Role Transport aircraft
Manufacturer Stout Metal Airplane Division of the Ford Motor Company
Designer William Bushnell Stout
First flight June 11, 1926
Introduction 1926
Status Limited excursion service
Primary users about 100 airlines
United States Army Air Corps
United States Navy
Royal Canadian Air Force
Number built 199
Variants Stout Bushmaster 2000
In the early 1920s, Henry Ford, along with a group of 19 others including his son Edsel, invested in the Stout Metal Airplane Company. Stout, a bold and imaginative salesman, sent a mimeographed form letter to leading manufacturers, blithely asking for $1,000 and adding: "For your one thousand dollars you will get one definite promise: You will never get your money back."[clarify] Stout raised $20,000, including $1,000 each from Edsel and Henry Ford..
Production ran from 1926 and 1933 and 199 were built, including 79 4-ATs, and 117 5-ATs, plus some experimental craft. Well over 100 airlines of the world flew the Ford Trimotor. From mid-1927, the type was also flown on executive transportation duties by several commercial nonairline operators, including oil and manufacturing companies.
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The Mailwing NC-2895 was built in 1927 and was the prototype for a series of Pitcairn mail planes.