Stout 1-AS Air Sedan

The Stout 1-AS Air Sedan was an all-metal monoplane that was an early example in the Ford Trimotor lineage.

Stout 1-AS Air Sedan
Role Commercial monoplane
National origin United States
Manufacturer Stout Engineering Company
Designer William Bushnell Stout, George H. Prudden
First flight February 9, 1923

Development

The Air Sedan was Stout's updated version of the Stout Batwing Limousine.[1] William Bushnell Stout, having just completed his famous letter writing financing effort for the company, embarked on a new aircraft using the "thick airfoil" batwing design, combined with all-metal construction employed overseas in Junkers aircraft.[2]

Design

The aircraft was a high wing single engine all-metal aircraft. The pilot and co-pilot sat side-by side, in an open cockpit mounted in the leading edge of the wing. The airfoil's chord stretched half the length of the fuselage, like the earlier batwing. The fuselage was fat and low slung compared to conventional aircraft of the time. Semicircular windows present in other Stout designs were installed.[3]

Operational history

The Air Sedan was tested at Selfridge Field in Mt. Clemens, Michigan on February 9, 1923 by Walter Edwin Lees.[4] The plane was considered underpowered. On one test flight, Lees and the lead engineer, George H. Prudden, took off with Stout as a passenger; they barely kept aloft, and landed in a neighboring field.[5] Later the powerplant was replaced by a 150 hp (112 kW) Hispano-Suiza engine.[6]

Specifications

General characteristics

Performance

References
  1. "The engineering index By American Society of Mechanical Engineers". 1921. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  2. Joe Christy, LeRoy Cook. American Aviation.
  3. William Bushnell Stout, James Gilbert. So Away I Went!.
  4. "Aerial age weekly, Volumes 15-16". July 1923. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  5. "Stout Air Sedan 1923". Retrieved 25 Feb 2011.
  6. Robert F. Pauley. Michigan Aircraft Manufacturers.
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