{"id":31501184,"date":"2026-11-06T16:53:24","date_gmt":"2026-11-06T15:53:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/ford-trimotor-tin-goose-stout-byrd-floyd-bennett-history\/"},"modified":"2026-11-06T16:56:00","modified_gmt":"2026-11-06T15:56:00","slug":"ford-trimotor-tin-goose-stout-byrd-floyd-bennett-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/ford-trimotor-tin-goose-stout-byrd-floyd-bennett-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Ford Trimotor: The Tin Goose That Taught America to Fly"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style>\r\n<!-- mfsh:top -->\r\n\r\n<style>\r\n.mfsh-trigger{display:inline-flex;align-items:center;gap:10px;height:44px;padding:0 18px;margin:0 0 26px;border:2px solid 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The second is the skin. The whole aeroplane, wings, fuselage and even the control surfaces, is made of corrugated aluminium, ridged like a tin roof.<\/p>\r\n<p>That ridged metal gave it the nickname Tin Goose. Between 1926 and 1933 Ford built 199 of them, and in that short window the Trimotor helped turn flying from a stunt into a service. It carried the first coast-to-coast air-rail passengers, flew Richard Byrd over the South Pole and, nearly a century later, is still giving rides at American airfields.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f4f6f9;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:18px 22px;margin:8px 0 28px\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:700;color:#0d1117\">Quick Facts<\/p><ul style=\"margin:0;padding-left:18px;line-height:1.7\"><li><strong>Type:<\/strong> Three-engined all-metal transport and airliner<\/li><li><strong>Nickname:<\/strong> Tin Goose<\/li><li><strong>Designer:<\/strong> William B. Stout \/ Ford Motor Company<\/li><li><strong>First flight:<\/strong> 11 June 1926 (4-AT)<\/li><li><strong>Built:<\/strong> 199 (1926-1933), incl. 79 4-AT and 117 5-AT<\/li><li><strong>Engines (4-AT-E):<\/strong> 3 x Wright J-6-9 Whirlwind radials, 300 hp each<\/li><li><strong>Cruise \/ range (4-AT-E):<\/strong> 107 mph (172 km\/h) \/ 570 mi (920 km)<\/li><li><strong>Survivors:<\/strong> 18 existing as of 2025, 8 airworthy<\/li><\/ul><\/div>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">A Salesman's Promise<\/h2>\r\n<p>The Ford Trimotor began with a salesman who did not mind telling investors the truth. In the early 1920s William Stout was raising money for his Stout Metal Airplane Company, and he mailed leading manufacturers a form letter asking for $1,000 each, with an unusual guarantee attached.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7\"><div><em>&ldquo;For your one thousand dollars you will get one definite promise: You will never get your money back&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>William B. Stout<\/strong> &mdash; Founder, Stout Metal Airplane Company; fundraising form letter to manufacturers, early 1920s (as quoted by Wikipedia)<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n<p>It worked. Stout raised $20,000, including $1,000 each from Henry Ford and his son Edsel, who were among about 20 investors. In 1925 Ford bought the company and its designs outright.<\/p>\r\n<p>Stout's single-engined monoplane was turned into a trimotor, the 3-AT, but the prototype flew poorly. Ford's team went back to the drawing board, and the result was the 4-AT, which made its first flight on 11 June 1926, followed by the larger 5-AT.<\/p>\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Corrugated Metal and Borrowed Ideas<\/h2>\r\n<p>All-metal construction was not new. The Trimotor's fuselage and wings followed a pattern pioneered by Junkers in Germany, which had built corrugated aluminium-alloy airliners since the F 13 of 1920 and the G 24 trimotor of 1924. The ridges stiffened the thin skin, at the cost of extra drag.<\/p>\r\n<p>The resemblance was close enough that Junkers sued when Ford tried to export a Trimotor to Europe, and won. Ford countersued in Prague in 1930 and lost again, with the court finding that Ford had infringed Junkers' patents.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0 8px\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/yWPMoHHtEmg\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div><p style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin:0 0 24px;font-style:italic\">EAA's own footage of its 1929 Ford Tri-Motor in flight.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Where the Trimotor stood out was in its practicality. The ailerons, elevators and rudders were corrugated metal too, rather than fabric. The rudder and elevator cables ran along the outside of the fuselage, and the engine gauges were mounted on the engines themselves, read by the pilot through the windshield. Ground crews could service it in the field from scaffolding, and it could be fitted with skis or floats.<\/p>\r\n<p>The original 4-AT carried a crew of three, a pilot, a copilot and a stewardess, plus eight or nine passengers. Later versions grew: the 5-AT-B seated 15, the 5-AT-C 17, with more powerful Pratt & Whitney Wasp engines doing the pulling. Seats could be removed for freight, and the 5-AT added drop-down cargo holds under the inner wings.