Ford Trimotor
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| Trimotor | |
|---|---|
 Ford Trimotor G-CYWZ of the Royal Canadian Air Force. |
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| Type | Civil Transport |
| Manufacturer | Ford |
| Designed by | Henry Ford |
| Maiden flight | 1926 (4-AT) |
| Introduction | 1929 |
| Status | 18 existed as of 2006 |
| Primary users | over 100 airlines 6 air forces |
| Number built | 199 |
The Ford Trimotor, nicknamed The Tin Goose, was an American three engine civil transport aircraft first produced in 1925 by Henry Ford and continued until June 7, 1933. Throughout its lifespan a total of 199 aircraft were produced.[1] It was popular with the military and was sold all over the world. Unlike his famous cars, trucks and farm tractors, Ford did not make the engines for these airplanes.
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[edit] Development
The story of the Ford Tri-motor begins with William B. Stout, an engineer who had previously designed several aircraft using principles similar to those of Professor Hugo Junkers, the famous German manufacturer.
Stout, a bold and imaginative salesman, sent a mimeographed form letter to leading manufacturers, blithely asking for $1,000 and adding: "For your one thousand dollars you will get one definite promise: You will never get your money back." Stout raised $20,000, including $1000 each from Edsel and Henry Ford. Smithsonian
In the early 1920s Henry Ford, along with a list of 19 other investors including his son Edsel, invested in the Stout Metal Airplane Company. In 1925, Ford bought Stout and its Hugo Junkers-influenced aircraft designs. Ford adapted the traditionally single engined Stout craft with three Wright air-cooled radial engines. After a series of test aircraft and a suspicious fire causing the complete destruction of all previous designs, the 4-AT and 5-AT emerged. The Ford Trimotors used an all-metal construction—not a revolutionary concept, but certainly beyond the standard in the 1920s. The aircraft resembled the Fokker F.VII but it was all metal; its wings were made of aluminum and corrugated for added strength. This has become something of a signature for the Trimotor. Transcontinental Air Transport, which later became part of Trans World Airlines, used the craft to begin its transcontinental air service from San Diego to New York in 1929.
One 4-AT with Wright J-4 200 hp engines was built for the Army Air Corps as type C-3, and seven with Wright R-790-3 (235 hp) as type C-3A. The latter were upgraded to Wright R-975-1 (J6-9) radials at 300 hp and redesignated C-9. Five 5-ATs were built as C-4 or C-4A.
The original (commercial production) 4-AT had three air cooled Wright radial engines. It carried a crew of three—pilot, co-pilot and stewardess—and eight or nine passengers. The later 5-AT had more powerful Pratt & Whitney engines. All models had aluminum corrugated sheet metal body and wings. However, unlike many aircraft of this era, extending through World War II and later, the aircraft control surfaces were not fabric covered, but were of corrugated aluminum. As was common for the time, the rudder and elevator were controlled by wires that were strung along the external surface of the aircraft. Similarly, engine gauges were mounted externally, on the engines, to be read by the pilot looking through the windscreen.
Like his cars and tractors, these Ford aircraft were well designed, relatively inexpensive, and reliable (for the era). The rapid development of aircraft at this time (the vastly superior Douglas DC-2 was first conceived in 1932), helped Henry Ford to lose interest in aircraft production. While Ford did not make a profit on its aviation business, Ford's reputation leant credibility to the infant aviation industry, and Ford helped introduce many aspects of the modern aviation infrastructure, including paved runways, passenger terminals, hangars, airmail, and radio navigation.[1]
The Trimotor was not to be Ford's last venture in aircraft production. During World War II, he built the largest aircraft manufacturing plant in the world and assembled thousands of B-24 Liberator bombers under license from Consolidated Aircraft.
[edit] Operational history
A total of 199 Ford Tri-motors were built between 1926 and 1933, including 79 of the 4-AT variant, and 117 of the 5-AT variant, plus some experimental craft. Well over 100 airlines of the world flew the Ford Tri-motor.[1]
4-AT serial number 10 was built in 1927. It flew in the United States and Mexico under registration number C-1077, and for several years in Canada under registration G-CARC. It had many notable accomplishments. It was flown by Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart among many others. It made the first commercial flight from the United States to Mexico City, and the first commercial flight over the Canadian Rockies. After damage on landing in 1936, it was grounded and remained for decades at Carcross, Yukon. In 1956 the wreck was salvaged and preserved, and in the mid 1980's Greg Herrick took over C-1077 and began restoring it. As of 2006, C-1077 is in flying condition again, restored to its December 1927 appearance.[1] [2]
Between 27 November and 28 November 1929, Admiral Richard E. Byrd and his crew made the first flight over the South Pole in a Ford Trimotor called Floyd Bennett (one of three aircraft on the expedition, the others being The Stars and Stripes and The Virginian), replacing the Fokker Trimotors Byrd previously used.
