Stout Air Services

William Bushnell Stout was born on March 16th, 1880 in Quincy, Illinois. Stout's aviation career began as a result of his success in his automotive efforts. He began to build a number of all-metal aircraft designs, which, like the earliest aircraft designs of Andrei Tupolev in the Soviet Union, was based on the pioneering work of Hugo Junkers.

Stout developed a thick wing monoplane and his design of an internally braced cantilevered wing improved the efficiency of aircraft. In 1924, the Stout Metal Airplane Company was bought by the Ford Motor Company. In August 1925, Stout inaugurated Stout Air Services, which operated the first regularly scheduled airline in the United States.

LINK: National Photo Company Collection (Library of Congress)
LINK: More information about William Stout on Wikipedia.