Stinson Model O

Last updated
Model O
Stinson Model O.jpg
RoleTrainer
National origin United States of America
Manufacturer Stinson Aircraft Company
Designer Robert L. Hall
First flightMay 1933
Primary user Honduran Air Force
Number built9
Developed from Stinson Reliant

The Stinson Model O was an American single-engined military trainer aircraft of the 1930s designed built by the Stinson Aircraft Company. Based on the Stinson SR, the Model O was designed to meet a requirement of the Honduran Air Force, forming the initial equipment of that air arm.

Contents

Design and development

In 1933, New Zealander Lowell Yerex, who had flown reconnaissance flights in his Stinson Detroiter for forces loyal to Honduran President-elect Tiburcio Carías Andino in a civil war in December 1931, and subsequently founded the South American airline consortium TACA, was tasked with buying trainers and counter-insurgency aircraft for the Escuela Nacional de Aviación or National Aviation School, which was later to form the core of the Honduran Air Force. Following discussions between Yerex and the Stinson Aircraft Company, Robert Hall, designer of the Gee Bee Model Z racing aircraft, designed an aircraft to meet the Honduran requirement. [1] [2]

Hall's design, the Model O, was a parasol wing monoplane which used the wings and tail surfaces of the Stinson SR Reliant four-seat private aircraft, combining them with a new fuselage seating the crew of two in tandem in open cockpits (the Model O was the first and only Stinson aircraft to have open cockpits). The aircraft was powered by a Lycoming R-680 radial engine, rated at 220 hp (160 kW) and capable of running on low-octane rating fuel. The aircraft could be armed with two fixed forward-firing machine guns, with a further machine gun flexibly mounted in the observer's cockpit, while a bomb rack could be mounted beneath the fuselage. Design and construction proceeded quickly, with the prototype first flying in May 1933. [3] [4]

Operational history

Honduras purchased three Model Os, taking delivery in December 1933, when they formed the initial equipment of the Escuela Nacional de Aviación, with Honduran serial numbers 1–3. [1] Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Honduras's Model Os were used to carry out patrols along the coast of the still-neutral country. One of the Model Os went missing during such a patrol, but the other two were still in use at the end of the Second World War in 1945. [5]

A total of nine Model Os were built, with three being sold to China, one to Argentina and one to Brazil. With the Spanish Civil War raging, an attempt was made in 1938 by Republican Spain to purchase 100 Model Os, with President Franklin D. Roosevelt's brother-in-law Hall Roosevelt acting as negotiator for the Spanish, but the American arms embargo stopped the deal. [6] The prototype remained in the United States as a civil aircraft, and was still in use in 1946. [6]

A replica Model O was constructed by Evergreen Aviation Services of Portland, Oregon, using the wings and tail of a Stinson SR-5 Reliant and a fuselage and wing center-section reconstructed from photographs. It first flew on March 24, 2010. [7] [8]

Operators

Flag of the Republic of China 1912-1928.svg  China
Flag of Honduras.svg  Honduras

Specifications

Data from General Dynamics Aircraft and their Predecessors [6]

General characteristics

Performance

Notes

  1. 1 2 Hagedorn Air Enthusiast Thirty-one, p. 59.
  2. Wegg 1990, p. 130.
  3. Wegg 1990, pp. 130–131.
  4. "Stinson". Aircraft of North America 1903–2003. Aerofiles. Retrieved 1 December 2012.
  5. Hagedorn Air Enthusiast Thirty-one, pp. 62–63.
  6. 1 2 3 Wegg 1990, p. 131.
  7. Wood, Janice (April 5, 2010). "First Flight of Stinson Model O Replica". General Aviation News. Retrieved December 1, 2012.
  8. Davisson, Budd (June 2011). "The Paulson-Poling-Teal Stinson Model O" (PDF). Vintage Aircraft. EAA. 39 (6): 6–13.
  9. Andersson 2008, p. 40.
  10. 1 2 Juptner 1974, p. 68

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piper PA-23</span> Family of twin engine general aviation aircraft built 1952–1981

The Piper PA-23, named Apache and later Aztec, is an American four- to six-seat twin-engined light aircraft aimed at the general aviation market. The United States Navy and military forces in other countries also used it in small numbers. Originally designed as the Twin Stinson in the 1950s by the Stinson Aircraft Company, Piper Aircraft manufactured the Apache and a more powerful version, the Aztec, in the United States from the 1950s to the 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cessna 170</span> United States of America light aircraft

The Cessna 170 is an American single-engine, four seat, general aviation aircraft produced by the Cessna Aircraft Company between 1948 and 1956.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stinson L-13</span> Type of aircraft

The Stinson L-13 was a US military utility aircraft first flown in 1945.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piper PA-25 Pawnee</span> American agricultural aircraft

The PA-25 Pawnee is an agricultural aircraft produced by Piper Aircraft between 1959 and 1981. It remains a widely used aircraft in agricultural spraying and is also used as a tow plane, or tug, for launching gliders or for towing banners. In 1988, the design rights and support responsibility were sold to Latino Americana de Aviación of Argentina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stinson 108</span> Popular single-engine high-winged monoplane produced 1946-1950

