Stumbling upon a photo set from the Castle Air Force Museum my attention was captured by a static display of an old Convair 240. In reading the descriptive caption I realized that I was looking at some aviation history that I had been close to. Further searching revealed documented early days of this Convair 240-11, c/n 133:

1949 – delivered new to Swissair and registered as HB-IRT
1956 – purchased by Mohawk Airlines and leased in the short term to Transocean Air Lines as N1018C
1957 – operated by Mohawk as the Air Chief PEQUOT in scheduled service for the next 10 years
1966 – purchased by Fairchild Hiller
1968 – purchase by Southwestern Skyways re-sold to Permian Skyways and re-registered N280P
1969 – bank repossession stored and mothballed
1975 – seized by the Sheriff of Salt Lake County

From this Museum find, the end of the story is now complete. But as with most accountings there is usually a gap from when a machine becomes unprofitable, aged and rejected until it is scrapped or rescued. In the instance of this old plane however, I can complete the story.

1977 – ‘The Spirit of Modesto’ an adventure, by my account: continue reading about c/n 133 and the Great Valley Travel Club… (Camberley Associates Inc ?)

1978 – Occurrence Date 20 JUN BOTH ENGINES STOPPED, PILOTS UNABLE TO START. LEFT TANK EMPTY, 200 GAL IN RIGHT. RIGHT BOOST PUMP INOP. forced landing in a California cornfield (estimated 3.7 miles short of Modesto (KMOD) airport runway 28R where is was moribund for almost 2 decades

1997 – dismantled by volunteers and extracted by a house mover and hauled down Santa Fe Avenue to Atwater, CA

2000 – displayed to current day at the museum with tribute Coast Guard HC-131 Samaritan transport livery.