'Air mail plane Miss St. Petersburg at 54th Street Airport, Hialeah.' Ford sent four new Stout 2-ATs to Florida in November 1925. Only three arrived. Note styling similar to Ford Air Transport Service, although the F in the Ford logo is different. Florida Airways ceased operations in June 1927. Photo by: Gleason Waite Romer / Miami-Dade Public Library

William Stout's airline started commercial flights from Detroit to Grand Rapids on 31 July 1926, operating as Detroit-Grand Rapids Airline. We are assuming that Miss Grand Rapids, wearing fleet number 1, is Maiden Dearborn I opportunistically renamed, but this requires confirmation. Grand Rapids was Furniture City and here we see the 'first shipment of furniture by air' - presumably also the last. The source dates the photo in 1928, but that is unlikely since the USA finally started registering aircraft in 1927. Photo from: Grand Rapids Public Library

The first Stout AT-2, unregistered and named Maiden Dearborn (I). Photo from: Library of Congress

The Ford Tri-Motor was developed from the Stout 2-AT, with the ugly Stout 3-AT trimotor looking like a step backwards. Ford Air Transport Service flew a number of 2-ATs between Ford factories, but also on America's first commercial air mail routes from 1926. Note additional 'Ford Air Port of Dearborn' titles on the tail. Florida Airways, the forerunner of Eastern Airlines, was another 2-AT operator. Photo from: Wayne State University