Ford 14-A

The Ford 14-A was a large, streamlined prototype airliner with three engines, built by Ford in 1932 to carry 32 passengers. Despite its name it had only weak links with Ford's earlier and smaller Trimotor series, having a wingspan half as great again, more powerful engines mounted differently, and nearly three times as many passengers in a much more spacious fuselage. It was an all metal aircraft with a thick shoulder wing, a fuselage of open channel truss construction covered in corrugated Alclad sheet, and four railway style passenger compartments divided by a central corridor, with a smoking room, toilets and a galley. A central Hispano-Suiza W-18 engine sat on a pylon, flanked by two Hispano-Suiza V-12 engines buried in the wings, and the retractable wheels were lowered pneumatically before take off. Photographs and a description appeared in April 1932, yet there is no record that the aircraft ever flew, and it was cut up in 1933.