Stout Metal Airplane Division of the Ford Motor Company
| Industry | Aerospace |
|---|---|
| Fate | Shut down |
| Defunct | 1936 |
| Headquarters | Detroit, Michigan, United States |
|
Key people
|
Founder: William Bushnell Stout |
| Parent | Ford Motor Company |
Stout Metal Airplane Division of the Ford Motor Company was an American aircraft manufacturer founded by William Bushnell Stout as the Stout Metal Airplane Co. in 1922. The company was purchased by Ford Motor Company in 1924 and later produced the Ford Trimotor. At the height of the Depression, Ford closed the aircraft design and production division in 1936, temporarily re-entering the aviation market with the production of the B-24, at the Willow Run aircraft factory during World War II.
In 1909 Henry Ford lent three factory workers to his 15-year-old son Edsel, and Edsel's friend Charles Van Auken, to build a monoplane with a Model T engine. The Blériot XI inspired plane featured wing warping controls and a radiator perpendicular to the wind. The plane did not fly well in multiple test flights from the Fort Wayne parade grounds − the final flight ended in a tree − and the project was put aside. In World War I Ford went into the aircraft motor business with production of the Packard-designed Liberty engine for the military. Ford completed 3,950 Liberty engines. The newly formed Lincoln was bought by Ford in 1922.
William Stout was appointed to the board of the Aircraft Production Board in 1917. The board awarded Stout with a contract to build a blended wing fuselage aircraft, the Stout Batwing, intended for the US Army air service. One example was built and abandoned. In 1919 Stout formed Stout Engineering Laboratories. With money from the Champion Spark Plug corporation, Stout built the three-passenger Batwing Limousine in 1920. This was eventually re-skinned and had structural components replaced with duraluminum. Stout gave speeches across the country touting that all future aircraft would be metal. Soon after, Stout received a US Navy contract for three Stout ST-1 aircraft. The ST-1 was a twin-engine, all-metal torpedo bomber. Its test pilot was a record setting pilot, Eddie Stinson, who recently moved to Detroit with his own all-metal Junkers-Larsen JL-6 mailplane. A 1922 crash of the prototype canceled the contract. This led to an innovative form of financing for a new venture. He began a letter campaign requesting $1,000 from over 100 prominent businessmen. He got $128,000, including money and support from Henry and Edsel Ford. This started the Stout Metal Airplane company.
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