Hoosier Air Museum hosts seminar on Auburn and aviation

The winged hood crest from a 1937 Cord 812 SC Phaeton. Photo by Jill Reger.

We all know the Auburn Automobile Company for its achingly beautiful and meticulously engineered cars, especially from the 1930s. Many of us likely are unaware, however, that its automobiles actually had close ties to the development of aviation. That’s the heritage that the Hoosier Air Museum of Auburn, Indiana, will present in a seminar on Monday night, August 8, at the museum’s headquarters.

These ties that bind airplanes and automobiles go back generations. In the mid-1920s, the Stinson Aircraft Company turned to Detroit for financial support, resulting in a new monoplane that Stinson called the SM-1 Detroiter. The plane, along with the SB-1 Detroiter biplane, quickly proved a financial success, giving Stinson the capital needed to expand operations and incorporate, renaming itself the Stinson Aircraft Corporation.

E.L. Cord, posing with an Auburn. Photo courtesy Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum.

In September of 1929, E.L. Cord branched out from automobile manufacturing to acquire a 60-percent share in Stinson, perhaps better positioning the company to survive the ravages of the Great Depression. Cord Corporation provided additional capital, and in 1930, Stinson’s product range included six models, stretching from a four-seat personal aircraft (the Junior) to a three-engine airliner (the Stinson 6000). The death of company founder Eddie Stinson in a 1932 airplane crash marked the beginning of the end for Stinson, which passed through a series of owners that eventually included Cord, AVCO, Consolidated Vultee and Piper.

E.L. Cord’s passion for aircraft was shared by senior staff at both Cord and Auburn, many of whom were experienced aviators. Brothers August and Frederick Duesenberg also had ties to the aircraft industry, moving from St. Paul, Minnesota to Elizabeth, New Jersey in 1919 to build aircraft engines for the war effort overseas, returning to the Midwest only after the end of hostilities brought an end to government manufacturing contracts.

These and other air-to-ground connections will be examined in depth by Ethan Bowers, activities manager at the Hoosier Air Museum, which is located at 2822 County Route 62, Auburn, Indiana. Admission is free. For more information, visit HoosierAirMuseum.org.

See original article at" https://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2016/08/04/hoosier-air-museum-hosts-seminar-on-auburn-and-aviation/