Ford Tri-Motor Pioneers Commercial Flight

Restored Ford Tri-Motor

In today's jetsetter world, commercial air travel is taken for granted by most people, but in the 1920s the aeronautics industry had to prove itself safe before Americans felt confident enough to board an airplane and leave terra firma. It was not until Henry Ford bought the Stout Metal Airplane Company in 1924 from designer and engineer William Bushnell that public confidence in air travel rose because of Ford's strong reputation for reliability in the automobile business.

Bushnell designed a three-engined transport plane based on an all-metal Dutch plane developed by the Fokker Aircraft Corporation (Fokker F.VII). While waiting to participate in an air show at the newly constructed Ford Airport in Dearborn, Michigan, the innovative Dutch plane was stored in a Ford hanger. Ford engineers surreptitiously measured its dimensions and plagiarized the design.

Ford Motor Company (FoMoCo) created a new aircraft division and kept Bushnell on as the president of Production in 1925. At a press conference, Henry Ford proclaimed "The first thing that must be done with aerial navigation is to make it fool-proof.... What Ford Motor Company means to do is prove whether commercial air travel can be done safely and profitably."

The plane was introduced for limited excursion service as the Ford Tri-Motor in 1926. Soon, the plane became popularly known as the Tin Goose or the Flying Washboard. Only one-hundred and ninety-nine were ever produced.

Ford Airport with Henry Ford Museum in the background.

The airplane's body was clad in corrugated aluminum alloy for lightweight strength, which regrettably resulted in air drag reducing the plane's overall performance. The original Tri-Motor was powered by three 200 hp Wright engines but was upgraded to 235 hp Wright engines, and upgraded again with 300 hp radial engines. The propellers were two-bladed with a fixed pitch. The maximum air speed of 132 mph was increased to 150 mph depending on the equipped engine. The plane had a low stall speed of 57 mph. The Tri-Motor could safely reach a height of 16,500 feet with a range of 500 miles.

The Ford Tri-Motor was a combination of old and new technologies. As was common in early wooden and canvas airplanes, the engine gauges were mounted onto the engine struts outside the cockpit, and the rudder and wing flaps were controlled by steel cables mounted on the exterior of the airplane. The plane soon developed a reputation for ruggedness and versatility. It could be fitted with skis or pontoons for snow and water takeoffs and landings. The seats also could be removed to carry freight.

External cables controlling wing flaps and tail rudder.

The Ford Tri-Motor pioneered two-way, air-to-ground radio communication with their planes while in flight. Once the Department of Commerce Aeronautics Branch developed the Beacon Navigation System, a continuous radar signal was broadcast from fixed beacon locations across the country. Navigators were able to determine a plane's relative bearings by radio impulse without visual sightings, helping pilots guide their planes to their next destination.

Ford Tri-Motors were equipped with avionics that helped establish air corridors and domestic routes coast-to-coast making reliable commercial flight possible. Pan American Airlines scheduled the first international flights with service from Key West to Havana, Cuba in 1927 using Ford Tri-Motors.

Transcontinental Air Transport pioneered the first coast-to-coast service from New York to California. Initially, passengers would fly during the day and take sleeper trains at night. The first commercial planes carried a crew of three (pilot, co-pilot/navigator, and a stewardess) serving eight or nine passengers. By August 1929, the planes had a passenger capacity of twelve which reduced leg room but increased profitability.

Admiral Richard E. Byrd and supply crew-1929.

To promote air travel and the reliability of air service, Henry Ford's son Edsel financed Admiral Richard E. Byrd's flight over the South Pole to the tune of $100,000. On November 29, 1929, Byrd became the first person to fly over both poles, creating more than $100,000 worth of domestic and international publicity for the Ford Tri-Motor. Byrd left the plane in Antarctica but upon Edsel Ford's request, he retrieved the plane in 1935 and had it shipped to Dearborn, Michigan for display in the Henry Ford Museum.

The Ford Tri-Motor became the workhorse for United States and international airlines. Known as the first luxury airliner, it redefined world travel marking the beginning of global, commercial flight. American Airlines, Grand Canyon Airlines, Pan American, Transcontinental Airlines, Trans World Airlines, United Airlines, and smaller carriers flew Ford Tri-Motors. A round trip excursion ticket from Ford Airport in Dearborn to the Kentucky Derby in 1929 cost $122 with one stop for fuel in Cincinnati.

