The Museum’s Ford Trimotor has a very extensive provenance that illustrates well the great versatility and durability of the aircraft. It was the eleventh 5-AT to come out of Ford’s Dearborn Michigan plant, and was first purchased by Pan American Airlines in December of 1928 for their popular Miami to Cuba route. Four months later, it was transferred to Compañía Cubana de Aviación, a Pan American affiliate, to the fly the Brownsville to Mexico City route. After five years with the company, it was sold to TACA Nicaragua and used as a cargo carrier. By 1945, the craft was with Compañia Dominicana. From there, title went to a Burbank California company, and then to the San Luis Mining Company of San Francisco and Durango, Mexico, where it was used for 16 years to carry mail, freight and passengers to the company’s mines in Mexico. In 1966, it was sold to Arizona Automotive of Tucson, and several years later, title went to Island Airlines of Port Clinton, Ohio. In 1968, the Trimotor became an exhibition in the air when it was restored to its original Pan American scheme by Wheels and Wings Museum of Santee, South Carolina. Eight years later, it was purchased by Scenic Airlines of Las Vegas for air tours over the Grand Canyon and the Las Vegas Strip. While with Scenic Airlines, it was blown from its tie-downs by a strong wind storm and ended up in a drainage ditch twisted and mangled, and seemingly damaged beyond repair. By that time, the Trimotor had logged 24,043 hours of flight time.