V-STOL Aircraft Corporation (sometimes written VSTOL Aircraft Corporation) was an aircraft manufacturer based in
Fort Myers, Florida
Fort Myers (or Ft. Myers) is a city in southwestern Florida and the county seat and commercial center of Lee County, Florida, United States. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 92,245 in 20 ...
,
United States. The company was owned by
Venezuela STOL Aircraft C.A. and specialized in the design and manufacture of
STOL
A short takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft is a conventional fixed-wing aircraft that has short runway requirements for takeoff and landing. Many STOL-designed aircraft also feature various arrangements for use on airstrips with harsh conditio ...
kit aircraft for the
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
n market.
[Purdy, Don: ''AeroCrafter - Homebuilt Aircraft Sourcebook, Fifth Edition'', page 280. BAI Communications, 15 July 1998. ]
History
The company was founded by Dick Turner as a subsidiary of Venezuela STOL Aircraft. V-STOL Aircraft Corporation carried out prototype and development work in Florida and produced small aircraft orders there, while main production was located in
Caracas
Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...
. Venezuela STOL Aircraft also produced the
Venezuela STOL XC Aglite agricultural aircraft based on V-STOL designs for the
South American market and other developing nations.
V-STOL Aircraft was preceded by Turner's earlier company,
Starflight Manufacturing Inc, which was a pioneering ultralight manufacturer founded in 1980. That company produced the
Starflight TriStar and the
Starflight DBL, the first tandem-seat ultralight trainer. Those designs provided the basis for later V-STOL Aircraft models.
Turner gained early fame in the ultralight community as the manager of the US Ultralight Team that competed at the 1985 World Microlight Championships in
France.
Aircraft
References
{{V-STOL Aircraft
Defunct aircraft manufacturers of the United States
Homebuilt aircraft