Typical excursion advertisement to promote air travel.

The aircraft industry underwent rapid development in the 1930s when a new generation of vastly superior planes like Boeing's 247 and the Douglas DC-2 began to dominate the commercial aviation market. The Tri-Motor had declining sales during the Great Depression and was losing money, so FoMoCo closed its airplane division on June 7, 1933. The company chose to concentrate on its core business--automobiles. On a human level, the death of Henry Ford's personal pilot Harry J. Brooks during a test flight made Ford lose interest in aviation.

Originally designed as a civil airplane, the Ford Tri-Motor saw military service in World War II in the United States Army Air Force. It is believed only eight of these classic planes are airworthy today. In popular culture, it was a Ford Tri-Motor that appeared in the film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom leap-frogging across the map.

Ford's Willow Run B-24 Bomber Plant

Remembering Detroit's Qwikee Donut and Coffee Shops

A young, optimistic Russian blacksmith named John Weise migrated to Detroit in the late 1920s, just in time for the Great Depression. Its stranglehold on manufacturing hit the automotive blue collar workforce particularly hard. Nobody was hiring blacksmiths.

Weise struggled but found work where and when he could, learning English as he went along. By 1938, Weise decided to take a risk and go into business for himself. He borrowed some money, bought some equipment, and went into the doughnut and coffee shop business which would eventually make him a wealthy man. 

Weise named his new business The New Era as an optimistic gesture for shaking off the bad luck he had experienced in America during his first decade here. His first retail shop was on Bates St. at Cadillac Square. Because of the war in Europe, Detroit factories and businesses were once again bustling with activity. His foresight paid off. The shop was packed from its opening day with customers lining up outside for a quick and inexpensive breakfast.

In 1942, Weise partnered up with Frank Reed and together they opened a second, larger operation in the lobby of the Hammond Building. Both of the shops were branded as Qwikee Donut and Coffee Shop. The new name with its quirky spelling was an effective marketing detail emphasizing their speed and convenience. Their trademark name on their bright, neon signage lit up even the grayest, bone-chilling Detroit mornings.

High-rise office workers soon discovered they could pop in and out in minutes for hot coffee and warm donuts. Downtown shoppers found a convenient place in the shopping loop to take a break and grab a quick bite with some fresh brewed coffee. Qwikee hot chocolate with whipped cream was a favorite with kids in the winter.

"Get Your Daily Dozen" was their slogan.

Space was limited in the early shops and restaurant seating took up too much space. The pace of life downtown quickened when the United States entered World War Two. Frank Reed had the idea to install stand-up counters along the walls for their busy customers. Daily editions of the Detroit News, the Free Press, and the Times were enclosed behind glass cases mounted across the walls for the convenience of customers who preferred to stand, slam down a quick cup of coffee and a doughnut, read the headlines, and dash off to work. Reed's second location served 5,000 to 6,000 customers daily.

With the demolition of the Hammond Building in 1956, Weise and Reed opened another larger shop on Grand River Boulevard at State Street. Soon other shops opened. There was one at 222 W. Congress St., one in the Guardian Building, one in the Fisher Building, and the largest shop at State and Griswold St. At that location, sandwiches and warm lunch plates were dispensed with self-service automat machines. Hot dishes with gravy like meatloaf, roasted chicken, and roast beef were popular menu items.

Qwikee Donut expanded their menu to include sandwiches and soups and adopted a cafeteria-style format. At the height of their popularity, Qwikee Donuts numbered five or six locations in the downtown loop serving 20,000 dozen donuts a week. The Grand River Avenue location became a hangout for generations of Cass Tech and other students looking for a warm, dry, convenient place to wait for the bus home which might take over an hour. Since it was after the lunch rush, the owners welcomed their steady business. Better to have customers than an empty shop.

The local doughnut chain became famous for their large, warm, and delicious donuts. You could get them plain, powder-sugared, cinnamon-sugared, iced with chocolate, vanilla, cherry, or orange frosting. Others were glazed and dipped in chopped nuts. They also served jelly and custard-filled doughnuts. Custard-filled were only served in the winter because the summer heat was too dangerous. The filling might spoil and make people sick.

