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. 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 The Stout 2-AT Pullman, or "Air Pullman", was a single engine all-metal monoplane that was used for early airline travel and air mail transport in America. Development William Bushnell Stout started in aviation working for Packard on the Liberty ...

, 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.

Awards

*Edsel B. Ford Reliability Trophy *

Great Lakes Trophy Great Lakes Aircraft Company is an aircraft manufacturer known for the 2T-1A Sport Trainer biplane. The company has a long history of building both private and military aircraft. Origins In 1929, the Great Lakes Aircraft Company (GLAC) was for ...

was awarded in 1930 and 1931 to the fastest plane with an engine of 510 cubic inches or less.

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 –

Junkers F.13 The Junkers F 13 was the world's first all-metal transport aircraft, developed in Weimar Republic, Germany at the end of World War I. It was an advanced Cantilever#Aircraft, cantilever-wing monoplane, with enclosed accommodation for four passenge ...

L (second prize) * E. G. Knapp – Waco (fourth prize – damaged in forced landing) * L. O. Yost – Waco * J. Stauffer – Swallow '25 (second prize) *

Earl Rowland Earl Jerrod "E. J." Rowland (born May 18, 1983) is an American-born Bulgarian professional basketball player for GTK Gliwice of the Polish Basketball League (PLK). Standing at , he plays the point guard position. College career Rowland began his ...

– 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 –

. * H.C. Etten – Laird Special (second prize) * E.A. Goff – Laird Swallow (second prize) * W.J. Adams – Yackey

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 new

Ford Trimotor The Ford Trimotor (also called the "Tri-Motor", and nicknamed the "Tin Goose") is an American three-engined transport aircraft. Production started in 1925 by the companies of Henry Ford and ended on June 7, 1933, after 199 had been made. It w ...

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 Nova is an unincorporated community in central Troy Township, Ashland County, Ohio, United States. It has a post office with the ZIP code 44859. It lies at the intersection of U.S. Route 224 with State Route 511. History Nova was originall ...

. Walter Beech won in a Travel Air aircraft.Forden, Lesley. ''The Ford Air Tours: 1925–1931''. New Brighton Minnesota: Aviation Foundation of America, 2003, First edition 1972. No ISBN. *A

Pitcairn PA-2 Sesquiwing The Pitcairn PA-2 Sesquiwing "Arrow" is an early biplane designed for air racing and commercial airmail service. Design The Biplane#Sesquiplane, Sesquiwing featured a quick change motor mount to accommodate a Curtiss C-6 or Curtiss OX-5 engine, ...

won in two of the classes. *A Buhl-Verville CA-3 Airster placed second. * Clarence E. Clark placed seventh in a Travel Air 3000. * Vance Breese placed eighth in a Ryan M-1.

1927 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 his

* 2

John H. Livingston John H. Livingston (1897–1974) was an American aviator and air race pilot of the 1920s and 1930s. He placed first in 80 national air races. Life John Livingston was born in 1897 in Cedar Falls, Iowa. His first profession was as an auto ...

WACO CRG The Waco CRG is an American open-cockpit sporting biplane of the early 1930s. Development The Waco CRG was designed specifically to win the 1930 Ford Air Tour, a transcontinental reliability endurance race. Waco had previously won the race in ...

600Y * 3 Arthur J. Davis in

660Y * 4 Myron E. Zeller * 5

George W. Haldeman George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd President ...

* 6 Walter Herschel Beech * 7 J. Wesley Smith (aviator) * 8 Eddie August Schneider (plane 21), in his Cessna AW (NC9092), won the

. *9 Wadlow *10 Bowman *11 Story *12 Stevenson *13 Buch *13 Nancy Hopkins (plane 22), in a

Viking B-8 Kittyhawk The Viking B-8 Kittyhawk was an American single-engine open-cockpit biplane of the early 1930s. Development The Viking B-8 Kittyhawk was developed from the Bourdon B-4 Kittyhawk, 31 examples being built during 1930 and 1931 at Viking's factory ...

*14 Carr *15 Meyers *16 Harvey Mummert *17

James Meissner Major James Armand Meissner (July 20, 1896 – January 16, 1936) was a World War I flying ace credited with eight aerial victories and awarded two Distinguished Service Crosses. Early life and service Meissner grew up in Brooklyn, New York and ...

Among the aircraft, a

Pitcairn PCA-2 The Pitcairn PCA-2 was an autogyro (designated as "autogiro" by Pitcairn) developed in the United States in the early 1930s.Taylor 1989, p.735 It was Harold F. Pitcairn's first autogyro design to sell in quantity. It had a conventional design fo ...

autogiro was flown by pilot Jim Ray, bringing rotary winged aircraft to the event.

1931 National Air Tour

From July 4, 1931, to July 25, 1931, was the 7th: * 1 Harry L. Russell. * 2

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 ...

. * 3 Eddie August Schneider, first in single engine aircraft. * 4

Lowell Bayles Lowell Richard Bayles (January 24, 1900 - December 5, 1931) was an American air race and stunt pilot from the "Golden Age of Air Racing." He was the winner of the 1931 Thompson Trophy flying the Gee Bee Model Z. He was killed during an attempt a ...

, in a

Gee Bee Sportster The Gee Bee Sportster was a family of sports aircraft built in the United States in the early 1930s by the Granville Brothers. They were low-wing strut- and wire-braced monoplanes of conventional, if short-coupled, design, with open cockpits and f ...

, won the

. '' 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.

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 from
Le 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 ...
, to
Binghamton, 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. Colonel
Clarence 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 from
Cleveland, 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 a
Cessna 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 and
George 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 an
Aeronca 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 Major
James 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 with
Roger 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 an
autogiro 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

2003 National Air Tour in Frederick, Maryland

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 Dearborn is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, it had a population of 109,976. Dearborn is the seventh most-populated city in Michigan and is home to the largest Muslim population in the United States pe ...

, 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. The public was able to see a great many historic planes land and take off as well as ask questions and tour the inside of several of the larger planes.2003 National Air Tour
official website, retrieved January 7, 2017.Harris, Richard

in "Gallery", ''Aviation Answer-Man'' website, retrieved January 8, 2017.Barnes, Sparky
"Back to Blakesburg"
October 6, 2013, ''General Aviation News'', retrieved January 7, 2017

References

{{Reflist

External links

National Air Tour

Air racing Aviation competitions and awards