Stearman serial
number 104 was actually the third aircraft that Stearman built in 1927.The Stearman that was serial number 103 had to wait for a different type
engine so it became the fourth aircraft built by this
company.
Stearman number 103 was purchased by Varney Airlines which
was operating betweenSpokane and
Pasco(Varney eventually became part of United
Airlines). Varney wanted the
Wright Whirlwind J-4 Radial engine rated at 200
horsepower.
They were more
expensive than and not as easy to get as the Hispano-Suiza (Hisso) V-8 water
cooled engine rated at 180 horsepower and this caused the variation described
above.Throughout the aviation
community, the engine is referred to as a Hisso and many probably would not
recognize the full name.
Stearman aircraft were used by Varney
Airlines and many other airlines of that time including, Western Air Express,
National Air Transport, Texas Air Transport, Interstate Airlines, National Park
Airways and Continental Airlines.
Boeing eventually bought out Stearman and
produced the Boeing Stearman which was the primary trainer for the Army Air
Corps during WWII. Many Boeing
Stearman aircraft were used extensively as Air show aircraft and aerial
application aircraft for agriculture during the post war era.
Skeeter Carlson found the Stearman in a scrap
pile at Coeur d' Alene Jr.Collegein 1950. He was able to
rescue the aircraft and the Hisso engine and bring them to Spokanewhere it took him
seven years to restore. When he
first restored the aircraft, he placed the same markings on it that the Varney
Airlines number 103 had originally. Serial number 103 was lost in 1937 when it crashed in a wooded area close
to Spokane.
Skeeter restored the aircraft with the Hisso
engine but also made it easy to convert and install a Wright Whirlwind J-4 so
that it resembled the one used by Varney Airlines.Skeeter still has the Hisso and the J-4
but has installed a more modern Continental 220 horsepower engine for greater
reliability.
Skeeter later replaced the fabric on the
Stearman and this time he painted it in the colors of National Park Airways as
they flew Stearman aircraft between Salt Lake
City and Great Falls , Montana.
The aircraft is now going through another
extensive restoration by Larry Tobin of Spokane.The aircraft will be flown in several key aviation anniversary
celebrations and will eventually be displayed in the Armed Forces &
AerospaceMuseum at SpokaneInternationalAirport.The Hisso engine will either be
installed in the aircraft for display or will be on and engine display stand
next to the aircraft.
Also
see progress of Pemberton and Sons' Boeing Model
40
under construction at Spokane's Felts Field
Airport.
Pemberton and Sons Aviation has two
Boeing 40 transport aircraft, one of which is a Boeing 40C and the other, a
Boeing 40B-4. The link above is to reconstruction photos of the Boeing 40C
aircraft from 1928, the year in which it was manufactured and the year that it
crashed. This airplane was operated by Pacific Air Transport, and is currently
under restoration.
Photos of the Stearman
courtesy of Spokane photographer Will Riepl. Click on each photo for a
full image. To read about this historic aircraft, click here.
