Lloyd Stearman

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Lloyd Carlton Stearman (born October 26, 1898 in Wellsford , Kansas , † April 3, 1975 in Northridge , Los Angeles , California ) was an American pilot , aircraft designer and founder of the Stearman Aircraft Corporation .

Life

Stearman studied engineering and architecture at Kansas State College in Manhattan in 1917 and 1918 . In 1918 he dropped out to join the United States Naval Reserve in San Diego , California . There he learned Curtis-N-9 - seaplanes to fly.

In the mid-1920s, Emil Matthew Laird , the designer of the Laird Swallow , hired Stearman as a mechanic, which was the first time Stearman came into contact with aircraft construction. On February 4, 1925, Stearman founded the Travel Air Manufacturing Company together with Walter Beech and Clyde Cessna , which he left again on September 27, 1927 to found his own company, the Stearman Aircraft Corporation .

With that company, he built the Stearman C2 and Stearman C3, as well as other double deckers for mail and cargo transportation, surveillance and training. After the Second World War , many of the PT-13 trainer aircraft were converted into agricultural aircraft. In 1948 4,345 Stearman aircraft were in use in agricultural aviation .

In 1929 the companies became Stearman Aircraft, Boeing Airplane Company, Boeing Aircraft of Canada, Varney Airlines, National Air Transport, Pacific Air Transport, Boeing Air Transport, Hamilton Standard Propeller, Sikorsky, Pratt & Whitney, Chance Vought, Northrop, and United Airports of Connecticut to form United Aircraft and Transportation Corporation by William Boeing . Stearman held his position as General Manager of the Stearman Division until he resigned in 1931. In 1932 he became the managing director of Lockheed . During his time with the company, the Lockheed Model 10 and Lockheed 12 were developed. In 1936 he founded the Stearman-Hammond Aircraft Corporation with Dean B. Hammond to build the Stearman-Hammond Y-1 .

Stearman died of cancer on April 3, 1975 at his home in Northridge , Los Angeles .

Honors

In memory of his contributions to the aviation industry , Stearman was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton , Ohio in July 1989 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Executive Biography of Lloyd C. Stearman. Boeing , accessed February 28, 2020 .
  2. ^ Donald Pattillo: A History in the Making: 80 Turbulent Years in the American General Aviation History . McGraw-Hill Professional, 1998, ISBN 978-0-07-049448-0 , pp. 9 (English).
  3. ↑ a b Stearman, Lloyd Carlton. National Aviation Hall of Fame , accessed February 28, 2020 .
  4. ↑ Lloyd Stearman, 76, Dies; Pioneer Plane Designer. The New York Times , April 5, 1975, accessed February 28, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Stearman, Lloyd
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Stearman, Lloyd Carlton
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American pilot, aircraft designer, and founder of Stearman Aircraft Corporation
DATE OF BIRTH October 26, 1898
PLACE OF BIRTH Wellsford , Kansas
DATE OF DEATH 3rd April 1975
Place of death Northridge , Los Angeles , California