then flown and delivered from here to buyers. Stinson Aircraft Corp. sold a remarkable 18 SB-1 Detroiters by the end of 1926, completing manufacture of 10 aircraft, while the prototype SB-1 was sold to Horace Dodge, son of one of the Dodge Motor Cars founders. Northwest (today Delta Airlines) sold its first passenger ticket in July 1927, on their first of several SB-1s (and later SM-1s). By this time, the Stinson Corp. had erected their own concrete-floored steel hangar at the airfield, where they could complete the aircraft assembly process of attaching the wings. The finished superstructure fuselages were simply pulled through the center of town to the airfield behind Ford Model TT trucks, while the wings were put on trailers. Toward the end of 1926, Stinson Aircraft Corp. began developing their next generation SM-1 (Stinson Monoplane type 1), a six-place monoplane initially powered by the more powerful Wright J-5. The maiden flight took place in the Spring of 1927. Coincidentally, the new monoplane had nearly the same wing dimensions and many similar design elements of the Ryan monoplane flown in Lindbergh's famous transatlantic flight of May 1927. This model eventually replaced the biplane completely, and by 1928 the SB-1 was out of production by the time the FAA finally got around to officially certificating it. The early SM-1s were built and flown out of Northville, but the company outgrew its facilities and left Northville by 1929, moving to Wayne, Michigan, which was next to the site of the Detroit Industrial Airport. Business was steadily increasing, and Stinson delivered 121 aircraft in 1929. Automobile mogul Errett Lobban (E.L.) Cord acquired 60 percent of Stinson's stock in September 1929, and his Cord Corporation provided additional investment capital to permit Stinson to sell its aircraft at a competitive price while still pursuing new designs. At the height of the Depression in 1930, Stinson offered six aircraft models, ranging from the four-seat Junior to the Stinson 6000 trimotor airliner. Eddie Stinson did not live to enjoy the success of his company. He died in an air crash in Chicago, Illinois on January 26, 1932, while on a sales trip. 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. The Stinson name did not last for long past the end of World War II. Eddie