Awards
*Edsel B. Ford Reliability Trophy *1925 National Air Tour
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 –1926 National Air Tour
The 1926 Air tour started at Ford Field on August 7, 1926. The event featured the unveiling of the prototype Ford Flivver. 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 new1927 National Air Tour
In 1927, fourteen contestants competed in the air tour. The winner was Edward Stinson in a Stinson SM-1 Detroiter. The Hamilton H-18 Metalplane “Maiden Milwaukee" placed second.1928 National Air Tour
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 Hells Angels was filming. *The winner was John P. Wood in a Waco 10 "The Baby Ruth".1929 National Air Tour
The 1929 winner was John Livingston who flew 5107 miles averaging 129.97 mph in a Waco, followed by Art Davis also flying a Waco.1930 National Air Tour
September 11, 1930, to September 27, 1930: * 1 Harry L. Russell in his1931 National Air Tour
From July 4, 1931, to July 25, 1931, was the 7th: * 1 Harry L. Russell. * 2Sensation 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.The following comes from a New York paper:
The second day of the 1931 National Air Tour for the "Edsel B. Ford Trophy" today, was to find the 14 competing planes and a dozen accompanying planes en route fromLe Roy, New York Le Roy, or more commonly LeRoy, is a town in Monroe County, New York or Genesee County, New York, United States. The population was 7,641 at the time of the 2010 census. The town is named after one of the original land owners, Herman Le Roy. The ..., toBinghamton, New York Binghamton () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, and serves as the county seat of Broome County. Surrounded by rolling hills, it lies in the state's Southern Tier region near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the conflue .... From Binghamton, the tour is to fly south and west as far as San Antonio, Texas, returning to Ford Airport July 25, 1931. A holiday crowd of about 5,000 persons witnessed the start of the tour from the Ford Airport Saturday morning. ColonelClarence M. Young Clarence may refer to: Places Australia * Clarence County, New South Wales, a Cadastral division * Clarence, New South Wales, a place near Lithgow * Clarence River (New South Wales) * Clarence Strait (Northern Territory) * City of Clarence, a loca ..., assistant Secretary of Commerce for Aeronautics, came fromCleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...to witness the start. Fifteen Army planes from Selfridge Field stunted over the field just before the takeoff and accompanied the tour planes as far as Walker Airport, Walkerville, Ontario At Walker Airport, where the tour planes stopped for a long luncheon hour, they joined the large number of planes participating in the Trans-Canada Air Pageant there. Most of the racers got off to a bad start from Ford Airport. Only flying a Mercury Chic, Captain William Lancaster, flying a Bird and Eddie Schneider, flying aCessna Cessna () is an American brand of general aviation aircraft owned by Textron Aviation since 2014, headquartered in Wichita, Kansas. Originally, it was a brand of the Cessna Aircraft Company, an American general aviation aircraft manufacturing c ..., got away on time. Leonard Flo, flying a Bird cabin plane, was delayed more than a half-hour when he broke a tail skid just before the takeoff and the two Ford entries were 15 minutes late. The racers were timed from the minute they were supposed to take off. Other entries are Charles F. Sugg, Captain Walter Henderson and Jack Story, flying Buhl entries;James H. Smart James Henry Smart (June 30, 1841 – February 21, 1900) was an American educator and administrator who served as the fourth president of Purdue University from August 23, 1883, until his death in 1900. An initiative of his led to the founding of ...and Harry Russell, flying Ford trimotors; Joseph Meehan, flying a Great Lakes; Lowell Bayles, flying a Gee Bee;Eddie Stinson Edward Anderson Stinson, Jr. (July 11, 1893 – January 26, 1932) was an American pilot and aircraft manufacturer. "Eddie" Stinson was the founder of Stinson Aircraft Company. At the time of his death in 1932 in an air crash, he was the world' ..., flying a Stinson andGeorge Dickson George Charles Dickson Jr. (September 27, 1921 – November 25, 2020) was an American gridiron football player and coach was the head coach of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League for the first two games of the 1976 season. ..., flying anAeronca Aeronca, contracted from Aeronautical Corporation of America, located in Middletown, Ohio, is a US manufacturer of engine components and airframe structures for commercial aviation and the defense industry, and a former aircraft manufacturer. Fr .... Among the well-known pilots flying accompanying planes are MajorJames H. Doolittle James Harold Doolittle (December 14, 1896 – September 27, 1993) was an American military general and aviation pioneer who received the Medal of Honor for his daring raid on Japan during World War II. He also made early coast-to-coast flights ..., referee of the tour, who is accompanied by Mrs. Doolittle and Mrs. Ray W. Brown, wife of the assistant tour starter; Capt. Lewis A. Yancey, who flew withRoger Q. Williams Roger Quincy Williams (April 30, 1894 - August 12, 1976) was an American aviator. He established The Roger Q. Williams School of Aeronautics. He designed the Yankee Aerocoupe. Biography He was born in Brooklyn, New York on April 30, 1894. In Ju ...across the Atlantic in 1928, who is piloting anautogiro An autogyro (from Greek and , "self-turning"), also known as a ''gyroplane'', is a type of rotorcraft that uses an unpowered rotor in free autorotation to develop lift. Forward thrust is provided independently, by an engine-driven propeller. Whi ...in the tour; Walter E. Lees, Detroit pilot who holds the world's non-refueling endurance record, and George Haldeman, who attempted to fly the Atlantic with Ruth Elder. Major Thomas G. Lanphier, former commandant at Selfridge Field, is accompanying the tour as far as Binghamton as a passenger. Night stops after tonight will be as follows: Monday, Bradford, Pennsylvania; Tuesday, Wheeling, West Virginia; Wednesday,Huntington, West Virginia Huntington is a city in Cabell and Wayne counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia. It is the county seat of Cabell County, and the largest city in the Huntington–Ashland metropolitan area, sometimes referred to as the Tri-State Area. A h ...; Thursday, Knoxville, Tennessee; Friday, Memphis, Tennessee; Saturday, Birmingham, Alabama; July 12, Montgomery, Alabama; July 13, New Orleans; July 14,Shreveport, Louisiana Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the third most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, respectively. The Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area, with a population of 393,406 in 2020, is t ...; July 15,Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...; July 16, San Antonio, Texas; July 17 and 18, Fort Worth, Texas; July 19, Ponca City, Oklahoma; July 20,Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...; July 21, Lincoln, Nebraska; July 22, Omaha, Nebraska; July 23, Davenport, Ia.; July 24,Kalamazoo, Michigan Kalamazoo ( ) is a city in the southwest region of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Kalamazoo County. At the 2010 census, Kalamazoo had a population of 74,262. Kalamazoo is the major city of the Kalamazoo-Portage Metropolit ...; July 25, Detroit, Michigan. The tour will cover more than 6,000 miles, visiting 18 states. The Ford Trophy will go to the pilot whose plane performs most efficiently, as judged by the scoring formula, over the entire distance. A separate trophy, the Great Lakes Light Plane Trophy, will go to the pilot of the plane of less than 510 cubic inches engine displacement which makes the best score.
2003 re-creation
The tour was re-created in 2003 (September 8–24) from the plans for the canceled 1932 tour. The 2003 tour started and ended inReferences
{{ReflistExternal links