Stinson were a Michigan based company founded in 1926. They soon produced the first American cabin monoplane suitable for all year round
use in 'northern' latitudes. By 1939 Stinson had become a subsidiary of the Aviation Manufacturing Corporation who also owned Vultee and Lycoming. In 1940 Stinson became a division of Vultee and not long after a division of Consolidated-Vultee (Convair), but both owners perpetuated the Stinson brand. Consequently Stinson entered and exited WW2 as one of the largest U.S. manufacturers of light aircraft for civilian and military use.
The Voyager began life in 1939 as a three seat flivver powered by a 75hp engine. It was an expensive airplane with a slotted wing and flaps at a time when both were considered extreme luxuries in 75hp aircraft. Partly to cover up the fact that it only had 75hp it was
marketed as the Stinson 105 Voyager. It sold O.K. but it was obviously underpowered and early in 1940 it was replaced by the Stinson 10 Voyager with a wider cabin and engine options up to 90hp. Again it sold quite well but Stinson ended production for the civilian market in December 1941.
The post war civilian market wanted more powerful aircraft and so in 1946 the Voyager was marginally redesigned to become the four seat Stinson 108 Voyager powered by a 150hp Franklin engine. Almost 2,500 of these sold like hot cakes. In 1948 the 108 and hardly different 108-1 gave way to the 165hp Stinson 108-2 Voyager of which about a thousand were built.
However it was soon apparent that the original design could not handle all this extra power without constant rudder inputs and so in December 1948 the 108-3 went on sale. This had a much bigger tail with a bigger rudder and the rudder now had a trim tab to help the pilot control the extra torque and p-factor of the bigger engines.
The new big tail Stinson was economically superior to the Fairchild 24 Forwarder, which had been its main rival and more or less caused Fairchild to exit general aviation. There was no 108-4 and the 1949 model 108-5 offered a 180hp engine. The flight dynamics supplied are for the 165hp Stinson 108-3 Voyager which was offered for delivery from December 1st 1948.
Aircraft made with Abacus FSDS 2.3 and 3.0. This model contains all the usual animations: Doors, control surfaces, yokes & pedals in the VC and suspension.
Model, base textures and panel cfg by Brian Gladden. Flight Dynamics by FSAviator copyright 2007. Paintshop Pro paint kit and additional textures by Chris Course (Railrunner 130) Panel Bitmap by Steven Grant
This aircraft package for FS 2004 is Freeware, Copyright January 2008 No part of it may be sold or used in any compilation where any fee is charged.
This package has only been uploaded to SurClaro.com, SurClaro and the Sim-outhouse. If found on another site it may be modified and I will offer no support for the download obtained from any other site.
Installation: Unzip to your main FS Folder. All the files should go to their proper places.
Not tested in FSX and I'm not sure what works since I do not have the program.