Qwikee Donuts also served sandwiches and soups. Bean and pea soups were popular in the winter, and lighter soups like French onion were served in the summer. Chicken noodle and chili were year-round favorites. All soups were served in crockery bowls. Food was served on plates, and the utensils were stainless steel--never plastic. Sandwiches were traditional and served on sliced white or whole wheat bread from the nearby Wonder Bread bakery. Peanut butter & jelly, egg or tuna salad, and ham, turkey or roast beef with cheese were the standard sandwiches.

Weise and Reed together may have helped revolutionize the fast food business. Their most notable neon marquee sign was mechanical and one of the top three greatest signs in Detroit behind the Vernor's Sign on Woodward and the red and yellow neon, pulsating Flame Show Bar entrance in Paradise Valley. The Qwikee Donut sign had a hand dunking a doughnut into a simulated, steaming cup of coffee, all outlined in neon. That doughnut went up and down all day and never got soggy! The bright sign, co-mingled with the smell of warm doughnuts and freshly brewed coffee, was irresistible.

Original Quikee Donut owner John Weise.

When the Detroit Free Press interviewed John Weise in 1959, he said, "An office boy or girl can come into (our shops) and pick up a dozen cups of coffee and a bag of doughnuts for the entire office staff and be back (to work) before the boss (realizes they are gone)." 

John Weise and his partner Frank Reed parlayed their original shops into a million-dollar enterprise that became part of the fabric of downtown Detroit's daily life for decades. When Frank Reed suffered his first heart attack in 1956, he sold his interests in the company to his partner Weise. 

Sometime in the 1960s, Weise sold his interest in Quikee Donuts to Joe Hermann and Sons who were in the baking business. Thereafter, he retired. With the decline of downtown business activity in the seventies and eighties, and the loss of downtown shoppers to suburban shopping centers, Qwikee Donuts downtown went quietly out of business in the mid-1980s.

I was told by former Quikee Cafeteria employee, Chris Bosley, that the Hermann family, Albert, his wife Judy, and his sons Rick, Scott, and daughter Shelley, took their company with their new branding to the suburb of Southfield in the late 70s or early 80s.

They closed their downtown operations but kept the commissary on Grand River Avenue open to supply their cafeterias with fresh made doughnuts, soups, and sandwiches which they delivered daily to their various locations. The cafeterias were popular and stayed in business until the early 2000s when Albert retired and sold off the business.

***

Founder John Weise died at the age of fifty-three on Monday, October 3, 1966, leaving behind his wife Gilda, his sister, three daughters, and three grandchildren. Mr. Weise is buried in White Chapel Memorial Park Cemetery in Troy, Michigan.

Co-founder Frank Reed suffered a heart attack aboard the ocean liner Queen Elizabeth II en route to Great Britain to begin a European tour. Mr. Reed died August 16, 1979 at the age of seventy-seven leaving behind his wife Hazelle, two brothers, and a sister. He is buried in Palm Beach, Florida.

White Castle Rules

B'wana Don in Jungle-La with Bongo Bailey

B'wana Don and Bongo Bailey

B'wana Don in Jungle-La ran on WJBK-TV, channel 2 in Detroit, Michigan, from 1960 to 1963. The program's host, Don Hunt, was born in 1931 in Ferndale, Michigan. While a child, Don convinced his mother to allow him to purchase and raise mating pairs of Mallard ducks and Ringneck pheasants. When both pairs produced chicks, Don sold them to his friends. Little could he imagine then that animal propagation would become an important part of his life's work.

While attending St. James School in Ferndale, Don began working at Ferndale Feed and Pet Supply. After graduating in 1948, Don spent three years at the University of Detroit before being drafted and serving two years in the U.S. Army during the Korean War.

Upon his return home, Don heard the pet store he worked at was being sold. With the help of his parents, he bought a half-interest in the store for $20,000. Two stores later, Don took on the brand name B'wana Don and opened his own pet shop in 1959. He started wearing a safari outfit and hat with a leopard print headband. B'wana Don promoted his pet shop by making appearences on local Detroit television programs like Lunch with Soupy Sales and Popeye and Friends. He brought animals with him to teach Detroit youth about caring for their pets and being kind to animals.

