inue with and found a
backer in the person of one Doctor Adams, a widely advertised "Painless
Dentist" of Detroit. Adams wanted a quicker return on his money than the
average backer and he insisted that Towle put the airplane in service so
it could start earning some money. At this time the amphibian was
beginning to become popular for intercity flying, especially around the
Great Lakes region as all of the major cities were located on the
waterfront. What was more natural than an airline flying passengers
right into the downtown area of a city? Thompson was doing it between
Detroit and Cleveland, Marquette was doing it between Detroit and
Milwaukee, so Adams applied for permission to operate an airplane
between Detroit and Cleveland and other cities on the lakes. In those
days it was necessary to prove an airplane's reliability by flying a
certain number of trips over the proposed route with a simulated
payload. This payload was supposed to consist of sand bags, but usually
consisted of any mechanic or pilot who happened to be loose at the
moment, and who had nerve enough to go along. Mechanics were easier to
load and unload than sand bags.

The Towle was in the middle of the qualification flights, and the
publicity began to appear about the new airline. Much newsprint was
devoted to the fact that the Towle was powered by the new Packard diesel
engine, and this, of course, made it the only safe airline since all its
competitors were using the old-fashioned dangerous gasoline. On the last
payload trip of the Towle the pilot asked me if I wanted to go along,
and of course I was delighted. I neglected to mention that I had been
hired by the Adams airline as a mechanic because of my experience in
repairing the corrugated skin of the Ford Trimotor owned by my employer,
the Knowles Flying Service. The mere fact that I did many repairs to the
airframe did not preclude me from getting my share of the engine work
too, and since I was already familiar with the Packard diesel, I was
quickly hired by Dr. Adams.

The last flight was indeed the last flight. We took off from the Detroit
City Airport and when we crossed the Detroit river the pilot decided to
land at the Solvay Coal Company docks and fuel up for the opening of the
airline the next day. The Solvay Coal Company was the only place in
Detroit where diesel fuel was obtainable at the time and all of the
diesel powered yachts got fuel there. The pilot was not too experienced