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The Bushmaster 2000 was a small commuter airliner built in the United States in an attempt to revive the
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 ...
design. Work began in 1953 by testing a vintage Trimotor and in 1954
Bill Stout
William Job "Bill" Stout (September 4, 1927 – December 1, 1989) was an American journalist and sometime actor, known for his radio and television broadcasting career with CBS News.
Early life and education
Stout was born in Chicago, Illinois ...
purchased the design rights to the original Trimotor. Due to "Ford Tri-Motor" licensing problems, the Ford 15-AT-D was given the Bushmaster 2000 name.
[O'Callaghan 2002, 124.] On 15 January 1955, Stout and partner Robert Hayden from the Hayden Aircraft Corporation announced they were planning to build 1,000 new Bushmasters, but it would be eleven years before the first prototype of the new design flew.
The Bushmaster 2000 featured significant modernization of the original 1920s design, particularly in the choice of materials and construction techniques. It also had more powerful engines, enlarged cockpit windows, a lighter and stronger aluminum-alloy skin, a foot-operated hydraulic replacement of the old Trimotor's hand-operated "
Johnny Brake," a larger stabilizer and a dorsal fin to reduce yaw, modern trim tabs and interior rather than exterior control cables.
[''Time'' 6 January 1967]
However, even with modern engines and propellers, the aircraft's performance did not compare favourably with contemporary designs of similar capacity, and no sales ensued. Combined with financial, management and marketing problems, only two examples were built with a third fuselage never completed.
The first Bushmaster, N7501V was assembled in 1966, and is owned by Pleasant Aviation LLC At mid America flight Museum and based at Mt Pleasant Regional Airport near Mount Pleasant, Texas. The second aircraft N750RW was completed 18 January 1985 by Ralph Williams, the President of Hydro-Forming in
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California.
Incorporate ...
. This aircraft was written off in an accident at
Fullerton Municipal Airport
Fullerton Municipal Airport , owned and operated by the Fullerton, California, City of Fullerton, is a regional relief airport in Orange County, California.
The airport is in the southwestern corner of Fullerton on Commonwealth Avenue, northeast ...
, California on 25 September 2004.
Specifications
See also
References
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Further reading
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External links
{{Commons category-inline, Stout Bushmaster 2000
NTSB crash report
1960s United States airliners
Trimotors
High-wing aircraft
Hayden aircraft