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/11\/ford-trimotor-tin-goose-stout-byrd-floyd-bennett-history-img1.jpg\" alt=\"Interior of a Ford Trimotor showing leather seats, wood panelling and cockpit\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">The cabin of EAA's Trimotor NC8407, with single seats either side of the aisle, wood panelling and the open cockpit door ahead. The right engine sits just outside the door. Photo: Valder137 \/ Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Coast to Coast by Rail and Air<\/h2>\r\n<p>The Trimotor's moment came in 1929. Transcontinental Air Transport, the airline Clement Keys founded with Charles Lindbergh's help and nicknamed the Lindbergh Line, began its coast-to-coast service on 7 July 1929. It promised New York to Los Angeles in 48 hours.<\/p>\r\n<p>The catch was that nobody flew at night. Passengers left New York by Pennsylvania Railroad sleeper, boarded a Trimotor at Columbus, Ohio, and flew to Waynoka, Oklahoma, an 11-hour hop with four stops. A Santa Fe train carried them overnight to Clovis, New Mexico, where a second Trimotor flew them on to Grand Central Air Terminal in Glendale, near Los Angeles.<\/p>\r\n<p>It was a demanding trip, and it lasted only about a year before TAT merged with Western Air Express to form what became TWA. Elsewhere the type opened international routes: Pan American used Trimotors on its first scheduled flights from Key West to Havana in 1927, and Cubana introduced it to Latin America in 1930. Well over 100 airlines flew the type.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7\"><div><em>&ldquo;No Ford plane has yet worn out in service.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Ford Motor Company<\/strong> &mdash; Ford Trimotor advertisement, 1929 (as quoted by Wikipedia)<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Over the Bottom of the World<\/h2>\r\n<p>The Trimotor's most famous flight had nothing to do with airlines. For his first Antarctic expedition, Commander Richard E. Byrd took a Ford 4-AT-B, registered NX4542, and named it Floyd Bennett after his late pilot from the 1926 North Pole attempt.<\/p>\r\n<p>On 28 November 1929 Byrd, as navigator, launched from his Little America base with pilot Bernt Balchen, co-pilot and radioman Harold June and photographer Ashley McKinley. The Trimotor struggled to climb high enough to cross onto the Antarctic Plateau, and the crew dumped empty fuel tanks and emergency supplies to gain altitude. They reached the pole and returned after 18 hours and 41 minutes.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/11\/ford-trimotor-tin-goose-stout-byrd-floyd-bennett-history-img2.jpg\" alt=\"Ford Trimotor Floyd Bennett on skis displayed indoors in a museum\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">Byrd's Ford 4-AT-B Floyd Bennett on skis at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. The aircraft's name is painted beneath the cabin windows. Photo: San Diego Air and Space Museum Archives (Charles M. Daniels Collection) \/ Wikimedia Commons, no known copyright restrictions<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n<p>The Henry Ford museum in Dearborn, Michigan, which dates the flight 28 to 29 November 1929, still displays the aircraft, a gift of Edsel Ford. The words FLOYD BENNETT and BYRD ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION are still painted on its sides.<\/p>\r\n<p>The type collected other firsts along the way. In February 1930 a Trimotor carried Elm Farm Ollie, the first cow to fly and to be milked in flight. In 1932 Franklin D. Roosevelt campaigned for president aboard one, an early use of an aircraft in an election.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0 8px\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/pwoIYRy_Fyo\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div><p style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin:0 0 24px;font-style:italic\">HistoryPod's short account of Byrd's South Pole flight in the Floyd Bennett.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Why Ford Walked Away<\/h2>\r\n<p>The Trimotor's heyday was brief. The Boeing 247, a far more advanced all-metal airliner, first flew at the start of 1933, and the Douglas DC-2 followed in 1934. Ford's personal pilot, Harry J. Brooks, had also been killed on a test flight, and Henry Ford lost interest in aviation. Production ended on 7 June 1933.<\/p>\r\n<p>Ford never made a profit on aircraft, but his name lent credibility to an infant industry. He also helped introduce paved runways, passenger terminals, hangars, airmail and radio navigation. Stout left Ford in 1930, and in 1954 bought the rights to revive the design as the Stout Bushmaster 2000; only two were completed.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7\"><div><em>&ldquo;The Ford Tri-Motor was the most popular airliner of the late 1920s and early 1930s.