When Ford ruled the skies
Association allows visitors to experience what it was like to fly in a three-engine plane in the early days of passenger service
The three motors sputtered to life, one at a time, overpowering conversation and gently jostling the tiny cabin as the engine oil heated to 100 degrees. Onlookers snapped photos of the relic, a 1929 Ford Tri-Motor, from the early days of passenger aviation, as it prepared for takeoff at the West Houston Airport.
The third engine was to provide power, but it also functioned as a security blanket. Passengers liked having that extra fixture — just in case — as engines in the 1920s were known to falter.
“Tri-motoring was a craze at this time because it was a free engine,” said Michael Bludworth, a historian at the 1940 Air Terminal Museum at Hobby Airport.
He was among the onlookers gathered by
the Experimental Aircraft Association, which is selling rides on the Ford Tri-Motor through Sunday. EAA Chapter 774, representing the west Houston area, will use its proceeds to send local students to Air Academy summer camps in Oshkosh, Wis.
“I call it our time machine,” said Steve Lambrick, a volunteer pilot with EAA who flew the Ford Tri-Motor on Thursday. “It really does take you back to what travel was like in the late ’20s.”
The plane, affectionately called the “Tin Goose,” used its Ford namesake, metal structure and additional engine to help persuade the public that air travel could be safe and practical. It was also comfortable for the time, though today’s travelers would find the ride noisy. Engine vibrations can also be felt throughout the entire flight.
The Ford Tri-Motor became the first widely used metal airliner in the U.S. And being made of metal was a major selling point, especially after the wooden Fokker F.10 trimotor crashed and killed Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne and others in 1931.
“Suddenly here was the Ford, which was all metal and publicized as the ‘all-metal Ford,’ ” Bludworth said. “Virtually identical in size and capacity (as the Fokker tri-motor), but all metal and safe.”
And just like with automobiles, Ford Motor Co. created an assembly line to mass-produce these aircraft. It built 199 Tri-Motors between 1926 and 1933. The plane visiting Houston was the 146th to roll off the Ford assembly line. Its inaugural flight was Aug. 21, 1929.
The Tri-Motor’s cutting-edge appeal would be short lived, however, as aviation technology evolved quickly during the 1930s.
“It’s not much of an airplane as far as airplanes go,” Bludworth said. “It’s low, it’s slow, it’s noisy. And it was very quickly eclipsed by other metal airplanes.”
The entire industry changed when the Douglas DC-1, and its later models the DC-2 and DC-3, entered the market in the 1930s. According to Boeing’s website, the design of the DC-1 was more streamlined, had retractable landing gear and was quieter. It was faster and more comfortable, too.
The DC-3, considered the most successful airliner of its time, became the industry workhorse. It provided enhanced comfort and reliability while allowing airlines to fly profitably and without relying on government subsidies.
The Ford Tri-Motor would go on to find uses in other countries. It’d be used for crop dusting and barnstorming shows, too.
Hank Henry, 93, rode in the plane’s co-pilot seat on Thursday. He is the chief pilot and instructor at the West Houston Airport, and he isn’t sentimental toward planes. They have a function, and he likes to evaluate how well they perform that function.
The pilot let him take control for a while, and Henry said it was pretty responsive and handled well, considering when it was created.
“I felt complimentary toward the airplane,” he said.