These short cameo appearances led to WJBK-TV hiring Don Hunt to host his own weekend show aptly named B'wana Don in Jungle-La. The station built him an African trading post set known as Jungle-La. A large part of the program's success was Don's unpredictable chimpanzee co-star Bongo Bailey.

It soon became clear to the audience of mostly children that Bongo Bailey did not always follow the script, much to their delight. B'wana Don and Bongo Bailey regularly made appearances at the Michigan State Fair in the summer and the J.L. Hudson Thanksgiving Day Parade in late autumn.

When WJBK-TV's parent company Storer Broadcasting saw how popular the show was, they decided to fly Hunt and Bongo Bailey weekly in a private plane to Cleveland. The live Detroit show was filmed in the morning, and the Cleveland show was repeated live in the afternoon.

The show was a big hit and Storer Broadcasting syndicated it nationally. Hunt's weekly salary instantly rose to $5,000 a week. Storer Broadcasting began sending Hunt around Europe and Africa to showcase the world's animals in special programs.

While in Rome, Italy, to film segments for his B'wana Don program, Italian customs officials impounded the film crew's thirteen cases of equipment. It took a full nine hours to clear customs. After the film crew got their equipment, they began work on their project called B'wana Don and Topalino Visit Rome. 

Topalino was a small, white mouse that usually rode on Don's safari hat, but when Don knelt down to pet some neighborhood cats at the Roman Forum, Topalino retreated to B'wana Don's safari shirt breast pocket. The film crew also visited the Trevi Fountain and the Amphitheater. Much to Topalino's terror, everywhere they went, there were "cats, cats, cats."

Hunt traveled to Africa with his wife Iris, and they fell in love with Kenya. Don decided to move there to establish a game preserve for endangered African wild animals. WJBK-TV reported that Don Hunt quit his job over a contract dispute, but Don fell under the spell of Africa and found his calling as a preservationist and environmentalist. B'wana Don's dedicated kiddie audience was disappointed.

On December 25, 1964, Mrs. Irene Poremba from Redford, Michigan, was outraged enough that she wrote and complained to the Detroit Free Press on Christmas Day, "I'd like to know why B'wana Don is off WJBK-TV, and why it was replaced with that Happyland thing? My children loved watching B'wana Don. They cried when he went off the air and won't even watch Happyland."

Don Hunt in 1964.

In Kenya, Oscar-winning actor William Holden went on several photographic safaris lead by Don Hunt, and the men became friends. Together, they jointly created the 1,200 acre Mount Kenya Wildlife Conservancy in Nanyuki, Kenya, about 110 miles outside of Narobi. Hunt managed the conservancy while Holden continued making Hollywood films to raise money to help support the operation.

Because of a worldwide shortage of African animals for zoos, endangered animals were bred and sold to zoological societies to help finance the animal preserve. The game preserve included thirty-seven species of breeding herds to counteract diminishing herds due to over-hunting, poaching, and human demands made upon the land.

In 1969, Holden and Hunt filmed a promotional documentary called "Adventures at the Jade Sea." Rather than another program with big game hunters armed with elephant guns and local people of color carrying their gear, this program was different. The documentary showcased the deeply held beliefs of William Holden and Don Hunt in wildlife conservation and preservation. Holden was the on screen talent while Hunt worked behind the scenes. Back in Ferndale, Don's brother continued to run the B'wana Don Pet Shop.

Stephanie Powers and William Holden

A year after William Holden's death at the age of sixty-three on November 12, 1981, the William Holden Wildlife Federation was founded to honor Holden's dedication to wildlife and habitat conservation. The founders were Hollywood actress Stephanie Powers (Holden's life partner) and Don and Iris Hunt.

The charitable trust's Education Center strives to inspire a personal commitment to protect wildlife and the environment. The foundation teaches alternatives to habitat destruction and promotes innovations in energy production techniques with low environmental impact.

(B'wana) Don Hunt and Iris lived in Africa for almost fifty years. After Don suffered a stroke, the Hunts returned to Michigan. Several months later on April 29, 2016, Don Hunt died at the age of eighty-four at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak. He was survived by his wife, four brothers, and a sister. Don and Iris had two children, Kevin and Kimberly, and two grandchildren, Ryan and Alex.

Don Hunt's Detroit Public Television interview excerpt

More information on the William Holden Wildlife Federation