Lloyd Stearman


Lloyd Carlton Stearman was an American aviator, aircraft designer, and early aviation entrepreneur.

Biography

Stearman was born in Wellsford, Kansas. From 1917 - 1918, he attended Kansas State College in Manhattan, Kansas, where he studied engineering and architecture. In 1918, he left school to enlist in the U.S. Naval Reserve in San Diego, California; while there he learned to fly Curtiss N-9 seaplanes.
During the mid-1920s Matty Laird, designer of the Laird Swallow aircraft, hired Stearman as a mechanic, giving him his first exposure to fixed-wing aircraft manufacturing. On February 4, 1925, Stearman and Walter Beech teamed up with Clyde Cessna to form the Travel Air Manufacturing Company. On 27 September 1927, he left to form his own manufacturing company, the Stearman Aircraft Corporation. It was there that he built the Stearman C2 and Stearman C3, and designed other biplanes for mail and cargo delivery, observation and training. Following World War II, many Stearman PT-13 primary trainers were converted to agricultural aircraft; In 1948 more than 4,345 Stearman aircraft were used in agricultural flying.
In 1929, Stearman Aircraft merged with Boeing Airplane Co., Boeing Aircraft of Canada, Varney Airlines, National Air Transport, Pacific Air Transport, Boeing Air Transport, Hamilton Standard Propeller, Sikorsky, Pratt & Whitney, Chance Vought, Northrop and United Airports of Connecticut to become United Aircraft and Transportation Corp, owned by William Boeing. Stearman held the position of President of the Stearman Division until 1931, when he resigned. In 1932, Stearman became president of Lockheed Aircraft Company, during which time the Lockheed 10 Electra and Lockheed 12 were designed and introduced. In 1936, with Dean B. Hammond, he formed the Stearman-Hammond Aircraft Corporation to produce the Stearman-Hammond Y-1.
Stearman died of cancer on April 3, 1975 at home in Northridge, Los Angeles.

Legacy

In recognition of his contributions to the aircraft industry, Lloyd Stearman was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, Ohio in July 1989.