The Ryan M-1 was a

mail plane The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letter (message), letters, and parcel (package), parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid ...

produced in the United States in the 1920s, the first original design built by Ryan.Taylor 1989, p. 774. It was a conventional gear parasol-wing

monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple wings. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...

with two open cockpits in tandem and fixed, tailskid undercarriage."Ryan M-1"

Design and development

The follow-on M-2 was substantially the same as the M-1. The prototype M-1 was originally powered by a

Hispano-Suiza 8A The Hispano-Suiza 8 is a water-cooled V8 SOHC aero engine introduced by Hispano-Suiza in 1914 that went on to become the most commonly used liquid-cooled engine in the aircraft of the Entente Powers during the First World War. The original ...

, but production examples featured a variety of engines in the same general power range, with the

Wright J-4 The Wright R-790 Whirlwind was a series of nine-cylinder air-cooled radial aircraft engines built by Wright Aeronautical Corporation, with a total displacement of about and around . These engines were the earliest members of the Wright Whirlwin ...

B chosen for nine of the sixteen M-1s built, and the prototype later refitted with this engine.''Museum of Flight News'' According to Cassagneres, "Dimensions allowed for a front cockpit that could accommodate two passengers side by side, or one passenger and a sack of mail, or just mail sacks and no passenger. Dual controls were provided, so a passenger flying up front could get in some 'stick time' if he wished. The M-1 cowling had a feature that was to become almost a trademark on all subsequent Ryan models up to the ST. This was the distinctive 'engine-turning' or 'jeweling' effect achieved by burnishing the aluminum.

Operational history

A M-1 was flown in the 1926

Ford National Reliability Air Tour The Ford Reliability Tour, properly called "The National Air Tour for the Edsel B. Ford Reliability Trophy", was a series of aerial tours sponsored in part by Ford from 1925 to 1931 and re-created in 2003. Top prize was the Edsel Ford Reliabili ...

Pacific Air Transport Pacific Air Transport was an early US airline, formed in 1926 for carrying mail as well as passengers. It was acquired two years later by Boeing Air Transport. Early history Pacific Air Transport (PAT) was formed in January 1926 by Vern C. Gorst ...

operated J-4B-powered M-1s and M-2s on their demanding

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

–

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

–

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

mail route,Munson 1982, p. 128. while Hispano-Suiza-powered machines flew with Colorado Airways between

Cheyenne The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. The Cheyenne comprise two Native American tribes, the Só'taeo'o or Só'taétaneo'o (more commonly spelled as Suhtai or Sutaio) and the (also spelled Tsitsistas, The term for th ...

and

Pueblo Pueblo refers to the settlements of the Pueblo peoples, Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States, currently in New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas. The permanent communities, including some of the oldest continually occupied settlement ...

and

Yukon Airways Yukon () is a territory of Canada, bordering British Columbia to the south, the Northwest Territories to the east, the Beaufort Sea to the north, and the U.S. state of Alaska to the west. It is Canada’s westernmost territory and the smallest ...

between

Whitehorse Whitehorse () is the capital of Yukon, and the largest city in Northern Canada. It was incorporated in 1950 and is located at kilometre 1426 (Historic Mile 918) on the Alaska Highway in southern Yukon. Whitehorse's downtown and Riverdale areas ...

and

Dawson City Dawson City is a town in the Canadian territory of Yukon. It is inseparably linked to the Klondike Gold Rush (1896–1899). Its population was 1,577 as of the 2021 census, making it the second-largest municipality in Yukon. History Prior t ...

. One M-2 (named ''Bluebird'') was built with a fully enclosed cabin for the pilot and four passengers, foreshadowing Ryan's highly successful Brougham series. The standard M-2, meanwhile, was

Charles Lindbergh Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, and author. On May 20–21, 1927, he made the first nonstop flight from New York (state), New York to Paris, a distance of . His aircra ...

's first choice for his transatlantic flight.Hall 1927, p. 1. His list of requirements for the aircraft soon made it apparent, however, that rather than modifying an M-2, it would be more effective to build an all-new design along the same general lines, which resulted in the

Ryan NYP The ''Spirit of St. Louis'' (formally the Ryan NYP, registration: N-X-211) is the custom-built, single-engine, single-seat, high-wing monoplane that Charles Lindbergh flew on May 20–21, 1927, on the first solo nonstop transatlantic flight ...

''Spirit of St Louis''.

Operators

; *

Aircraft on display

The M-1 prototype was restored to flying condition between 1980 and 1984 and is preserved in the

Museum of Flight The Museum of Flight is a private Nonprofit organization, non-profit Aircraft, air and Spacecraft, space museum in the Seattle metropolitan area. It is located at the southern end of Boeing Field, King County International Airport (Boeing Fi ...

. The seventh aircraft is preserved in airworthy condition in Pacific Air Transport markings at the

Historic Aircraft Restoration Museum The Historic Aircraft Restoration Museum, located at Creve Coeur Airport in Maryland Heights, Missouri, United States, is dedicated to restoring and preserving historical aircraft. The airplanes in the collection are all fabric-covered, and most ...

at Creve Coeur airport, Missouri. A replica of an M-1 using a small number of parts from serial number 11 was built by Andy King in 2001, powered by a Lycoming R-680 and also painted in Pacific Air Transport #7's scheme. Serial number 11 is owned and faces a full restoration by John Norman, who crafted the most accurate reproduction of the ''Spirit of St. Louis'' ever built. A replica M-1 is exhibited in the

San Diego Air & Space Museum The San Diego Air & Space Museum (SDASM) is an aviation and space exploration museum in San Diego, California. It is located in Balboa Park (San Diego), Balboa Park and is housed in the former Ford Building (San Diego), Ford Building, which is li ...

."Collections"

Specifications (M-1)

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Hall, Donald A
"Technical Preparation of the Airplane 'Spirit of St Louis'."
''www.charleslindbergh.com'', July 1927. Retrieved: 3 March 2009. * ''The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft''. London: Aerospace Publishing, 1985. * Munson, Kenneth. ''Airliners from 1919 to the Present Day''. London: Peerage Books, 1982. . * ''Museum of Flight News'', January/February 1991. * Ogden, Bob. ''Aviation Museums and Collections of North America''. Tunbridge Wells, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd., 2007. .
"Ryan M-1."
''The Museum of Flight''. Retrieved: 3 March 2009.

''Aerofiles''. Retrieved: 3 March 2009.
"Collection."
''San Diego Air & Space Museum''. Retrieved: 3 March 2009. * Taylor, Michael J.H. ''Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation''. London: Studio Editions, 1989. .

External links

Dawn Patrol Aviation- Ryan M-1 archive
{{Ryan aircraft 1920s United States mailplanes M-1 High-wing aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1926 Aircraft with fixed conventional landing gear