Three Engines and a Tin Goose
A hundred years ago the Ford Motor Company was an industrial colossus, its pioneering River Rouge factory in Michigan being the largest manufacturing plant in the world. Ford automobiles dominated the roads, with 500,000 examples of the legendary Model T sold before the First World War began in 1914. By the end of the 1920s Ford had 20 assembly plants scattered around the world — in North and South America, Europe, Australia, South Africa and Asia. The long-lived Model T was finally discontinued in 1927 and the much-improved Model A unveiled, cementing Ford’s position as the world’s most prolific automobile marque.
Turning his attention to the burgeoning world of aviation, Henry Ford acquired the Stout Metal Airplane Company in 1922. Earlier, his son Edsel Ford had built an aircraft with a Ford engine, but that project was unsuccessful. Edsel nevertheless nurtured a lifelong passion for aviation, becoming President of Ford’s aircraft company in 1925.
The Trimotors set records and cause controversy
Ford Aircraft Division’s flagship, the all-metal Ford Trimotor (a.k.a. Tri-Motor) was inevitably nicknamed the ‘Tin Goose’ in homage to the iconic Tin Lizzie or Model T. The aircraft was an improvement on the Stout 3-AT prototype which was destroyed in a fire. The trimotor design was controversial, as it borrowed heavily from the Fokker F.VIIa/3m that had won the Ford Reliability Tour in 1925.
Fokker, a Dutch designer whose aircraft were flown by the German Air Force in the First World War (‘Red Baron’ Manfred von Richthofen’s legendary Fokker triplane being the most renowned), had supplied five examples of a single-engine transport designated the F.VII to KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. One of these aircraft earned the distinction of operating the first-ever flight from the Netherlands to the Dutch East Indies (now known as Indonesia).
An improved version of this fabric-and-plywood aircraft built on a steel frame was equipped with three 200 hp Wright Whirlwind radial engines, and designated the F.VIIa/3m. Apart from the many records the Fokker F.VIIa established, explorer Richard Byrd claimed to have flown over the North Pole in a Fokker trimotor sponsored by Edsel Ford in 1926, but this was disputed. A later flight to the South Pole in a Ford 4-AT-B Trimotor named Floyd Bennett (after the pilot who flew on the purported North Pole trip — Byrd was an Admiral, not a pilot) and flown by Bernt Balchen was less controversial.
Sir Charles Kingsford Smith flew his F.VIIb/3m named Southern Cross successfully across the Pacific Ocean from the USA to Australia, and was also the first to make a return crossing of the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand in September 1928. The same year, Amelia Earhart made history as the first woman pilot to fly across the Atlantic in her F.VIIb/3m.
The Fokker trimotor became the aircraft of choice for many European airlines: Sabena of Belgium operated 28 examples; KLM had 15 F.VIIa airplanes (in addition to five of the single-engine F.VII); and Swissair flew five.
Not to be outdone, three major US airlines — American, TWA and Pan Am — added Fokker trimotors to their inventories.
The Ford Trimotor borrowed heavily from the Fokker as well as the aluminum-bodied Junkers G 24, which first flew in 1924. As it was of all-metal construction the Ford design could claim to be different to Fokker’s, but the Junkers Company also sued Ford for patent infringements and won their case.
The Tin Goose briefly dominates
The original Stout design chosen by Ford had proved to be too heavy and grossly under-powered. However, a young design team that included MIT graduate James McDonnell (who would later found his own aircraft company) redesigned the aircraft into the 4-AT, a most successful airliner.
The all-metal Ford aircraft, nicknamed the ‘Tin Goose’, had a significant effect on the world’s nascent airline scene. A total of 199 Ford Trimotors were built in a seven-year period starting in 1926. The design represented a quantum leap over contemporary models and provided a fast, reliable and (for its time) comfortable ride for its passengers. The aircraft was robust and easy to maintain. It was also durable, with many continuing to fly in commercial service for decades, in stark contrast to its fabric-covered contemporaries.
More than 100 airlines flew Fords, including Pan American for its first scheduled international flight from Key West, Florida to Havana, Cuba in 1927. Several corporations used the aircraft as an executive transport, and US Presidential candidate Franklin D. Roosevelt had a Ford Trimotor at his disposal during the 1932 election campaign, the first time such a use was recorded.
Rapid obsolescence
The dominance of the ‘Tin Goose’ was, however, short-lived, as other manufacturers hastened to catch up. The launch of the twin-engine, low-wing Boeing Model 247 in 1933, and the rival Douglas DC-2 a year later, rendered the Trimotor concept obsolete almost overnight.
When Henry Ford’s personal pilot Harry Brooks was killed in the single-engine Ford Flivver (a.k.a. ‘Sky Flivver’) commuter aircraft prototype in 1926, the magnate became disillusioned with aviation and lost interest in the business. The Flivver project was abandoned, and while Ford claimed to be the “largest manufacturer of commercial aircraft” in the late 1920s, no replacement for the ‘Tin Goose’ was designed.
The Models 5-AT-B and -C, with Pratt & Whitney Wasp radial engines, were the most numerous variants of the Ford Trimotor produced, with 92 built. The 5-AT-D with more powerful P&W Wasp SC radials was the last Ford model manufactured in any significant quantity.
In 1954 William Stout, who had parted company with Ford in 1930 and continued to design aircraft independently, bought back the rights to the Trimotor and tried to relaunch it as the Stout Bushmaster 200, with a bigger cabin and large cargo doors. But the design was unable to compete with more modern types and was a commercial failure.
A few Trimotors continued to fly with niche operators for many years. The high-wing made for good views from the cabin and Scenic Airlines operated one for 65 years taking tourists on sightseeing trips over the Grand Canyon in Arizona and the ‘Strip’ at Las Vegas, Nevada.
‘Tin Goose’ (by Ingells and Dietrick) is one of the more comprehensive books on the subject and the cover (seen here) shows one of three Ford Trimotors operated by Island Airlines from its Port Clinton, Ohio base to outlying islands in Lake Erie, well into the 1970s.
This is part of a series on the historic propliners that gave birth to the airline industry and the slow transition to the jet age. It all began with the DC-3 of course, and my columns move through the other Douglas propliners, the Boeing 377, Lockheed’s Electras and the elegant Constellation. The Brabazon Committee which sparked such a wave of innovation in the UK with the Vickers Viscount, the Bristol Britannia and the ill-fated de Havilland Comet. Many other significant aircraft, such as Avro Canada’s innovative but aborted C-102 passenger jet and the Sud-Aviation Caravelle, which led us into the start of the Jet Age have columns too.
A few quirky segues I couldn’t resist: the ‘Double Sunrise’ flights between my two homelands Ceylon and Australia; the wonderful Carvairs and that very British habit of taking your car on holiday. I also had to write a paean to my beloved A380 and all my pilot friends in the Gulf as COVID ended that little dream.
Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed the series as much as I have relished writing them. My special thanks to my old friend, mentor, editor and repository of knowledge Roger Thiedeman, for all the encouragement and support throughout this project.
