My Granddad had a metalized Stinson 108-3 when I was a kid and I always thought it was the classiest looking of the planes that frequented our home strip. Others were all Cessna trikes, and not that theres anything wrong with them per se, but that Stinson really appealed to me.
Eventually the time came when my wife and I agreed that ownership could be a reality a couple years down the road. I of course started reading up on Stinsons now through grown up (older anyway) eyes and was quite happy to see what a good reputation the ol' Stinson has. I never liked the big tail but I knew I wanted the baggage door. More power was a must so it was settled, I was looking for a 108-2 with a 220 in it, simple right?
I hunted and hunted and came to the conclusion that I may as well be hunting leprechauns. The right plane in the right condition with reasonable hours on the right engine was as rare as whale feathers.
I went back to the drawing board hoping to increase my chances of finding a plane that met most of my needs as well as wants. There are a great many more Pacers to be had than there are Stinsons, and with their capabilities, make damn fine planes. After a less exhausting hunt I tracked down a Pacer in NY that you may remember reading met its demise in a crosswind on the ferry flight from NY to LA.
God is good and the insurance man was kind so I got what amounted to a do-over on airplane ownership. Figuring I'd never be insurable again in a pacer, I cast my gaze back to the well regarded Stinson, they say you can ground loop one, but you have to be trying pretty hard. Whether thats the case or not, I don't know but it got me looking for one again. This time my resolve was strong and I decided I'd hold out as long as it took to find one......or I could look for a few months and then start considering 182s when I hadn't found the right Stinson yet.
Fortunately, after a call for available examples of each to sit in, a fellow BCPer came through with the right plane.
She (the plane) made the trek from the Kenai Peninsula all the way to the red rocks of Utah where I took ownership as well as the reigns on transport to Oxnard. There were several options discussed, a couple attempted but in the end, a good friend of mine with a much more open schedule agreed to do the job. At 4 A.M. one morning he, an A&P, and another companion set out from the LA basin for a LONG day that was planned to end in Oxnard. The plane had other ideas as the alternator or voltage regulator quit early in the journey rendering the evening portion of the trip a no-go. Most of a week and a bit of head scratchin' later a plan was devised and executed. A good charge was put on the battery, the alternator belt removed and the plane brought all the way home in the daylight.
The plane's a 1947 108-1 whose serial number allowed it to be born with a baggage door. The other -2 feature is the rudder trim system which was added when installing the PZL Franklin 220 in 2000. The plane was restored from the ground up during the same time frame by Dick Ward of Chenango Forks NY whose name seems to be highly spoken of in Stinson circles, anybody here know of him?
The interior is a solid 9.5 and exterior more like an 7.5, the instrumentation is somewhat dated (Loran, ADF) but in excellent condition, the engine runs smooth and sounds as badass as any non radial I've ever heard. There are a few items that need taken care of but I hope to be getting familiar with her within the next few weeks.
Stand by for a barrage of first time owner questions from me,
SD
