"Cody Welch" Avstry #12

Cody tells us about the EAA's Ford Tri-motor's history and your opportunity to ride this historical treasure.

http://www.avstry.com/shownotes.jsp?id=12

Partial Transcript


J.R. Warmkessel: Well, Cody. Thank you so much for being with us today.
Cody Welch: Sure.
J.R. Warmkessel: So I'm here at Air Adventure Oshkosh and one that is a staple here at Oshkosh is the ford Tri-motor.
Cody Welch: It is. Aluminum overcast has its place, but the tin goose is pretty special.
J.R. Warmkessel: She is pretty special. Can you give me a little bit of a history of the tin goose and how she came to EAA's hands?
Cody Welch: Sure. As everybody knows, Henry Ford started a famous industry that we all can relate to. Unknown to most of us is that he actually was the guy behind the creation of commerical aviation. The Ford trimotor was the first mass produced, all metal airliner and all the great airliners started with Ford trimotors. So Ford trimotors are extremely important. I'm a retired airline pilot and I sit there and pay homage to that airplane every time I look at it or climb onboard, because it's where it all began and I owe my career to the vision of Henry Ford, believe it or not, who helped bring this into fruition.
J.R. Warmkessel: Wow. That's incredable. So he basically was the one that said, "Hey, I think we should start making these things where the public can go from place to place in a reliable, safe fashion."
Cody Welch: Yeah. He had a quote and I'll probably blow it a little bit, but essentially what his philosophy was was that he saw a time when airplane would be able to shorten the distances and therefore the differences between people. He really was a mass transit kind of a guy.
J.R. Warmkessel: Wow. I love the airplanes in the background. So cool. So how did this tin goose from into EAA's possession? Can you give me a little bit of the history?
Cody Welch: Sure. This particular one is a pretty famous airplane and in 1973 the airplane was lost in a storm in Burlington, Wisconsin. It was owned by some people in Ottowa, Kansas, who were using the airplane to generate revenue and anyway. There were a dozen airplanes ripped loose from their tiedowns this day and coincidentally the function that they were at was a fundraiser for a new EAA museum. It was actually an EAA event in Burlington, Wisconsin. June of 73. So Paul Pobresne was in the next airplane, with the engine running, trying to keep it from blowing over and he watched this grand old lady go over backwards and end up on it's back. It was a terrible thing. The wind ripped it loose from the tiedowns and Paul decided that EAA needed to get a Ford trimotor and he went after the insurance company and they bought the wreck and it took a dozen years to rebuild it. We brought it to the EAA convention July 1985. So it's been flying for us ever since and generating revenue, but this is a particularly famous Ford. Obviously, EAA's operated a Ford trimotor longer than anybody in history including all the great airlines, but this one is Eastern Airline's first airplane. This is Cubana Airline's first airplane. This particular Ford. Dominican has started an airline, the dictator did, and one airplane. Didn't fly it very much, but technically it started the Dominican Airline. Our airplane's been a smoke jumper and a borate bomber. It's hopped rides. It's been in two different movies and there are just no Ford trimotor that has any more history going for it than this one.
J.R. Warmkessel: Sure does and it's been here at Oshkosh every year since then?