Page 21 - June Volume 10 Volume 6

California, to Kansas “would add greatly to the size and activity of the Stearman plant,” and that the Alpha and the smaller Beta monoplanes would be built at the Stearman factory.2
By mid-1931, however, sales of new Stearman airplanes were becoming increasingly difficult to achieve and the future looked bleaker than it had in 1930. It was, therefore, a great relief to Lloyd Stearman when, in June 1931, American Airlines threw the company a lifesaver by ordering seven Model 4CM-1 biplanes to supplement the five it already had in service. Building the small fleet of Senior Speed Mail ships kept the factory busy throughout that summer as workers labored long hours at miniscule wages to complete the contract on time.3
Soon after the first of American Airline’s 4CM-1 departed the factory in July, so did Lloyd Stearman. His decision to resign from the company that bore his name came in the wake of a business trip to New York City. He met with officials of UA&TC and announced his plans to seek new opportunities elsewhere. His decision came as quite a surprise to many of his friends and associates, but his departure was inevitable given his independent nature and entrepreneurial spirit. The company he had founded and guided to worldwide notoriety had become just another cog in the wheel of UA&TC, and Stearman had tired of playing a secondary role as the company’s chief consultant and technical advisor. Lloyd’s plans included a return to California where “he will take a rest and look into various business prospects,” according to a report in the Wichita Eagle newspaper.4
The year 1932 marked the low point in the fortunes of the struggling Stearman Aircraft Company. With no orders for new airplanes, the factory grew quiet and only a skeletal crew remained on the slender payroll. The number of employees had plummeted from 125 in December 1930 to fewer than 25 that summer. Mac Short’s engineering staff had been reduced to himself and
a few other men, and the drawing boards were gathering dust. Money for daily operations was extremely tight and the company was operating on a shoestring budget. In the wake of these hard realities, senior company officials circled the wagons and waited for better days to come.
Early in September, those better days did come. The Boeing Airplane Company contracted with the Stearman factory to build hundreds of detail parts and assemblies for the Boeing Model 247 airline transport. The all-metal, twin-engine monoplane could carry 10 passengers and 500 pounds of mail at a cruising speed of 175 mph. United Air Lines had ordered a large fleet of the latest Boeing design and planned to operate the aircraft on routes between Chicago and California. The contracts proved to be a blessing and played a significant role in saving the ailing Stearman enterprise from extinction. The factory would be responsible for manufacturing landing gear, control columns, instrument panels and seats for the pilot and copilot.
Schaefer quickly began to hire experienced mechanics, machine operators, welders and sheet metal experts, many of whom had lost their jobs during the past three years. Soon the factory was humming once again as the work of 100 new employees filled the back shops with components for the Boeing 247. The contract would keep them all busy well into 1933. By the summer of that year, Innes and Schaefer were becoming increasingly optimistic about the future of the American economy. Business was slowly gaining momentum and the dark abyss of the Great Depression seemed to be giving way to a light at the end of the tunnel. Yet, Innes and Schaefer remained keenly aware that the market for new commercial aircraft would continue to be fundamentally weak in the near term. Therefore, they reasoned that pursuing military contracts was the best path the company could seek for potential sales. In what could
In 1932, the Great Depression kept its stranglehold on Wichita’s aviation industry. As a subsidiary of United Aircraft & Transport Corporation, which included the Boeing Airplane Company, Stearman Aircraft Company survived primarily because it received subcontracts from Boeing to build landing gear and cockpit components for the Model 247 airline/executive transport. (PHILLIPS PETROLEUM COMPANY)