Canadian Warplanes 4: Stinson Reliant

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(Library of Congress Photo, LC-USW33-055048-C)

Vultee-Stinson Reliant Mk. 1, RAF (Serial No. FK814), ex-USAAF AT-19 (Serial No. 42-46640), (c/n 77-1), built under the lend-lease agreement for Great Britain.  The UK ordered 500 Reliants in July 1942.

(Author Photo)

Stinson SR-10 (V-77) Reliant, Reg. No. CF-CAJ. Canadian Air and Space Conservancy (CASC), Edenvale, Ontario.

The Stinson Reliant is a popular single-engine four- to five-seat high-wing monoplane manufactured by the Stinson Aircraft Division of the Aviation Manufacturing Corporation of Wayne, Michigan. The Reliant is a high-wing, fixed-tailwheel land monoplane powered with a variety of radial engines. ,327 Reliants of all types were made from 1933 to 1941, in different models, from SR-1 to SR-10. The final commercial model, the Stinson Reliant SR-10, was introduced in 1938. A militarized version was first flown in February 1942 and remained in production through several additional versions (all externally identical) until late 1943 for the US and British armed forces.

Reliant production can be broken into two distinct types – the straight-wing Reliants (all models up to SR-6) and the gull-wing Reliants (all models from SR-7 and after, including the militarized V-77/AT-19), with there being little in common between the two groups of types. The straight-wing Reliant has a wing of constant chord and thickness which is supported by two struts each side with additional bracing struts. In contrast the taper-wing Reliant has the broadest chord and thickness of the wing at mid-span, with the outer wing trailing edge heavily angled forward and a rounded cutout on the leading edge root, all supported by a single strut. The taper wing has a significant step up between the fuselage and the wing, and the changes in wing thickness gave it a distinct gull appearance from the front. The civilian variant SR-7B: Four-seat cabin aircraft, powered by a Lycoming R-680-B6 radial piston engine. 47 built. Wikipedia

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(IWM Photos, A 19269)

Stinson Reliant, RN (Serial No. FK876), in service with the Fleet Air Arm for training observers at Lee-on-Solent Fleet Air Arm Station in the UK.

The RAF impressed 11 civil Reliants at the beginning of the war.  Air Britain serials lists 11 "of various marks".  Seven were registered in the W block and all went to 1 Communications Unit, survivors to 24 Sq or assorted units.   W7981 was ex G-AFHB, served with 1 CU, 24 Sq, Andover, and the Maintenance Command Communications Squadron, returning to civil life postwar.  Four more were separately  impressed in the X block, three went to the ATA and one to School of Technical Training.  The navy received 500 of the AT-19 version which they used to some extent as nav trainers but mainly as comms aircraft. photos only show smooth cowling.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3227960)

Stinson Reliant, used by General H.D.G. Crerar, shown here with his pilot and ground crew, Grave, Netherlands, 11 Apr 1945.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4233424)

Stinson Reliant, used by General H.D.G. Crerar, shown here with Flt Lt. J. Davis, AFC, 1945.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3545911)

tinson SR-8C Reliant Reg. No. CF-BBI, of Canadian Colonial Airways Ltd., 1938.

(Nino Blazanovic / ConcordeNick ArtPhoto)

Stinson SR-8 CM Reliant (Serial No. 9733), CF-AZV.  The Stinson Reliant was introduced in 1936 and could accommodate a pilot and four passengers. It was manufactured by Stinson Aircraft Corporation in Michigan. The gull-wing Reliants were very popular airplanes and more than 1,000 of them were built before World War II. The fuselage, tail surfaces and wings were of welded steel-tube construction – typical of the period. The whole framework was covered with cotton.

The aircraft on display at the museum was owned by Canadian Airways from 1936 to 1941, when ownership was passed to Canadian Pacific Airways. This aircraft spent most of its life flying from Winnipeg and Lac du Bonnet, Manitoba. It was donated to the Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada in Winnipeg, Manitobam by the Richardson Foundation.  (RAMWC)