Ford Tri-Motor Assembly inside Factory, Ford Airport, Dearborn, Michigan, 1929

In 1925, an airport opened in Dearborn, Michigan. Edsel and Henry Ford conceived the Dearborn Inn as a business opportunity, a first-class hotel hosting pilots and travelers transiting through the Ford Airport. It is noted as one of the first airport hotels. This aerial photograph shows some of the airfield and the inn (bottom). Also note the Henry Ford Museum's clock tower in the distance.

Henry Ford attempted to apply automobile assembly line techniques to the manufacture of airplanes, and to build them in large numbers. Monthly production peaked at 25 planes in June 1929. The Great Depression forced Ford to re-focus on his core auto business, and the company's commercial aircraft production ended in May 1933.

The Ford Tri-Motor was the most popular airliner of the late 1920s and early 1930s. Its rugged dependability led Richard Byrd to choose a Tri-Motor for his attempt to be the first person to fly over the South Pole. On November 28-29, 1929, Byrd and a crew of three achieved that goal in this plane.