At first glance, the Stits SA-3 playboy of the Canada Aviation and Space Museum, in Ottawa, Ontario, is not particularly impressive. Its very ordinary appearance, however, conceals a most interesting story dating back more than 60 years, as suggested in the photograph above, published in the September 1957 issue of the monthly magazine Canadian Aviation.
Homebuilding, in other words the construction of aircraft by individuals working at home using plans or kits more or less ready to be assembled, is a particular aspect of the aviation craze that existed during the interwar period between November 1918 and September 1939. Although this type of activity existed in the early 1920, mainly in the United States, the fact is that the solo crossing of the Atlantic by the American Charles Augustus Lindbergh, in May 1927, thoroughly transformed the situation. The number of homebuilders skyrocketed, especially in the United States. In fact, virtually all aircraft available in North America, either as plans or as kits, came from that country.
Continued at Ingenium Channel