The Stinson 108 is a popular single-engine, four-seat, light general aviation aircraft produced by the Stinson division of the American airplane company Consolidated Vultee, from immediately after World War II to 1950. The 108 was developed from the prewar Model 10A Voyager.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stinson Reliant</span> High-wing monoplane produced 1933-43

The Stinson Reliant is a popular single-engine four- to five-seat high-wing monoplane manufactured by the Stinson Aircraft Division of the Aviation Manufacturing Corporation of Wayne, Michigan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North American NA-16</span> American single-engined trainer aircraft

The North American Aviation NA-16 was the first trainer aircraft built by North American Aviation, and was the beginning of a line of closely related North American trainer aircraft that would eventually number more than 17,000 examples, notably the T-6 Texan family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hughes TH-55 Osage</span> Piston-powered light training helicopter produced for the United States Army

The Hughes TH-55 Osage is a piston-powered light training helicopter produced for the United States Army. It was also produced as the Model 269 family of light utility helicopters, some of which were marketed as the Model 300. The Model 300C was produced and further developed by Schweizer after 1983.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boeing Model 40</span> Type of aircraft

The Boeing Model 40 was a United States mail plane of the 1920s. It was a single-engined biplane that was widely used for airmail services in the United States in the 1920s and 1930s, especially by airlines that later became part of United Airlines. It became the first aircraft built by the Boeing company to carry passengers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Honduran Air Force</span> Air warfare branch of Honduras military

The Honduras Air Force is the air force of Honduras. As such it is the air power arm of the Honduras Armed Forces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stinson L-5 Sentinel</span> 1941 liaison aircraft family by Stinson

The Stinson L-5 Sentinel is a World War II-era liaison aircraft used by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), U.S. Army Ground Forces, U.S. Marine Corps and the British Royal Air Force. It was produced by the Stinson Division of the Vultee Aircraft Company. Along with the Stinson L-1 Vigilant, the L-5 was the only other USAAF liaison aircraft that was exclusively built for military use and had no civilian counterpart.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stinson Voyager</span> 1940s American light utility monoplane

The Stinson Voyager was an American light utility monoplane built during the 1940s by the Stinson Aircraft Company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Consolidated Fleetster</span> Type of aircraft

The Consolidated Model 17 Fleetster was a 1920s American light transport monoplane aircraft built by the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation. There was several closely related types the Model 17, Model 18, Model 20; then the C-11, C-22, and XBY military versions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fleet Model 1</span> Type of aircraft

The Fleet Model 1 and its derivatives were a family of two-seat trainer and sports biplanes produced in the United States and Canada in the 1920s and 1930s. They all shared the same basic design and varied mainly in their powerplants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stinson Airliner</span> Type of aircraft

The Stinson SM-6000 Airliner was a 1930s three-engined (trimotor) ten-passenger airliner designed and built by the Stinson Aircraft Corporation. The SM-6000 was a high-wing braced monoplane with room for a pilot and a cabin for ten passengers. It was powered by three 215 hp (160 kW) Lycoming R-680 engines strut-mounted one each side above the main landing gear units and one in the nose. A number of variants were built mainly with improved interiors. In 1932 the Model U Airliner was produced which had low-set stub wings with an engine mounted at each wingtip.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stinson Detroiter</span> American six-seat utility aircraft from 1926

The Stinson Detroiter was a six-seat cabin airliner for passengers or freight designed and built by the Stinson Aircraft Syndicate, later the Stinson Aircraft Corporation. Two distinct designs used the Detroiter name, a biplane and a monoplane.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aeronca Chief family</span> Family of American light aircraft

The Aeronca K series, Aeronca Chief, Aeronca Super Chief, Aeronca Tandem, Aeronca Scout, Aeronca Sea Scout, Aeronca Champion and Aeronca Defender were a family of American high-winged light touring aircraft, designed and built starting in the late 1930s by Aeronca Aircraft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Curtiss Thrush</span> 1929 American single-engine monoplane light transport

The Curtiss/Curtiss-Robertson Model 56 Thrush was a 1929 six passenger high-wing fixed undercarriage single-engine cabin monoplane airliner and utility transport powered by either a Curtiss Challenger or a Wright Whirlwind radial engine and built as an enlargement of the earlier Curtiss Robin. Several were used for record breaking endurance flights by female pilots during the early 1930s including one in which the aircraft stayed aloft for almost ten days.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stinson Model R</span> American single-engine high-winged monoplane (1932)

The Stinson Model R was an American light aircraft built by the Stinson Aircraft Company in the early 1930s. It was a single-engine high-winged monoplane, developed from the Stinson Junior. 39 units were built.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Curtiss-Wright CW-14 Osprey</span> American 1930s utility biplane

The Curtiss-Wright CW-14, named variously Travel Air, Sportsman, Speedwing and Osprey is an American 3-seat open cockpit single-bay biplane from the 1930s that was developed by Travel Air as a replacement for the highly successful Travel Air 4000. As a result of the Great Depression, which also limited sales, Travel Air merged into the Curtiss-Wright group of companies before production could start, so all examples were built by Curtiss-Wright. Its main claim to fame would be as the most numerous aircraft used in the Chaco war, where it formed the backbone of the Bolivian Air Force.

References