Aircraft: Return of the Tin Goose

Back in the days of flivvers and flappers, the Ford Tri-Motor transport was the workhorse of U.S. aviation. The "Tin Goose" was shaped like a slightly rhomboid crackerbox, sheathed in corrugated aluminum and equipped with engines slung under each wing and planted on its nose. It flew for every budding U.S. airline, for the Army, the Navy, the Marines. It hauled passengers and freight, landed on wheels, pontoons and skis. Nearly 200 Ford Tri-Motors were built between 1925 and 1932. Astonishingly, some 28 of these chicle, cattle, piping-and people-ferrying air craft are...

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