Page 25 - Volume 13 Number 2

Ann Mellor and the small but dedicated workforce, and headed west in his quest for a fresh start.
Beech was sorry to lose his chief engineer, but he understood Lloyd’s desire to make his own name in the aviation business. The seven years Stearman and his family had spent in Wichita had served him well, but many new challenges lay ahead that would test his spirit and determination to succeed. The decision to relocate to California was a logical one for a number of reasons:
= Hoyt and his friends possessed both the money and facilities to help establish the Stearman Aircraft Company.
= There was growing demand for custom-built airplanes, particularly in the Los Angeles area
where Hollywood produced a steady crop of wealthy thespians.
= There was an emerging need for new airplanes to carry the airmail within California as well as the states of Nevada, Utah, Idaho and Washington.
= Lloyd had designed an entirely new biplane that not only built on his experience at Travel Air but would incorporate a number of innovations not found on a majority of light aircraft.
Late in October Stearman and his family relocated to Venice, near Santa Monica, and early in December a charter was granted and filed with the State of California for the new company, “Stearman Aircraft, Inc.” A small building was leased and construction of the first airplane
Stearman Aircraft, Inc., began in a small building in Venice, California. This is the only known photograph of the facility located at 353 Third Street. Completed airframes were taken by truck to nearby Clover Field in Santa Monica for assembly, rigging and test flights. (Santa Monica Public Library)
FEBRUARY 2019 KING AIR MAGAZINE • 23