Florida Flyer
William Wulffaest

This item is sold.  It has been placed here in our online archives as a service for researchers and collectors.

Florida Flyer Design
Florida Flyer Full View
Florida Flyer Artist's Signature
William Wulffaest
Florida Flyer
American: 1935
Pen, ink and wash on paper
Signed in pencil lower right and dated Dec. 1935
11.5 x 8 inches, image size approximate
12.5 x 9 inches, overall
Sold, please inquire as to the availability of similar items.

Original drawing, probably a study for a travel brochure, showing and airline steward or captain assisting women passengers at an open cabin door boarding the Florida Flyer airplane, then only a year old. The women are fashionably dressed in coats with fur-trimmed collars accessorized with hats, gloves and high-heeled pumps. The Florida Flyer was operated by the predecessor of Eastern Airlines, and allowed travelers to bypass the train and drastically shorten their travel time to Miami to eight hours from New York and nine hours from Chicago.

In November 1934, The Florida Flyer, the first DC-2 airplane, made a record-setting flight from Los Angeles to Miami, co-piloted by the dynamic Edward "Eddie" Rickenbacker. Rickenbacker, a race car driver and retired World War I flying ace, had recently been put in charge of the Eastern Air Transport subsidiary of North American Aviation, and saw the potential market for air travel to Florida. "Someday Florida is going to be the greatest winter air travel market in the country," he said. "Who the hell wants to spend 30 hours getting there on a train when they can fly from New York to Miami in a third of the time?" He set about replacing the aging Eastern Air Transport planes with 14-passenger DC-2s, which became known as the "Great Silver Fleet," and was soon making regular flights between Miami and New York and Chicago , allowing passengers to make connections with Pan American's system to South America and the Caribbean. In 1938, Rickenbacker and several associates bought the airline for $3.5 million and he became president and general manager of what was now called Eastern Airlines.

Reference:

"EAL Golden Falcon Electra L-188." K.I.A.C. Global Numismatics. May 2003. http://www.kiac-usa.com/EALgfe.html (26 September 2003).