Stinson Model O

The Stinson Model O was a single-engine military trainer built by the Stinson Aircraft Company in 1933 to meet a requirement of the Honduran Air Force. Robert Hall, designer of the Gee Bee Model Z racer, combined the wings and tail of the Stinson SR Reliant with a new fuselage seating two in tandem open cockpits, the only open cockpits ever fitted to a Stinson. It had a Lycoming R-680 radial engine, could carry two forward-firing machine guns, a flexible gun for the observer and a bomb rack, and first flew in May 1933. Honduras took delivery of its first Model Os in December 1933, where they formed the initial equipment of its national aviation school. Nine were built in all, with three going to China and one each to Argentina and Brazil. An attempt by Republican Spain to buy 100 in 1938 was stopped by the American arms embargo, and a replica first flew in 2010.