Ford 14-A / 14-AT

[The Big Gimper]

Via the attached profiles dawn by John Lacey, I learned about the existence of the Ford 14-A /14-AT.

Source 1: https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/ford-airliner-projects.21068/

Source 2: https://www.reddit.com/r/WeirdWings/comments/bmdgzu/ford_14a_trimotor_a_1932_prototype_and_the/

One aircraft that probably should have remained a project was the Ford 14-AT (some say 14-A), the last of the Ford trimotors. Developed in relative secrecy, the blunt nosed Ford 14-A was an all metal monoplane built in 1932 by the Stout Metal Airplane Division of the Ford Motor Company. The aircraft had a wingspan of 110 ft (33.5 m), length of 80 ft (24.4 m), and was built to carry 40 passengers. Two 715 hp (533 kW) Hispano-Suiza 12Nc V-12 engines were buried in the wings, and a single 18Sbr W-18 was mounted on a pylon atop the aircraft.

The 14-AT tried numerous times to take flight, none of which brought success. Originally designed for Pratt & Whitney air-cooled radial engines (Henry Ford made the engine change), the heavy 14-AT would not leave the ground and was damaged in an attempt to pry it free from earth. Reportedly, Edsel Ford ordered the 14-AT quietly scrapped in 1933, without ever making a public appearance.

[elmayerle]

With suitably cowled Pratt & Whitney engines, it might have had a chance (as I remember, they definitely had more power than any of the engines fitted).  Still, it strikes me as being somewhat underpowered with three engines.