Northrop RT-1 Delta "Golden Goose"
Historical Information:
The Coast Guard acquired a single RT-1 on 20 February 1935 as an executive transport for use of the Commandant as well as the Secretary of the Treasury. A Coast Guard Magazine article described its initial delivery:
“NEW PLANE
On February 20, 1935, the Coast Guard took delivery of a new amphibian [sic], the RT-1 type, CG-382, built by the Northrop Corporation, Englewood, California. The plane was flown eastward by Lieutenant R. L. Burke and will operate around Washington and vicinity. The Following is a description:
RT-1; CG-382; Northrop Delta;
Department of Commerce Type Certificate for 7300 pounds, gross weight.
Weight Empty—4700 pounds.
Top Speed 210 miles per hour at 4,000 ft. elevation.
Range 900 miles at 180 mph with crew of four, gross passenger list seven.
Plane equipped with radio for two-way communication, with commercial Navy and (limited) Army planes to be checked with Communications.
Cabin heated, toilet equipment, dual controls.
The plane is a low wing monoplane.
All metal construction, monocoque fuselage, metal covered wings and tail surfaces.
Super-charged engine, 700 H.P. at 4000 feet, Wright Cyclone, controllable pitch Hamilton standard propellers.” (*)
LT Burke made the initial flight from Mines Field, California to Air Station Cape May in 14 hours and fifty minutes actual flying time. He landed the RT-1 at Cape May at 1810 hours on 22 February 1935. On 10 March 1935, it participated in its first emergency flight when LT Burke transported his pregnant wife to a hospital in Philadelphia where she delivered a healthy baby boy. According the a magazine report, he made the flight “from Cape May to Philadelphia Navy Yard in exactly 20 minutes flying time which is certainly is going some.” (**)
The Coast Guard initially gave the RT-1 the serial number 382, and after October 1936, changed it to V-150.
It was damaged in an accident in 1940 and was decommissioned that December and sold to a private company.
Northrup RT-1; landing, rear port quarter view; no caption, date or photo number.
Sources:
Arthur Pearcy, U.S. Coast Guard Aircraft Since 1916 (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1991), pp. 320-321.
Gordon Swanborough & Peter M. Bowers. United States Navy Aircraft Since 1911 (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1990) (revised), pp. 432-435.
(*) “New Plane.” U.S. Coast Guard Magazine, Vol. 8, No. 5 (April, 1935), p. 16.
(**) “Cape May Air Station: New Northrup.” U.S. Coast Guard Magazine, Vol. 8, No. 7 (May, 1935), p.