Celebrate the Heritage of the Ford Tri-Motor
Saturday, June 29, 2013
Reception – 6:00 PM
Dinner – 7:00 PM
Take a flight in the Experimental Aircraft Association’s (EAA) 1929 Ford Tri-Motor Aircraft hosted by local EAA Chapter 533at the Elmira-Corning Regional Airport on June 27th – 30th, 2013 and then join us at Wings of Eagles Discovery Center on Saturday, June 29th for a dinner including a Family-Friendly Summer Buffet Menu and program from the crew of the legendary Ford Tri-Motor. We will gather at 6:00PM for a reception and have dinner at 7:00 PM. Our program will include a briefing by the crew of this historic aircraft. Join us and imagine what the early days of commercial service were like, when airfields looked more like big pastures. Each ticket sold will open a space for a child who is on the waiting list for our Summer of Innovationprograms.
Video of the Ford Tri-Motor
History of the Ford Tri-Motor
The Ford Tri-Motor did for airline passenger transportation what the Ford Model T did for the family car. The Ford Tri-Motor was the first all metal, long range passenger aircraft and with over 100 airlines eventually operating 199 of the revolutionary aircraft the 1930s witnessed the first scheduled transcontinental and international air service using the Ford Tri-Motor. The aircraft enjoyed a long list of firsts including the first scheduled airliner with in-flight flight attendants and the first airliner to conduct scheduled international service with flights from Miami to Havana.
Flying the Tri-Motor took above average skills, because the flight controls were all manual. This challenged the first cadre of pilots but the aircraft developed an unprecedented safety record that capitalized on the redundancy of the three air cooled engines. The US Army and Navy experimented with both cargo and bomber versions of the aircraft. One was even converted to perform as a sea plane with added floats manufactured by the EDO Corporation.
Even though Henry Ford closed the Ford Motor Aircraft Corporation following the completion of the Tri-Motor manufacturing run, he went on to build the Willow Run plant which built thousands of B-24 Liberator bombers under contract from the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation. The assembly line fabrication skills needed for that record breaking war effort were developed during the building of the Tri-Motor and the multi-engine controls. In fact all metal fabrication can be directly traced to the lessons learned a decade before with the Tri-Motor. As one of two flying Tri-Motors, the EAA aircraft is an example of living aviation history and is a “must see” for all in the area.