Volunteers restore a 1929 Ford Tri-Motor aircraft to offer trips through living history

A century-old aircraft with a rich Northeast Ohio history is currently being rebuilt.

It’s difficult for a small child to not gaze up at the sky in amazement at how planes soar. Douglas Moore made a lifetime career out of his curiosity.

He began his career in aviation as an Air Force mechanic, working primarily on the B52 and KC135’s airplane structures for 24 years, according to Douglas Moore, project leader for the Tri-Motor Heritage Foundation.

Moore has devoted the last 12 years of his life to this one airplane since he retired. In Port Clinton, he is in charge of a group of volunteers who are restoring a 1929 Ford Tri-Motor airplane.

The Ford Tri-Motor Foundation’s mission is to raise funds for the restoration, operation, and maintenance of our 1929 Ford Tri-Motor.

Additionally, we intend to acquire historical artifacts that will aid in educating the public about the significant contribution that these aircraft made to the growth of commercial passenger aviation as well as our neighborhood.

The Ford Tri-Motor, often known as the Tin Goose, used to be a regular means of transportation for people traveling between Port Clinton and the Lake Erie Islands.

Although that came to an end in 1977, the Tri-Motor Heritage Foundation has been attempting to revive it all for almost 20 years.

The aircraft being restored by the foundation left the factory on April 1, 1929, and it arrived in Mexico City as the first aircraft of Aero Mexico one month later. The aircraft was sold to Pan American Airlines in 1932, and from there it was used to fly people from Key West, Florida, to Havana, Cuba.

Sadly, the plane went down in 1952 at Missoula’s High Mountains Airstrip. In the end, Maurice Hovis, a well-known aviation figure regarded as the “godfather of the Ford Tri-Motor,” purchased what was remaining of the plane and brought it back to Port Clinton, where a local nonprofit organization started restoring it in 2004.

The Foundation soon learned that most of the original parts of the airplane could not be used due to its condition of degradation. The team then started to reverse-engineer every part of the aircraft while trying to keep it as original as they could.

You can visit their website to donate to the initiative and assist in building the historic plane. website click here and email Brausch at jdbrausch@gmail.com. The Foundation’s phone number is (419) 365-6382 and its email address is info@restoretheford.