This is Part 2 of a 4-Part series on two iconic aircraft that defined the fledgling airline industry in the U.S.--the FORD TRIMOTOR in the first two parts and the DOUGLAS DC-3 in the second two.In Part 1 we covered the birth of the U.S. airlines in the first half of the 20th Century, with the help of airline history expert and author K. R. Wright who highlighted the horrific emergence of the airlines that led to the Trimotor airliner. We also got close-up views of operating Trimotor restorations now in exhibition service.
In this Part 2 we feature extremely rare 1989 footage of a ride in the then oldest Ford Trimotor in existence, former Island Airlines N7584, an early 4-AT-A. At the time it had the longest record of revenue service of any airliner--almost 60 years, and only the DC-3 has since eclipsed that. Our flight is off the grass strip at Creve Coeur Airport in St. Louis County, when owner/pilot Al Chaney was barnstorming the plane all over the U.S. We also feature a ride in a B-75 Stearman to get a feel of what it might have been like to fly in the early single-engine wire-and-fabric mail planes that flew contemporaneously with this Trimotor in the earliest days of the airlines.
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Please contact me, John A. Reed with any useful information or simply if you want to discuss vintage aviation topics at:
John A. Reed
j.reed3930@sbcglobal.