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completed and delivered to customer American Airlines, Lloyd Stearman decided to resign from the company he had founded in 1926 that still bore his name. His decision came in the wake of a business trip to New York City where he met with officials of UA&TC. Lloyd’s announcement came as a surprise to many Wichitans, but his departure may have been inevitable given his independent nature and entrepreneurial spirit.
His company had become a mere cog in the wheel of a giant profit-oriented enterprise that had swallowed up not only Lloyd’s company, but also Boeing Airplane Company, Pratt & Whitney Aircraft, Chance-Vought Corporation, Hamilton Aero manufacturing company and the Sikorsky Aircraft Company. Stearman told local newspaper reporters that he intended to leave Wichita and return to California “where he will take a rest and look into various business prospects,” according to the July 7, 1931, edition of the Wichita Eagle. Lloyd also told reporters that, “The growth of aviation may be slow in the next few years, but it will be consistent and steady. I believe there is no question but that it will shortly become one of the great industries of the nation.” He added that, “Because of Wichita’s natural advantages as to climate, and because it is easily reached from the eastern and western airplane markets, this city will always be an important factor in the growth of aviation.” In the second week of October 1931, Stearman and his family climbed into their eight-cylinder, four-door Packard and headed west.
After his resignation, Lloyd had begun working on the design of a completely new airplane intended for small airlines and airmail operators. In California, he teamed up with Walter T. Varney and Robert E. Gross to form the Stearman-Varney Aircraft Company. The Great Depression may have decimated the commercial aircraft industry, but it also provided unique opportunities for those brave enough to take a risk. So it was that in 1932 Lloyd, Gross and Varney cobbled together $40,000 to buy the assets of the Lockheed Aircraft Company. Stearman was appointed president and at age 34 began the fourth phase of his distinguished career in aeronautics. In 1933 the new design Stearman had been working on in the parlor of his house in Wichita became the Lockheed Model 10 Electra, which first flew in February of that year. Lloyd would remain with the Lockheed company until 1935 when he resigned to pursue other aviation interests.
Meanwhile, back in Wichita the year 1932 had marked a low point in the fortunes of the Stearman Aircraft Company. The factory had grown quiet and only a skeleton crew remained on the slender payroll. The number of employees had sunk to fewer than 25 – down from 250 during 1929. Thanks to the hefty bank accounts of UA&TC, the Stearman operation still survived while senior officials of the company, Walter P. Inness, Jr., and Julius E. Schaefer, hoped for better days ahead. Meanwhile, the engineering department, still under
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the capable leadership of Mac Short, had been reduced to only a few souls and blueprints were collecting dust on the drawing boards. Money for new projects was extremely tight and the business was operating day-to- day on a shoestring budget.
Fortunately, in September 1932 the situation suddenly took a turn for the better. The Boeing Airplane Company had contracted with the Stearman factory to manufacture hundreds of detailed parts and assemblies for the Model 247 airline transport – a new, all-metal, twin-engine monoplane featuring retractable landing gear and controllable-pitch propellers. The factory would be responsible for building the transport’s main landing gear, cockpit control columns, instrument panels and seats for the pilot and co-pilot. The Boeing 247 would soon sound the death knell of aging Ford Trimotors, Curtiss Condors and even Boeing’s Model 80 transports that had served the nation’s airline system well during the late 1920s and into the early 1930s. The Boeing 247 was designed to carry up to 10 passengers and about 500 pounds of mail at a cruising speed of 175 mph. United Air Lines had ordered a large fleet of the monoplanes and planned to operate the airliners on routes between Chicago and California. The order from Boeing would prove to be a blessing for the Stearman Aircraft Company and probably saved the enterprise from extinction.
In addition, the Boeing contract would allow Schaefer to begin interviewing and hiring experienced, skilled mechanics, machine operators, welders and sheetmetal craftsmen, many of whom had been laid off by Travel Air, Cessna and Stearman during the past three years. Although some of the men had found work in other parts of the country, a majority had remained in Wichita and the surrounding areas and were quickly notified of the job opportunities. Looking ahead to 1933, some of
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An aerial view of the new Stearman Aircraft Company factory was taken in the early 1930s. The sprawling facility on South Oliver Road remained unchanged until 1939 when large orders for primary training airplanes led to major expansions.
(Edward H. Phillips Collection)