Ford Trimotor The Ford Trimotor ( also called the " Tri - Motor " , and nicknamed " The Tin Goose " ) was an American three - engined transport aircraft that was first produced in 1925 by the companies of Henry Ford and that continued to be produced until June 7 , 1933 . Throughout its time in production , a total of 199 Ford Trimotors were produced . It was designed for the civil aviation market , and was also used by military units and sold all over the world . Design and development . The story of the Ford Trimotor began with William Bushnell Stout , an aeronautical engineer who had previously designed several aircraft using principles similar to those of Professor Hugo Junkers , the noted German aircraft designer . In the early 1920s Henry Ford , along with a group of 19 other investors including his son Edsel , invested in the Stout Metal Airplane Company . Stout , a bold and imaginative salesman , sent a mimeograph ed 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 $ 1 , 000 each from Edsel and Henry Ford . In 1925 , Ford bought Stout and its aircraft designs . The single - engine Stout design was turned into a multi - engine design , the Stout 3 - AT with three Curtiss - Wright air - cooled radial engines . After a prototype was built and test flown with poor results , and a suspicious fire causing the complete destruction of all previous designs , the " 4 - AT " and " 5 - AT " emerged . That the Ford Trimotor used an all - metal construction was not a revolutionary concept , but certainly more advanced than the standard construction techniques in the 1920s . The aircraft resembled the Fokker F . VII Trimotor , but unlike the Fokker , the Ford was all - metal , allowing Ford to claim it was " the safest airliner around . " Its fuselage and wings were constructed of aluminum alloy which was corrugated for added strength , although the drag reduced its overall performance . Although designed primarily for passenger use , the Trimotor could be easily adapted for hauling cargo , since its seats in the fuselage could be removed . To increase cargo capacity , one unusual feature was the provision of " drop - down " cargo holds below the lower inner wing sections of the 5 - AT version . One 4 - AT with Wright J - 4 200 hp engines was built for the U . S . Army Air Corps as the C - 3 , and seven with Wright R - 790 - 3 ( 235 hp ) as C - 3As . 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 - 4s or C - 4As . The original ( commercial production ) 4 - AT had three air - cooled Wright radial engines . It carried a crew of three : a pilot , a co - pilot , and a stewardess as well as eight or nine passengers . The later 5 - AT had more powerful Pratt & Whitney engines . All models had aluminum corrugated sheet metal body and wings . Unlike many aircraft of this era , extending through World War II , its flight control surfaces ( ailerons , elevators , and rudders ) were not fabric covered , but were also made of corrugated metal . As was common for the time , its rudder and elevators were controlled by wires that were strung along the external surface of the aircraft . Engine gauges were also mounted externally , on the engines , to be read by the pilot while looking through the aircraft windshield . Another interesting feature was the use of the hand - operated " Johnny Brake . " Like Ford cars and tractors , these Ford aircraft were well - designed , relatively inexpensive , and reliable ( for the era ) . The combination of metal structure and simple systems led to their reputation for ruggedness . Rudimentary service could be accomplished " in the field " with ground crew able to work on engines using scaffolding and platforms . In order to fly into otherwise - inaccessible sites , the Ford Trimotor could be fitted with skis or floats . The rapid development of aircraft at this time ( the vastly superior Douglas DC - 2 was first conceived in 1932 ) , along with the death of his personal pilot Harry J . Brooks on a test flight , led to Henry Ford ' s losing interest in aviation . While Ford did not make a profit on its aircraft business , Henry Ford ' s reputation lent credibility to the infant aviation and airline industries , and Ford helped introduce many aspects of the modern aviation infrastructure , including paved runways , passenger terminals , hangars , airmail , and radio navigation . In the late 1920s , the Ford Aircraft Division was reputedly the " largest manufacturer of commercial airplanes in the world . " Alongside the Ford Trimotor , a new single - seat commuter aircraft , the Ford Flivver or " Sky Flivver " had been designed and flown in prototype form but never entered series production . The Trimotor was not to be Ford ' s last venture in aircraft production . During World War II , the largest aircraft manufacturing plant in the world was built at the Willow Run , Michigan plant , where Ford produced thousands of B - 24 Liberator bombers under license from Consolidated Aircraft . William Stout left the Metal Airplane division of the Ford Motor Company in 1930 . He continued to operate the Stout Engineering Laboratory , producing various aircraft . In 1954 , Stout purchased the rights to the Ford Trimotor in an attempt to produce new examples . A new company formed from this effort brought back two modern examples of the trimotor aircraft , renamed the Stout Bushmaster 2000 , but even with improvements that had been incorporated , performance was judged inferior to modern designs . Operational history . A total of 199 Ford Trimotors 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 Trimotor . From mid - 1927 , the type was also flown on executive transportation duties by several commercial non - airline operators including oil and manufacturing companies . The impact of the Ford Trimotor on commercial aviation was immediate , as the design represented a " quantum leap over other airliners . " Within a few months of its introduction , Transcontinental Air Transport was created to provide a coast - to - coast operation , capitalizing on the Trimotor ' s ability to provide reliable and for the time , comfortable passenger service . While advertised as