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| CREW | 1-2 |
| PASSENGERS | 17 |
| ENGINE | 3 x 313kW Pratt & Whitney R-1340-C1 or SC1 Wasp radial piston engines |
| WEIGHTS |
| Take-off weight | 6123 kg | 13499 lb |
| DIMENSIONS |
| Wingspan | 23.72 m | 78 ft 10 in |
| Length | 15.32 m | 50 ft 3 in |
| Height | 3.86 m | 13 ft 8 in |
| Wing area | 77.57 m2 | 834.96 sq ft |
| PERFORMANCE |
| Max. speed | 241 km/h | 150 mph |
| Ceiling | 5640 m | 18500 ft |
| Range | 885 km | 550 miles |
| Frank Lee, e-mail, 31.03.2010 01:48 I flew B-29's in the Korean War and my bombardier was "Tiny" Stout. He told me his father had been the main aeronautical engineer behind the design and building of the Ford Trimotor . "Tiny" had several degrees and was a designer and builder of race cars in civilian life. reply | | L. Howard, e-mail, 31.08.2010 06:48 My Dad was at the CCC camp in Montrose, Colorado, in the late 1930's when a Ford Tri-motor landed with engine trouble. He helped the pilot make the repairs, then the pilot took him for a ride over the Rockies. That was Dad's first airplane ride. On July 4, 1965, a Tri-motor licensed to American Airlines was in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on a barnstorming publicity tour on the way to the Smithsonian A&S Museum. Dad told the pilot about his one flight back before the war, and the pilot arranged for Dad, one of my best friends, and me to go for a ride. About 28 years after my Dad's first flight, my first flight was in the same make /model of plane. Dad often thought that it might have been the very same plane! It was still a very impressive plane, even after being in service for nearly 40 years at the time. It was the smoothest takeoff and landing I have ever experienced. Also the noisiest ride ever, too! reply | | TK, 11.03.2010 23:28 The AirZoo in Kalamazoo Michigan has one. Back in '89 they were flying arial tours around Kalamazoo. If I remember correctly it cost $50 /person. It is actually the first plane I ever flew on. See website for Kalamazoo AirZoo. www.airzoo.org /page.php?menu_id=26. Off hand I am not sure if they still use it for flying tours or not. reply | | Phil Veatch, e-mail, 07.02.2010 12:35 You can see a Ford Trimotor in the National Museum of Naval Aviation at NAS Pensacola, FL. reply | |
| | Bob Lauber, e-mail, 05.09.2010 17:21 My grandfather took me as passangers in a 1926 Tri-motor at hhe Fairfax airport in Kansas City, Kansas when I was 9 years old. I'm 83 now and I remember it had whicker seats and it was a great thrill. reply | | bob katkic, e-mail, 02.02.2010 08:43 WE USED TO FLY TO THE ISLANDS FROM PORT CLINTON TO GO ICE FISHING IN THE WINTER COST WAS $5.00 I WAS A KID THEN SURE BRINGS BACK SOME GREAT MEMORIES reply | | walt jashienski, e-mail, 26.01.2010 17:14 years ago late 60s I fished Lake Erie around the islands once in a while we would see a Tri motor fly from Catawba Is to SB island EAA50 TIN GOOSE had it at the air port for a fly in over July 4 I took a ride in it VERY AWSEMONE reply | | Don, e-mail, 08.01.2010 21:32 The last Ford Trimotor I saw was taking off from Port Au Prince, Haiti. It was about 1969, and it was a military plane, I believe, as the Haitian military transported passengers to three or four other "airfields" on the island at that time. reply | | sidney glaser, e-mail, 14.07.2009 16:43 My first recollection of the Ford Tri-motor was as a small child in the early 1930's in Honduras where I referred to them as "tin planes," because their corrugated fuselages looked like the tin roofs of the houses in La Ceiba and San Pedro Sula.
In March 1944 I made my first flight in a TACA Airlines Tri-Motor from Bluefields, Ncaragua to Managua, Nic. From Managua I continued on to Miami on a TACA Lockheed Lodestar.
As a kid I would go to the airfield in Bluefields to fly kites and I still remember how awestruck I was watching those magnificent birds land and take off. Bluefields was a stop (twice weekly) from Managua and on to either Puerto Cabezas or the gold mines of La Luz, Siuna, or Alamicamba.
It is said that people remember with fondness their first kiss, their first love, and their first car. I believe the first airplane ride has to be right up there with the rest. Since that time I have taken over 700 commercial flights and I still remember that first one in the Tri-Motor as the most special. reply |
| Abi, e-mail, 03.06.2009 17:23 Its a really neat airplane! reply | | Ronald Denz, e-mail, 29.04.2009 21:22 N.A.T. had a few of these in service in the early 1930's. They have used one for sightseeing out of Chicago Municipal Airport (now Midway) at that time. I have several photos. Stinson made a tri as well that United used a bit later. reply | | H. Robert Case, e-mail, 21.04.2009 01:39 I was seven years old in 1936 when I first flew in an airplane. It was Ford Tri-Motor from Denver to Cheyenne. It was a very memorable flight with thunderclouds and lightning all over the sky. No wonder the plane was not hit by a lightning! Whew! reply | | DJ Blythe, e-mail, 12.02.2009 16:43 Bytes of Tri-Motor Trivia... Kinda back in the day... 1979
TWA flew one into INDy airport on the 50th anniversary of TAT's original route. I believe the ship was the one owned by Bill Harrah, of Harrah's Cassino @ Reno Nv. It was impressively restored as all of Bill's aircraft & autos in his collection located at Sparks Nv. I heard via the A /C grapevine that the ship was damaged a few years later when it made a hard landing after an aborted take off. I HOPE it was repaired, & returned to display. Does anyone know how this story turned out, & where the Tri-Motor is now?
Thanks DJ reply | | Hoyle G. Long, e-mail, 27.12.2008 03:44 I flew in a Ford Tri-motor in the early thirties. I remember the control cables running out in the open thru the cabin area and curtains separating the pilots from the passengers. This particular plane was owned by a barnstormer, flying out of a cowpasture, charging three bucks for a trip over town. The field is near my home and each time I passby and note how short the field is with treeline on each end I can't believe it. reply | |
| | Edson Waite, e-mail, 05.07.2008 05:03 I took my grandson for a ride in a Ford Tri-Motor on June 28, 2008, flying from the Dayton Wright Brothers Airport, Dayton Ohio. This particular aircraft was the 126th Tri-Motor built by Ford (NC8407) and was one of two that were used to start Eastern Airlines. This plane was used in the Jerry Lewis movie "The Family Jewels". It was also used as a crop duster, and as a "Smoke Jumper" aircraft. My grandson and I very much enjoyed the flight over Dayton and its suburbs. reply | | Karl Moore, e-mail, 02.06.2008 10:29 When I was 6 days old (April 21, 1929) a Fokker Trimotor and
an Army Air Corps Boeing PW9 collided over San Diego and crashed close behind my house. My father and grandfather were among the first to get to the crash. For years my family had relics of the crash. The Trimotor was an airliner of Maddux Air Lines which later became part of TWA. There were no survivors of the crash.....6 on the trimotor
plus the pilot of the Army fighter. reply | | EDWARD MATE, e-mail, 31.05.2008 23:20 In the summer of 1968 My family, wife and four kids were at the same Rockford,IL Air Show that Rosie Head (re:see Fokker quad plane)was killed at. We all went up in a Ford Trimotor. The youngest Marzie was still in the hanger, coming out in December. Adults paid five bucks the kids flew free. Nearly all of the kids built model airplanes, my present hobby. reply | | Frank Regan, e-mail, 28.05.2008 17:52 I flew in a Ford Trimotor about two years ago with my two grandsons. While an undergrduate student at MIT my prof of design was one Otto Koppen (got his intsturment rating at 80 years of age). Koppen was one of the designers of the TriMotor; he told as how with the demise of the Fokker TriMotor (death of Knute Rockne) Koppen and fellow engieers at Ford secretely got access to a Fokker and made detailed measurements (wing span, length, airfoil etc.) and reproduced this airplane in aluminum. Koppen was also the designer of the heliocourier airplane. reply | | Greg Gill, e-mail, 01.01.2008 06:36 There was one of these that flew passengers out to the Catawba Islands in Lake Erie from Sandusky, Ohio up until the early 1970's. reply | | Luis M. Moreno, e-mail, 04.04.2007 20:01 Fue y sigue siendo un avión excepcional que dio un grán avance a la aviación comercial. Como piloto me habria gustado pilotarlo. Por lo que he leido es un noble aparato. Saludos.
Luis reply |
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Dear Mr Glasser, how old were you when you took your first flight from Bluefields to Managua? I .am a stamp and postal history collector, I am more gathering I formation about first flight in Nicaragua. Thanks.
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