|
Registration Number NC7104
A Brand-New Airplane In The National
Air Races, 1928
This aircraft is a Stinson SM-2 Junior, manufacturer’s
serial number 1010 (ATC #48). It was manufactured July 1928
by Stinson Aircraft Corporation, Northville, MI. It left the
factory with a 110 HP Warner Scarab engine, S/N 21. It weighed
2,500 pounds. It was sold on 8/15/28 to Gaylord W. Norton
of Detroit, MI (Lieber-Norton Realtors) for $6,750. The company
sponsored the airplane in the 1928 National Air Races.
It landed at Tucson on 9/9/1928, piloted by George W. Hopkins,
amid the swirl of fellow competitors participating in the
1928 National
Air Races, named “On to Los Angeles” that
year. He carried one passenger, Gene Searle. They were inbound
from Lordsburg, NM headed for Los Angeles. Ultimately they
finished 11th, taking 34:25:13 to complete the race from New
York.
After the Races, NC7104 sold another ten times and suffered
three accidents before, on 6/8/39, it was involved in its
fourth and final accident at Mantua, OH. The pilot suffered
major injuries; passenger minor injuries. The airplane, “on
cross-country flight, Willoughby, OH-Buffalo, NY, encountered
thunderstorm, became lost, struck a hillside near Mantua,
while flying low on course ca. 90 degrees south of planned
route. Struck tree, swerved, then ground, skidded sideways
and cart wheeled over the right wing onto its nose. Pilot
broken legs, possible skull fracture, bruises and lacerations.”
Airplane, “complete washout.”
UPLOADED: 07/09/05 REVISED:
|
