Author: Ryann Willis
On June 15, 1927, six weeks after Charles Lindbergh’s successful flight across the Atlantic, Jack Maddux and Edsel Ford started fundraising for Maddux Airlines. $10 million was raised to found a commercial passenger airline, using a fleet of Ford Tri-Motors.
The Ford Airplane Company’s first foray into aviation came during World War I, when it produced Liberty engines for military use. In 1925, Edsel Ford convinced his father, Henry Ford, to invest $1 million to acquire the Stout Metal Airplane Company, which manufactured the Tri-Motor airplane. Stout Metal Airplane Company’s founder, William B. Stout, was known as “The Socratic Gadfly of Aviation Design.” The Tri-Motor was the culmination of his experiments with all-metal aircraft frames.
On July 22, 1927, Jack Maddux and Ford Airways’ Chief Officer William “W.B.” Mayo departed from Detroit on a milestone flight, accompanied by several reporters and a load of spare parts. Wherever the Tri-Motor landed — from Chicago to Kansas City to Albuquerque — it drew huge crowds, even when the airfields were cow pastures or baseball fields.
Dozens of military and civilian airplanes escorted the Tri-Motor to its final destination, Mines Field’s dirt landing strip in Los Angeles. The massive plane’s arrival was akin to a spaceship landing. A mêlée erupted when local police and airport personnel attempted to clear the landing area so that “the monster” could stop, as a large crowd tried to swarm it. (See Ed Betts, “Maddux Air Line 1927 – 1929.” dmairfield.org/people/wiles_jw/Betts_MadduxArticle_JAAHS.pdf)
The Los Angeles Times mistakenly speculated that the plane was Maddux’s personal “air yacht,” referring to it as “the Lincoln of the air.” No hangar in L.A. could accommodate the plane’s 75-foot wingspan, so it had to be roped off outside, with a full-time sentry guarding it from souvenir hunters.
After the flight, Jack Maddux purchased five Tri-Motors for $42,000 each and opened his airline’s ticket sales office at 636 South Olive Street in Pershing Square, just a block from Downtown Los Angeles. After returning from one trip to Ford’s Michigan factory to check on the Tri-Motor’s manufacturing process, the Los Angeles Times quoted Maddux stating, “These big airplanes, bearing the name of Ford, each powered with three Curtis engines, are now available for distribution through our organization here on the Pacific Coast.”
The New York Times, June 15, 1927
Henry Ford persuaded his exclusive Lincoln car dealer to start an airline.
Jack Maddux purchased Ford’s first Tri-Motor—pictured above—for his airline. The aircraft later appeared in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom in 1984, and it still flies today.
The First Routes
Maddux Airlines’ inaugural co-pilots, Will Rogers and Charles Lindbergh, with Jack Maddux on September 22, 1927, at Mines Field, Los Angeles.
Landing at Mines Field: George M. Sutton (Ford dealer), Judge Frank D. Parent (chair, Inglewood Chamber Aviation Committee), Helene and Jack Maddux, Harry Culver (founder of Culver City), and W.B. Mayo (Ford Motor Company Chief Engineer).
In 1926, the LA City Council and Chamber of Commerce secured a 640-acre field in Westchester for the city’s airport. Promoted by real estate agent William W. Mines, the site—Mines Field—was already slated to host the 1928 National Air Races.
Maddux Airlines advertisement for the LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin’s arrival at Mines Field, Los Angeles.
The Spirit of Transportation mural, depicting Maddux Airlines escorting the Graf Zeppelin, is installed at the entrance of the Bullocks Wilshire Building in Los Angeles.
Los Angeles to San Diego for $15
Flights from San Francisco to Mexico
Routes
In 1928, Maddux Airlines expanded into Arizona and Texas. The airline also introduced “Race Track” special charter flights, shuttling passengers between Los Angeles and Mexico’s Hotel Agua Caliente casino and Hot Springs.
Postcards showing a Maddux Airlines Tri-Motor at Tijuana’s Agua Caliente Flying Field and flying over the Hotel Agua Caliente in 1928.
In 1929, Maddux Airlines merged with TAT
Maddux Airlines’ merger with TAT established the American transcontinental aviation route, cutting flight times and lowering fares.
Los Angeles to San Francisco, one-way:
$380 (in today’s dollars).
Maddux Airlines Pilot Wings
TAT-Maddux Airlines Pilot Wings
TAT-Maddux Airlines merged with Western Air Express in 1930, forming Transcontinental & Western Air.
Howard Hughes later acquired a controlling interest in the company and, in 1950, renamed it Trans World Airlines (TWA) to reflect its expanding international routes.
Author:
ryann willis
Ryann Willis is the granddaughter of airline pioneer Jack Maddux. A UCLA graduate and former Apple employee, she owns a successful art-dealing and appraisal business. Ryann is a former member of the Board of Directors of the Aero Club of Southern California, where she also served as Historian. She enjoys lecturing on aviation history and is active in several aviation organizations, including the National Air & Space Museum, the Society for Aviation History, and the National Aviation Hall of Fame.
Image: At March Air Force Field, Ryann is standing next to a portrait of pioneering aviatrix Harriet Quimby.