Help Return This Ford Tri-Motor To Ohio Skies – Donate To The Restoration Today

Help Return This Ford Tri-Motor To Ohio Skies – Donate To The Restoration Today

The team of volunteers have been working in this 1929 aircraft for over 10 years, and they need your help to return it to the skies.  It’s not every day you get a chance to support such an important historical project, and when it’s done, you could even experience your own flight into the past.

The Liberty Aviation Museum already hosts one flying example of the Ford Tri-Motor, which played an important role in the birth of commercial passenger aviation.  Through your renewed interest and support over the next 12 months, the Tri-Motor Heritage Foundation hopes to provide further opportunities for all of us to learn about this piece of aviation history.

Flown by Island Airlines, Ford Tri-Motors serviced remote communities on the Lake Erie Islands from 1936 until the 1980s.  In over 5 decades of operation, the aircraft spawned a range of commercial aviation roles that we all take for granted, including passenger transport, medical services, mail transport, and air cargo. 

Long replaced by more advanced aircraft, the Tri-Motors and the role they played have largely been forgotten. A team of dedicated volunteers, formed by local private pilot Ken Benjamin, set about the current restoration project in 2004.  In the intervening years, substantial progress has been made on elements of the fuselage and wings, and you can now see them for yourself in a hangar at the Liberty Aviation Museum.

While some sections are well advanced, the foundation states that much work remains in order to return the aircraft to the skies.  Along with funding, the foundation is also seeking donations of critical elements like engines, seats, landing gear strut assemblies, oil coolers, and radio equipment. 

Click on https://www.restorethefor d.org so you can learn more.