The SP-1 sailplane was the brainchild of William Hawley Bowlus, an engineer who had worked for Ryan Airlines on the NYP – Charles Lindbergh's history making Spirit of St. Louis. As a teenager in California's San Fernando Valley, Bowlus had been a glider enthusiast. He designed and built 15 gliders between 1911 and 1928, and in January 1929, he completed work on the Albatross, his first true soaring plane.
The Ryan ST family of aircraft (including the ST, STA, STB, STM, STK and STW) were some of the most popular and successful lines of civilian sport airplanes in history. First introduced by the San Diego company in 1934, the original ST (sport trainer) design was a two seat, open cockpit monocoque fuselage aircraft fitted with a 95-hp Menasco B4 inverted inline engine. Only five were built before Ryan introduced its peppier successor, the STA.
Introduced in 1938, the Piper J-3 Cub, with its characteristic black lightning bolt, became an immediate success with the flying public. By 1947, when the last J-3 model was produced, a total of 14,125 had been built.
The history of the famous Pitts Special began in 1942 when Curtiss Pitts, a crop duster and manager of a small airport in Florida, became captivated with aerobatics. Lacking the funds to purchase a plane, Curtiss Pitts built his own aerobatic aircraft in 1944, the Pitts Special. It is widely accepted that the Pitts Special is the standard by which all other aerobatic planes are judged.
After the Ryan M-1 became obsolete, the company concentrated on the manufacture of the Ryan Brougham, a commercial version of the Spirit of St. Louis. The Ryan Brougham model B-5 was a high wing cabin monoplane with ample room and comfort for six, and was powered with the 300 hp wright J6 series engine.
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The San Diego Air & Space Museum is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Federal Tax ID Number 95-2253027.
