This collection consists of material gathered by Towle to support his claim as the designer of the Ford Tri-Motor. The material consists of the following: newspaper and magazine articles; pamphlets; photographs pertaining to the history of the aircraft and its role in early air transportation; drawings; early flight test reports; technical notes relating to early Tri-Motor models; a short autobiography and resumeof Towle; and assorted postcards, stamps, articles, and so forth relating to Island Airways, an airline still flying Ford Tri-Motors
Biographical / Historical:
Thomas Towle (1897- ) was a mechanical engineer and main designer of the Ford Tri-Motor. Following graduation from Yale University (1920) Towle worked as an engineer for a number of aircraft companies, including Dayton-Wright (1921-22), Martin (1922-23), Aeromarine (1923-24), and Stout Metal Airplane Co (1924-25) before joining Ford Motor Company's Airplane Division (1925-27). While at Ford, Towle designed a three-motored aircraft to replace the Stout 'Air Pullman:, the rights to which Ford purchased with Stout in 1925. Towle left Ford in 1927 to form his own company, Towle Marine Aircraft (1927) and Towle Aircraft Company (1928-32). In 1933 Towle joined Monocoupe and later moved to Lambert Aircraft (1933-35) before leaving the aircraft industry.
General:
NASMrev
Provenance:
Tom Towle, Gift, unknown, XXXX-0102, unknown
Restrictions:
No restrictions on access
Rights:
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests