Registered in June 1934 to the Evening News Association and operated by The Detroit News. A radio reporter could broadcast from inside the aircraft and there was a camera installed in the fairing on the left wing (visible by the man wearing a trilby hat). The Orion was commandeered in 1942 by the Defense Supplies Corp as UC-85 serial 42-62601. Released in 1944 and restored as NC799W, it was scrapped after an accident in November 1947 at Los Angeles. Photograph taken by William H Engle Photo from: William Engle (son of the photographer) via Tim Martin

Shell's attractive Lockheed Orion, flown by Jimmy Doolittle. It was built in Detroit in 1931 as a DL-2A Altair with a metal fuselage. Used as a mailplane by TWA. Following an accident, it was rebuilt as an L-9C in 1932 and sold to Shell. Damaged in 1936, then sold to Paul Mantz for air racing in 1938. The only surviving Orion, it was eventually preserved in Lucerne, Switzerland as "CH-167". Does anyone recognize this airport? Photo from: San Diego Air & Space Museum

For The Detroit News, operating an L-5 Vega, NC32M, was not a whim. In 1934 they bought this new L-9 Orion. A radio reporter could broadcast from the plane - WWJ, on the tailfin, was the call sign of the Detroit News Radiophone. There was even a photo camera installed in the fairing on the left wing. NC799W was worn earlier by the newspaper's Pitcairn autogyro. The Orion was requisitioned as 42-62601 in 1942. Scrapped after an accident in 1947. Photo from: The Henry Ford

Approaching Oakland in darkness and rain on 25 March 1933, the aircraft was too low and hit the roof of a house in Hayward. The pilot, his two passengers and eleven people on the ground lost their lives. Photo from: SFO Museum

Philip Philbin, on the left, established the Air Express Corporation at Denver in the fall of 1932 and from December, it ran a fast air cargo service between New York and Los Angeles. Flights took an average of 17 hours. The company did not last long, folding in March 1933. Photo by: Rudy Arnold / Smithsonian Institution

Photographer unknown.

Taken in front of the Varney hangar at the Bay Airdrome (not in San Francisco). Photo from: San Diego Air & Space Museum

The age of the mono-mailplane! On the right is a Northrop Alpha 4A, NC933Y, with Quality Hill in Kansas City in the background. NC12283 was delivered to TWA in May 1933. In 1935, after an accident, the Babb company rebuilt it, against the manufacturer's advice, with a Lockheed Explorer wing for Wiley Post. The hybrid, NR12283, crashed near Point Barrow, Alaska on 15 August 1935, taking the lives of Post and actor Will Rogers. Photo from: Jackson County Historical Society

This is the only survivor of 35 Lockheed Orions built in 1931. It is not the original CH-167. It is ex-NC12222 and N12222 and was converted from the Altair DL-2A to the only Orion 9C with a metal fuselage. To the museum in 1976 and marked as CH-167.

Operated by Varney Speed Lines, Lineas Aereas Occidentales opened a Los Angeles to Mexico service in 1934. X-ABHA was ex NC12223 and went to the Spanish Republicans in 1937. Photo from: San Diego Air & Space Museum

Owned by movie mogul Hal Roach. Shipped to Australia and taken by barge to tiny Anderson Park. Flown from the park to Sydney (Mascot) Airport. The Lockheed Sirius Lady Southern Cross took off from the same park in 1934. NC12229 was flown across Australia then on to China and Africa. Crashed at Victoria Falls , Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) on November 11, 1932. Photo from: National Library of Australia

The first of two Orion 9B's delivered to Swissair in 1932. These were the fastest airliners of the day - 195 mph cruise for 580 miles with a 575 hp Wright Cyclone and retractable u/c. 6/8 passengers. The cockpit cover is in the open position. Painted red overall. From Swissair 60 years ago.

Used by American on "Air Express" services (see diamond insignia below cockpit). Carried up to five passengers plus mail. The firm changed name to American Airlines in 1934. Aircraft crashed on landing at Pittsburgh 10 January 1935. From Lockheed 60 years ago.

This was one of 12 9D Orions built in 1933/34. Carried up to six passengers plus mail cruising at 208 mph with 550 h.p. P&W Wasp engine. Served Northwest Airways on Air Mail Route 9 from Minneapolis to Chicago. NW Airways was formed in 1926 and changed its name to NW Airlines in April 1934. From NWAL 60 years ago.