Stinson Model R

The Stinson Model R was a single-engine high-wing monoplane built by the Stinson Aircraft Company in the early 1930s, developed from the Stinson Junior to replace the SM-8 Junior. It had a shorter fuselage and a revised cabin, and its main wheels were enclosed in streamlined fairings on a short stub wing that also carried the wing struts. The fuselage was welded steel tube covered in fabric, the wings had spruce spars and steel ribs, and power came from a Lycoming R-680 radial engine. The prototype first flew in autumn 1931 with Edward Stinson at the controls, and he was fatally injured in a crash during a sales demonstration from Chicago in January 1932. Sales were slow in the Depression, and only 39 were built, including five R-3 aircraft with retractable undercarriage, before the cheaper Reliant replaced it.