![]() Western's machines had a red and silver paint scheme. ![]() The M-3s differed only in detail from the M-2s, sporting an overall aluminium finish with US Air Mail emblazoned in black on the fuselage sides and on the undersurfaces of the lower wing. Provision was also made for quick conversion of the freight section to permit carriage of a passenger in place of mail.Ī month before Western Air Express inaugurated its Los Angeles-Salt Lake City service in April 1926, the US Post Office ordered 50 of the M-3 version for its major routes. Designated M-2, they differed from the M-1 mainly by replacement of the original tunnel radiator with a frontal type. With the introduction of Contract Air Mail (CAM) routes, however, the newly formed Western Air Express Company (later Western Airlines) ordered six Douglas mailplanes. The M-1 was adjudged successful, but no production order was received by Douglas. During tests, extended exhaust piping was installed to keep fumes away from the pilot. The M-1 was a straightforward conversion of the O-2, with the forward cockpit covered in sheet aluminium to form a reinforced mail compartment with access through two deck hatches, the pilot being located in what was formerly the rear (observer's) cockpit in the O-2. It had twice the payload of the DH-4, but made use of the same tried and tested Liberty engine, of which large numbers were in store and readily available. The Douglas DAM-1 (Douglas Air Mail-One), quickly shortened to M-1, was test flown during the spring of 1925. A decision was thus made to order a conversion of the Douglas O-2 observation biplane, which had been ordered into quantity production for the US Army. The US Post Office Department had been responsible for US internal air mail routes from 1918 onwards, and by 1925 the various types of DH-4 biplane which had been primary equipment since inception of the service were worn out.
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