Page 34 - Volume 14 Number 10

IN HISTORY
The nation’s fledgling aviation industry benefited greatly from such investors and fueled Wall Street’s seemingly unstoppable growth. Private individuals, businessmen and high-ranking corporate executives were beginning to realize the advantages of flying compared to automobiles or trains, and flight schools were popping up across the country almost daily in an effort to train the latest batch of would-be aviators.
Amid that wave of prosperity, Lloyd C. Stearman sought to expand the company’s product line by designing a biplane that could be powered by radial engines rated at 165-300 horsepower. Designated the Model 6 Cloudboy, the ship began life in the engineering department at the old Bridgeport factory that had served as the company’s headquarters since the autumn of 1927. Company officials realized that a market existed for an affordable training aircraft, and the Model 6 was designed to be Stearman Aircraft’s entry-level product; one that would cost less to manufacture and sell without sacrificing overall performance that had become a worldwide hallmark of the Stearman brand.
Working in concert with chief engineer Mac Short and his staff, Lloyd planned to offer the Model 6 equipped with the new J6-5 static, air-cooled radial engine manufactured by the Wright Aeronautical Corporation in Paterson, New Jersey. Rated at 165 horsepower, the five-cylinder powerplant was relatively thrifty with a gallon of aviation fuel and enjoyed a solid reputation as a reliable engine. For customers who demanded more power, the Model 6 could be fitted with a nine-cylinder Wright J6-9 that developed 300 horsepower.
Lloyd also recognized that the Cloudboy could be a strong contender for military contracts, and he harbored high hopes that the airplane would find its greatest success wearing the colors of the United States Army Air Corps. The air service, however, had been starving for funding by Congress since the end of the “Great War,” and by 1930 was preparing to solicit bids for a new primary trainer to replace the aging but reliable Consolidated PT-3 that had entered service in the mid- 1920s. The PT-3 had, in turn, replaced the obsolete fleet of Curtiss JN-4/JN-6 biplanes that had served the Army Air Service well since 1917. During the postwar years Consolidated had built more than 460 trainers, and the rugged PT-3 was still teaching fledglings how to fly in the mid-1930s.
Lloyd Stearman’s final design before he resigned from the company was the Model 6 Cloudboy. Rugged and reliable, the biplane was intended to be the Stearman Aircraft Company’s entry-level airplane. (Kansas Aviation Museum)
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32 • KING AIR MAGAZINE
OCTOBER 2020