It’s a little known fact that air passenger travel owes much of its origins and popularity to the legendary anti-semite Henry Ford, who developed and introduced the Ford Tri-Motor Passanger Plane in 1926. Between that time and 1933, about two-hundred of these tin beauties were produced and they were largely responsible for people developing the trust in flying that helped the passenger plane business grow and eventually boom.

Above are two videos–one of a pilot stupidly doing stunts in a Tri-Motor at some point in the late 20s (it’s SO not a stunt plane) and a recent video of a perfectly restored Tri-Motor taking a flight over the California desert. I deeply admire those aviation freaks who devote time and resources to saving and restoring vintage aircraft. Not only are they performing a great historical service, but their faith in the machine makes one realize how robust the invention of the plane truly is and that its basic principles have really never changed. If you can fly a new Cessna, you can fly an ancient Ford Tri-Motor, though my guess is that it would come without power steering and would probably require a different set of muscles to handle the old beast. Would I go up in one of these one-hundred year old flying coffins? I would have said no until recently, but now I’m researching how to get a ride in one. Apparently there’s a small company in Wisconsin that owns a restored Tri-Motor and who tours around with it. Here’s their website. Anybody care to join me on a trip to Osh-Kosh? It doesn’t look like they’re heading my way with their awesome antique plane anytime soon…