Page 37 - Volume 13 Number 10

Another view of the graceful Model 81 taken at the Stearman factory in 1933. Note landing lights built into the lower wing panels. The airplane was powered by a Pratt & Whitney Wasp Jr., radial engine rated at 420 horsepower driving a two-blade, ground-adjustable propeller. The checkerboard-covered Ford Model AA fuel truck is also noteworthy.
for a military training aircraft. Only one airplane was built, apparently by the company on speculation that it would spark sales, particularly in Latin and South America. The Model 81 featured a multi-segment sliding canopy over both cockpits and was originally powered by a Pratt & Whitney Wasp Jr. rated at 400 horsepower. Later it was replaced with a Wasp Jr. developing 420 horsepower, and later still that nine-cylinder radial was replaced by a 420-horsepower Wright R-975-E2 (J6-9).
In 1933, the Model 81 was flown on an extensive demonstration tour of South America by Stearman sales and export representative, Clark M. Carr. His efforts, however, went unrewarded and eventually the handsome biplane was sold into Mexico and may have served with the Mexican air force. In October the airplane was certified through an amendment to the Model 80’s ATC and was also approved for operation on Edo floats. In a final effort to arouse interest in the design, the company proposed building the Model 82 but the concept never went beyond the drawing board.
OCTOBER 2019
It would have been equipped with two forward-firing, 0.30-caliber machine guns in the upper wing center section and one 0.30-caliber machine gun mounted in the aft cockpit. Provisions for carrying small bombs on racks under the lower wing panels also would have been available.
The Sportster and the Model 81 helped the Stearman Aircraft Company survive into the mid-1930s when Congress loosened the purse strings allowing the United States military to acquire new aircraft. One of the airplanes designed to compete for Army and Navy contracts was the Stearman Model 70, but that is another story. KA
Ed Phillips, now retired and living in
the South, has researched and written eight books on the unique and rich aviation history that belongs to Wichita, Kan. His writings have focused on the evolution of the airplanes, companies and people that have made Wichita the “Air Capital of the World” for more than 80 years.
KING AIR MAGAZINE • 35