![Stinson Model A Tri-motor airliner NC15165](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/Stinson_Model_A_Tri-motor_airliner_NC15165.JPG)
The Stinson Model A was a moderately successful
airliner
An airliner is a type of aircraft for transporting passengers and air cargo. Such aircraft are most often operated by airlines. Although the definition of an airliner can vary from country to country, an airliner is typically defined as an ...
of the mid-1930s. It was one of the last commercial airliners designed in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
with a fabric-covered steel tube
fuselage
The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraft t ...
before the introduction of
stressed skin
In mechanical engineering, stressed skin is a type of rigid construction, intermediate between monocoque and a rigid frame with a non-loaded covering. A stressed skin structure has its compression-taking elements localized and its tension-taking e ...
aluminum
Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It has ...
construction.
Design and development
A total of 30 Stinson Model As were built until production ceased in 1936. It was one of many promising designs whose commercial success was cut short by the introduction of the stressed-skin
Boeing 247
The Boeing Model 247 is an early United States airliner, and one of the first such aircraft to incorporate advances such as all-metal (Anodizing#Anodized aluminium, anodized aluminum) semimonocoque construction, a fully Cantilever#Aircraft, cant ...
and
Douglas DC-2
The Douglas DC-2 is a 14-passenger, twin-engined airliner that was produced by the American company Douglas Aircraft Company starting in 1934. It competed with the Boeing 247. In 1935, Douglas produced a larger version called the DC-3, which b ...
.
[HO Aircraft, (18 June 2015)]
Stinson Model A: Restoring a Classic Aircraft
Disciples of Flight. Retrieved 24 August 2015.
Operational history
Australia
Because the waiting lists for either the new Boeing or Douglas aircraft were already too long
Airlines of Australia
The airline industry in Australia began in the early 1920s with Western Australian Airways on the west coast, and Australian Aircraft and Engineering Company on the east coast. In 1921, Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services (QANTAS) ...
(AOA) ordered three Stinson Model As in January 1936. These aircraft were VH-UGG ''Lismore '' (arrived per s.s. ''City of Winchester'' on 27 March), VH-UHH ''Brisbane'' (arrived per s.s. ''Wichita'' on 22 June) and VH-UKK ''Townsville'' (arrived 22 July in the s.s. ''City of Manilla''). All three were quickly reassembled and entered the
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
-
Brisbane
Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...
service, proving so successful that in August AOA ordered a fourth example VH-UYY ''Grafton'' – the very last Stinson Model A to be built – which arrived at Sydney on board s.s. ''Port Alma'' on 14 December.
With posturing from both AOA and
Australian National Airways
Australian National Airways (ANA) was Australia's predominant aerial carrier from the mid-1930s to the early 1950s.
The Holyman's Airways period
On 19 March 1932 Flinders Island Airways began a regular aerial service using the Desoutter Mk.I ...
(ANA) to cut into each other’s turf by late 1936, early efforts by ANA to gain a controlling interest in AOA failed, until the tragic losses of VH-UHH ''Brisbane'' in the
McPherson Ranges on 19 February 1937 and VH-UGG ''Lismore'' on 28 March halved AOA’s main-line fleet. A merger took effect in March 1937, although the two companies retained separate identities until AOA was formally absorbed into ANA on 1 July 1942. The two surviving Stinsons were then renamed VH-UKK ''Binana'' and VH-UYY ''Tokana'', in conformity with ANA nomenclature.
[Job, Macarthur (1992). ''Air Crash, volume 2'', Ch.2]
During the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
spare parts for the Stinsons' aging
Lycoming R-680 engines were impossible to obtain in Australia and it was decided to re-engine both aircraft with a
Pratt & Whitney R-1340 Wasp
The Pratt & Whitney R-1340 Wasp is an aircraft engine of the reciprocating type that was widely used in American aircraft from the 1920s onward. It was the Pratt & Whitney aircraft company's first engine, and the first of the famed Wasp series ...
engine on each wing and eliminate the engine on the nose. The additional power allowed both aircraft to fly faster and carry heavier loads, although fuel dumps had to be fitted to allow them to remain under their maximum landing weight of , in case of an emergency necessitating landing shortly after take-off.
[
On completion at ]Essendon, Victoria
Essendon is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Moonee Valley local government area. Essendon recorded a population of 21,240 at the 2021 census.
Essen ...
in May 1943, ''Binana'' returned to the Brisbane-Cairns, Queensland
Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...
run, while ''Tokana'' was similarly converted and re-entered service in October on the run between Melbourne (Essendon), Kerang, Victoria
Kerang is a rural town on the Loddon River in northern Victoria in Australia. It is the commercial centre to an irrigation district based on livestock, horticulture, lucerne and grain. It is located north-west of Melbourne on the Murray V ...
, Mildura, Victoria
Mildura is a regional city in north-west Victoria, Australia. Located on the Victorian side of the Murray River, Mildura had a population of 34,565 in 2021. When nearby Wentworth, Irymple, Nichols Point and Merbein are included, the area had ...
and Broken Hill, New South Wales
Broken Hill is an inland mining city in the far west of outback New South Wales, Australia. It is near the border with South Australia on the crossing of the Barrier Highway (A32) and the Silver City Highway (B79), in the Barrier Range. It is ...
