The gull-wing Stinson Reliant is arguably one of the most graceful airplanes to emerge from the mid-1930s in the U.S. There were 1,327 Reliants of all types made from 1933 to 1941, in different models, from SR-1 to SR-10. All models up to SR-6 were constructed as so-called “straight-wing” Reliants, while all models from SR-7 and after, including the militarized V-77/AT-19, were gull-wings. At least 25 different gull-wing variants were built, with more SR-9Cs, powered by a 260-hp (190 kW) Lycoming R-680-B5 engine, built (65) than any other specific type. In 2020, NC18439, an SR-9C, MSN 5325, arrived at its new home at Foothills Regional Airport (KMRN). Keith Lineback is the proud owner of this beauty.
Eddie Stinson was a well-known pilot back in the 1920s and 1930s. He came from a total aviation family. Two of his sisters and one brother were all pilots. He learned to fly in September 1913, at the age of 20. He then helped support the family’s Stinson School of Flying until WW-I. Eddie served as a flight instructor for the United States Army Air Service at Kelly Field. By 1917, he had become one of the first American flight instructors to teach pilots how to successfully recover from an aerodynamic spin, one of the principal causes of fatal airplane crashes, especially in the early years of aviation. Following the war, Stinson became a household name as a stunt flyer and developed and installed the first practical landing gear brakes on an airplane. In 1921, he set a world endurance record for flight, and the following year, he worked as a test pilot for the Stout Engineering Company.
In 1925, Stinson and a group of Detroit investors formed the Stinson Aircraft Syndicate. The result was one of the first enclosed-cabin aircraft, and the nation’s first enclosed commercial passenger airliner. The SB-1 “Detroiter” made its first test flight on Jan. 25, 1926, and this concept led to a series of successful aircraft designs built by the Stinson Aircraft Company. The Detroiter incorporated a number of features that represented innovations in the early 1930s, including an enclosed cabin offering heat (which was a big plus given the cold Michigan winter), upholstered seats and side panels, and even an electric cigar lighter. The Detroiter laid the groundwork for a successful line of airplanes, including the Reliants. Eddie Stinson died from injuries sustained while making an emergency landing after the aircraft ran out of fuel in the prototype Stinson Model R in 1932. At the time of his death at age 38, Stinson had acquired more than 16,000 hours of flight time, more than any other pilot at the time.
In 1933, the first SR Reliant, powered by a 215-hp (160 kW) Lycoming R-680, took flight. Over the next eight years, the Stinson Aircraft Company kept improving and upgrading the design. The last two Reliants, SR-10Ks powered by a 450-hp (340 kW) Wright R-975E-3, were delivered to the New York City Police Department in 1941. Meanwhile, Errett Lobban (E.L.) Cord of Cord (Automobile) Corporation acquired 60% of Stinson’s stock in September 1929. His ownership provided additional investment capital to permit Stinson to sell its aircraft at a competitive price. With Cord’s influence, the Stinsons, of course, grew a little more luxurious with each iteration. Following WW-II, the Stinson Aircraft Company underwent a series of ownership changes, first by Aviation Corporation (AVCO), and later by Consolidated Vultee. In 1948, the Stinson company was sold to the Piper Aircraft Corporation.
Keith Lineback points out some of the features in his SR-9C which were considered luxury items in 1937, the year his plane was delivered. “As an example, the instrument panel is shock mounted. Back then the instruments were typically hard-mounted and hard-wired into an airplane, so they would get shaken into unreliability. So, the Stinson was designed with the center instrument on a little shock mount type system, one of the first airplanes to incorporate that. The Stinson also featured oleo shock struts that crossed in the middle of the airplane. It is really a clever design, and it helps make my landings look surprisingly good! There are other accessories that reflect the automobile maker’s influence, such as door handles which are from an automobile, the windows roll down like an automobile, and the Stinson’s glass is automobile-style safety glass all the way around.”
It was almost inevitable that Keith Lineback would become a pilot. He grew up in the Atlanta area; his father was a WW-II guy and was an instructor pilot in P-38s and B-25s, as well as several other types. Later, he flew for Piedmont Airlines, then a local service carrier based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. “Dad was based in Atlanta, and when I was about 6 or 7 years old, he bought a Cessna 175. I frequently flew with him and I was hooked. I loved flying, so every time dad went to the airport, I tried to go with him. The final straw for me occurred in 1969. Boeing was touting its brand new 747 and included a whistle stop in Atlanta to show it off to Delta and Eastern Airlines. I saw that big plane and decided that I wanted to become an airline pilot. When I graduated high school, I went to Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne and went through their aviation school. However, I went back to Atlanta and could not find a job. It was an extremely competitive environment.”
Lineback continues: “Flying for Piedmont, Dad had friends in Winston-Salem, including one who was a traffic reporter, flying a Cessna 152 for a radio station. He got paid for it, but I did the flying for free because I needed the time. I did that for a year or so, and then my dad, then living in Ormond Beach, Florida, bought a Citabria. He taught me how to fly a tailwheel, and I was hooked on tailwheels! I thought they were the best ever. Then he made a suggestion which helped form the trajectory of my life. There was a fellow at Ormond Beach Airport who ran a banner-towing service. Dad made him an offer he couldn’t refuse, ‘I’ll lease you my airplane for really cheap, but you have to hire my son.’ That is how I got a job as a banner tow pilot and absolutely loved it.”
Keith landed his first airline job through one of his father’s fellow pilots. Warren Wheeler had already made his mark as the first African American pilot hired by Piedmont Airlines and went on to establish what is often recognized as the first Black-owned airline in the United States, Wheeler Airlines, which was based at Raleigh-Durham Airport. He was finally in the right seat of an airliner, a Beech 99.
