The end of July evokes a circadian-like cycle drawing aviators to Wisconsin. With the COVID-19 pandemic forcing the cancellation of AirVenture 2020, a void existed this last Sunday of the month which drew me to visit the Tin Goose Diner and explore the Liberty Aviation Museum in Port Clinton, Ohio. My singular interest was to view the progress made by restoring a Ford Tri-Motor.

Erie-Ottawa County International airport (PCW) has 09-27 and 18-36 intersecting runways. The radio traffic on this sunny Sunday is busy with continuous position reports from aircraft landing or taking off. Today the wind was from 330 @ 10 and everyone seemed to like 27. It is a long taxi down Bravo to get to the FBO, but the diner and museum are on the East side of the field necessitating crossing the approach end of 36 to get there.

My first journey to PCW was as a young pilot taking his wife out for that $100 hamburger. In the early seventies, a cafe served food at the southwest side of the field where Griffing Flying Service now provides FBO facilities and flies the same routes Island Airlines served with their fabled Tri-Motor. This International airport is an ideal Port of Entry for GA aircraft returning from Canada and wanting to avoid the Class B and C airspace at each end of Lake Erie.

Known for innovation since its inception, Ford Motor Company, began producing airplanes in 1926 in their Aviation Division and the Tri-Motor, so named for its three radial engines, became the start of many airlines - American Airways, Eastern Air Transport, Braniff Airways, Pan American Airways, Northwest Airways, Transcontinental Air Transport, and National Air Transport (an early subsidiary of United Air Lines).

Henry Ford was not particularly fond of airplanes, however, he saw an opportunity to make money employing the progressive techniques he famously developed for the automobile industry. Airplanes in the 1930s were rapidly changing at a pace that rendered Ford's methods inadequate to meet the demand and the last of 199 Tri-Motors rolled off the assembly line in 1933.

In addition to a Tri-Motor, the Liberty Air Museum is also restoring two PT boats with the intention of providing rides for visitors to this boating town. They have previously restored Georgie's Gal, a B-25 Mitchel bomber, and a Grumman TBM Avenger, both flying exhibits that tour the country and will be joined by The City of Wichita Tri-Motor when it is airworthy.

Island Airways, the world's shortest airline, operated Ford Tri-Motors for many years. Milton Hersberger founded Erie Isle Airways in 1930 and replaced his Waco and Standard biplanes in 1934 with a Tri-Motor. The name was changed in 1935 to Island Airways and at one time operated as many as four Tir-Motors. In 1953 after a dispute with Port Clinton officials, Mr. Hersberger sold the airline to Ralph Deitrich who operated it for twenty years until 1973. The last Tri-Motor flight by Island Airways was July 1, 1977, when it crashed taking off from Puy-In-Bay. A group of dedicated volunteers at the museum are working to restore the City of Wichita, one of the Tri-Motors Island Airlines once operated. Progress is steady and it is estimated to be finished in 2026.