Updating a Classic the Utlimate Stinson 108

Some classic designs are so good that after 75 years they are still practical aeroplanes. There is an increasing realisation that they deserve to be rejuvenated and enjoyed, long after the original manufacturer may have shut up shop.

The Stinson 108-3 is one such classic which takes its place amongst the North American T-6 Harvards, the Piper Cub and the Tiger Moth. Chris Briers, who founded the hugely successful Naturelink, had imported a brace of Stinsons and set about rejuvenating them. Unfortunately, Naturelink folded and the Stinsons became orphan projects. Niels Peter Andersen is a man who saw the value of the classic Stinson and so acquired one of Briers' 108-3 Voyagers that had been stripped down to bare metal. He set about project managing a ground-up restoration to better than new.

THE STINSON'S DEVELOPMENT

Classics, like good wine, develop over time. The Stinson 108 series was a post WW2 design that put the company on the map in terms of good aircraft design and production quantity.

The Stinson Aircraft Company was founded in Dayton, Ohio, in 1920 by Eddie Stinson. Wikipedia notes that after five years of business ventures, Eddie moved the factory to Detroit, Michigan while still flying as a stunt pilot and earning the huge sum of $100,000 a year.

On the back of Detroit's already massive car industry, Stinson found the city's business community receptive to his plans to develop his own plane. He launched the Stinson Aircraft Syndicate in 1925 with $25,000 to design and build a prototype enclosed cockpit, 4-place biplane, powered by a Wright Whirlwind J-4 air-cooled radial engine.

The Stinson Detroiter SB-1 (for Stinson Biplane model 1) made its maiden flight from Packard Field on 25 January, 1926. The plane not only had a rare (for the period) enclosed cabin, it also had a heater, upholstered seats and side panels, and even an electric cigarette lighter.