The Stinson 108 Voyager
                Where The Stinson 108 was Built
        By Larry Westin - Revision 1 - November 28, 2004


Since I first became interested in the Stinson 108 I had always
heard the airplane was built in Wayne, Michigan, a suburb of
Detroit.  Original Stinson documentation I have accumulated over
the years all show Wayne, Michigan, as the home address for
Stinson.  (Reprinted documentation doesn't show that address,
rather the address of Univair (who now holds the type certificate
for the Stinson 108 and reprints the documentation) in Aurora,
Colorado.)

During a recent business trip to Detroit I decided to physically
locate the location where the Stinson 108 was built.  Wayne,
Michigan, is right next to Detroit, actually a fairly small city
about 2 by 3 miles in size.  My first stop was the Wayne Public
Library.  My concern was that Stinson had been out of business
for more than 50 years and no one would know anything about such
an out of business airplane company proved a needless concern. 
My first question was to ask at the public library if they had
any information about an "aircraft company which existed in Wayne
50 years ago?"  They answered immediately with - "you mean
Stinson?"  The public library was a big help, and one way they
assisted was to show me where the Wayne Historical Society was
located.  That was my next visit, and agin the individuals at the
historical society were well aware of Stinson.

The historical society allowed me to examine the aviation
material they have in their archives.  One of the first surprises
was to learn that while Stinson always used a Wayne, Michigan,
address, the factory was not located in Wayne.

Stinson built aircraft at Detroit Wayne Industrial Airport
between April 1929 and December 1948 (with some production in
Nashville, Tennessee).  Information I obtained at the Wayne
Historical Society indicates that Stinson was one of the first
tenants at Detroit Wayne Industrial Airport.  

While the airport was named Detroit Wayne Industrial Airport, the
location was actually in the Township of Romulus, immediately
south of Wayne, Michigan.  Today Romulus is an incorporated city,
and in another part of the city is the location of Detroit
Metropolitan Airport.

Wayne is about 6 square miles in size.  As an incorporated city 
suburb of Detroit there was housing in place in the late 1920's,
which is probably (I'm guessing) why the airport was actually in
the township (unincorporated area of) Romulus.  From the
information I have I believe the airport was about 640 acres (one
section) in size, 1 mile on each side.

The north side of the airport bordered Van Born Road, the south
side bordered Ecorse road, and the east side bordered the Pere
Marquette Railroad.  I'm not sure of the west border of the
airport.  The airport was along the Detroit to Chicago lighted
airway.  One source reported runways of about 3,500 feet, another
source reported runways longer than 2,000 feet.

So it was surprise that my Stinson 108, and almost all Stinson
108's (some of the very early model 108 fuselages were built in
Nashville, but I believe even these fuselages were assembled and
flight test was at Detroit Wayne Industrial Airport), were
actually built in Romulus Township, Michigan, not Wayne,
Michigan, as I had always thought.

I've been checking eBay, but so far haven't found a chart of
Detroit in late 1940's early 1950's up for auction for a price
I'm willing to pay.  If I can find a chart of the late 1940's,
and/or early 1950's, it will hopefully provide more information
on how long Detroit Wayne Industrial Airport survived after
Stinson was sold to Piper in December 1948.

Before leaving Wayne I drove to the former airport site.  Today
it is a large business park with such companies as Ford and GM
using a major portion of the old airport grounds.

I want to thank the Wayne Public Library and the Wayne Historical
Society for the generous help and information they provided.  In
fact they both went out of their way to help me, a stranger who
had never visited the city of Wayne before. 

If you have any additional information I'd appreciate knowing
more about the Detroit Wayne Industrial Airport.

Thank you for your time.

Larry Westin
233 Pratt Road
Newport, Maine 
U.S.A.     04953

(207) 278-5502