01/31/2012. The Stinson Aircraft Corporation has one of the longest pedigrees in the aviation business, going back to 1926 when the company was formed by Eddie Stinson in Detroit for the purpose of building the SB-1 Detroiter four-seat cabin biplane. The Stinson line progressed with the SM-2 Junior, the eleven-seat SM-6000 and a succession of four-seat high wing monoplanes culminating with the SR series of Reliants.

In the late 1930s, Stinson saw the need for an aircraft which was lighter and cheaper than the SR-10 Reliant. They designed the HW-75 (also designated Model 105) which was a side-by-side two-seater with a strut-braced high wing and fixed tail wheel landing gear. The prototype HW-75 (NX21121 c/n 7000) was powered by a 50 hp Lycoming engine, but the design was intended for greater things and the 276 production aircraft (c/n 7002 to 7277) were built as a three-seat machine with a 75 hp engine. The type certificate was issued on May 20, 1939 and a considerable number of 105s were delivered with both the Lycoming engine and also (as the HW-80) with an 80 hp Continental A-80-6.

The Model 105 was followed by the Model 10 Voyager which was generally similar, but incorporated a wider four-seat cabin and modified engine cowling design, 260 Model 10s (c/n 7501 to 7760) were built. The Model 10A was fitted with a 90 hp Franklin 4AC-99 engine and had a 45 lb (20 kg) higher take off gross weight, the Model 10B had a 75 hp Lycoming GO-145 engine. Of the Models 10A and 10B a total of 515 aircraft were produced (c/n 7761 to 8275).

The advent of war called a halt to civil production of the Model 10 although a number of these aircraft were delivered to the USAAC as the AT-19A (later
L-9A). Stinson, as a division of Consolidated Vultee (Convair) then embarked on production of the Model 76 (the L-5 military cooperation aircraft) which was virtually a direct adaptation of the Model 10A with an 185 hp Lycoming
O-435-A engine and an extensively glazed cabin area.

In 1945, with L-5 production at an end, Stinson announced the postwar Voyager, the Model 108. This was, in fact, a rather larger aircraft than the Model 10 with seating for four people and an 150 hp Franklin 6A4-150-B3 power plant. The Model 108 was built of steel tube and fabric with an all-metal tail unit and was offered in standard trim or as the "Flying Station Wagon" with a utility interior. The final variant of this model featured an enlarged tail unit to compensate for the higher power of its 165 hp Franklin engine.

The pictured aircraft was built in 1941 and originally fitted with a 90 hp Franklin 4AC-99 four-cylinder horizontally-opposed air-cooled engine that eventually was replaced by a 90 hp Warner SS40/50 seven-cylinder air-cooled radial engine.