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/images/specials/trimotor/t/ford-trimotor-project-04.jpgFreeware Focus: Ford Tri-Motor ProjectBy Robin MeyerowitzHullo, I'm Robin, & I'm an FS9'er! /images/specials/trimotor/t/ford-trimotor-project-08.jpgThat's me in the front seat of our MB326 Impala trainersimulator. Steve, the back seater, and myself built this for CapeVirtual, our virtual sim club, here in Cape Town, South Africa. I've been simming since FS2000 and moved up the sims until I reachedPrepar3D. Then I got bored and cynical. I found that I was chasing the HolyGrail to find what was thought of as being the best realisticsim/plane/add-on. When I was trying to decide as to whichBoeing/Airbus's wings flexed better than the other, I pulled the plug,sat back and asked myself.. "Is this is what simming is all about?" Then I realised that, for me, immersion is more important thanrealism. I saw this when pilots were flying our sims and bumped andbraced themselves in the seat, anticipating a touch-down. Our sims areusing FS2004 with freeware South African scenery, in a standard PC! During some idle moments, I ended up searching the internet andsomehow came across a site that really caught my eye. A few minuteslater, I was completely captured and the excitement with flightsimming started all over again. I had found a remarkable site, hosting the lateGarry J Smith'sadd-on, and gifted to the flight sim community by Edward C Moore. /images/specials/trimotor/t/ford-trimotor-project-05.jpg www.ford-tri-motor.netGarry always said that simming is all about Fact, Fiction & Fun, sohere we go... This is a story that takes place during the 1930's, with the mainstar being the famous Ford Tri-Motor aircraft. Tri-Motor HistoryIt started with Mr. William B. Stout, genius, inventor, promoter,and the guiding influence behind the development of the Ford Tri-Motorand Stout Air Lines. The actual start point would be the 2-AT singleengine all-metal transport but the 2-AT itself began with the earlierStout 1-AS (Air Sedan) flown for the first time on 17 Feb1923. Mr. Ford put forward an idea to Mr. Stout of starting anexperimental air freight line between Dearborn, MI and Chicago,IL. Ford Air Freight became operational on 13 April 1925 using 2-ATaircraft. All metal construction coupled with the cantilever wing werea winning design. In July 1925, Ford Motor Company purchased StoutMetal Plane Company and all its designs and inventory. Mr. HaroldHicks replaced Bill Stout as chief engineer. A fire destroyed the 3-ATand the factory on 17 Jan 1926. A new larger building was built and work proceeded on the 4-AT. The4-AT was test flown on 11 June 1926. Note: the 4-AT was designed andbuilt in a very short time, about four months! Production of the 4-ATwas a total of seventy eight (78) aircraft. The total production ofthe 5-AT models was one hundred and sixteen (116) for a grand total of194 4-AT/5-AT aircraft. Why so many from so few aircraft produced?Well, the Fords had a second life in the cargo field way beyond theintended life span of the aircraft. TACA specifically in CentralAmerica had great success with Fords as cargo carriers! They wereflying in Mexico into the early 1950s and 1960s. Some aircraft were crashed more than once and rebuilt at the Fordfactory and started over as almost NEW aircraft! Many of the aircrafthad ten, twelve or even fifteen different owners/operators. /images/specials/trimotor/t/ford-trimotor-project-14.jpg (See this forum thread)We tend to ignore the default aircraft in FS2004. New life has beenbreathed into them. Apart from 420+ liveries for the default Ford Tri-Motor aircraft,ranging from Alaska to Yukon liveries, there are 13 different tailtextures for the Ford Tri-Motor as well. /images/specials/trimotor/t/ford-trimotor-project-11.jpg /images/specials/trimotor/t/ford-trimotor-project-16.jpg /images/specials/trimotor/t/ford-trimotor-project-25.jpgYou will also find other aircraft with unique liveries. Have a lookat the 34 liveries for the default Piper J-3 Cub... /images/specials/trimotor/t/ford-trimotor-project-26.jpgThere's