Motor Products Corporation - Specimen Stock Certificate

Specimen Stock printed by American Bank Note Company. Detroit, Michigan. The Stout Batwing was an innovative experimental aircraft featuring a low aspect ratio flying wing, created by William Bushnell Stout. This aircraft utilized wood veneer for its construction and represented an early instance of cantilever wing design. Notably, the internally braced wing was among the first American aircraft to be designed without the use of drag-inducing struts. During World War I, in 1917, Stout was working for Packard when he was appointed as a technical advisor to the War Production Board, which awarded him a contract to create an aircraft. With funding from the Motor Products Corporation, Stout developed the 'Batwing' aircraft with the intention of marketing it to the United States Army Air Service. His initial foray into this design was the 'Batwing Glider', an all-wood flying wing glider tested at Ford Airport in 1926. Stout's design earned the nickname 'Bushnell's Turtle', drawing a comparison to the unrelated shape of David Bushnell's American Turtle.