TF-KAR - Stinson 108-2 Voyager „Gola“

  Information in English below

Almennur fróðleikur um Stinson Voyager flugvélar:

Stinson verksmiðjan var stofnuð árið 1920 í Dayton, Ohio, af Edward Stinson. Ekki var farið í neina flugvéla- framleiðslu til að byrja með, heldur var starfsemin í ýmiskonar viðskiptum. Fimm árum síðar fluttist verksmiðjan til Detroit í Michigan. Þá höfðu fjármálamenn í Detroit ákveðið að leggja fjármagn í verksmiðjuna og stofnað var Stinson Aircraft Syndicate, sem staðsett var í Wayne í útjaðri Detroit þar sem síðar varð Detroit Metropolitan flugvöllur. Fyrsta Stinson flugvélin, sex sæta Stinson SM-1 Detroiter, fór í sitt fyrsta flug 25.janúar 1926, og sló í gegn samstundis. Um var að ræða fyrstu flugvélina í heiminum með hituðu hljóðeinangruðu rými, rafmagns startara og hjólabremsum. Seldar voru 10 flugvélar fyrsta árið, en árið 1929 voru afhentar 121 flugvél.

Á árinu 1930 buðu Stinson verksmiðjurnar upp á sex módel sem voru frá fjögra sæta Junior upp í þriggja hreyfla Stinson 6000. Stofnandinn Edward Stinson, eða “Eddie” eins og hann var kallaður,  var flugmaður en hann hafði haldið áfram að fljúga, aðallega glæfraleg sýningarflug fyrir verksmiðjuna. Þann 26.janúar 1932 var hann í sýningar- og sölutúr í Chicago er flugvél hans fórst og lést Edward, aðeins 38 ára gamall. Hann hafði þá 16.000 flugtíma sem var hið allra mesta í heiminum á þeim tíma. Fyrir og eftir dauða Edwards urðu breytingar á eignarhaldi á verksmiðjunni, árið 1929 keypti Cord Corporation (bílaframleiðandi) 60% hlut í verksmiðjunni. Síðar eignaðist Aviation Corporation hana og að lokum eignaðist Vultee hana og síðar Consolidated Vultee eftir að Consolidatet og Vultee sameinuðust (Convair). Eins og hjá fleiri flugvélaverksmiðjum eftir stríðslok gekk framleiðslan frekar illa og 1.desember 1948 var Stinson framleiðslan seld Piper Aircraft Corporation. Piper lauk við að selja þær 325 Stinson 108 flugvélar sem þegar voru tilbúnar, en alls voru smíðaðar 5261 Stinson 108 flugvélar.

Skömmu áður en verksmiðjan var seld, var lokið við hönnun á tveggja hreyfla flugvél. Var þar um að ræða málmflugvél með tvöföldu stéli, Piper smíðaði eitt tilraunaeintak og flaug hún í mars 1952 sem Twin Stinson. Eftir að Piper hafði breitt henni lítillega, sett í hana öflugri mótora og eitt stél, fór hún í tilraunaflug sem “1A10”  þann 29.janúar 1954, að því loknu fór hún í fulla framleiðslu á sama ári, undir framleiðslu-heitinu Piper PA-23 Apache. Þetta var fyrsta tveggja hreyfla flugvélin sem smíðuð var úr málmi fyrir almennan markað. Síðari þróun af henni varð svo PA-23 Aztec.

Stinson 108 var hinsvegar ekki sett í framleiðslu hjá Piper þar sem þeir voru að koma á markað PA-20 Pacer sem var hliðstæð Stinson 108. Var framleiðsluréttur Stinson 108  seldur upp úr 1960 til Univair sem enn hefur þennan rétt og hefur framleitt varahluti í flug- vélarnar. Auk þess smíðaði Univair eina Stinson 108-5, árið 1963, en ekki varð um neina fjölda-framleiðsla á henni. Fram- leiðsla á Stinson 108 hófst árið 1946 og lauk 1948, að einni flugvél undanskyldri.

Stinson 108 flugvélarnar voru framleiddar í nokkrum mismunandi útgáfum:

• Stinson 108
• Stinson 108-1
• Stinson 108-2
• Stinson 108-3
• Stinson 108-4
• Stinson 108-5

Alls hafa fimm Stinson flugvélar verið skráðar á Íslandi:

• TF-AZX - Stinson S.R. 8CM Reliant, fyrsta flugvél Loftleiða.
• TF-BZX / TF-RVB / TF-RKB - Stinson S.R. 8B Reliant, önnur flugvél Loftleiða.
• TF-RVC - Stinson O-49A Vigilant, keypt af Loftleiðum.
• TF-KAR / TF-AIM - Stinson 108-1 Voyager keypt var til landsins af Flugskólanum Þyt.
• TF-SRM / TF-FRM / TF-KAR - Stinson 108-2 keypt til landsins af Ragnari J. Ragnarssyni.

     Information in English:

The history of TF-KAR:

The aircraft that is now TF-KAR rolled off the factory line on the 17^th of March 1947, but at that time Stinson was part of Consolidated Vultee (Convair). It was registered as NC-9156K. In the early 50´s the “C” was dropped from the registration, and the aircraft became N-9156K. At the moment, very little is known about it´s history in the U.S.

