Stearman Aircraft – Legacy of Flight

   An Early Aircraft Production Facility, Possibly in California

The historic aircraft industry that ultimately tagged Wichita as the Air Capitol of the World had its beginning in 1927 when Stearman Aircraft was founded.  And yes, this is the Stearman of the Class of 1960’s Glenna Stearman. Lloyd Stearman, Glenna’s second cousin, had worked at an aircraft company in Venice, California, that failed.  He returned to Wichita to found Stearman Aircraft Corporation on September 27, 1927 with investment help from Walter Innes.  Lloyd, along with Walter Beech and Clyde Cessna, started learning how to make airplanes at the Swallow air plane company on North Hillside.  The three left Swallow at the same time and addressed the markets in which they were interested.  Lloyd wanted to do the mail and commercial products and looked to the government as a source to supply.

Cessna and Beech Aircraft corporations soon followed, and by 1928, Wichita’s varied aircraft industry was producing the highest volume of aircraft of any U.S. city.  Wichita soon was referred to as the Air Capitol of the World, an enduring tribute. 

Initially, the Stearman factory built the Stearman C3 and Stearman 4 Speedmail, but in 1934 ceased to operate as a brand.  They did create their most successful enduring product, the Model 75 “Kaydet,” which ultimately became the primary aircraft trainer  for the U.S. military during World War II.  A total of 10,626 Kaydets were manufactured in the US during the 30’s and 40’s. 

(Left, Stearman Speedmail; below, the Stearman Kaydet)                                                                                                                     

Personal Memories from Glenna Stearman Park:  My father Glenn was five years younger than his cousin Lloyd and learned to build airplanes with Lloyd, Walter Beech, and Clyde Cessna.  I’m not sure if any of them had a college degree, but my dad taught himself the math and design work from night classes in engineering and by reading text books on his own.  He made several attempts at airplane companies and working for corporations.  Then, World War II!  Dad started an airplane company, then designed a bicycle, and then made parts for government planes. 

Glenn’s major achievement was the Stearman Aerial that he designed and built in our barn in Oklahoma, where we lived in the 40’s.  He built the plane as a cloth-covered tubular basic structure. My mom and his mother sewed the cloth to fit over the plane’s structure.  Then Dad stretched the fabric into place and painted many coats of “dope” over the fabric to make the body of the plane strong and stiff enough for him to walk on.  I had to watch this process from  the barnyard because the “dope” was fairly toxic.                     Above,  Stearman Aerial               

When allowed, I spent evenings in the barn with my dad and my dolls.  I also flew with Dad when I was too little to see the ground.  On take off, the nose was in the air and you couldn’t see the runway in front of you.  I always considered it a great feat of faith to speed straight ahead and take off at 80-90 mph.  Landing was easier.  You could see the runway, but sometimes gusts of wind swept us sideways off the runway and Dad would gas the engine and fly around the field for another landing attempt.  My dolls and I trusted our pilot!

“Although the Stearman Aerial was built in the 30’s and finished in the 40’s, the plane won a design award in the 1980’s.  It is now on display in the Wichita Air Museum where the old Art Deco Airport houses a small museum that has workshop period pieces and a Swallow airplane.  Another Aerial is at the bottom of Lake Michigan, and the third one we’ve never found.

“Lloyd Stearman and Walter Innes were smart guys.  They sold out to Boeing and bought Lockheed.  Stearman was  president of Lockheed for many years.

“Stearman Aircraft became a subsidiary of Boeing in 1934.

“My parents tried to buy a house on a runway in Valley Center.  It was their dream to have such a place.                                                             

In later years, Glenn Stearman with his Mooney 21.  The Stearman logo was designed by Larry Dalton ’60 when he was a student at Wichita State.                                                   

Editor’s Note: A huge thanks to Glenna Stearman for providing her personal stories and remembrances to this history. Gene Carter shared the 1976 Air Capitol of the World stamp. Jane Thompson Olson shared a copy of the Stearman  etching below, which was done by her grandfather, artist CA Seward. Another one of his etchings hung in the hall at East High School. This early plane has a covered engine, which places its vintage as no later than 1934.