Listed in the official program as part of the week long Cumberland Sesquicentennial Celebration on Saturday August 14, 1937, an Air Show at the Cumberland Airport at Mexico Farms featured the Twenty-ninth Division Aviation, Maryland National Guard; Goodyear Blimp, Aeroplane Rides, and other thrills.
Photographed at Mexico Farms are a Douglas 0-56 Observation aircraft and the Goodyear Blimp.
The Goodyear Blimp Enterprise was an exciting visitor taking passengers for rides all day long. Alex Munro, Captain of the Enterprise, was a frequent visitor to Cumberland, as his brother was later married to Bernice Delegrange Munro, sister to Jack Delegrange.
The Maryland National Guard’s Air Division displayed a flight of Douglas 0-56 Observation planes that were spic and span in appearance and were appreciated as beautiful US Army Airplanes.
However, the star of that week-end was a very interesting Boeing 80-A. A former airliner now being used for barnstorming, offered sight seeing rides. The Boeing 80-A had been replaced by the new all metal Boeing 247 and the famous Douglas DC-2 which were being used by the airlines of the US. The Boeing 80-A was designed in 1929 and was a large tri-motored fabric covered bi-plane, powered by three 525 hp Pratt and Whitney Hornet engines. The 80-A was a large airplane with a wing span of 80 feet, a gross weight of 17,500 pounds, with wheels and tires five feet high. Originally designed to accommodate 18 passengers, the interior decor, sound-proofing material, and all extraneous material was removed and light weight wicker type seats were installed. By using only a minimal fuel load, 28 passengers could now be air lifted for sight seeing rides. As a bi-plane the Boeing 80-A was a great short field airplane and easily operated from the Mexico Farms Airport. With a north wind the 80-A operated from the north runway for both take-offs and landings. The author experienced his first airplane ride in this Boeing on the week-end of the Sesquicentennial, for the price of one dollar.
The Boeing 80 landing on the north runway at Mexico Farms in 1937 and on the right the Boeing 80 loading passengers for its next flight, with a large crowd in the background.
Cumberland Times-News Advertisement for the Sesquicentennial in 1937
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Wings Over Cumberland 