WINGS OF PROGRESS 1, COMMERCIAL AIRPLANE RELIABILITY TOUR OF THE EDSEL B. FORD TROPHY Part 2
Description
The original catalog description provided by the Ford Motor Company reads as follows: “The first American Commercial Airplane Reliability Tour at Ford Airport, Dearborn, Michigan, Sept. 28 to Oct. 4, 1925.” “Each plane carried ½ lb. of pay load for every cubic inch of piston displacement.” “Mr. Henry Ford, Edsel Ford, and party arrive at the field.” Group getting out of cars. “Senator Couzens and Henry Ford talk things over.” “R.W. Schroeder, former holder of the world’s altitude record, receives a few final instructions from Edsel B. Ford, official starter.” Ford and Schroeder talking near car. “A selected staff of judges observe all details in the start of each plane.” Group shot of judges. “No. 0, is the first to start. The pilot, E.K. Campbell, averaged 73.6 m.p.h. for the entire tour. The name of the plane is ‘Travel Air.’” View of field, plane and group of men - Edsel Ford and R.W. Schroeder flag off first plane - plane taking off. “Number 2, another ‘Travel Air,’ with pilot ‘Chief’ Bowhan averaged 77.2 m.p.h.” Edsel flags off plane. “Number 4, still another ‘Travel Air’ was piloted by Walter Beech whose average was 83.6 m.p.h. for the entire tour.” Front view of plane - flagged off. “Number 6, ‘Junker’ piloted by Fred Melchoir. An average of 65.0 m.p.h. was the ‘Junker’ record for the trip.” “Number 14, the ‘Swallow.’ This plane piloted by John Stauffer averaged 66.4 m.p.h.” “Number 16, piloted by Earl Rowland, another ‘Swallow.’ Its average per hour was 77.8 miles.” “Number 20, ‘Fokker,’ was driven by E.P. Lott averaged 98.2 m.p.h..” “Number 22, the ‘Carrier Pigeon,’ averaged 97.9 m.p.h. with Casey Jones as pilot.” Plane takes off. “Number 24, the ‘Martin’ and its pilot Cy Codwell. This plane averaged 83.2 m.p.h.” “Number 26, another ‘Martin’ and was piloted by L.B. Richardson. It averaged 86.8 m.p.h.” “Number 30, ‘Ford all metal plane.’ Edward G. Hamilton, the pilot, averaged 101.0 m.p.h.” “Number 34, ‘Swallow’ was piloted by E.A. Goff, Jr. averaged 41.3 m.p.h.” View of 34 taking off. “Number 36, ‘Yackey Sport,’ W.J. Addams, the pilot averaged 84.3 m.p.h.” “The course laid out for the planes to follow was 1,900 miles and included 11 different cities.” Map showing 11 cities with small plane flying the route. “At night while the planes were away fireworks and radio-airplane flights were featured at the Dearborn Field.” View of field at night. “On Saturday, Oct. 3, 1925, a balloon race for the Detroit News Ballooning Trophy started at 5:00 p.m.” “The winner of the balloon race was judged by the distance covered.” “The ‘Skylark’ was piloted by W.C. Naylor and Kenneth Warren.” “The ‘S-1’ of the Army Air Service was piloted by Lieuts. Max Moyer and W.E. Huffman.” View of mooring tower and balloon. “The ‘Detroit Flying Club’ balloon was piloted by Charles D. Williams, Jr. and Arthur G. Schlosser, with Dr. George M. LeGallee.” “The ‘Goodyear IV’ was piloted by J.A. Baettner and W.H. Mortan with H.W. Maxson. Second Place.” “The ‘Highball II’ was piloted by S.A.V. Rasmussen, E.J. Hill, and S.A. Mitchell winners of trophy. Their balloon travelled 240 miles in 19 hours.” “October 4, 1925, came a Sunday accompanied by a torrent of rain. But in spite of this 15 of the 17 planes fought their way back to the Ford Airport, their starting point.” Group of men waiting at airport. “The Ford plane was the only ship to average better than 100 m.p.h. - its average speed being 101.0 miles. It came in second.” “Eddie Hamilton, pilot, and mechanic James Phelps received a wonderful reception from a patient crowd who waited all afternoon in a driving rain.” View of crowd gathering around Ford plane [Stout 2-AT], pilot getting out, being carried away on shoulders of spectators - pilot shakes hand of several people. “After this, the light became so poor that it was almost impossible to tell which plane was which, but they all made safe landings.” “That night a dinner was given in the airport in honor of the pilots, which the public attended.” View of banquet. “A year hence, these strange birds of the sky will again match their reliability qualities to show the world what progress means in aviation.” “The End.” [1925]
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