Henry Ford's Aviation Ventures

All Metal
The Ford Trimotor was the first successful all-metal plane. Making planes of all metal was a radical idea at a time when most planes were still built of fabric stretched over wooden frames. Henry was won over by Bill Stout’s enthusiasm for all-metal planes and became convinced that he could make a profit producing them for commercial (as opposed to military) purposes.

Ford’s corrugated metal Trimotors—made out of corrosion-resistant aluminum and exceptionally strong duralumin—gained the affectionate nicknames of “Tin Goose” and “Flying Washboard.” In 1926, he built a new 60,000-square-foot factory to produce his Trimotors—“laid out expressly to accommodate the Ford system of progressive production.”

People Trusted Henry Ford
Ford’s involvement in aviation convinced a huge number of people that flying was safe and dependable. Many people felt that if the producer of the Model T—the world’s universal car—believed in the future of aviation, then there must be something to it. In the late 1920s, Ford launched a massive advertising campaign to promote Trimotor safety and reliability to the public. According to the March 1928 Aero Digest, “His advertising has done more to popularize flying among the reading public than all the stunts that have been stunted, at the risk of neck and limb.”

In order to further promote aviation among the general public, Ford also helped sponsor an Air Reliability Tour—an airplane meet that encouraged reliability and safety for commercial aircraft. The Tour, which ran annually from 1925 to 1931, involved a 1,775-mile round trip over 6 days from the Ford airport through 13 midwestern cities. Henry and Edsel Ford donated a magnificent sterling silver trophy to the winner.

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