also a great collection for the Golden Age SimulationsPitcairn... /images/specials/trimotor/t/ford-trimotor-project-13.jpgMike Stone's Boeing Clipper 314 with extra liveries is also cateredfor, as is Tim Conrad's Boeing 221A... /images/specials/trimotor/t/ford-trimotor-project-23.jpg /images/specials/trimotor/t/ford-trimotor-project-22.jpg Our beloved Douglas DC-3 is also included, with a wide selection ofliveries to choose from... /images/specials/trimotor/t/ford-trimotor-project-28.jpgIncluding one just for us FlightSim.Com simmers... /images/specials/trimotor/t/ford-trimotor-project-10.jpgYou will also find liveries for Milton Shupe's de Havilland DH-80,his Fleet 50K as well as about 200 liveries for the LockheedVega. These include 61 for different parts of the world, 100 fictionalrepaints for the USA, plus an additional 32 fun/fictional liveries. /images/specials/trimotor/t/ford-trimotor-project-07.jpg /images/specials/trimotor/t/ford-trimotor-project-02.jpgThe Curtiss Jenny has a great selection of liveries, anything frombush flying, to US Army Air Service, with damaged textures. /images/specials/trimotor/t/ford-trimotor-project-12.jpgThe Classic Wings Flaming has its own collection, as has the Vimy,de Havilland Rapide (wheels and float), plus a few other periodaircraft. /images/specials/trimotor/t/ford-trimotor-project-19.jpgAs well as all the incredible collection of liveries, the add-onscenery created by Garry is also just as exciting. For example; did you know that there was an actual town called'Fordlandia'? Fordlandia is a now-abandoned, prefabricated industrial townestablished in the Amazon rain forest in 1928 by American industrialistHenry Ford to secure a source of cultivated rubber for the automobilemanufacturing operations of the Ford Motor Company in the UnitedStates. Ford had negotiated a deal with the Brazilian governmentgranting his newly formed Companhia Industrial do Brasil a concessionof 10,000 km2 of land on the banks of the Rio Tapajos near the city ofSantarem, Brazil, in exchange for a 9% interest in the profitsgenerated. The project was ultimately a total failure. Despite repeatedinvitations from residents and periodic promises to do so, Henry Fordnever actually visited his ill-fated jungle city. /images/specials/trimotor/t/ford-trimotor-project-15.jpg /images/specials/trimotor/t/ford-trimotor-project-09.jpgOther sceneries range from Orca Island (modified to have specialFord scenery and AI), to India, which has ten airfields, includingBangkok, Siam, Rangoon... /images/specials/trimotor/t/ford-trimotor-project-20.jpg India ProjectThen there is Manchukuo (China), with seven airfields... /images/specials/trimotor/t/ford-trimotor-project-18.jpg Manchukuo ProjectIf you fancy something more fictional...how about a Swiss airfieldburied within a mountain? /images/specials/trimotor/t/ford-trimotor-project-17.jpg /images/specials/trimotor/t/ford-trimotor-project-21.jpgAnother fun scenery is one featuring jumps and ramps... /images/specials/trimotor/t/ford-trimotor-project-03.jpg /images/specials/trimotor/t/ford-trimotor-project-24.jpgThere are 86 additional sceneries that can be found on thesite. There are also extra AI aircraft for all sceneries. The scenery is a mixture of fact, fiction and fun renditions - theheart of the Ford Tri-Motor Project Concept - keeping history aliveand interesting. /images/specials/trimotor/t/ford-trimotor-project-01.jpgAll of the above, is just a very small taste of what this amazingsite has to offer, with all of it generously given free forFS2004. A bonus are the five pages of over 400 puzzles that are fun to relaxwith, in between flights. /images/specials/trimotor/t/ford-trimotor-project-06.jpgExploring this fascinating site really helped rekindled myenthusiasm with this hobby; so much so, that I even have a separateinstall of all of The Ford Tri-Motor Project's scenery and aircraft. Many thanks to Edward Moore, who has kept this site alive afterGarry passed on. /images/specials/trimotor/t/ford-trimotor-project-27.jpgFord Tri-Motor Project www.ford-tri-motor.net