National Air and Space Museum Archives

LA Airways Collection

Summary

Collection ID:
NASM.2009.0015
Creators:
Los Angeles Airways
Dates:
1945-1997
bulk 1950-1985
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
2.91 Cubic feet
3.88 Linear feet
4 legal size document boxes; 1 slim legal size document box; 1 28.5 x 1.5 x 22.5 flat box
Repository:
LA Airways (Los Angeles Airways, Inc) (LAA) was founded by Clarence Belinn as a helicopter airline that operated flights from Los Angeles International Airport to the Disneyland Heliport in Anaheim, Calfornia (located on Disneyland's grounds) and to other area airports.

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
This collection consists of records relating to LA Airways (Los Angeles Airways, Inc) (LAA) including photographs; news clippings and publications relating to LA Airways; financial records; stockholder information including meeting agendas and notes, annual reports, information about stockholders, and correspondence; operating information such as route maps, pilot instructions, brochures and time tables; documents relating to Civil Aeronautics Board hearings; biographical information on LA Airways staff; and legal documents and correspondence relating to litigation involving LA Airways and the Hughes Tool Company and LA Airway's subsequent bankruptcy.

Arrangement

Arrangement
The materials in this collection had no original order. The processing archivists arranged them into 3 series. Within each series, the materials were arranged chronologically.
Series I: Business Papers
Series II: Publicity
Series III: Photographs

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
LA Airways (Los Angeles Airways, Inc) (LAA) was founded by Clarence Belinn as a helicopter airline that operated flights from Los Angeles International Airport to the Disneyland Heliport in Anaheim, Calfornia (located on Disneyland's grounds) and to other area airports. LA Airways operated Sikorsky S-51 and S-55 aircraft and later became the first civilian operator of the Sikorsky S-61 family of aircraft. LA Airways is also noted for obtaining the first regularly scheduled helicopter mail route which was inaugurated on October 1, 1947. Two fatal crashes of flights operated by LA Airways spelled the end of the company. On May 22, 1968, Flight 841, operated in a Sikorsky S-61L, crashed in Paramount, California (en route to Los Angeles after leaving Disneyland) killing all 23 people on board. On August 14, 1968, Flight 417, also operated in a Sikorsky S-61L, crashed in Compton, California (en route to Disneyland from Los Angeles) which resulted in the deaths of all 21 people aboard, including Clarence Belinn's 13-year old grandson, Christopher. The causes of both crashes were failures in the rotor system. After these tragedies, Sikorsky S-61Ls were grounded until the problem could be resolved and helicopter service to Disneyland was discontinued. LA Airways (Los Angeles Airways, Inc) (LAA) ceased operations in 1971 upon its purchase by Golden West Airlines. Stephen J. Slade was formerly an employee of LA Airways.

Administration

Author
Jessamyn Lloyd and Tyler Love
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Stephen J. Slade, gift, 2009
Processing Information
Arranged, described, and encoded by Amanda Buel, 2018. Revised by Allan Janus, 2020.
File unit titles created by the archivists are in brackets, otherwise file unit titles are original.

Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Use
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access.
Preferred Citation
LA Airways Collection, Acc. NASM.2009.-0015, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Aeronautics Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Airlines Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Helicopters Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
LA Airways (Los Angeles Airways, Inc) (LAA) Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sikorsky S-61L Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

National Air and Space Museum Archives
14390 Air & Space Museum Parkway
Chantilly, VA 20151
Business Number: Phone: 703-572-4045
NASMRefDesk@si.edu