Big Picture: How the Ford Tri-Motor Changed Lake Erie Aviation

Acentury ago, Ford Motor Co. tried to do for aviation what it did for automobiles — and, on June 11, 1926, the first of its Tri-Motor planes took off.

Wrapped in corrugated aluminum — a rarity in an era of fabric-covered aircraft — the Tri-Motor was the first plane built specifically to carry passengers. The Ford name, already synonymous with reliability, made flying seem less dangerous. The fact that it had three engines made Henry Ford himself comfortable calling it “the safest airliner around.”

Indeed, passenger air travel surged nationwide from 6,000 in 1929 to 450,000 in 1934. Closer to home, the history of the Lake Erie Islands would be markedly different were it not for the “Tin Goose.”

“It changed the lives of those people living out on the islands so dramatically,” says Jody Brausch, president of the Tri-Motor Heritage Foundation. “Before aviation came to the islands, islanders would take their lives into their own hands to get to the mainland in the winter.”

In 1931, pilot and barnstormer Milton Hershberger bought his first Tri-Motor for Island Airlines, the freight line he’d started two years earlier in Port Clinton. In 1936, he added passenger services. The Tin Goose wasn’t particularly big — typically holding 10 to 15 passengers, mostly in wicker chairs (to keep the weight low). It wasn’t particularly fast, either, topping out around 135 mph. Ironically, those traits worked in its favor on the islands, which offered little space for landing.

“It had a nice, thick chord, lots of lift, and didn’t fly too fast,” Brausch says. “If you knew what you were doing … you could go to the islands and back in about 45 minutes.”

But the payloads were enormous. It’s estimated that the planes carried 65,000 passengers, 300,000 pounds of freight and 150,000 pounds of mail annually. Island Airlines finally retired its Tri-Motors in 1977, 44 years after Ford ceased production.

Of the 199 Tri-Motors built, only about a dozen survive, with just five still in flying condition. One can be found at the Liberty Aviation Museum in Port Clinton, and it offers passenger flights throughout the summer.

“It played such an integral role for the people in the western basin of Lake Erie,” Brausch says. “Our aim is to … give the public an opportunity to see what it used to be like to fly.”

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