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>The Henry Ford<\/strong> &mdash; Museum object description for the Floyd Bennett, object ID 00.240.3<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n<p>The airframes themselves refused to die. Retired from major airlines, Trimotors hauled heavy freight to jungle and mountain mines for decades. In 1942 one evacuated people during the Battle of Bataan, carrying 24 at a time on trips of nearly 500 miles until it was strafed and destroyed by Japanese aircraft. Scenic Airways' N414H flew sightseers over the Grand Canyon for 65 years.<\/p>\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The Tin Goose Still Flies<\/h2>\r\n<p>As of 2025, 18 Ford Trimotors still existed and eight held current FAA airworthiness certificates. The oldest flying example, 4-AT-A NC1077, is restored to its December 1927 appearance; Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart both flew it.<\/p>\r\n<p>The best known is the Experimental Aircraft Association's 4-AT-E, NC8407, which first flew on 21 August 1929 and went to Eastern Air Transport, whose colours it wears today. It was leased to Cubana in 1930, then flew as a barnstormer, a crop duster, a borate bomber for fighting forest fires and a smoke-jumper transport. EAA says that, re-engined for crop-dusting, it became the most powerful Model 4-AT ever flown.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/11\/ford-trimotor-tin-goose-stout-byrd-floyd-bennett-history-img3.jpg\" alt=\"Ford Trimotor NC8407 in Eastern Air Transport titles seen from the left rear\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">NC8407 from the left rear, wearing Eastern Air Transport and US Mail C.A.M. No. 19 titles. Note the corrugated tail surfaces and the Ford Tri-Motor script on the fin. Photo: Valder137 \/ Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n<p>In 1973 a thunderstorm at the EAA Fly-In in Burlington, Wisconsin, ripped NC8407 from its tie-downs, lifted it 50 feet and smashed it down on its back. EAA bought the wreck, and after a 12-year restoration the Trimotor flew again at Oshkosh in 1985. Since 1991 it has been back doing what Ford built it for: carrying paying passengers.<\/p>\r\n<p>Climb aboard today and the ridged metal, the exposed cables and those three clattering radials tell the story better than any museum label. The Tin Goose was never the most advanced airliner of its era, but it was the one that convinced Americans they could buy a ticket and fly.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0 8px\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/sDBQxVTfsao\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div><p style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin:0 0 24px;font-style:italic\">EAA marks its Trimotor's return to passenger-carrying service.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p><em>Sources: Wikipedia (Ford Trimotor, Richard E. Byrd, Transcontinental Air Transport), Experimental Aircraft Association, The Henry Ford, San Diego Air and Space Museum Archives<\/em><\/p>\r\n<!-- mfsh:bottom -->\r\n\r\n<button type=\"button\" class=\"mfsh-trigger mfsh-bottom\" data-mfsh-placement=\"bottom\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><svg><use href=\"#mfsh-i-share\"\/><\/svg>Share this story<\/button>\r\n\r\n<!-- \/mfsh:bottom -->\r\n\r\n<style>.mfq{margin:34px 0 8px}.mfq h2{font:26px\/1.3 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117;padding-top:22px;margin:0 0 6px}.mfq .qa details{border-top:1px solid #5C91FF;margin:0;padding:0}.mfq .qa details:last-of-type{border-bottom:1px solid #e2e7ee}.mfq .qa summary{cursor:pointer;list-style:none;display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;gap:16px;padding:22px 26px;font:18px\/1.7 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117}.mfq .qa summary::-webkit-details-marker{display:none}.mfq .qa summary::after{content:\"+\";font:24px Helvetica,sans-serif;color:#3568e0;flex:0 0 auto}.mfq .qa details[open] summary::after{content:\"\\2013\"}.mfq .qa details:hover summary{color:#3568e0}.mfq .qa .a{font:16px\/1.7 \"Gilroy regular\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#454e5e;padding:0 26px 24px}.mfq .qa .a a{color:#3568e0}@media(max-width:680px){.mfq .qa summary{padding:18px 14px;font-size:17px}.mfq .qa .a{padding:0 14px 20px}}<\/style>\r\n\r\n\r\n<section class=\"mfq\"><h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2><div class=\"qa\"><details open><summary>Why was the Ford Trimotor called the Tin Goose?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The Ford Trimotor was nicknamed the Tin Goose because its wings, fuselage and even its control surfaces were covered in corrugated aluminium, ridged like a tin roof. The ridges stiffened the thin metal skin, a construction method Junkers had pioneered in Germany, although the corrugations also added drag and reduced performance.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>How many Ford Trimotors were built?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Ford built 199 Trimotors between 1926 and 1933, including 79 of the 4-AT series and 117 of the larger 5-AT series, plus some experimental aircraft. Production ended on 7 June 1933, after more modern airliners such as the Boeing 247 appeared and Henry Ford lost interest in aviation.