STINSON

The Stinson Aircraft Company was a former American aircraft manufacturer that operated from the 1920s until the 1950s. Edward “Eddie” Stinson, a renowned aviator and brother of fellow aviator Katherine Stinson, founded the company in Dayton, Ohio in 1920. After five years, Eddie relocated his business to Detroit, Michigan, where he continued flying as a stunt pilot, earning a considerable sum of $100,000 per year. Detroit’s business community supported Eddie’s plans to establish his own airplane and provided funds to design and build a prototype, the Stinson Detroiter SB-1, an enclosed cockpit, 4-place biplane, powered by a Wright Whirlwind J-4 air-cooled radial engine. The SB-1 made its maiden flight from Packard Field, a commercial airfield in Roseville, Michigan, on January 25, 1926, and became an overnight success. With public stock capital raised from offering flights to 70 riders, Eddie incorporated the Stinson Aircraft Corporation in Michigan and acquired the Stimson Scale Mfg. building in Northville, Michigan, where the first production model SB-1 was rolled out three months later in August 1926. The Northville factory employed over 250 workers in 1926. However, the planes were too big to be completely assembled in the Northville plant. The Stinson Aircraft Company changed ownership several times during its history, including Cord Corporation, AVCO, Vultee, Convair, and finally Piper, until its eventual discontinuation in 1948.