. ''Binana'' was later transferred to the Melbourne-Tasmania
)
, nickname =
, image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdi ...
service.[
On the morning of 31 January 1945 ''Tokana'' was on the ]Essendon Essendon may refer to:
Australia
*Electoral district of Essendon
*Electoral district of Essendon and Flemington
*Essendon, Victoria
**Essendon railway station
**Essendon Airport
*Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League
United King ...
to Kerang
Kerang is a rural town on the Loddon River in northern Victoria in Australia. It is the commercial centre to an irrigation district based on livestock, horticulture, lucerne and grain. It is located north-west of Melbourne on the Murray V ...
leg of its regular service when the port wing separated in flight between Redesdale
Redesdale is a valley in western Northumberland, England. It is formed by the River Rede, which rises in the Cheviots and flows down to join the North Tyne at Redesmouth. Redesdale is traversed by the A68 trunk road, which enters Scotland vi ...
and Heathcote Heathcote may refer to:
Places
in Australia
*Heathcote, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney
**Electoral district of Heathcote, a seat in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
**Heathcote National Park
** Parish of Heathcote a parish of Cumberla ...
, fifty miles north of Melbourne. The aircraft then plunged to the ground, killing both crew and the full load of eight passengers. An investigation revealed that metal fatigue
In materials science, fatigue is the initiation and propagation of cracks in a material due to cyclic loading. Once a fatigue crack has initiated, it grows a small amount with each loading cycle, typically producing striations on some parts o ...
had developed in the wing’s lower main spar boom attachment socket, the actual failure possibly being instigated by the aircraft encountering a particularly heavy gust of wind. It was the first known occurrence of this type of accident in an aircraft anywhere in the world, but it was to become a problem all too common in later years where progressively larger aircraft would be built from light-weight alloys that were more susceptible to the underlying metallurgical phenomenon. It being assumed that the same problems could occur in ''Binana'', its certificate of airworthiness was cancelled, and the old aircraft was subsequently broken up.[
A non-flying scale replica was built for a 1987 television movie account of the 1937 McPherson Ranges disaster, '']The Riddle of the Stinson
''The Riddle of the Stinson'' is a 1987 Australian television film about the 1937 Airlines of Australia Stinson crash at Lamington, Queensland, Australia and the rescue of its survivors by local Queenslander Bernard O'Reilly (played in the film ...
'', in which two survivors of the crash were rescued by Bernard O'Reilly.
Outside Australia
Outside Australia, examples of the Stinson Model A remained in service in such far-flung corners of the globe as Korea
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
and Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...
for some years. One example still survives, having crashed in Alaska in 1947, recovered and rebuilt in 1979, it passed to the Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum in 1988 and then to Greg Herrick's Golden Wings Flying Museum in Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...
. The aircraft is now located at the Mid America Flight Museum
The Mid America Flight Museum is an aviation museum located at the Mount Pleasant Regional Airport in Mount Pleasant, Texas.
History
Scott Glover, the founder of Mid America Pet Food, began collecting airplanes in 1996. After 17 years, he esta ...
-Ohio Wing in Urbana, Ohio
Urbana is a city in and the county seat of Champaign County, Ohio, United States, west of Columbus, Ohio, Columbus. Urbana was laid out in 1805, and for a time in 1812 was the headquarters of the Northwestern army during the War of 1812. It is t ...
.
Operators
;
*Airlines of Australia
The airline industry in Australia began in the early 1920s with Western Australian Airways on the west coast, and Australian Aircraft and Engineering Company on the east coast. In 1921, Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services (QANTAS) ...
*Australian National Airways
Australian National Airways (ANA) was Australia's predominant aerial carrier from the mid-1930s to the early 1950s.
The Holyman's Airways period
On 19 March 1932 Flinders Island Airways began a regular aerial service using the Desoutter Mk.I ...
;
*Tata Airlines
Air India is the flag carrier airline of India, headquartered at New Delhi. It is owned by Talace Private Limited, a Special-Purpose Vehicle (SPV) of Tata Sons, after Air India Limited's former owner, the Government of India, completed the sa ...
- acquired five aircraft secondhand from Marquette Airlines in 1941
;
*American Airlines
American Airlines is a major airlines of the United States, major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the world when measured ...
*Delta Air Lines
Delta Air Lines, Inc., typically referred to as Delta, is one of the major airlines of the United States and a legacy carrier. One of the List of airlines by foundation date, world's oldest airlines in operation, Delta is headquartered in Atla ...
*Marquette Airlines
Marquette Airlines was an airline that operated regional flights in the midwestern United States from 1938 to 1940.
Marquette was founded in 1938 by Winston Weidner "Wink" Kratz, a 33-year-old pilot. It began scheduled service on the St. Louis - ...
*Pennsylvania Central Airlines
Capital Airlines was an airline serving the eastern, southern, southeastern, and midwestern United States. Capital's headquarters were located at Washington Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, National Airport (now Reagan Washington Natio ...
Specifications
References
*
*
External links
{{Stinson aircraft
Trimotors
1930s United States airliners
Low-wing aircraft
Model A
Aircraft first flown in 1934