thumb|[[Eddie August Schneider accepting the Great Lakes Trophy from David Vincent Stratton of the Great Lakes Aircraft Corporation in Detroit, Michigan, on September 27, 1930.]]

The Ford Reliability Tour, properly called The National Air Tour for the Edsel B. Ford Reliability Trophy, was a series of aerial tours sponsored in part by Ford Motor Company from 1925 to 1931 and re-created in 2003. Top prize was the Edsel Ford Reliability Trophy. Henry and Edsel Ford were shareholders in the Stout Engineering Company. In August 1925, they purchased the entire company, making it the Stout Metal Airplane Division of the Ford Motor Company. Their product, the Stout 2-AT Pullman, was a featured plane. The plane was also used by their new airline the Ford Air Transport Service, which started regular flights in April 1925. The tours — which began and ended at Ford Airport in Dearborn, Michigan — cross-marketed Ford and Stout and showcased Ford's new interest in aviation. On September 27, 1925, The New York Times reported, "The object of the tour is to 'sell' aviation by proving that airplanes can carry freight and passengers long distances safely and quickly."

Awards

  • Edsel B. Ford Reliability Trophy
  • Great Lakes Trophy was awarded in 1930 and 1931 to the fastest plane with an engine of or less.

1925 National Air Tour

right|thumb|1925 Ford Tour route

This was called the First Annual Aerial Reliability Tour, sponsored by the Society of Automotive Engineers, with prizes for completion. Participants flew a route in ten legs, with stops in Chicago and Moline, Illinois; Des Moines, Iowa; Omaha, Nebraska; St. Joseph, Kansas City, and Missouri; Indianapolis, Indiana; and Columbus and Cleveland, Ohio. Eleven entrants — including Walter Beech and Earl Rowland — receive perfect scores. Two of the larger planes — the Fokker 3F7 and the Stout 2-AT Pullman — bypassed the Des Moines stop because Fisher Field's runway was only long.

September 28, 1925, to October 4, 1925:

20 entered, 17 starters, 11 with a perfect score.

Perfect Scores (unless noted) –

  • E.K. Campbell – Travel Air A
  • Francis "Chief" Bowhan – Travel Air B.6
  • Walter Beech – Travel Air B.6
  • Fred Melchoir – Junkers F.13L (second prize)
  • E. G. Knapp – Waco (fourth prize – damaged in forced landing)
  • L. O. Yost – Waco
  • J. Stauffer – Swallow '25 (second prize)
  • Earl Rowland – Swallow '26
  • P. Lott – Fokker 3F7
  • Casey Jones – Curtiss Carrier Pigeon
  • Gy Caldwell – Martin Commercial
  • L.B. Richardson – Martin Commercial
  • H.C. Mummert – Mercury Jr. (third prize)
  • E.G. Hamilton – Stout 2-AT Pullman
  • H.C. Etten – Laird Special (second prize)
  • E.A. Goff – Laird Swallow (second prize)
  • W.J. Adams – Yackey There was a field of 25 contestants. A new scoring system for time to "stick" and "unstick" aircraft to the ground helped promote the use of brakes, which were unpopular at the time. The tour followed a course that included stops at Kalamazoo, Michigan; Chicago, Illinois; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; St. Paul, Minnesota; Des Moines, Iowa; Lincoln, Nebraska; Wichita, Kansas; Kansas City, Missouri; Moline, Illinois; Indianapolis, Indiana; Cincinnati and Cleveland, Ohio; Fort Wayne, Indiana.

The new Ford Trimotor had a prop failure that shook loose one landing gear and an engine on one side. The plane landed hard in a field at Nova, Ohio. Walter Beech won in a Travel Air aircraft.

  • A Buhl-Verville CA-3 Airster placed second.
  • Vance Breese placed eighth in a Ryan M-1.

1927 National Air Tour

thumb|The 1927 tour's winning [[Stinson Detroiter|Stinson SM-1 Detroiter (foreground) with a Ford Trimotor (background) on June 28, 1927.]]

In 1927, fourteen contestants competed in the air tour. with stops at Buffalo, Geneva, and Schenectady, New York; Boston, Massachusetts; New York City; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Baltimore, Maryland; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Cleveland, Ohio; Kalamazoo, Michigan; Dayton, Columbus, and Cincinnati, Ohio; Louisville, Kentucky; Memphis, Tennessee; Pine Bluff, Arkansas; Dallas, Texas; Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Oklahoma; Wichita, Kansas; Omaha, Nebraska; Moline, Illinois; Hammond, Indiana; and Grand Rapids, Michigan. Edward Stinson was the overall winner in a Stinson SM-1 Detroiter, and the Hamilton H-18 Metalplane Maiden Milwaukee placed second.