Franklin Roosevelt flew aboard a Ford Trimotor in 1932 during his presidential campaign.[3]
[edit] Survivors
As of 2007, there are 18 Ford Trimotors in existence, six of which are flyable.[4] The oldest flying Trimotor is Greg Herrick's 1927 4AT-A, Serial No. 4, C-1077.[2] It is based at the Golden Wings Museum [5] near Minneapolis, Minnesota. N8407 (4ATE, 1929) is based at the EAA AirVenture Museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and tours the United States.[6] N9645 (5ATB, 1929) is based at Evergreen Vintage Aircraft, Inc., McMinnville, Oregon. N414H, N9612 and N9651 are also flyable.
Non-flying examples are on display in museums, including the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum[7] in Washington, D.C.; the Air Zoo in Kalamazoo, Michigan;[4] and the San Diego Air & Space Museum[8] in San Diego, California.
[edit] Commercial operators
- American Airlines
- Cubana (Cuba)
- Czechoslovak Airlines (Czechoslovakia)
- Mexicana (Mexico)
- Pan American World Airways
- SACO (Colombia)
- SCADTA (Colombia)
- Transcontinental Air Transport
- Trans World Airlines
- Wien Air Alaska
- United Airlines
[edit] Military operators
Canada- Royal Canadian Air Force
Colombia- Colombian Air Force
Spain- Spanish Air Force
United Kingdom- Royal Air Force
[edit] Specifications (Ford Trimotor)
General characteristics
- Crew: 3 ( 1 Flight Attendant)
- Capacity: Eight passengers
- Cost: US$42,000 in 1933
- Length: 50 ft 3 in (15.32 m)
- Wingspan: 77 ft 10 in (23.72 m)
- Height: 12 ft 8 in (3.86 m)
- Wing area: 835 ft² (77.6 m²)
- Empty weight: 7,840 lb (3,560 kg)
- Loaded weight: 10,130 lb (4,590 kg)
- Max takeoff weight: 13,500 lb (6,120 kg)
- Fuel capacity: 230 US gal (886 L)
- Fuel consumption: 45 US gal/h (173 L/h))
- Powerplant: 3× Pratt & Whitney Wasp C 9-cylinder radial engines, 420 hp (313 kW) each
Performance
- Maximum speed: 150 mph (241 km/h, 130 kts)
- Cruise speed: 90 mph (145 km/h, 78 kts)
- Stall speed: 64 mph (103 km/h, 56 kts)
- Range: 550 mi (885 km, 478 nm)
- Service ceiling 18,500 ft (5,640 m)
- Rate of climb: ft/min (m/s)
- Wing loading: 16.17 lb/ft² (78.87 kg/m²)
- Power/mass: 10.71 lb/hp (6.52 kg/kW)
[edit] Culture
- The plane is referenced in the Clive Cussler book Iceberg and used by character Dirk Pitt for a rescue operation. The plane is also referred to in Cussler's book Valhalla Rising when Pitt uses it to escape an attack from a Fokker Dr.I, the type of plane used by Manfred von Richthofen, also known as The Red Baron. The movie Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom depicts a flight and crash of an aircraft much like a Ford Trimotor.
- Director Howard Hawks' 1939 film Only Angels Have Wings features a Trimotor that catches fire after a freak accident with a condor eventually performing an emergency landing on an airfield. A real and a model Trimotor were used for the sequence.
- The Ford Trimotor is available in many different color schemes in the popular Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004: A Century of Flight computer game. It has a brilliant simulation of the aircraft's aerodynamics and cockpit controls. It is, however, regarded as a difficult aircraft to use, as the player cannot see over the front-most engine.
[edit] See also
- Rattlesnake Island (Lake Erie), where a private mail service used a Ford Trimotor for delivery from 1966 to 1989.
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d Herrick, Greg A. (2004). The Amazing Story of America's Oldest Flying Airliner (PDF), Jackson, Wyoming, USA: Yellowstone Aviation, Inc.. Retrieved on 2006-10-01. This 28-page booklet describes the history of the Ford Trimotor 4-AT-10, C-1077, a.k.a G-CARC "Niagara". It also describes the restoration process and some general history of Ford's aviation and the Trimotor.
- ^ a b Herrick, Greg (2004). Ford Tri-motor 4-AT-10, C-1077, a.k.a G-CARC "Niagara". Yellowstone Aviation, Inc.. Retrieved on 2006-10-01.
- ^ Larkins, William T. (October 1992). The Ford Tri-Motor, 1926-1992. Schiffer Publishing, 288 pp. ISBN 0887404162. Page 170.
- ^ a b Wiggins, Arthur B. (2006). Ford Tri-Motor List. Retrieved on 2008-04-30. An enthusiast's register of existing Ford Tri-motors, Bushmasters, and Stinson Tri-motors.
- ^ Golden Wings Museum
- ^ EAA AirVenture Museum - Ford Tri-Motor Bookings
- ^ National Air and Space Museum, America by Air Gallery
- ^ SDAM - Welcome to the San Diego Air & Space Museum
- Lowe, Scott A.. Ford Trimotor.org. Scott A. Lowe. Retrieved on 2006-10-01. This web site is "a tribute to the Ford Tri-Motor", and contains facts, pictures, bibliography and more.
- [1] Detail photos—1929 Ford 4-AT-E Tri-Motor
[edit] Related content
Comparable aircraft
Related lists
- List of airliners
- List of military aircraft of the United States
- List of military aircraft of the United States (naval)
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