Stinson Model R

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

The Stinson Model R was an American light cabin monoplane built in the early 1930s by the Stinson Aircraft Company. It was a single-engine, high-wing aircraft developed from the Stinson Junior to replace the SM-8 Junior. Only 39 were built, including five Model R-3s with retractable gear.

Design and features:
- Shorter fuselage and a revised cabin compared with the SM-8.
- Undercarriage kept the basic tailwheel layout. The main wheels used a semi-cantilever design with streamlined fairings on a short stub wing that also carried wing bracing.
- Fuselage: fabric-covered welded steel-tube construction.
- Wings: mixed construction with spruce spars, steel ribs, and fabric covering.
- A retractable undercarriage was designed, but it offered limited performance gains, so only a few aircraft used it.

Engine:
- Powered by a Lycoming R-680 radial engine. Lycoming engines were favored because the Cord Corporation, which owned a controlling stake in Stinson, also controlled Lycoming.

Development and fate:
- The prototype, piloted by Edward Stinson, flew in autumn 1931 and was certified airworthy on January 25, 1932.
- Stinson began a sales tour, but during a Chicago demonstration a fuel shortage forced an emergency landing, and Stinson was killed in the crash.
- The Great Depression slowed sales, so only 39 Model Rs were built. Five of these were the R-3 variant with retractable gear.
- The Model R was succeeded by the Stinson Reliant, which offered similar performance at a much lower cost ($3,995 for the Reliant vs $5,595 for the Model R and $6,495 for the R-3).