Eventually the Government bought Bill Stout’s design and with the money he set up his own engineering laboratory in Detroit, Michigan. He decided that wood and fabric were not suitable to stand the strain required in a modern plane. His first all-metal plane, a Navy torpedo bomber, flew successfully in test flights, but a Navy pilot wrecked it on its official trial. The Navy would not order another one, so Bill had to raise more money. He got it and built America’s first all-metal transport plane. It carried eight passengers in addition to the two-man crew. Bill knew it was a good plane and he was satisfied with it, but he did not want to be a manufacturer. He wanted instead to stay at his engineering work, so he sold his airplane company to Henry Ford, and the famous Stout-designed, Ford tri-motor, “Tin Goose” was born. [Illustration: 1925-1929 WINGSPAN 70 FEET LENGTH 40 FEET THE FORD TRI-MOTOR WAS AMERICA’S FIRST ALL-METAL TRANSPORT PLANE. IT PROVED THE VALUE OF METAL IN AIRCRAFT CONSTRUCTION. POWER THREE 9-CYLINDER 200-H.P. RADIAL ENGINES POWER FOR THE FORD PLANE WAS FURNISHED BY WRIGHT _WHIRLWIND_ AIR-COOLED, RADIAL ENGINES. SPEED ONE HOUR 100 MILES RANGE 500 MILES CEILING 8,000 FEET PAYLOAD 8 PASSENGERS OR A CARGO LOAD OF EQUAL WEIGHT. ALTHOUGH THE FORD DID NOT INCREASE THE RATE OF SPEED OF AIR TRANSPORT, ITS ROOMY, ENCLOSED CABIN DID OFFER GREATER COMFORT FOR AIR TRAVELERS. ITS THREE ENGINES GAVE IT A GREATER FACTOR OF SAFETY. AS THE CABIN WAS HEATED ONLY BY ENGINE EXHAUST GASES, ITS PRACTICAL SERVICE CEILING WAS UNDER 4,000 FEET. IN ADDITION TO ITS PASSENGERS THE FORD CARRIED SEVERAL HUNDRED POUNDS OF AIR MAIL IN ITS WING COMPARTMENTS. THE _WHIRLWIND_-POWERED FORD TRANSPORT WAS ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL EARLY PASSENGER AND CARGO CARRIERS. ONLY A FEW OF THEM WERE BUILT, AS HENRY FORD DID NOT WISH TO CONTINUE IN THE AIRPLANE BUSINESS. MANY 1926 FORD TRANSPORTS ARE STILL IN USE IN VARIOUS PARTS OF THE WORLD.] [Illustration] Just about the time the Ford tri-motors were proving themselves in tests an important law was passed by Congress. It was the Kelly Air Commerce Act of 1925. It authorized the Post Office Department to contract with private firms to fly the air mail routes maintained by the Department of Commerce. This law was designed to encourage private capital to enter the aviation field, with the objective of carrying not only mail but passengers. In February, 1926, officials of one of the newly formed air transport firms proudly watched their first big air transport plane take off from the Detroit airport. The big plane was a Stout-designed, all-metal Ford, the first of a series of airliners that were destined to make aviation history. [Illustration: WATER-COOLED IN-LINE ENGINE]