The Air Commerce Act of 1926 created an Aeronautic Branch of the United States Department of Commerce. Its functions included testing and licensing of pilots, certification of aircraft and investigati
Logo on side of a test aircraft
Seal and flag of the defunct Civil Aeronautics Board on display in the National Air and Space Museum
TWA Flight 6
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TWA Flight 6 was a Transcontinental & Western Air Douglas DC-2, on a route from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey, that crashed near Atlanta, Missouri, on May 6, 1935, killing five of the thirteen peo
United States government role in civil aviation
…Branch was William P. MacCracken, Jr. High visibility accidents such as the 1931 Transcontinental & Western Air Fokker F-10 crash and the 1935 crash of TWA Flight 6 continued to make headlines. In fulfilling its civil aviation responsibilities, the Department of Commerce initially concentrated on functions such as…
A TWA Douglas DC-2 (NC13784) sister ship to the accident aircraft