Ford Air Transport Service is a defunct

airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers or freight (cargo). Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines ...

based in

United States of America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguo ...

. The airline was also registered as Ford Air Freight Lines.

History

Henry Ford Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American Technological and industrial history of the United States, industrialist and business magnate. As the founder of the Ford Motor Company, he is credited as a pioneer in making automob ...

initiated Ford Air Transport Service—the world's first regularly scheduled commercial cargo airline—in 1925. Ford Air Transport Service started with

Stout 2-AT Pullman The Stout 2-AT Pullman, or "Air Pullman", was a single engine all-metal monoplane that was used for early airline travel and air mail transport in America. Development William Bushnell Stout started in aviation working for Packard on the Liberty ...

aircraft in 1925. Henry and Edsel Ford had an investment in Stout Engineering that became the

Stout Metal Airplane Division of the Ford Motor Company Stout Metal Airplane Division of the Ford Motor Company was an American aircraft manufacturer founded by William Bushnell Stout as the Stout Metal Airplane Co. in 1922. The company was purchased by Ford Motor Company in 1924 and later produced th ...

later that year in August. The first 2-AT was built at the Stout factory in Dearborn and called the "Maiden Detroit". The other aircraft in the fleet were also 2-AT's, named "Maiden Dearborn I, II, III and IV". Initially the aircraft were for Ford's company use. The airline's first scheduled commercial flights in America were begun when the "Maiden Dearborn" flew 1,000 lbs. of freight between factories in Detroit and Chicago on April 13, 1925. Ford Air Transport served routes between Chicago, Detroit and Cleveland. The airline logged over 1000 scheduled flights in its first year. The aircraft operated out of Ford Airport off of two grass runways with night lighting. The safety and predicability of the first cargo flights were used to advantage in securing the first airmail contracts under the Kelly Act. The "Madien Detroit" entered

Contract Air Mail A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typically involves consent to transfer of goods, services, money, or promise to transfer any of those at ...

service on February 15, 1926 with Henry and Edsel Ford loading the first bag of mail. The aircraft flew from Detroit to Cleveland under fighter escort to become the first commercial transport of air mail. L.G. "Larry" Fritz piloted the aircraft with Ford and Stout as passengers for the one-hour-seventeen-minute flight. The routes would be known as CAM-6 (Detroit to Cleveland), and CAM-7 (Detroit to Chicago). In 1928 Ford sold the airmail routes to

Stout Stout is a type of dark beer that is generally warm fermented, such as dry stout, oatmeal stout, milk stout and imperial stout. Stout is a type of ale. The first known use of the word "stout" for beer is in a document dated 1677 in the E ...

who also was operating his own airline with Stout-Ford built aircraft. The last official flight was in 1932. Most of the 2-AT's eventually were sold to

Florida Airways Florida Airways was an American airline. Founded in part by Eddie Rickenbacker and based in the state of Florida, the airline served the southeastern United States during the mid-1920s. History Florida Airways was founded by Eddie Rickenback ...

, the forerunner of

Eastern Airlines Eastern Air Lines (also colloquially known as Eastern) was a major airline in the United States that operated from 1926 to 1991. Before its dissolution, it was headquartered at Miami International Airport in an unincorporated area of Miami-Dade ...

Destinations

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

(

Ford Airport (Dearborn) Ford Airport in Dearborn, Michigan, United States, was one of the first modern airports in the world. It operated from 1924 to 1947. The site is now part of Ford Motor Company's Dearborn Proving Ground. The airport was about in size. This airp ...

) *

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

(

Airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...

) *

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...

(

)

Fleet

The Ford Air Transport Service fleet consists of the following aircraft:

Accidents and incidents

*On May 18, 1926, a Ford Air Transport 2-AT ''Maiden Deaborn I'' was involved in the first fatal accident for a commercial US aircraft in

Argo, Illinois Summit is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 11,161 at the 2020 census. The name Summit, in use since 1836, refers to the highest point on the Chicago Portage between the northeast-flowing Chicago River and the sou ...

. The Contract Air Mail pilot crashed and was killed due to flight into poor weather conditions. *On May 12, 1928, a Ford Air Freight 4-AT-01, NC 1492 crashed on takeoff from Dearborn Michigan killing the only two passengers on board the aircraft.

References

{{Airlines of the United States Airlines established in 1925 Airlines disestablished in 1932 American companies established in 1925 American companies disestablished in 1932 American Airlines Defunct companies based in Detroit Defunct airlines of the United States