Stinson Airliner
SM-6000 Airliner | |
---|---|
Stinson SM-6000B Airliner trimotor circa 1965 when owned by RP Rice of Kennett, MO. | |
Role | Three-engined airliner |
National origin | United States |
Manufacturer | Stinson Aircraft Corporation |
Number built | 53 (SM-6000) 24 (Model U)[1] |
The Stinson SM-6000 Airliner was a 1930s three-engined (trimotor) ten-passenger airliner designed and built by the Stinson Aircraft Corporation. The SM-6000 was a high-wing braced monoplane with room for a pilot and a cabin for ten passengers. It was powered by three 215 hp (160 kW) Lycoming R-680 engines strut-mounted one each side above the main landing gear units and one in the nose. A number of variants were built mainly with improved interiors. In 1932 the Model U Airliner was produced which had low-set stub wings with an engine mounted at each wingtip.
Variants
- Corman 6000
- The initial prototypes produced by the Corman aircraft Co. as part of the E L Cord empire.[2]
- SM-6000 Airliner
- 1930 initial production variant with three 215hp (160kW) Lycoming R-680 engines.
- SM-6000-A Airliner
- 1930 variant available with different interior configurations.
- SM-6000-B1 Airliner
- 1931 all-passenger variant with better interior equipment.
- SM-6000-B2 Airliner
- As the B1 but with a mixed mail/passenger interior.
- Model U Airliner
- 1932 improved model with three 240hp (179kW) Lycoming R-680-BA engines on stub wings.
- C-91
- United States military designation for one SM-6000-A (s/n 42-79547) impressed into service in 1942.
Survivors
Only two of these high-wing models are known to exist. One is owned and operated by Mid America Flight Museum in
Operators
- American Airways[4]
- Boston-Maine Central Vermont Airways
- Century Airlines[4]
- Chesapeake Airways
- Chicago and Southern Airlines
- Delta Air Lines[4]
- National Airlines System[4]
- New York, Philadelphia and Washington Airway Corporation aka Ludington Airline[4]
- Rapid Air Lines[4]
Specifications (SM-6000-B)
General characteristics
- Crew: two
- Capacity: ten (B1), eight (B2)
- Length: 42 ft 0 in (12.8 m)
- Wingspan: 60 ft 0 in (18.29 m)
- Height: 12 ft 0 in (3.66 m)
- Wing area: 490 sq ft (45.6 m2)
- Empty weight: 5,670 lb (2,620 kg)
- Gross weight: 8,600 lb (3,910 kg)
- Powerplant: 3 × Lycoming R-680 , 215 hp (160 kW) each
Performance
- Maximum speed: 146 mph (234 km/h, 127 kn)
- Cruise speed: 125 mph (200 km/h, 109 kn)
- Range: 390 mi (628 km, 340 nmi)
- Service ceiling: 14,200 ft (4,330 m)
- Rate of climb: 1,000 ft/min (5.1 m/s)
Notes
- ^ Wegg 1990, p.118.
- ^ Donald M. Pattillo. A History in the Making: 80 Turbulent Years in the American General Aviation Industry. p. 10.
- ^ As pictured on timetable, March 21, 1934, Boston Maine Airways Central Vermont Airways, and other schedules; pictured in Boston and Maine Airways employee magazine, "Boston-Maine Airways, Inc., Take Air Again in Year-Round Service;" circa 1933; discussed at length by Robert W. Mudge in Adventures of a Yellowbird: the biography of an airline, Branden Press, 1969.
- ^ a b c d e f Gradidge 1989, p. 18
- ^ "Stinson Trimotors - Holcomb's Aerodrome".
- ^ Wegg 1990, p.128.
References
- Gradidge, J. M. G. (November 1989). "American Classics: Stinson SM-6000". ISSN 0262-6950.
- Taylor, Michael J. H. (1989). Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation. London: Studio Editions.
- Wegg, John (1990). General Dynamics Aircraft and their Predecessors. London: Putnam Aeronautical Books. ISBN 0-85177-833-X.
- The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982-1985). Orbis Publishing.
External links
Media related to Stinson SM-6000 at Wikimedia Commons