HISTORY TAKES WING
IN CONTINUOUS SERVICE SINCE 1929, TRAVEL AIR S6000B, NC9084 IS AVAILABLE FOR ACQUISITION
Travel Air S6000B, tail number NC9084, is more than an airplane. It’s a living piece of history that has been in continuous service since 1929. Its story connects aviation giants, pilots, passengers, engineers, firefighters and adventurers across nearly one hundred years of flying. Whether on floats, wheels or skis, configured for cargo, or restored with loving care for passenger travel, NC9084 has been—and remains—a rugged, capable, reliable plane.
NC9084 has helped save lives, fight fires, share natural beauty, explore continents, and bring people together on the ground and in the air. It’s always ready for the next adventure.
One of a handful of S6000Bs flying today
THE LIMOUSINE OF THE AIR
Travel Air positioned Model S6000B in 1929 as a luxury plane and executive aircraft, a "limousine of the air." With a fully-enclosed cabin featuring mahogany trim, soundproofing, insulation, seats for up to six passengers, and an onboard potty, the Model S6000B represented a big step up in comfort for single-engine planes.
NC9084 was to have a more colorful history marked by barnstorming, aerial record attempts, smoke jumping, bush piloting, search and rescue, and long-distance travel adventures.
Introduced just before the Great Depression, the Travel Air S6000B is one of the earliest passenger planes with an enclosed space for both the pilots and passengers.
Commercial air travel was in its infancy, and the echoes of the competition with rail travel show in the mahogany fittings, wool fabric headliner, sound insulation, and luxurious covered wicker seats. To appeal to a broader range of passengers, it featured a small in-flight lavatory for comfort on longer flights.
The Travel Air S6000B’s construction features fabric stretched over a steel tube frame with cloth-covered wooden-framed wings. With a cruising speed of 110 mph, with reserves, eighty gallons of fuel provide an estimated three hundred and eighty-five mile cruising range. A steerable tail and disc wheel brakes allow for easy ground handling, while the load capacity, climb rate, and low landing speed make for a versatile and capable plane. Travel Air built about one hundred and fifty Model 6000 airframes. Today there are only 12 in existence, six of which are still airworthy. NC9084 is the only one that comes equipped for all three configurations - wheels, floats and skis.
A HARD-WORKING PLANE
NC9084 was a working plane from the start. Travel Air sold the aircraft to Phillips Petroleum, which dubbed it the City of Wichita and put it into service ferrying executives and equipment. NC9084 also generated publicity for Phillips via attempts to set nonstop flying endurance records.
Century Oil, which purchased NC9084 from Phillips and renamed it Century of Oklahoma City, also used the plane to pursue an endurance record. Unfortunately, after 13 straight days in the air, a terrible dust storm forced NC9084 to land without a record.
Over the next few years, the aircraft changed hands several times and moved from Texas to California to Idaho. Along the way, it engaged in barnstorming, charter flights, passenger transportation and aerial photography. The plane also spent several years working on Idaho’s Flying B Ranch before the legendary Johnson Flying Service purchased it in 1956.
Johnson used NC9084 to deliver Forest Service firefighters to woodland blazes for 14 years. This workhorse also sprayed trees and carried passengers to the backcountry.
When Johnson Flying Service upgraded its fleet, it put all its Travel Air aircraft on the block, NC9084 caught the eye of Alaskan bush pilot Bill de Creeft, who was looking for an aircraft with good cargo and passenger capacity and short takeoff and landing capabilities. He purchased it and had it flown to Homer, Alaska, where de Creeft's business, Kachemak Air Service, swapped out the wheels for floats.
The bush pilot used the versatile Travel Air for a range of tasks, including transporting backpackers, delivering supplies and giving aerial tours. De Creeft even carried small fry fingerlings for the Department of Fish and Game, and flew a man with a broken neck to Anchorage for treatment when no other options were available.
After retiring NC9084 from service in 1976, de Creeft couldn’t let go of this remarkable plane. In 1987, he started a complete restoration. It entered the shed as a working bush plane and emerged three years later as a fully restored 1929 "limousine of the air," returned to its factory configurations, and re-entered into service.
Kachemak Air Service took the restored plane to California in winter for wine country touring, then back to Homer to fly tourists and sightseers over breathtaking scenery and stunning glaciers. That was the last phase of NC9084’s 39 years in Alaska.
In 2001, de Creeft began another complete restoration, taking the fuselage down to the frame and completely rebuilding and re-covering the wings. While removing the wings, de Creeft’s team discovered that someone had replaced one wing in years past, and the two wings were different. This explained why the plane sometimes seemed to veer to the right on landing. De Creeft’s team rebuilt the wing to the original design.
The restoration replaced the 330-hp Whirlwind R75 engine with a 450-hp Wright Whirlwind R-975, which was original equipment on the Travel Air 6000B. A second fully restored and crated R-975 will be conveyed to NC9084’s new owner.
The project also restored the leather-covered wicker seats and woodwork and brought the lavatory and interior back as close as possible to their original build. Finally, a few enhancements, including a lavatory window and a separate door for the pilot, rounded out the work.
When deCreeft retired in 2007, he put his beloved Travel Air up for sale. Aviation enthusiast and businessman Howard Wright bought NC9084 in 2008. He switched the floats back to wheels, added an alternator and Redline hydraulic toe brakes, and flew the plane down the Alaska Highway to get it to Washington State.
WITH A SENSE OF ADVENTURE
NC9084 has always been a working plane, but it has also been a source of fun along the way. Several owners have taken this living piece of aviation history on exciting trips, exploring and traveling long distances.
In the early 1970s, de Creeft flew his wife and two children from Alaska to New York and back. They encountered everything in the air, from freezing cold to stifling heat, and dealt with a blown engine and a bent propeller. This journey of a lifetime across the U.S. and back gave the family new friends and lifelong connections.
And in 2016, current owner Howard Wright set off on an epic journey of his own; an 11,000-mile tour across the U.S., to the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos, then back across the U.S. to Mexico and Guatemala before flying up the Pacific coast of Mexico and back to Seattle.
A trip like this is more than hours in a log book. It's an epic journey that brings out the best in the pilots and the plane. With a three-and a half hours maximum range (with daylight VFR reserves), weather and conditions permitting, most days allowed time for two good flights and a refueling.
Every landing was a novel experience for the pilot and those on the ground. Flying a plane like this, you get used to officials and crowds coming out to see the plane and take pictures—not for customs or legal reasons, but because having such a distinctive plane makes a landing in their community so memorable.
FLYING HISTORY INTO THE FUTURE
As NC9084 approaches the 100-year mark, it remains an airworthy plane, ready for adventure.
Who knows what's next for this remarkable plane?