This is a study sketch I did for an aircraft that I've always found fascinating. Few aircraft conjure up pulp-adventure in my mind like the lumbering Ford Tri-Motor. From the mid-twenties until the end of its production run in the early thirties the "Tin Goose" was a staple and backbone of the fledgling US. civil air transportation. About 200 were built and they served almost 100 airlines in the US and around the globe.

For its time it was a reliable and safe aircraft that was provided early foundation for regular, if somewhat spartan, air travel for average citizens. Easy to maintain and built with a durable corrugated aluminum skin, which I did not represent in this sketch, they continued to serve small carriers decades after they had been replaced by more sophisticated aircraft like the DC-3. As 0f 2008 there is apparently six flyable Tri-Motors left in the world.