1929 National Air Tour

The 1929 tour was flown from October 5 to October 21 over a route that included the first tour stops outside the United States. Thirty-five contestants entered, of which 29 actually started. After departing Dearborn, participants flew into Canada and stopped at Windsor, Toronto, and Ottawa in Ontario and at Montreal in Quebec. They then returned to the United States, stopping at Portland, Maine; Springfield, Massachusetts; New York City; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Baltimore, Maryland; Richmond, Virginia; Winston-Salem, North Carolina; Greenville, South Carolina; Augusta, Georgia; Jacksonville, Florida; Macon and Atlanta, Georgia; Nashville, Tennessee; Cincinnati, Ohio; Louisville, Kentucky; St. Louis and Springfield, Missouri; Wichita, Kansas; St. Joseph, Missouri; Des Moines and Cedar Rapids, Iowa; St. Paul, Minnesota; Wausau and Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Moline and Chicago, Illinois; and Kalamazoo, Michigan. who flew the route averaging in a Waco. Art Davis, also flying a Waco, placed second.

1930 National Air Tour

The 1930 tour was held from September 11 to September 27. The 18 entrants flew a route with stops at Kalamazoo, Michigan; Chicago, Illinois; Davenport, Iowa; Wausau and Eau Claire, Wisconsin; Duluth, Minnesota; and Grand Forks, North Dakota, before the itinerary took them into Canada. There they made stops at Winnipeg and Brandon, Manitoba; Regina, Moose Jaw, Saskatoon, and North Battleford, Saskatchewan; and Edmonton, Calgary, and Lethbridge, Alberta. They then returned to the United States and stopped at Great Falls, Montana; Sheridan, Casper, and Cheyenne, Wyoming; Denver and Colorado Springs, Colorado; Garden City and Wichita, Kansas; Enid, Oklahoma; Kansas City, Missouri; Springfield, Illinois; Terre Haute, Indiana; and Cincinnati, Ohio.

  • 9 Wadlow
  • 10 Bowman
  • 11 Story
  • 12 Stevenson
  • 13 Buch
  • 13 Nancy Hopkins (plane 22), in a Viking B-8 Kittyhawk
  • 14 Carr
  • 15 Meyers
  • 16 Harvey Mummert
  • 17 James Meissner

1931 National Air Tour

The seventh and final air tour was held from July 4 to July 25, 1931. The 14 contestants fly a route with stops at Windsor, Ontario, Canada; Le Roy and Binghamton, New York; Bradford and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Wheeling, West Virginia; Columbus, Ohio; Huntington, West Virginia; Middlesboro, Kentucky; Knoxville, Nashville, and Memphis, Tennessee; Birmingham and Montgomery, Alabama; Gulfport, Mississippi; New Orleans and Shreveport, Louisiana; Houston, Corpus Christi, San Antonio, and Fort Worth, Texas; Oklahoma City and Ponca City, Oklahoma; Chanute, Kansas; Kansas City, Missouri; Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska; St. Joseph, Missouri; Davenport, Iowa; Joliet, Illinois; Kalamazoo, Michigan; and Akron, Ohio.

  • 2 James H. Smart.
  • 4 Lowell Bayles, in a Gee Bee Sportster, won the Great Lakes Trophy.

Time magazine wrote:

<blockquote>

Sensation of the meet was the youngster Eddie Schneider, 19, who fell into last place by a forced landing of his Cessna and a three-day delay in Kentucky, then fought his way back to finish third, ahead of all other light planes.<!---->

1932 National Air Tour cancelled

The planned 1932 Air Tour was cancelled for a number of reasons. Lack of financial viability was a key issue: The Great Depression had placed severe financial pressure on municipal budgets, leaving cities and towns that might have hosted pilots participating in the air tour without the funds to host them or to maintain the airports the tour would have used. Furthermore, the Ford Trimotor no longer set the aviation industry standard for airliner technology thanks to the technological advances made by competitors such as Boeing and the Douglas Aircraft Company. Finally, Henry Ford's interest in promoting aviation or expanding his company's aviation ventures had waned since the February 1928 death of his chief test pilot and close friend Harry J. Brooks in an airplane crash.

2003 re-creation

right|thumb|The 2003 National Air Tour route.

thumb|Some of the aircraft that participated in the 2003 National Air Tour, seen during a stop in [[Frederick, Maryland|Frederick, Maryland.]]

The tour was re-created in 2003 from the plans for the canceled 1932 tour. The 2003 tour, held from September 8 to 24, started and ended in Dearborn, Michigan, circling the eastern half of the United States, with layovers en route at Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, and Colonel James Jabara Airport in Wichita, Kansas, the latter from September 12 to 15. More than 30 vintage aircraft took part, most from the same period as the original National Air Tours. The 2003 tour covered and visited 27 cities.

References

  • National Air Tour
  • The Ford Air Tours 1925–1931