William B. Stout

William Bushnell Stout
Stout in 1947 with model of his skycar
Born	(1880-03-16)March 16, 1880 Quincy, Illinois
Died	March 20, 1956(1956-03-20) (aged 76) Phoenix, Arizona
Education	Hamline University University of Minnesota

William Bushnell Stout (March 16, 1880 – March 20, 1956) was a pioneering American inventor, engineer, developer and designer whose works in the automotive and aviation fields were groundbreaking. Stout designed an aircraft that eventually became the Ford Trimotor and was an executive at the Ford Motor Company.

William Bushnell Stout was born March 16, 1880 in Quincy, Illinois. He graduated from the Mechanic Arts High School, in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1898. He then attended Hamline University, and transferred in his second year to the University of Minnesota, being forced to quit due to extreme eye problems. He married Alma Raymond in 1906. Stout was interested in mechanics, especially aeronautics, founding the Model Aero Club of Illinois. In 1907 he became Chief Engineer for the Schurmeir Motor Truck Company and in 1912, he became automobile and aviation editor for the Chicago Tribune. In the same year he founded Aerial Age, the first aviation magazine ever published in the United States. He was also a contributor to the Minneapolis Times under the pen name, "Jack Knieff."

In 1914, Stout became Chief Engineer of the Scripps-Booth Automobile Company. His "Cyclecar" had caught the attention of Alvan MacCauley who subsequently brought Stout to Packard Motors in Detroit. He had become General Sales Manager of the Packard Motor Car Company and in 1916, when they started an aviation division, they asked Stout to become its first Chief Engineer. In 1919 he started the Stout Engineering Company in Dearborn, Michigan, complete with a research section and later built the prototype Stout Scarab car in 1932. In 1934 he founded the Stout Motor Car Company. The "beetle-like" Scarab featured an all-aluminum tubular airframe covered with aluminum skin, with the engine compartment at the rear, a sealed storage compartment in front of a passenger compartment with reclining aircraft-type seats. The front or nose of the vehicle contained the spare tire. Only nine Scarabs were ever built and although advanced, the public never appreciated the innovative features of the vehicles.