One of a kind

Flight Journal, Jun 2000 by Bodie, Warren

It's a Fooord! Way back in the dark ages of 1929 to 1932-and they were dark and bleak-the Airplane Division of the Ford Motor Co. designed and produced a remarkably advanced Model 14-A airliner to meet the need for a deluxe transcontinental passenger and trunk airway. A rectangular-section, railroad-car-size fuselage was arranged like a railroad Pullman car: with four main compartments, each with two, four-passenger sections.

The 32-passenger wide-body fuselage had two lavatories, and the pilots were way up front in the nose section-- great visibility.

The thick, all-metal, tapered, 110-foot wing featured two Hispano-Suiza 12-cylinder engines-each rated at 715hp-- completely buried inside. Extension shafts inside streamlined housings drove two 4-blade, 12-foot, 10-inch-diameter propellers, and the coolant radiators were housed in the main landing-gear fairings. Mounted pedestal-style atop the high, fully cantilever wing, one three-bank, Hispano 18-cylinder, 1,100hp engine-Sure! And cows jump over the moon-drove a 3-blade adjustable metal propeller. Streamlined, mono-pod radiator/landing-gear fairings housed the semi-retractable, large main landing gear. The wheels were extended for takeoff and landing, and the tailwheel was half buried in the fuselage.

Where did the 14-A go?-- a $64 question! Rumors passed to me at age 9 were that on first takeoff, a horrible, rending bang was heard; supposedly, a spar broke. Did the plane crash-land? What happened? It certainly disappeared quietly, and so did the Ford Airplane Division! So did Ford Airport in Dearborn, Michigan. Murphy's Law prevailed. Henry was mad as hell and was not going to take it anymore!

Photo courtesy of Aero Digest via Warren Bodie