VICHY — In honor of the 4-AT-E 1929 Ford Tri-Motor area residents and visitors will have the opportunity to experience June 27-30 at the Rolla National Airport in Vichy, the Maries County Advocate found Herb Lindroth, an Owensville resident who remembers seeing the aircraft at a Chicago airshow.

“I have been so close,” Lindroth said when asked if he had ever ridden on one of the 199 Ford Tri-Motors ever built. “But I haven’t flown in one. I have been to a show where they were flying, and I got through one once, but never went up.”

Lindroth was 7-years-old when his parents, Axel and Hulda Lindroth, of Elmherts, Ill., took him to a 1935 Chicago airshow — about 20 to 30 miles away from his hometown.

“There was a blue one (airplane) and another that had two front wheels under the wing where it joined the engine,” Lindroth said, describing the different models and styles of the aircrafts he remembers.

He doesn’t remember the inside of the cabin being luxurious, but knows that it was different from the wood and fabric structures of before.

“Inside, there were not cushioned seats, it was more like a bench made of wicker with indentations for the individual butt, if you will,” Lindroth said. “There was a lot of glass windows. All around I could see outside and could see the pilot and co-pilot.”

He said he doesn’t remember anyone giving rides in the aircraft, “It was mostly there for show.”

His parents later bought him a replica of the Ford Tri-Motor for a birthday or Christmas.

“I played with that thing for years,” Lindroth remembers.

Lindroth said the aircraft he saw were the first made out of tin, only 30 years after the Wright brothers first flew.

The 1929 Ford Tri-Motor at the Rolla National Airport is 146 of the 199 ever made and is said to be slightly more comfortable than the one Lindroth describes. 

Tours are available from 2-5 p.m. on Thursday, June 27, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday through Sunday, June 28-30. For more information or to reserve a seat, visit FlyTheFord.org or call 1-877-952-5395.