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Desert Jet Center, in collaboration with the EAA Chapter 1116, is hosting the Ford Tri-Motor aircraft Oct. 6-8 at the Jacqueline Cochran Regional Airport (TRM) in Thermal, California as part of its annual U.S. tour.
The Ford Tri-Motor, nicknamed the Tin Goose, was designed to create a new market in airline travel. Ford used three engines to appease concerns over engine reliability. The Tri-Motor also had features meant to enhance cabin comfort, like an enclosed cabin. Considered the first luxury airliner, the Ford Tri-Motor changed world travel and was part of the start of commercial flight.RELATED STORY:EAA Ford Tri-Motor annual tour returns in 2023
The Tin Goose is available for aviation enthusiasts to see, tour or fly from the Thermal Airport. A portion of the funds from sponsorships and flight sales are directed towards the local EAA chapter to support the Young Eagles program, which offers free flights for young people in the Coachella Valley five times a year.
"We are so thrilled that EAA Headquarters has chosen our local chapter to host this significant piece of aviation history and share it with our community," EAA Chapter 1116 President Frank Brabec said. "Seeing it in person so striking as its size, design, and perfectly kept condition are features that pictures and video just cannot capture."
The Tin Goose began its tour in Mt. Sterling, Kentucky in April and has been traveling across the country throughout the summer. The plane made stops in Indiana, South Carolina and spent the entire week of EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Additional stops were added as they were finalized. After the stop in Thermal with Desert Jet Center and the EAA Chapter 1116, the Tin Goose is heading to San Diego.
Tickets for the tour are $65 for children 17 and under, $85 for adult EAA members and $95 for adult nonmembers. The flight experience is roughly 30 minutes, 15 of which is in the air. Each seat in the aircraft is a window seat, giving all passengers a nice view of the whole ride.
EAA's model 4-AT-E was the 146th off of the Ford assembly line and the 76th of that variation. The plane first flew on Aug. 21, 1929 and was eventually sold as the first plane belonging to Eastern Air Transport, which later became Eastern Airlines. The EAA Tri-Motor still boasts a paint scheme meant to replicate the Eastern Air Transport style. In 1930 the plane was leased and in Cuba and began flying an air service between Havana and Santiago de Cuba. It was later flown by the Dominican Republic government.
The EAA's Tin Goose returned to the U.S. in 1949 and was used for barnstorming. In 1950 it moved from Miami to Phoenix and was refitted with more powerful engines to be used as a crop duster. It became the most powerful Model 4-AT-E ever flown with its two new 450hp engines and one 550hp engine. It moved to Idaho in 1955 and was fitted with 275-gallon tanks and bomb doors to be used as a borate bomber in aerial combat. In 1958 it was modified again to be used by smoke jumpers.
In 1964 the plane moved to Lawrence, Kansas and flew barnstorming tours with its new owner. The Tin Goose played a variety of roles and even served as a setting in the Jerry Lewis comedy, The Family Jewels. By 1973, the plane was still taking passengers on-air show rides, including at the EAA chapter's fly-in in Burlington, Wisconsin. During a fly-in that year, the plane was ripped from its tiedowns during a severe thunderstorm. It was lifted 20 feet in the air and smashed onto the ground on the back. The wreckage was purchased by the EAA.
The plane underwent an extensive, 12-year restoration process by EAA staff, volunteers and Ford Tri-Motor operators across the country. The Tin Goose had its official re-debut at the 1985 EAA Fly-In Convention. The plane was on display until 1991 when it began traveling on annual tours across the nation.
In addition to the tour stop, Desert Jet Center will be getting a special treat from 100-year-old Ruth Hunter, formerly a stewardess in service of American Airlines in the 40s and 50s. Hunter flew on the last Ford Tri-Motor plane in commercial service in the early 1950s on a flight from Chicago to Milwaukee. Desert Jet Center shared some of the stories told by Hunter about her experiences in the Tri-Motor, in an age where men traveled on planes in full suits and ties and women in nice dresses, hats and gloves. Ruth shared one experience with a woman flying who stuck her face in the opening of a large thermos throughout the flight, telling Hunter she was worried about being so high up and had filled her thermos with "earth air" from the ground.
In the early days of commercial air travel, Hunter said the stewardesses like her were often called on special charter flight assignments, consisting of longer flights. Hunter shared that on these charter flights the rear compartment would be made up of multiple bunk beds. She shared she had the thrill of making up WWII brigadier General, bomber pilot and academy award-winning Jimmy Stewart's bed on one flight. Stewart owned and flew his own impressive aircraft, a P-51C Thunderbird.RELATED STORY:P-51C 'Thunderbird' with rich history makes first flight since 1955Hunter was a stewardess in an era when women had to undergo appearance checks before flights and were required to be between the ages of 21 and 30. She said that without modern technology, reservations were handwritten and often resulted in misinformation. Passengers would be listed for the wrong destination, ticket costs would be wrong or two passengers would be assigned to the same seat. To add to the difficulties of early commercial travel, many aircraft were not equipped for de-icing and flight schedules were cut back in the winter, sending many stewardesses to the phone lines. After her time with American Airlines and working on the telephone lines, Hunter returned to college and eventually became a professor.
The Tin Goose covers a range of the early history of aviation in the U.S. including barnstorming and commercial air travel. Experience the thrill of 1920s aviation in the Tin Goose on Oct. 6-8, thanks to the EAA and its host in Thermal, the FBO Desert Jet Center.
"It is an absolute honor to host a living piece of history right here at Desert Jet Center," Desert Jet Center CEO Jared Fox said. "Getting to see such an iconic aircraft in person and learning more about EAA's tremendous efforts to keep this legendary aircraft flying has been a thrill for the Desert Jet team."