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Towle Aircraft Company
Towle Marine Aircraft Engineering Company was an American aircraft manufacturer of light amphibious aircraft. The short lived Towle Marine Aircraft Engineering Company, and its successor Towle Aircraft Company were founded by former Stout Metal Airplane Division of the Ford Motor Company Stout Metal Airplane Division of the Ford Motor Company was an American aircraft manufacturer founded by William Bushnell Stout as the Stout Metal Airplane Co. in 1922. The company was purchased by Ford Motor Company in 1924 and later produced th ... engineer Thomas Towle initially to build a custom round-the world amphibious aircraft, and follow-on aircraft based on the design. In a 1930 patent, Towle listed the Towle Aircraft Company as part of the Michigan Amphibian Airplane Corporation. At the height of the depression, financing was difficult. Towle's TA-3 used diesel engines on loan from Packard, and was funded by Dr. Adams, a "painless dentist" of the Detroit region. Aircraft Ref ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 census, making it the 27th-most populous city in the United States. The metropolitan area, known as Metro Detroit, is home to 4.3 million people, making it the second-largest in the Midwest after the Chicago metropolitan area, and the 14th-largest in the United States. Regarded as a major cultural center, Detroit is known for its contributions to music, art, architecture and design, in addition to its historical automotive background. ''Time'' named Detroit as one of the fifty World's Greatest Places of 2022 to explore. Detroit is a major port on the Detroit River, one of the four major straits that connect the Great Lakes system to the Saint Lawrence Seaway. The City of Detroit anchors the second-largest regional economy in t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michigan
Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the largest by area east of the Mississippi River.''i.e.'', including water that is part of state territory. Georgia is the largest state by land area alone east of the Mississippi and Michigan the second-largest. Its capital is Lansing, and its largest city is Detroit. Metro Detroit is among the nation's most populous and largest metropolitan economies. Its name derives from a gallicized variant of the original Ojibwe word (), meaning "large water" or "large lake". Michigan consists of two peninsulas. The Lower Peninsula resembles the shape of a mitten, and comprises a majority of the state's land area. The Upper Peninsula (often called "the U.P.") is separated from the Lower Peninsula by the Straits of Mackinac, a channel that joins Lak ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Towle (engineer)
Tom Towle (1887–1983) was an American aircraft designer in charge of developing the Ford Trimotor. Early life Towle was raised in Dayton, Ohio and graduated from Yale University in 1920. Towle become an aeronautical engineer for many starting aviation companies. *1921-1922 Dayton-Wright Company *1922-1923 Glenn L. Martin Company, Martin *1923-1924 Aeromarine *1924-1925 Stout Metal Airplane Division of the Ford Motor Company, Stout Metal Airplane Co *1925-1927 Stout Metal Airplane Division of the Ford Motor Company After disappointing results from the Stout 3-AT, Ford places Towle in charge of the Ford Tri-motor development. *1927 Towle Marine Aircraft - Formed company to build the Towle WC. *1928 Eastman Aircraft Corporation of Detroit - Designed the Eastman E-2 Sea Rover. *1928-1932 Towle Aircraft Company - Reorganized to produce the Towle TA-2 and Towle TA-3 amphibians. *1933 Monocoupe Aircraft, Monocoupe Aircraft Corporation *1933-1935 Monocoupe Aircraft, Lambert Air ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stout Metal Airplane Division Of The Ford Motor Company
Stout Metal Airplane Division of the Ford Motor Company was an American aircraft manufacturer founded by William Bushnell Stout as the Stout Metal Airplane Co. in 1922. The company was purchased by Ford Motor Company in 1924 and later produced the Ford Trimotor. At the height of the Great Depression, Ford closed the aircraft design and production division in 1936, temporarily re-entering the aviation market with the production of the B-24, at the Willow Run aircraft factory during World War II. History Early Ford aviation interest In 1909 Henry Ford lent three factory workers to his 15-year-old son Edsel, and Edsel's friend Charles Van Auken, to build a monoplane with a Model T engine. The Blériot XI inspired plane featured wing warping controls and a radiator perpendicular to the wind. The plane did not fly well in multiple test flights from the Fort Wayne parade grounds − the final flight ended in a tree − and the project was put aside. In World War I Ford went into t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Towle WC
The Towle WC, aka Towle TA-1, was a custom built aircraft for a 1929 round-the world flight. Design and development Thomas Towle was an engineer who had been involved with many early aircraft designs. Having just co-designed the Eastman-E2 Sea Rover, Towle was commissioned by Henry McCarroll to promote Detroit's aviation production capabilities. The WC was a flying boat with an aluminum hull. The strut braced parasol wing was fabric covered. Operational history The prototype WC flew as far as Brazil before engine reliability issues forced the cancellation of the round-the-world flight attempt. Variants * Towle TA-2 The Towle TA-2 was an amphibious aircraft based on the T owle WC built for a 1929 round-the world flight. Development Thomas Towle was an engineer that had been involved with many early aircraft designs. Having just co-designed the Eastman E- ... Was built as a successor to the WC model Specifications (Towle WC) References {{Towle Marine Aircraf ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Towle TA-2
The Towle TA-2 was an amphibious aircraft based on the T owle WC built for a 1929 round-the world flight. Development Thomas Towle was an engineer that had been involved with many early aircraft designs. Having just co-designed the Eastman E-2 Sea Rover and the Towle WC, Towle found funding to create a new entity, the Towle Aircraft Company to produce the TA-2. Design The TA-2 featured an corrugated aluminum hull. The wings were all metal with internal stiffeners, rather than ribs, based loosely on the Ford Trimotor, which Towle worked on previously. The twin Wright R-540 engines sat on small pylons on top of the shoulder mounted wing. Two floats were mounted directly below the engine pylons which incorporated the hydraulically actuated landing gear. The prototype was originally designed for 165 hp Wright 540 engines. Operational history The TA-2 was tested in Lake St. Clair on 7 November 1929 by test pilot George Pond and James Bradley. It broke up on takeoff and san ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Towle TA-3
The Towle TA-3 was an amphibious aircraft based on the Towle TA-2. Development Thomas Towle was an engineer that had been involved with many early aircraft designs. Having just co-designed the Eastman E-2 Sea Rover. The TA-3 was a six-seat follow-on to the Towle TA-2 which crashed on its first flight. The wing from the TA-2 prototype was salvaged and reused on the TA-3. Design The TA-3 featured two diesel radial engines on tall struts above the wings. Diesel engines were relatively new and were touted as being safer because they used a less volatile fuel than gasoline. The engines were provided on loan from the Packard Motor Car Company. The salvaged all-metal wing featured internal bracing based on the Ford Trimotor design that Towle had worked on previously. The tail used two rudders placed in the slipstream of the engines. Operational history The prototype was built at Grosse Ile Municipal Airport and first flew in May 1930 piloted by George Pond. The prototype was leased to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
