Ford National Reliability Air Tour

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 from 1925 to 1931 and re-created in 2003. Top prize was the Edsel Ford Reliability Trophy.^[1] 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. The flights out of Ford Airport (Dearborn) cross-marketed, and showcased Ford's new interest in aviation.^[2]

• Edsel B. Ford Reliability Trophy
• Great Lakes Trophy was awarded in 1930 and 1931 to the fastest plane with an engine of 510 cubic inches or less.^[3]

This was called the First Annual Aerial Reliability Tour, sponsored by the Society of Automotive Engineers, with prizes for completion. The course was over 1900 miles with stops in 10 cities.

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
• C. 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^[4]

The 1926 Air tour started at Ford Field on August 7, 1926. The event featured the unveiling of the prototype Ford Flivver.^[5] 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 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.^[6]

• A Pitcairn PA-2 Sesquiwing won in two of the classes.^[7]
• A Buhl-Verville CA-3 Airster placed second.^[6]
• Clarence E. Clark placed seventh in a Travel Air 3000.^[8]
• Vance Breese placed eighth in a Ryan M-1.

In 1927, fourteen contestants competed in the air tour.^[6] The winner was Edward Stinson in a Stinson SM-1 Detroiter. The Hamilton H-18 Metalplane “Maiden Milwaukee" placed second.

1928 featured destinations as far west as Washington state. The launch was timed the same day at Ford Airfield with the 22nd Annual James Gordon Bennett Balloon Race. Phoebe Omlie became the first female air tour pilot flying a Monocoupe. The route placed racers in San Francisco at the same field where Hell's Angels was filming.^[6]

• The winner was John P. Wood in a Waco 10 "The Baby Ruth".^[9]

The 1929 winner was John Livingston^[10] who flew 5107 miles averaging 129.97 mph in a Waco, followed by Art Davis also flying a Waco.^[11]

September 11, 1930, to September 27, 1930:

• 1 Harry L. Russell in his Ford Trimotor
• 2 John H. Livingston in WACO CRG 600Y
• 3 Arthur J. Davis in WACO CRG 660Y
• 4 Myron E. Zeller
• 5 George W. Haldeman
• 6 Walter Herschel Beech
• 7 J. Wesley Smith (aviator)
• 8 Eddie August Schneider (plane 21), in his Cessna AW (NC9092), won the Great Lakes Trophy.^[12]
• 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

Among the aircraft, a Pitcairn PCA-2 autogiro was flown by pilot Jim Ray, bringing rotary winged aircraft to the event.^[13]

From July 4, 1931, to July 25, 1931, was the 7th:

• 1 Harry L. Russell.^[14][15]
• 2 James H. Smart.^[14]
• 3 Eddie August Schneider, first in single engine aircraft.^[14][16]
• 4 Lowell Bayles, in a Gee Bee Sportster, won the Great Lakes Trophy.

Time magazine wrote:

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.^[15]

The tour was re-created in 2003 (September 8–24) from the plans for the canceled 1932 tour. The 2003 tour started and ended in Dearborn, Michigan, circling the eastern half of the United States, with enroute layovers at Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina and Jabara Airport, Wichita, Kansas (Friday-Monday, September 12–15). More than 30 vintage aircraft took part. Most participating aircraft were from the same period of the original National Air Tours. The tour covered 4,000 miles and 27 cities.^[17][18][19]

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