The Stinson Detroiter was one of the two airplane types being operated by the China National Aviation Corporation at the opening of China’s Wings, when William Langhorne Bond went to China in 1931.
Stinson Detroiter
website of author Gregory Crouch
My very first flight took place in 1939 from an airfield in Grand Island, Nebraska. I was 6 years old and my grandfather took my brother and I up for a joy ride lasting about 30 minutes. The airplane: a Stinson Trimotor SM-6000B, shook and smoked and was very noisy. My window seat looked slightly forward at the starboard engine and the ride was one I have never forgotten. Bob Guilford
That’s an excellent memory! Thanks for sharing, Bob.
It appears that a famous early-20th century poet from China named Xu Zhimo died in one of these as he had the privilege to board a mail-flight from Nanjing to Beijing on November 19th, 1931; he never made it, as the plane crashed in rough weather into the mountains near Tai’an, in Shandong province of China, roughly 3/4 of the way to destination in Beijing from Nanjing. His story was and the air crash was briefly touched upon in an episode called “Journeys Through Time”(?) on CCTV-9 (the story primarily focused on his fmr-gf Lin Huiyin).
Greg,
I noticed this website and also the book you published titled China’s Wings. I was wondering if you might know much about the Stinson Detroiter. My grandfather perished in a plane crash in 1931. I was wondering if I might ask you some questions about this aircraft?
Thank you,
Tony
Sure can, Tony! Think we just spoke. What’s your connection to Yale? Cheers, Greg
My dad had a Stinson and he took all 7 of his children up flying in it. It shook like the dickens and looked like it was put together with an Erector set. He loved flying and got hooked in WWII as a mechanic.
Great anecdote, Cindy! Must have been a ton of fun patrolling the skies in that rig. Where did Dad serve?