The Towle TA-3 amphibian flew beautifully, but not for long. It never got a chance to do much as it was a victim of the depression. The Towle was powered by 2 Packard diesels on loan from the Packard Motor Car Company. It was built of corrugated aluminum exactly like the Ford Trimotor. As a matter of fact, Towle had been employed by Ford until Ford cancelled airplane building. Towle got his airplane built at the hangar on Grosse Isle in Detroit, and ran out of money during the flight testing program. He now looked for money to continue with and found a backer in the person of one Doctor Adams, a widely advertised "Painless Dentist" of Detroit. Adams wanted a quicker return on his money than the average backer and he insisted that Towle put the airplane in service so it could start earning some money. At this time the amphibian was beginning to become popular for intercity flying, especially around the Great Lakes region as all of the major cities were located on the waterfront. What was more natural than an airline flying passengers right into the downtown area of a city? Thompson was doing it between Detroit and Cleveland, Marquette was doing it between Detroit and Milwaukee, so Adams applied for permission to operate an airplane between Detroit and Cleveland and other cities on the lakes. In those days it was necessary to prove an airplane's reliability by flying a certain number of trips over the proposed route with a simulated payload. This payload was supposed to consist of sand bags, but usually consisted of any mechanic or pilot who happened to be loose at the moment, and who had nerve enough to go along. Mechanics were easier to load and unload than sand bags. The Towle was in the middle of the qualification flights, and the publicity began to appear about the new airline. Much newsprint was devoted to the fact that the Towle was powered by the new Packard diesel engine, and this, of course, made it the only safe airline since all its competitors were using the old-fashioned dangerous gasoline. On the last payload trip of the Towle the pilot asked me if I wanted to go along, and of course I was delighted. I neglected to mention that I had been hired by the Adams airline as a mechanic because of my experience in repairing the corrugated skin of the Ford Trimotor owned by my employer, the Knowles Flying Service. The mere fact that I did many repairs to the airframe did not preclude me from getting my share of the engine work too, and since I was already familiar with the Packard diesel, I was quickly hired by Dr. Adams.