This aircraft was originally produced as a Stinson 108-1 with a Franklin 6A4-150-B13 engine of 150 horsepower. In May 1984, the aircraft is restored in Vincennes, Indiana, and during the restoration it was converted to a Stinson 108-2 by installing a Franklin 6A4-165-B3 engine of 165 horsepower. During the restoration, the wings were also changed, and the wings from a Stinson 108-3 installed. In a way, the aircraft should be registered as a Stinson 108-2.5 today after the changes made to it! The aircraft was last owned in the U.S. by Garry Coway, but was bought to Iceland by Ragnar J Ragnarsson in early 1987. It was registered to Mr. Ragnarsson on the 4^th of March 1987 as TF-SRM and made it first flight in Iceland on the 6^th of March 1987.

In 1991, the aircraft was sold to Arni Gudmundsson and kept it´s registration letters. In the spring of 1998, the aircraft was sold to the Sulan Flying Club, which late in 2001 changed it´s name to Frimann Flying Club.

In May of 2002 the Franklin engine was removed from the aircraft to make way for a Lycoming O-360-A4M engine of 180 horsepower. At the same time the registration was changed to TF-FRM, even though the owner remained the same. In July of 2006, the aircraft was sold to Thytur Flying Club. On the 13^th of April 2007 the registration was changed again, this time to TF-KAR which is the same registration as an earlier Stinson 108 had had from 1953 until 1961. The aircraft is still owned by Thytur flying club. In July 2009, the aircraft had an incident when it was blown over in a gale during taxy at Vestmann Island, resulting in a damaged propeller.

A brief history of Stinson Voyager aircraft:

The Stinson factory was formed in 1929 in Dayton, Ohio by Edward Stinson. The factory didn´t build any aircraft to begin with, but was purely involved in other business. Five years later the factory was relocated to Detroit, Michigan. Local businessmen in Detroit had agreed to finance the factory and a new company, the Stinson Aircraft Syndicate, was formed and located at Wayne in the suburb of Detroit where Detroit Metropolitan Airport was later located. The first Stinson aircraft was the Stinson SM-1 Detroiter, which was a six seater that first flew on the 25^th of January 1926 and proved an instant success. The Detroiter was the first passenger aircraft in the world with a heated and sound proofed passenger cabin, electric starter for the engines and wheel brakes. During the first year of production, 10 aircraft were delivered but in 1929, 121 aircraft were delivered.

In 1930 the Stinson factory was offering a total of six aircraft models, from the four seat Junior to the three engine Stinson 6000. The founder of the factory, Edward Stinson, or Eddie as he was affectionately known, was a pilot and after the formation of the company continued to fly, concentrating mainly on spectacular demonstration flights for the factory. On the 26^th of January 1932 Eddie was demonstrating in Chicago. During the demonstration, the aircraft crashed and Eddie was fatally wounded. At the time of his death, Eddie was only 38 years old and had about 16.000 flight hours which was considered among the highest in the world at the time.

Both before, and after Eddie´s death, the factory was in a fluid state regarding ownership! In 1929 the Cord Corporation bought 60% share and later The Aviation Corporation acquired total ownership of the company. Later still, the Vultee company acquired control of the factory, and when Vultee and Consolidated merged to become Convair the Stinson factory followed.

After the war, many aircraft manufactures found themselves in dire financial difficulties as the perceived boom in aircraft sales didn´t materialize. On the 1^st of December 1948, the Stinson part of Convair was sold to the Piper Aircraft Corporation, and Piper continued to sell the 325 Stinson 108 aircraft that were already built at the factory. The total production of Stinson 108 aircraft amounted to 5261 examples.

Shortly before the Stinson factory was sold, it had finalized the design of a light twin engined aircraft. The all metal design featured a twin tails and was built as an experimental aircraft by Piper and flew in 1952 as the Twin Stinson. After Piper had modified the aircraft slightly, including installing bigger engines and modifying the tail to a single unit, the aircraft flew again as the “1A10” on the 29^th of January 1954 and was put into production later the same year as the Piper PA-23 Apache. It was the first twin engined aircraft made of metal to be offered to the general aviation market. Later development of the type was the Piper PA-23 Aztec

The Stinson 108 was not put into production by Piper, as they were already marketing a design of their own that was in the same category, the Piper PA-20 Pacer. The production rights to the Stinson 108 were sold from Piper in the early 60´s to Univair which still holds the production rights and produces spare parts. Univair produced one Stinson 108-5 in 1963, but did not proceed into series production. The production of the Stinson 108 started in 1946 and the line was closed in 1948.

Stinson 108 aircraft were produced in a few variants, and they are:

• Stinson 108
• Stinson 108-1
• Stinson 108-2
• Stinson 108-3
• Stinson 108-4
• Stinson 108-5

Five Stinson aircraft have been registered in Iceland:

• TF-AZX - Stinson S.R. 8CM Reliant, the first aircraft of Loftleiðir Icelandic
• TF-BZX / TF-RVB / TF-RKB - Stinson S.R. 8B Reliant, the second aircraft of Loftleiðir Icelandic.
• TF-RVC - Stinson O-49A Vigilant, bought by Loftleiðir Icelandic.
• TF-KAR/TF-AIM - Stinson 108-1 Voyager bought by Thytur Flying School
• TF-SRM / TF-FRM / TF-KAR - Stinson 108-2 bought by Ragnar J. Ragnarsson.

Smellið á myndina hér fyrir neðan til að skoða fleiri myndir af flugvélinni TF-KAR
Click on the picture to see a photogallery of this aircraft