Thomas Towle was a mechanical engineer and the primary designer of the Ford Tri-Motor. Graduating from Yale University in 1920, Towle worked as an engineer for a number of aircraft companies, including Dayton- Wright (1921-22), Martin (1922-23), Aeromarine (1923-24), and Stout (1924-25), before joining Ford Motor Co’s Airplane Division in 1925. There Towle designed a three-motored aircraft to replace the Stout Air Pullman, the rights to which Ford purchased when it acquired Stout in 1925. He left Ford in 1927 to form his own company, Towle Marine Aircraft (1927), and later Towle Aircraft Co (1928-32). He briefly worked for Monocoupe (1933) and Lambert Aircraft (1933-35) before leaving the aircraft industry.