a transcontinental service , the airline had to rely on rail connections with a deluxe Pullman train that would be based in New York being the first part of the journey . Passengers then rendezvoused with a Trimotor in Port Columbus , Ohio , that would begin a hop across the continent ending at Waynoka , Oklahoma where another train would take the passengers to Clovis , New Mexico where the final journey would begin , again on a Trimotor , to end up at the Grand Central Air Terminal in Glendale , a few miles north - east of Los Angeles . The " grueling " trip would only be available for a year before Transcontinental was merged into a combine with Western Air Service . Ford Trimotors were also used extensively by Pan American Airways , for its first international scheduled flights from Key West to Havana , Cuba , in 1927 . Eventually , Pan American extended service from North America and Cuba into Central and South America in the late 1920s and early 1930s . One of Latin America ' s earliest airlines , Cubana de Aviación , was the first to use the Ford Trimotor in Latin America , starting in 1930 , for its domestic services . The heyday for Ford ' s transport was relatively brief , lasting only until 1933 when more modern airliners began to appear . Rather than completely disappearing , the Trimotors gained an enviable reputation for durability with Ford ads in 1929 proclaiming , " No Ford plane has yet worn out in service . " First being relegated to second - and third - tier airlines , the Trimotors continued to fly into the 1960s , with numerous examples being converted into cargo transports to further lengthen their careers and when World War II began , the commercial versions were soon modified for military applications . Some of the significant flights made by the Ford Trimotor in this period greatly enhanced the reputation of the type for strength and reliability . One example is of Ford 4 - AT Trimotor serial number 10 , 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 , as well as 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 1980s 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 . Making headlines became a Trimotor trademark . On November 27 and 28 , 1929 , Commander Richard E . Byrd ( navigator ) , chief pilot Bernt Balchen , and two other crewmen , the co - pilot and the photographer , made the first flight above the Geographic South Pole in a Ford Trimotor that Byrd named the " Floyd Bennett " . This was one of three aircraft taken on this polar expedition , with the other two being named " The Stars and Stripes " and " The Virginian " , replacing the Fokker Trimotors that Byrd previously used . Franklin Roosevelt also flew aboard a Ford Trimotor in 1932 during his presidential campaign in one of the first uses of an aircraft in an election , replacing the traditional " whistle stop " train trips . The long - range capabilities of the Ford Trimotor were exploited in a search for the lost flyers of the Sigizmund Levanevsky Trans - Polar Flight in 1937 . Movie stunt flyer Jimmie Mattern flew a specially modified Lockheed Electra along with fellow movie flyer , Garland Lincoln flying a stripped - down Trimotor donated by the president of Superior Oil Company . With 1 , 800 gallons of avgas and 450 gallons of oil in the modified cabin , the Trimotor was intended to act as a " tanker " for the expedition . The Electra was able to transfer fuel in the air from the Trimotor , through a hose cast out the 4 - AT ' s door . With the first aerial refueling test successful , the pair of pilots set out for Fairbanks , landing first at Burwash Landing , Yukon Territory , Canada , on August 15 , 1937 , but the Trimotor ran out of fuel and crashed in inclement weather the following day . The Trimotor was abandoned on the tundra . One of the major uses of Trimotor after it was superseded as a passenger aircraft by more modern aircraft like the DC - 3 , was the carrying of heavy freight to mining operations in jungles and mountains . In this role the Trimotor was employed for decades . In 1942 , during the Battle of Bataan , a Trimotor was used in evacuations of the island . The aircraft would haul 24 people nearly 500 miles a trip , twice daily . The aircraft was eventually strafed and destroyed by Japanese aircraft . In postwar years , the Ford Trimotors continued in limited service with small , regional air carriers . One of the most famous was the Scenic Airways Ford Trimotor N414H which was used for 65 years as a sightseeing aircraft flying over the Grand Canyon . The aircraft is still in use as of late 2011 , mainly for promotional and film work , though one Trimotor operator offers rides . As of August 2013 , a Ford Trimotor was still being used by the Experimental Aircraft Association ( EAA ) to fly passengers on sightseeing tours . Survivors . As of 2012 , there are 18 Ford Trimotors in existence , eight of which have current FAA Airworthy Certificates . From 1954 onwards , efforts have been made to produce a modernized version of the Trimotor as the Stout Bushmaster 2000 . Saddled with financial , management and marketing problems , only two examples were initially built with a third fuselage never completed . Notable appearances in media . A Ford Trimotor appeared in Chapter 1 of " Flash Gordon " ( Universal , 1936 ) . Director Howard Hawks ' " Only Angels Have Wings " 1939 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 . A number of flyable Trimotors have been seen in recent films , including Trimotor 5ATB N9651 which played a feature role in " Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom " ( 1984 ) . Presently , this aircraft is in the Fantasy of Flight museum at Polk City , Florida . A Trimotor appeared flown by Jerry Lewis in " The Family Jewels " ( 1965 ) . A Trimotor also appears in the movie " The Untouchables " ( 1987 ) , at least the passenger compartment , when Eliott Ness and his team travel to the Canadian border to ambush Al Capone ' s thugs while they negotiate a liquor shipment . Another appearance is made in " Public Enemies " ( 2009 ) , when the bank robber John Dillinger is transferred to a prison , flying in a Trimotor .