Bomber model of Ford 5-AT-C with curious XB-906 designation. Single-pilot cockpit, two dorsal open gun positions, internal bomb racks. Markings have a military look, but the reg is civil and the photo is assumed taken at Dearborn as the aircraft crashed near the Ford airport during factory testing on 19 September 1931. Both wings detached after a steep turn at high speed. Ford chief test pilot Roy Manning and a mechanic killed. No series production undertaken. Photo from: National Museum of the US Air Force

This aircraft took the place of two lost Stout 2-ATs that had difficulty operating from primitive airfields on the CAM-10 air mail route between Miami and Atlanta. Clearly Ford was again involved. Photo from: The Henry Ford

Ex D-288, this F13 - not a Junkers-Larsen JL-6 - was used by Junkers' sales agency in the USA. In April 1928 it was active in the relief operation for the stranded W33 D-1167 Bremen. The co-pilot was Hugo Junkers' eldest daughter Hertha or Herta who ran the agency and was an aeronautical engineer. Her younger brother Erhard was also on board as a mechanic. In May, Hugo Junkers himself, visiting America, came to Ford in Dearborn with Herta and Erhard and the Bremen crew. NC87 to CF-AMX. Photo from: The Henry Ford

The Royal Typewriter Company of Hartford, Connecticut, bought this early Tri-Motor to deliver its typewriters to distributors. The intention allegedly was to drop them by parachute! Wikipedia even claims that 11,000 typewriters were airdropped but we don't believe it. The aircraft was sold to Stout Air Services within a few months. William Stout is the unmistakable fellow on the right. The others are Edsel Ford on the left and, a bit off topic, Richard Byrd. Photo from: The Henry Ford

Delivered in September 1928. Crashed in Honduras in 1934, then operated by Morgan Air Lines. Photo from: The Henry Ford

In between the Stout AT-2 and the Ford 4-AT, Stout built this hideous trimotor aircraft. Its flying qualities were as terrible as its looks. Ford had William Stout removed from the design office and moved on with the AT-4 which looked like a metal copy of the Fokker F.VII-3m. The sole 3-AT was destroyed in a factory fire. Photo from: San Diego Air & Space Museum

György Endresz (George Endres) and Sandór Magyar flew across the Atlantic in this plane in July 1931 via Harbour Grace, Newfoundland. It was by then named Justice for Hungary, reflecting how badly Hungarians felt treated in the Versailles treaties. It was funded largely by Emil Salay of the Flint Sausage Works of Flint, Michigan. To HA-AAF in Hungary. Photo from: Jenőné Czapáry / Fortepan

The third Fleetster is listed as sold to WWI aviator Frederick Trubee Davison, who was then the Assistant Secretary of War for Air. It was militarized as the Y1C-11, 31-380. It was later rebuilt to Model 17-2 standard with a six-seat cabin as the C-11A. It was photographed at Dearborn by the party of the Lockheed 8A Sirius NR115W Justice for Hungary which flew across the Atlantic in July 1931. Photo from: Jenőné Czapáry / Fortepan

'Flivver' was a slang word for a cheap car. It appears that only four examples were built of the aircraft for the masses, which Henry Ford said should fit in his office. #1 was unregistered, #2 was NC268. This is #3, NC3218, with an almost 50% longer wingspan and a much longer nose. It crashed in February 1928 killing the test pilot in the picture, Harry Brooks. Charles Lindbergh was the only other pilot to fly the Flivver, and later said it was one of the worst aircraft he ever encountered. #4 was only completed to represent NC3218 in the Henry Ford Museum. Designations and construction numbers unclear. Photo from: The Henry Ford

Start or finish of the 1930 Ford Reliability Tour. The Waco CRG was designed for this event and the two examples built both took part, John Livingston taking second place in NC600Y / 2 and Art Davis third place in this airframe, NC660Y / 4. Detail of the same original as photo 370617. Number 8 is NC400V. Photo from: Wayne State University

Start or finish of the 1930 Ford Reliability Tour. NC9092 was flown by Eddie August Schneider who was 18 years old and won the Great Lakes Trophy for the fastest light aircraft. Schneider was from New Jersey but we can't decipher the titles. Number 22 is a Bourdon Kitty Hawk, NC30V, which was flown by Nancy Hopkins. Photo from: Wayne State University

The Rearwin 2000 Ken-Royce was a three-seat touring biplane first flown in 1929. This aircraft took part in the 1930 Ford Reliability Tour. The aircraft in the centre, NC589N / 8, is a twin-engined Curtiss 55 Kingbird D-2. It was flown by Walter Beech, then vice-president of Curtiss. Part of the same original picture as photo 369221. Photo from: Wayne State University

Finish of the 1930 Ford Reliability Tour at Ford's own airport near Detroit. NC8485 / 6, piloted by Harry Russell, took first place. It appears that this plane was at this point the sole 7-AT, with one 420-hp P&W Wasp and two 300-hp Wright J-6 engines. NC401H / 5, a 5-AT-C, took fourth place. Note, centre right inside the hangar, the Fokker F.VIIa/3m Josephine Ford, which Richard Byrd flew over or near the North Pole in 1926. This historic aircraft was the very first Fokker trimotor, demonstrated by Tony Fokker in the 1925 Reliability Tour. It is preserved near here in the Henry Ford Museum. Photo from: Wayne State University

Delivered to Colonial Air Transport. Airport now part of the Ford proving ground. Photo from: Civil Aviation Historical Society, Melbourne, Australia