In 1923, Edsel Ford invested a substantial amount of money in the Stout Metal Airplane company. It was this company that developed the Ford Tri-Motor airplane, the first true aircraft for the infant airline industry.
Bill Stout founded the Stout Metal Airplane Company with the idea to build all-metal aircraft, something that few airplane companies were doing at the time. He managed to get several investors from the Detroit area to pony up a $1000 or more each for his new airplane factory. Henry Ford was persuaded by his son, Edsel to be one of the donors. Stout started with the Batwing aircraft which was called the Air Sedan. Stout demonstrated his airplane to Henry Ford who immediately remarked that they needed "more airplane". This remark led to the development of the Air Pullman and the Air Transport. All of these aircraft were made of metal but only had one engine.
By 1924, Ford held the majority of stock in the fledgling company and by July, 1925 he bought out the rest of the shareholders.
The senior Ford became more disenchanted by Stout who by this time had added 3 new Whirlwind engines to the Air Pullman in an attempt to gain more performance from the design. While Ford was contemplating what to do, the factory burnt to the ground. Ford took the opportunity to send Stout on a lecture tour and quickly hired 3 new engineers from MIT to develop his airplane. One of the engineers was James McDonnell who would gain a powerful reputation with the McDonnell aircraft company. The outcome of this change was the 4-AT or the Tin Goose.
The first flight of a Tin Goose was made on June 11, 1926 and soon the big Ford Tri-Motors were being produced in assembly-line fashion. Ford built a six hundred acre airport near the factory with 2 paved runways, a passenger terminal, a pilot training school, and various other airport amenities. The airport was the first of its kind in the United States.
A total of 198 Ford Tri-Motors were built between 1926 and 1933. The big Ford Tin Goose was favored by many airlines, oil companies, and wealthy customers. It used the then-new metal known as duralumin and had a characteristic "corrugated skin" which "oil-canned" during flight and helped make the airplane one of the noisiest aircraft flying. Pilot Bernt Balchen flew the Floyd Bennett, a Tri-Motor, with Commander Richard E. Byrd in Nov. 1929 over the South Pole. That plane was later buried in snow for 20 years and then dug up and with a little effort, flown again.
The plane was powered by 3 Wright Brothers "Whirlwind" engines but these were replaced with the development of the 5-AT model. The new engines were big and powerful 420 hp Wasps. The new design had a larger cabin capable of seating 15 passengers and could carry 2 tons of cargo with a cruising speed of over 100 mph which was slow for aircraft of the time and was a major factor in the retirement of the Tri-Motor. Henry Ford himself did not like flying and did not trust the new mode of transportation. He flew only once and that was when Charles Lindbergh talked him into an short hop with him in a Tri-Motor. Three of Ford's test pilots were killed including a close friend. This last crash occurred during the testing of the "Flying Flivver" which Ford had wanted to become the "everyman's airplane". With the loss of his young friend, Ford closed his aircraft factory for good.
The pictures shown here are of a Ford Tri-Motor that offers scenic flights out of the Los Angeles, CA area.
Reference: Countdown to Kitty Hawk, and The Great Planes by Gilbert, and Antique Airplanes by Sorensen.