V-STOL Aircraft Corporation (sometimes written VSTOL Aircraft Corporation) was an aircraft manufacturer based in
Fort Myers, Florida,
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 territori ...
. The company was owned by
Venezuela STOL Aircraft C.A. and specialized in the design and manufacture of
STOL kit aircraft
Homebuilt aircraft, also known as amateur-built aircraft or kit planes, are constructed by persons for whom this is not a professional activity. These aircraft may be constructed from "scratch", from plans, or from assembly kits.Armstrong, Kenn ...
for the
North American 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. Venezuela STOL Aircraft also produced the
Venezuela STOL XC Aglite agricultural aircraft
An agricultural aircraft is an aircraft that has been built or converted for agricultural use – usually aerial application of pesticides (crop dusting) or fertilizer (aerial topdressing); in these roles they are referred to as "crop duster ...
based on V-STOL designs for the
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...
n 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
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
.
Aircraft
References
{{V-STOL Aircraft
Defunct aircraft manufacturers of the United States
Homebuilt aircraft