He recounts, “Flying for a Part 135 commuter airline in the 1980s was far different than it is today. I mean, we would fly 140 hours a month and we didn’t have time to complain. You just did what you did. There were not a ton of regulations, and not a lot of corporate structure as there is today. We worked 13 days on and 1 day off, and that started to grow old. Fortunately, I had a friend, Jim Crawford, who was flying for Atlantis Airlines, another commuter carrier based in Florence, South Carolina. He spoke with the chief pilot on my behalf, I had a phone interview, and he hired me on the phone … under one condition. He said, ‘I’m glad to have you come down, go through school, but if you don’t work out, I’m going to fire you AND Jim.’ Fortunately, he never had to follow through on that threat!”
It was 1984 and after a few months flying right seat in the Twin Otter for Atlantis, Lineback graduated to the left seat (FINALLY), and, later, the BAe Jetstream. He continues, “Obviously I had been putting applications in with Piedmont the entire time. I finally got THAT call in June of ’86. That was 40 years ago, and what a ride it has been! I progressed, starting with the F-28. During my career, I flew the 737 series, 727, 757, 767, A320, and A330. I will be finishing my airline career as a 777 captain.”
So, how did Lineback come to own this beauty? He responds, “That goes back to dad. He was a civilian instructor at Piedmont Aviation in Winston-Salem before the war, and he instructed in Stinsons. When war broke out, he was drafted and, as he was already a flight instructor, he went right back through the same course that he had been instructing. He wound up instructing in the P-38, but he loved those Stinsons. When I finally saw a picture of one, I thought that it was the coolest airplane ever and I wanted one. When I was in school, I used to doodle by drawing pictures. I guess you could call it an obsession.”
That planted the seed. As he was getting closer to retirement and starting to get a little more financially secure, he began keeping an eye out looking for one. By this time, he owned a Stinson 108 Voyager, which he loves, but was always keeping an eye out for a Gull. Lineback continues, “In 2020, while it seemed like everything was on COVID lockdown, I was sitting at home, amusing myself by watching grass grow. I decided to use that time to see if I could find a Gull Wing. I had heard about RARE Aircraft, Ltd., in Faribault, MN. I was searching on the website for the Stinson Club, and somebody was talking about an SR-9C that was in Las Cruces, NM. The owner was disposing of his Stinson to RARE Aircraft and getting a Waco. I learned that this SR-9C has quite an extensive history, serving in several capacities. It was built as a corporate transport for Tulsa Winch Manufacturing Corporation and was delivered on August 11, 1937. It changed hands several times prior to 1942, when it was drafted into service by Pacific Air School in Tucson, Arizona for use by the Army as an instrument trainer. In 1943, it made its way to the Defense Plant Corporation in Washington DC, where it remained until 1945. After the war, it appears to have been used by a commercial operator in Syracuse, NY for five years. From that point, it bounced around from owner to owner, some corporate, some private, and at least one museum, until it ended up in El Paso.”
Lineback continues, “I called Roy Redmond, founder of RARE Aircraft, and asked him what he was going to do with the airplane. Roy said he hadn’t decided yet, so I asked if I could come up and get a look at it. I took one look and it was absolutely love at first sight. I asked if he would be interested in selling it to me.” Redmond’s response convinced Lineback that he had come to the right place. He answered, “We’d have to do a bit of work to the airplane before we sold it. Our reputation is high, and we would not sell an airplane that is in rough shape, and this one’s kind of in rough shape.” I responded, “No problem by me.” “I flew up there and looked at the airplane, and by the time I got up there, the engine was off it. They were working on the wingtip, which had some damage, and they were also working on the wheel pant, which had also sustained some damage. They had some of the interior out of it. I was in love with it, but Redmond was still unsure about what he was going to do. It had 3962 hours on the airframe at that time.”
Lineback really liked it, and sort of begged him not to break it down into parts and use it for a rebuild. He told Redmond, “I don’t think I can afford a full rebuild but if you will just fix what needs to make it flyable, maybe I can afford that.” “Just about that time, things were slowing down everywhere because of COVID, and I think they decided that it would be a good idea to grab some work while they could. They went ahead and installed a new motor, a 300-hp R-680-B13, along with a new prop. They fixed that wingtip and repaired the wheel pant. While they were at it, RARE Aircraft moved some instruments around for me and they took some instruments out that Lineback did not really think were needed anymore. The previous owner had installed some first-rate avionics, starting with a really nice Garmin stack right down the left side. It’s got a GMA 345 audio panel, an AG Tr 225 com, which all this is Garmin, and then it’s got an AG 5 attitude indicator and X375 nav, which moving map with ADS-B In and Out, and it will tell me ‘Traffic, Traffic,’ just like the airliner. The original sling seat in the back had been replaced with a bench made from plywood and 2X4s. I removed it and asked RARE Aircraft if they had a pattern for the sling seat. They sent me an original 1937 sling seat with original 1937 leather on it. I had that replicated, and then I had them make the bar that holds the seat for the sling, and they put that in, and that made it super comfortable, like a hammock.”
Keith Lineback turns 65 in October, which means retirement from his airline job. That will give him more time to work on a couple of small issues, mostly cosmetic. He notes, “The pilot side window is supposed to roll down, and it does not. Apparently, somebody didn’t have the regulator for it, so it remains closed. I found a regulator and some original window cranks from an airplane that had crashed in Alaska, and I’m going to install that on the left side.” We all need projects to keep us active in retirement, and Keith certainly has a beautiful project to keep him occupied.
Great article!
Thank you, Gary. This was a fun one!