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Which Ford Trimotor flew over the South Pole?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The Ford 4-AT-B Floyd Bennett, registered NX4542, carried Richard E. Byrd over the South Pole in November 1929 with pilot Bernt Balchen, co-pilot Harold June and photographer Ashley McKinley. The round trip from Little America took 18 hours and 41 minutes. The aircraft is displayed at the Henry Ford museum in Dearborn, Michigan.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>How did Transcontinental Air Transport use the Ford Trimotor?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Transcontinental Air Transport used Ford Trimotors for the daytime legs of a 48-hour New York to Los Angeles air-rail service launched on 7 July 1929. Passengers rode trains overnight and flew Trimotors from Columbus, Ohio, to Waynoka, Oklahoma, and from Clovis, New Mexico, to Glendale, near Los Angeles.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Who designed the Ford Trimotor?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The Ford Trimotor grew out of William Stout's Stout Metal Airplane Company, which Henry Ford bought in 1925. Stout's single-engined monoplane became the 3-AT trimotor, which flew poorly, and Ford's team then produced the 4-AT, first flown on 11 June 1926, and the larger 5-AT.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>How many Ford Trimotors still fly today?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">As of 2025, 18 Ford Trimotors still existed and eight of them held current FAA airworthiness certificates. The best known is the Experimental Aircraft Association's 1929 4-AT-E NC8407, which was rebuilt after a 1973 storm wrecked it and has carried passengers again since 1991.<\/div><\/details><\/div><\/section>\r\n\r\n\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"FAQPage\",\"mainEntity\":[{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Why was the Ford Trimotor called the Tin Goose?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"The Ford Trimotor was nicknamed the Tin Goose because its wings, fuselage and even its control surfaces were covered in corrugated aluminium, ridged like a tin roof. The ridges stiffened the thin metal skin, a construction method Junkers had pioneered in Germany, although the corrugations also added drag and reduced performance.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"How many Ford Trimotors were built?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Ford built 199 Trimotors between 1926 and 1933, including 79 of the 4-AT series and 117 of the larger 5-AT series, plus some experimental aircraft. Production ended on 7 June 1933, after more modern airliners such as the Boeing 247 appeared and Henry Ford lost interest in aviation.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Which Ford Trimotor flew over the South Pole?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"The Ford 4-AT-B Floyd Bennett, registered NX4542, carried Richard E. Byrd over the South Pole in November 1929 with pilot Bernt Balchen, co-pilot Harold June and photographer Ashley McKinley. The round trip from Little America took 18 hours and 41 minutes. The aircraft is displayed at the Henry Ford museum in Dearborn, Michigan.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"How did Transcontinental Air Transport use the Ford Trimotor?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Transcontinental Air Transport used Ford Trimotors for the daytime legs of a 48-hour New York to Los Angeles air-rail service launched on 7 July 1929. Passengers rode trains overnight and flew Trimotors from Columbus, Ohio, to Waynoka, Oklahoma, and from Clovis, New Mexico, to Glendale, near Los Angeles.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Who designed the Ford Trimotor?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"The Ford Trimotor grew out of William Stout's Stout Metal Airplane Company, which Henry Ford bought in 1925. 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The best known is the Experimental Aircraft Association's 1929 4-AT-E NC8407, which was rebuilt after a 1973 storm wrecked it and has carried passengers again since 1991.\"}}]}<\/script><div style=\"background:#f0f4ff;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:16px 20px;margin:32px 0 8px\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:600;color:#333\">Related Posts<\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/boeing-247-first-modern-airliner-united-dc-3\/\">Boeing 247: The First Modern Airliner Boeing Refused to Sell<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/que-sera-sera-r4d-first-plane-land-south-pole-1956\/\">Que Sera Sera: The First Plane to Land at the South Pole, 1956<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/douglas-dc-3-airliner-history-cr-smith-c-47\/\">Douglas DC-3: The Airliner That Made Flying Pay for Itself<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a 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