P.Bowers Boeing Aircraft since 1916 (Putnam)

MODEL 6 (B-1) - The B-1, which first flew on December 27, 1919, was a conventional pusher flying-boat with laminated veneer hull. The design drew heavily on Boeing's experience with the wartime Curtiss HS-2Ls but the size was greatly reduced to make the machine easier to operate and maintain. Since this was the first commercial design of the Boeing Airplane Company, it was given the logical designation of B-1 for sales purposes. The fact that it did not sell was no reflection on the design. Cheap war-surplus military models flooded the market and costly new models could not compete.
  The single B-1 was sold to Edward Hubbard in 1920 and was used continuously for eight years on his Seattle-Victoria air mail route. The original power plant was a 200 hp Hall-Scott L-6, so designated because it was a 6-cylinder version of the famous wartime Liberty, but this was replaced by the standard 400 hp 12-cylinder Liberty. Because of the Canadian registration requirement, the B-1 was registered as G-CADS for operation in Canada. This was replaced by N-CADS and later by N-ABNA when an unofficial US registration scheme was set up by the National Board of Fire Underwriters in 1923 (N had been assigned as the identifying letter for US aircraft at the International Convention of 1919, but the US did not adopt the standardized scheme used by the other powers. When official US registration was adopted in 1927, the B-1 became 4985 and then 1974, which was later modified to NC-1974. Although not qualifying for either an Approved Type Certificate or a Memo Approval, the B-1 was licensed for commercial operation after 1927 as a Category-III aeroplane.
  The B-1 remained in use throughout the 1920s. It was eventually obtained by the Seattle Historical Society and set up as an outdoor display on Boeing Field in 1934. Weather and small boys took their toll, and the B-1 was dismantled, crated, and stored by Boeing until after WW-II, when it was rebuilt and put on permanent indoor display in the Seattle Museum of History and Industry in 1954.
  Note: Two production aeroplane models, the B-1D and B-1E were built under this model number in 1928-29, but are described in Chapter 4 because of their much later design.


TECHNICAL DATA - B-1

   Type: Mail/passenger flying-boat
   Accommodation: 1 pilot in front cockpit, 2 passengers in rear cockpit
   Power plant: Hall-Scott L-6, 200 hp; Liberty, 400 hp
   Span: 50 ft 3 in
   Length: 31 ft 3 in
   Height: 13 ft 4 in
   Wing area: 492 sq ft
   Empty weight: 2,400 lb (L-6)
   Gross weight: 3,850 lb (L-6)
   Max speed: 90 mph (L-6)
   Cruising speed: 80 mph (L-6)
   Service ceiling: 13,300 ft
   Range: 400 miles (L-6)
   C/n: 86
   Registrations: G-CADS, N-CADS, N-ABNA, 4985, 1974