For the first time, people had a reliable form of all-season transportation for travel to & from the mainland, as well as in between the islands themselves.
With their large payloads and short takeoff and landing capabilities, Ford Tri-Motors were ideally suited for their work of hauling passengers and freight in and out of the short island runways.
In 1946 Bill Hershberger had a fleet of eight Tri-Motors that made up Island Airlines in Port Clinton, serving passengers from Port Clinton to Put-in-Bay, Middle Bass, North Bass and Kelleys Island flying passengers back and forth from the islands to Port Clinton.
There are only four or five Tri-Motors in operation today, mainly because of the costs associated with keeping them airworthy.
The VP of my company is a woman who I think is in her seventies. She recently told a story about when she moved to the area, she flew on a Tri-motor to Put-In-Bay. She said that on the way to the island, she sat on an orange crate, and on the way back, she was able to sit in the co-pilot's seat. The pilot told her not to touch anything.
ReplyDeleteThe Liberty Air Museum, where the Tri-motor is being rebuilt, also bought another Tri-motor that is airworthy.
https://www.libertyaviationmuseum.org/collection/aircraft.html
I have a small print of a painting called "Spirit of Lake Erie" by Ben Richmond hanging on the wall of my office. My wife bought it years ago when I was working at Champion Spark Plug, because of the sign on the hanger.
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/ben-richmond-limited-edition-print-1755644334
oh wow! Dang, she's still coming to work in her 70s, dang, she's a VP, and wow, flew in the golden age of airplanes before safety features! Hell, before passenger seats! HA!
DeleteI'll be darned, you've got a connection to this obscure topic I posted out of the blue. That's crazy how like minded people have odd intersections of stories and experiences!