In 1925, Henry Ford, the creator of the storied Model T automobile, among other things, built his first airplane.

Or rather, he invested in a company that was building an unusual for the time, all-metal airplane,

which was based on a German design, and then he bought the company that was making that plane,

and tweaked its schematics a bit and folded

that effort into his larger portfolio of projects. The resultant vehicle, the Ford Tri-Motor,

only ever had 199 units built and sold. But the design proved to be popular, and the industry

seemed to be up for grabs and

rife for innovation. So Ford decided to double down on the airline world and began work on what

would eventually become known as the Ford Fliver. Now, the trimotor, despite being all-metal

and using somewhat unusual construction methods compared to other aircraft of the era,

was still more or less a standard transportation-focused aircraft.

It had a cockpit, it had rows of seats, the usual setup for that market.

The Fliver, though, was intended to create a new market.

It was a single-seat aircraft that looked more like a

World War I dogfight vehicle than something intended for the civilian market. The seat was open

to the air, the propeller was out in front, and it was small, very small. Ford wanted the

fliver to be the Model T of the air, and demanded that it be designed small enough that it could fit in his office.

After just a few years of testing various prototypes, though, and after having Charles Lindbergh fly one of those prototypes, and then comment that it was one of the worst aircraft he had ever flown. And after Ford's

favorite test pilot, a man named Harry Brooks died while testing the third primary prototype of the

design, the Fliver project was closed for good. You can still apparently see one of the surviving

flivers at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, if you're

curious. I certainly plan to check it out next time I'm in the Detroit area. But beyond that,

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