Those Fords that fly

In 1926, Ford Motor Company decided to fly. This past Thursday, a 1929 Ford Tri-Motor plane flew into the Vero Beach Municipal Airport, its nostalgic silhouette harkening back to bygone days of air transport. 

The Ford Tri-Motor plane, which revolutionized passenger travel by air, was the world’s first mass- produced airliner. The Tin Goose, as it’s called, was the first plane with in-door passenger seating. And, at 90 miles-an-hour, it was lightning fast transportation. 

Like other Ford products, such as cars and tractors, Ford’s aircraft was well-designed, relatively inexpensive and reliable for the times. And like other Ford products, the combination of metal structures and simple operating systems gave them a reputation as rugged.”

“After this 1929 Tri-Motor, air travel went downhill. It was the end of comfortable flying when they did away with the big windows and big seats”, said Colin Soucy, a retired commercial pilot who volunteers one weekend a month for an aviation museum navigating the Tri-Motor to various airport locations on America’s east coast. 

He does it for personal enjoyment, but more importantly, to garner donations to keep the Tri-Motor flying for the Experimental Aviation Association Center in Oshkosh, Wis.

Despite no official funding, the Ford Tri-Motor tours the United States, teaching the history of the early days of aviation.

It was clearly evident Soucy enjoys the work. He beamed and cajoled his passengers, like a kid inviting his best friends on a roller coaster ride as they boarded the Tri-Motor to embark on a 30-minute flight over Vero Beach, the ocean and the inter-coastal.

With a huge ba-boom of white-ish blue smoke, the third engine engaged and the plane circled for take-off.

Back in the day, the Tri-Motor could cross to Tampa from Vero Beach in about two hours, an unheard of feat. A Model-T or Model-A Ford car would take two days to go the same distance, including a stopover. 

Built to take-off and land in cow pastures and grassy fields, the Ford plane needs just a few hundred feet to be airborne.

Likewise on landing, roughly 1,000 feet or less is required. Its corrugated wings are huge and, therefore, able to create tremendous lift. The three piston-type engines use about a gallon of fuel per minute of flying. 

Today, the Tri-Motor has been utilized for fire service out west, as a stunt plane in movies, to carry heavy freight to mining operations in jungles and mountains and for the past 65 years to fly spectators over the Grand Canyon. 

Gulfstream Aerospace has partly funded restorations. But, money is continually needed for upkeep and preservation.

Local resident April Torella often brings her children to Vero Beach’s airport to watch the planes take-off and land. Last Thursday, she spotted the Ford plane while driving by and stopped for a closer look. 

Fresh from a dental appointment after school, her two children, Sabrina and Alex, delighted at the plane’s antique quality. They scurried up to the cockpit like kids on a carnival ride. Soucy encouraged them to “go see, and sit in the seats.” 

Compared to today’s airplanes, the Tri-Motor kind of resembles a kiddie ride. Tickets for a flight are $75 (there are nine seats on each flight) and the much in-demand co-pilot seat is $125. 
 
Yes, there’s a separate steering wheel. 

Judy Young is the lady who is responsible for issuing plane tickets. Together with her husband, Joe, they too volunteer to help keep the Ford Tri-Motor flying. 

Joe Young is also a retired commercial pilot. Having flown for both Pan Am and American Airlines, Joe has 40-plus years of experience. 

Both Joe and Judy Young have been around flying nearly their entire 47-year marriage. Judy’s father was also a pilot.

“But, I really never do fly, I don’t like it,” said Judy Young. 

Originally, Soucy got his pilot’s training from his dad, a pilot, who taught young Colin to fly a Cessna 150 in 1969. But Soucy loves the Ford Tri-Motor because of its basic, friendly, family vehicle driving quality. 

Soucy and both the Youngs are staunch supporters of the Tri-Motor. They love aviation and its history. That’s why they volunteer even though they’re retired: to keep history there for futuregenerations. 

Soucy speaks about the Ford plane like it’s part of his family. “It’s like a truck in the air; not a pickup truck. More like a dump truck,” he chuckles. 
 
The Experimental Aviation Association Center in Oshkosh is the museum home of the Ford Tri-Motor. Donations are greatly appreciated. 

To learn more about the aircraft and the efforts to teach aviation history, please visit www.airventuremuseum.org/fordtrimotor. 

Donations can also be sent to EAA Aviation Center, 3000 Poberezny Rd., Oshkosh, WI, 54902.

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