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A large number of people in the United States had their first airplane
ride in a Ford Tri-Motor during the 1920s and 1930s, a plane that
remains to this day a fine example of engineering, planning and
production. It was the application of a modified assembly line
production by the world's largest automobile manufacturer to a
continuously refined design, backed by extensive advertising and
publicity concerned with safety, at a time when such dependability and
safety was crucial, that put Ford ahead of all of its competitors. The
all-metal construction, stressed so much by the Ford advertising
campaign of the late 1920s, proved its worth in later years. The life
span of the average airplane in the 1920s was relatively short and so it
is not surprising to find the Ford Company timidly stating in their 1929
advertising that "no Ford plane has yet worn out in service."
This new book by aviation historian William T. Larkins is the most
complete information available on the Ford Tri-Motro, and includes
information on design, contruciton, model designations, a cross-indexing
of U.S. and foreign registrations, a cross-index to military Ford
Tri-Motors, accident summaries, Ford factory employees and Ford
Tri-Motor pilot listing.
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