Frozen Stinson

Air Classics, Jul 2003 by O'Leary, Michael

THIS STINSON SM-I DETROITER IS A RARE SURVIVOR FROM THE ERA OF LONG-DISTANCE RECORD FLIGHTS

Edward A. "Eddie" Stinson had developed an enviable reputation for building rugged and efficient aircraft during the 1920s including the SM-1 Detroiter. Derived from the SB-1 biplane, the Detroiter was a six-seater designed by William Naylor to specifications laid down by Stinson. The first SM-1 (Stinson Monoplane-1) flew during April 1927 and was powered by a Wright J5C radial of 220-hp. With a steel tube fuselage and wooden wing, the SM-1's airframe was covered in fabric. Two wide wing bracing struts were built from steel tube and balsa wood and fabric covered.

Traditional in appearance, the SM-1 quickly became a desirable aircraft for long-distance racers in the wake of Lindbergh's stunning flight from New York to Paris. With passenger seats removed, the SM-1's large cabin could hold extra fuel tanks needed for long-distance flights.

The second Detroiter was sold to Edward F. Schlee who flew it to victory in the 1927 For Reliability Air Tour and then used it in an around-the-world flight where the plane and its pilots covered 12,000 miles in just 145 flying hours (the US Navy refused to provide surface vessel support for the flight from Tokyo to the USA so the plane was returned by ship).

Other SM-1s were purchased for record flights - some successful, some not - and in early 1928, Bert "Fish" Hassell purchased SM-1 NX5408 (s/n M235) for a projected flight from Rockford, Illinois, to Stockholm, Sweden. The rather unusual starting and concluding points were due to the fact that Hassell was of Swedish extraction and his home town was Rockford.

The interior of the fuselage was stripped of its seats and large fuel tanks were installed and tested. Named Greater Rockford, the airplane received sponsorship from citizens of the town. Hassell picked Parker "Shorty" Cramer as his navigator and the two came up with a rather daring flight plan.

The aviators reasoned they could make the long flight with just six stops if they went via the unexplored polar route and one of the stops would be at Lloyd Camp near Sondre Stromfjord, Greenland, on a strip that had been prepared by a scientific expedition from Michigan. Since much of the flight would be over uncharted territory, a forced landing could mean disaster.

A large crowd assembled at Rockford to cheer the aviators off and the Stinson lumbered east on 18 August 1928 into a situation which could only be described as hazardous. However, the plane performed quite well and made excellent progress but on the second day, the pair found themselves in dense cloud, heavy winds and turbulence. Fighting to control the bucking Stinson, the pair was driven off course. Low on fuel after nearly 24 hours in the air, there was little choice but to crash-land on the fringe of the hostile Greenland ice cap.

They had come down just 75 miles from their planned destination but the pair battled the elements for 14 days as they walked their way to an encampment. Besides a brief flurry of newspaper headlines, the flight of Greater Rockford passed into obscurity until 1968.

During that year, the pilot of an aircraft flying over the ice cap spotted a downed aircraft. A search revealed that the plane was SM-I Great Rockford - missing for over four decades!

The plane, tipped over on its back, was in a remarkable state of preservation courtesy of the frozen environment. Winds had completely stripped the aircraft of its fabric covering but the engine and structure were in fantastic shape - the tires still held air! On 10 July 1968, a big Sikorsky helicopter from Greenlandair - an associate of Scandinavian Airlines Systems - airlifted the Stinson to a point where it could be disassembled, crated and shipped to the United States. Once back in the States, the Stinson was restored to static display condition by members of the Experimental Aircraft Association as a rare survivor of the early days of long-distance record flying.