2-839-692 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Single engine, single seat, bi-plane, liberty V-12 engine; used by post office and Western Airlines. Designed to replace de Havilland DH-4s for delivering the air mail in the mid 1920s, Douglas M-2s were sturdy, dependable aircraft that were popular with the newly formed airlines. This M-2 was flown by Western Air Express, predecessor of Western Airlines, which inaugurated air mail service between Los Angeles and Salt Lake City via Las Vegas in April 1926. It was delivered to the Post Office Department in 1926 as an M-4, which had a longer wing than the M-2 and cost $15,000. It was later reconfigured as an M 2. Western Air Express acquired the airplane in June 1927 and flew it for almost 914 hours, before the airplane crashed in January 1930. It was then resold several times and was reacquired by Western Airlines in 1940 for display.