Stearman C2B

Lloyd Stearman

(Wikipedia) - Lloyd Stearman

Stearman was born in Wellsville, Kansas (1898-1975). From 1917 – 1918, he attended Kansas State College (later renamed Kansas State University) in Manhattan, Kansas, where he studied engineering and architecture. In 1918, he left school to enlist in the U.S. Naval Reserve in San Diego, California; while there he learned to fly Curtiss N-9 seaplanes.

During the mid-1920s Matty Laird, designer of the Laird Swallow aircraft, hired Stearman as a mechanic, giving him his first exposure to fixed-wing aircraft manufacturing.

On February 4, 1925, Stearman and Walter Beech teamed up with Clyde Cessna to form the Travel Air Manufacturing Company.

On 27 September 1927, he left to form his own manufacturing company, the Stearman Aircraft Corporation. It was there that he built the Stearman C2 and Stearman C3, and designed other biplanes for mail and cargo delivery, observation and training.

(Wikipedia) - Stearman Aircraft

If you have ever moved an airplane around by attaching a long handle on to a tail wheel or a nose wheel, Lloyd Stearman had a patent issued on April 15, 1930.

In 1931 Stearman and partners acquired the then bankrupt Lockheed Aircraft Company in Santa Barbara, California, becoming president of the company and designing aircraft. He designed the Electra airplane during this time.

In 1932, Stearman became president of Lockheed Aircraft Company (now Lockheed Martin Corporation), during which time the Lockheed 10 Electra and Lockheed 12 were designed and introduced.

In September 1934, anti-trust legislation forced United to separate its airline and aircraft manufacturing operations. At this time, Boeing, which had been part of United Aircraft and Transport Corporation, became a separate business once again, and Stearman was made a subsidiary of it. Stearman officially ceased to operate as a brand then, but about the same time the Stearman plant created its most successful and enduring product, the Model 75 “Kaydet”.

He left Lockheed in in 1935 to work for the federal government and other companies, including the Stearman-Hammond Corporation, which he formed in 1936.

In 1936 with Dean B. Hammond he formed the Stearman-Hammond Aircraft Corporation to produce the Stearman-Hammond Y-1.

He returned to Lockheed in 1955 as a senior engineer and retired in 1968.

After World War II, many Stearman PT-13 primary trainers were converted to agricultural aircraft; In 1948 more than 4,345 Stearman aircraft were used in agricultural flying.

Lloyd Stearman was still active in his late 60's. He was granted two patents that he applied for in 1967.

Stearman Production

The Alaska Aviation Museum has an early model Stearman. It started as a C2-B with a Wright J-4 engine. It was converted to a C3-B with a Wright J-5 engine. There were only a few hundred of the early model airplanes made.

In 1934, Stearman became part of Boeing. The Model 75 “Kaydet” came out. It had lots of other model numbers along the lines of alphabetic character 75, or alphabetic character 75N1, or PT-17, or PT-13. It was a primary trainer for the Army and Navy in World War II, over 10,000 were built. There is about a 97% chance that when there is a reference to a "Stearman", they are referring to a 1930s or 1940s Boeing built plane.

That ratio is reflected in the numbers of the models that are still registered with the FAA.

Stearman Production

FAA Registry Stearman C3-B as of 2019/06/26

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FAA Registry Boeing 'A75' as of 2019/06/26

The Stearman C-3R

A product of necessity,
it was a new model with an old designation

"Flyer" page 54 - September 17, 1999

By Peter M. Bowers

In late 1926 Lloyd Stearman left Travel Air in Wichita and moved to Venice, California, to form Stearman Aircraft, Inc.

Stearman's first model, the C-1, drew heavily on the A and B models that he had designed for Travel Air. While the airplane was initially equipped with a 90-horsepower Curtiss OX-5, its structure proved strong enough to be refitted with a radial engine of 260 horsepower.

After building three improved C-2 models in Venice, Stearman was persuaded by financial backers to move his company to Wichita. He built more C-2s there, with various engines to satisfy demands for performance and price.

C-2s that used the 200-horsepower Wright J-4 Whirlwind or the later 220-horsepower J-5 were designated C-2Bs. These planes were not licensed in those early years. They flew "Identified," meaning that they were registered but not licensed. Such planes are Identified from photos by the absence of the letters "C" or "NC" ahead of their registration numbers.

When a slightly improved C-3 model was introduced in 1928, it qualified for an approved type certificate (ATC) and could be licensed for full commercial operations. The 200- and 220-horsepower C-2s were so similar that they could be licensed as C-3Bs under ATC A-55 of July 27, 1928.

The Whirlwind-powered C-2s and C-3s became popular, with 133 C-2s and 116 C-3s built into early 1929, when the C-3R was introduced.

The C-3R was a product of necessity. The Wright Aeronautical Co. had superseded the 220-horse J-5 engine with the 225-horse J-6-7. Actually, the J-6 was a series of modular engines: the five-cylinder J-6-5 of 165 horsepower, the 225-horsepower J-6-7 with seven cylinders, and the 300-horse J-6-9 with nine cylinders. All used identical cylinders and other essential parts. A distinctive identification of the J-6 series was the circular exhaust manifold in front of the engine that enclosed a louvered crankcase cover.

Stearman didn't just hang a different engine on the front of the proven C-3 airframe; he made several upgrades at the same time to produce the C-3R Although minor, the changes were extensive enough for Stearman to give the old C-3 a new series of serial numbers, in effect recognizing it as a new Stearman model but with the old designation.

The prototype C-3R was the last C-3B on the production line, with factory Serial No. 249 in the C-series that extended back to the C-1.

Other Stearman models, including the M-2 mail plane, the LT-1 light transport, and the Model 4 mail plane, were given new serial numbers of their own that reflected their development in Wichita. The first M-2 was 1001, the first LT-1 was 2001, and the first model 4 was 4001.

The serial number of the last C-3B was canceled and replaced by a new one, 5001, for the modified airplane that became the C-3R Its registration number was the already-assigned 8828.

The initial changes on the C-3R were the J-6-7 engine, a head rest for the rear cockpit, three fuselage side stringers instead of one as on the C-2/C-3, bottom stringers that rounded out the original flat bottom, a revised stabilizer trim system, and a tail skid that was moved aft.

Other changes were made later to the prototype, most notably larger tail surfaces and a cutout in the trailing edge of the upper wing's center section. ATC A250 was awarded to the C-3R on Oct. 7, 1929. The selling price was $8,500.

Production was cut short by the Depression, and the last of 39 C-3Rs was built in October 1931. Ten were sold to the Peruvian army in 1930 as trainers.

Following their retirement from commercial jobs, many C-2/C-3s and C-3Rs were converted to crop dusters, serving until well after World War II.

Some have been restored to their original late-1920s configuration by antique airplane buffs.

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STEARMAN C-3 R

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