Interstate S1-B1
Cadet
N48736 (c/n unknown)
The Interstate Aircraft and Engineering Corporation first
produced the Model S-1A in 1940. 250 of
them were built for the USAAF as the
L-6.
Most contemporary references to that model, call it the
'Grasshopper'. However, in truth, all
Liaison types were given
that nom de plume during WW II.
Since all the Interstates I ever saw were
registered in that
block of N numbers which are
'ex-military'
(roughly N40000 - 80000) I assume that
this S-1B-1
was an ex L-6. The true
civilian Interstates
had a rounded rear window. This shot
was taken at Cable-Claremont
Airport in that portion of the
L.A. Basin known as the 'Inland
Empire'. Date was 1957.
This aircraft is no longer on the register
and I could not obtain
its
c/n at the time I took
this photograph. In 1945 Interstate sold the rights to
the design to Reuel Call, founder of the Call
Aircraft Company of Afton, Wyoming. A few post war
Model S-1As were built, and below is a shot
received from Callair in 1947 of what was, in essence,
the prototype of the post war Interstae,
N2923V. In the event Callair made a few S-1As and then
sold the project off
to William Diehl of Anchorage Alaska. He modified it slightly and
it re-emerged
as the 'Artic Tern'. Under a new
'Interstate Aircraft' incorporation, the model S1-B2 is still in
production today.