Maddux Air Lines

Maddux Air Lines

Maddux Air Lines logo
IATA ICAO Callsign - - -
Commenced operations	September 22, 1927 (1927-09-22)
Ceased operations	November 16, 1929 (1929-11-16) (merged with Transcontinental Air Transport to form TAT-Maddux)
Operating bases	Mines Field Lindbergh Field
Key people	Jack L. Maddux

Coordinates: 33°56′29.7″N 118°24′31″W / 33.941583°N 118.40861°W / 33.941583; -118.40861

Maddux Air Lines was an airline based in Southern California that operated Ford Tri-motors in California, Arizona, and Mexico in the late 1920s.

In 1927 Jack L. Maddux, an owner of a Los Angeles Ford and Lincoln car dealership, founded Maddux Air Lines. The airline’s inaugural flight was on September 22, 1927 when the airline’s Ford 4-AT Tri-motor carrying 12 passengers flew from San Diego, California to Los Angeles, California. This flight was to a small dirt landing strip that would later become Los Angeles International Airport, although the landing strip, called Inglewood Site, was not suitable for the airline, and Jack Maddux chose instead Rogers Airport, with improved facilities, and later Grand Central Air Terminal in Glendale. Among the passengers were several notables, and although the event was kept relatively quiet, it served as a publicity act.

In the remaining few months of 1927 Maddux carried 1400 passengers. For the following few years Maddux expanded its fleet of Ford Tri-motors and its routes. The airline’s hubs were in Los Angeles and San Diego.