William Bushnell Stout - Aviation Career

Aviation Career

Stout's aviation career began as a result of his success in his automotive efforts. He began to build a number of all-metal aircraft designs, which, like the earliest aircraft designs of Andrei Tupolev in the Soviet Union, was based on the pioneering work of Hugo Junkers. In February 1923, newspapers carried stories of the test flights of the Stout Air Sedan with Walter Lees as the pilot. In 1924 his company, the Stout Metal Airplane Company, was bought by the Ford Motor Company.

Stout developed a thick-wing monoplane, and his design of an internally braced cantilevered wing improved the efficiency of aircraft. This led to the development of the famous "Batwing Plane" and the all-metal "Torpedo Plane". After his career at Packard Motors, he left for Washington to serve as the advisor to the United States Aircraft Board.

Stout developed an all-metal transport aircraft for mail use, the Stout 2-AT. His three engine follow-on, the Stout 3-AT, was underpowered, and did not perform as well, leaving Stout out of the engineering role in his company newly acquired by Ford. The redesigned 3-AT did form the basis for the popular Ford Trimotor aircraft.

In August 1925, Stout inaugurated Stout Air Services, which operated the first regularly scheduled airline in the United States. Stout also built the Liberty-powered all-metal monoplanes to initiate this service. Later, between 1928 and 1932, the airline flew passengers and Ford cargo between Dearborn, Chicago and Cleveland. In 1929, Stout sold Stout Air Services to United Airlines.

After the Great Depression in 1929 reduced sales of the Trimotor aircraft, Stout left Ford in 1930. Although no longer with Ford, he continued to operate his Stout Engineering Laboratory. Stout also invested in the short-lived Witchita, Kansas based Buckley Aircraft Company, developing the all aluminumn Buckley LC-4.

In 1930 Stout said: "Aviation in the U.S. has been stagnating for two years. We are all copying. Aviation has shown no progress ... comparable to that made in radio and talking pictures. Think how many copies have been made of the plane Colonel Lindbergh used on his flight across the Atlantic ... of other famous planes. None of us are building the plane that the public wants to buy, and that proves we are standing still."

In 1943 Stout sold the Stout engineering laboratory to Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation becoming the Stout Research Division of Consolidated. He was named the director of Convair's research division through World War II. While at Consolidated, Stout promoted three designs for postwar production, including a flying car using a Spratt wing.

Stout's other innovations included the Skycar, an automobile/airplane hybrid and a Pullman Railplane and Club Car. He is also known as the originator of prefab housing and the sliding car seat. All of these innovations were modern in design, incorporating many features new in both appearance and function, features not yet available in vehicle design.