Stoddard-Hamilton Aircraft, based in

Arlington, Washington Arlington is a city in northern Snohomish County, Washington, United States, part of the Seattle metropolitan area. The city lies on the Stillaguamish River in the western foothills of the Cascade Range, adjacent to the city of Marysville. It ...

, was a designer and supplier of high-performance

homebuilt aircraft Homebuilt aircraft, also known as amateur-built aircraft or kit planes, are constructed by persons for whom this is not a professional activity. These aircraft may be constructed from "scratch", from plans, or from assembly kits.Armstrong, Kenn ...

kits, offering parts and plans to homebuilders. The company's popular ''Glasair'' aircraft series are

low wing A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing confi ...

, two-seat (side by side)

fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass cl ...

designs. The Glasair TD of 1979 was the first pre-molded composite aircraft kit on the

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation service ...

market, introduced at the 1980 EAA Oshkosh Airshow. The company was started by Tom Hamilton and named, tongue in cheek, after the style of large

aircraft manufacturer An aerospace manufacturer is a company or individual involved in the various aspects of designing, building, testing, selling, and maintaining aircraft, aircraft parts, missiles, rockets, or spacecraft. Aerospace is a high technology industry. ...

s in the United States. Using Hamilton's middle and last name, the company was incorporated as Stoddard-Hamilton. Retractable gear and up-engined models were later introduced, with the Glasair III Turbo capable of speeds in excess of , and another model being fitted with a

turboprop A turboprop is a turbine engine that drives an aircraft propeller. A turboprop consists of an intake, reduction gearbox, compressor, combustor, turbine, and a propelling nozzle. Air enters the intake and is compressed by the compressor. ...

engine. In the mid-1990s, Glasair introduced the

Glastar The Glasair GlaStar (sometimes Glastar) is an American amateur-built aircraft that was designed by Tom Hamilton and produced by Stoddard-Hamilton Aircraft and later Glasair Aviation. It was first flown in 1994 and was superseded in production ...

, a high-wing, short-field capable utility aircraft with two seats. In 2001, Thomas W. Wathen purchased the assets of the Glasair from bankrupt Stoddard-Hamilton Aircraft. He combined New Glasair LLC with New GlaStar LLC and continued production of the Glasair and GlaStar kits at the Arlington factory, marketing them under the

Glasair Aviation Glasair Aviation USA, LLC is a Chinese-owned aircraft manufacturer based in Arlington, Washington that produces the Glasair and Sportsman 2+2 line of homebuilt aircraft. More than 3000 Glasair kits have been delivered worldwide. History To ...

name.

Aircraft

* SH-1 Prototype *

Glasair I The Glasair I, originally built as the prototype Glasair TD taildragger, is a high-performance homebuilt aircraft built of fiberglass. Created by Tom Hamilton as a fast, two-seat kitplane, the Glasair TD was derived from the earlier Tom Ham ...

* Glasair II * Glasair III *

* T-9 Stalker

References

External links

Defunct aircraft manufacturers of the United States Arlington, Washington {{aero-company-stub