX to Disneyland in Anaheim in 1968 and all 21 people on board were killed. Photo from: Nationaal Archief (Netherlands)