The Stout Batwing Limousine was a single-engine, high-wing cantilever aircraft. It was also called simply the "Commercial Sedan".

Development

William Bushnell Stout William Bushnell Stout (March 16, 1880 – March 20, 1956) was a pioneering American inventor, engineer, developer and designer whose works in the automotive and aviation fields were groundbreaking. Known by the nickname "Bill", Stout designed an ...

developed the Stout Batwing, a cantilever blended-wing aircraft with the engine mounted internally. The pioneer aircraft in cantilever wings suffered from poor visibility with its top-mounted open cockpit. The follow-on aircraft, the Stout Batwing Limousine, would have a conventional fuselage and engine arrangement, and a tail mounted further aft. The all-wood cantilever wing did not need struts or braces, reducing parasitic drag on the aircraft. The pilot had side windows and a wing cut-out for forward vision. Stout acquired financing for the project from Robert Stranahan of the Champion Spark Plug Company. Production started in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

Design

The conventional geared aircraft is all-wood, with veneer wood skins. The propeller was mounted through a forward radiator. The exhaust header stack turned upward, projecting above the top of the fuselage. The fuel tanks are wing mounted. The wing has a chord that spans most of the length of the fuselage.

Operational history

The first aircraft was flown with an

airfoil An airfoil (American English) or aerofoil (British English) is the cross-sectional shape of an object whose motion through a gas is capable of generating significant lift, such as a wing, a sail, or the blades of propeller, rotor, or turbine. ...

designed for speed rather than lift. Test pilot

Bert Acosta Bertrand Blanchard Acosta (January 1, 1895 – September 1, 1954) was a record-setting aviator and test pilot. He and Clarence D. Chamberlin set an endurance record of 51 hours, 11 minutes, and 25 seconds in the air. He later flew in the Spa ...

said the aircraft did not have enough lift and visibility. Bert did claim the plane was stable enough to fly with his hands off the controls for several minutes at a time. A second wing with more camber produced favorable results. The aircraft had an alarming "hunting" tendency when gliding that was fixed after 30–40 test flights. Stout mentioned in 1922 that his next example would be built out of metal. This aircraft was the first in a series by Stout that would later form the

Stout Metal Airplane Division of the Ford Motor Company Stout Metal Airplane Division of the Ford Motor Company was an American aircraft manufacturer founded by William Bushnell Stout as the Stout Metal Airplane Co. in 1922. The company was purchased by Ford Motor Company in 1924 and later produced th ...

, building the

Ford Trimotor The Ford Trimotor (also called the "Tri-Motor", and nicknamed the "Tin Goose") is an American three-engined transport aircraft. Production started in 1925 by the companies of Henry Ford and ended on June 7, 1933, after 199 had been made. It w ...

Specifications Stout Batwing Limousine

References

{{Stout/Ford aircraft 1920s United States civil utility aircraft High-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1920 Single-engined tractor aircraft