The Stratoliner Society {VINTAGE}

jimmy the lid · Jan 6, 2011

Mobile Vulgus said:
Well, I am glad to see we finally have an answer on the pin.

Actually, we've had this answer since at least two years ago.

It is great to see such a clear example, however.

And, for those of you who were telling me I was wrong about this pin on the front porch of Shenanigan's -- not to name names (Rusty, Art

) -- get ready to dig deep for those cold Sammy's!

:cheers1:

Cheers,
JtL

monbla256 · Jan 6, 2011

Seems to me that there is an unanswered question on the airplane pin: Why did Stetson use a DC3 airplane for the pin when the Stratoliner was a 4 engine airplane made by BOEING, NOT Douglas , and was correctly illustrated as such in print ads and on the box? The mystery deepens

Mobile Vulgus · Jan 6, 2011

I don't think there is much of a mystery. Stetson just had no idea what it was on about where it concerned airplanes and contracted with the best pin maker available who had the TWA pin ready to go. I am sure that they assumed that no one would notice.

As an aside, did the same TWA pin get put on the Stetson Flagship model? Anyone know?

And, Jimmy may have assumed the question was answered, but the controversy continued for a long time after his noted post from 2 years ago! I waded thru all those posts and subsequent posts when I got my last Strat a few months ago and the question was still being debated. Rtl's ad settles the issue without question at this point, though.

T Rick · Jan 6, 2011

Not nearly as eye catching as the Connie, the Stratoliner was also besieged by problems in it's early stages. Still a very important piece of aircraft history, but MV nailed it above. Most companies (and individuals) are clueless as to what differs one plane from another. A couple of examples I can recall, news stories after 9/11 where the terrorists were said to have "learned to fly in a twin engine Piper like this" (picture showed a high wing single engined Cessna, the kind many do their initial training in).

Another news example after a local crash showed a low wing Piper as an example of the Cessna (high wing) that had crashed that day. They are largely clueless. To them, an airplane is an airplane.

T Rick,
PP, ASEL.

Zemke Fan · Jan 6, 2011

OH, GEEZ, guys... Can't we leave this alone? There is no way to know what the TWA / Stetson boys were thinking SEVENTY YEARS AGO. We've long known that the pin in the ads was the DC-3. But what we've never been able to determine was why. We can make LOTS of educated guesses. Mine is that they thought no one would ever notice/care. The image on the box was always right. Given the fact that nearly every Stratoliner hat that surfaces these days comes without a pin, my guess is that the pin thing happened right at the beginning and was quickly discontinued. Lots of hats. Lots of hat boxes. Few pins. If you want a real Stratoliner pin I've got repros (in two different sizes/orientations). I have the DC-3s, too.

monbla256 · Jan 6, 2011

Point taken Fred. Just a weird inquiry on my part. I did not do my cumpulsary reading of ALL previous posts here on the Forum when I joined so I missed this one !!
Onward thru thefog

Zemke Fan · Jan 6, 2011

Didn't mean to be a parade-rainer! Sorry if I seemed EXTRA grumpy today.

BTW, and not to name names or anything, the whole *rebuild* saga from a few pages back on this thread shows why sometimes it's better to just leave great old hats alone and pass them along to someone who will enjoy them *as is* instead of trying to make a silk purse outta a pretty fine sow's ear. (I missed those posts because as a GOM, I make liberal use of the *ignore* option.)

monbla256 · Jan 6, 2011

Fred H. said:
Didn't mean to be a parade-rainer! Sorry if I seemed EXTRA grumpy today.

No prob guy, I was just being an SA

RBH · Jan 6, 2011

Yep Jimmy you were right.
I knew it was a DC-3 from the start. Just wasnt sure of the writing on the plane.
Cold Sammy coming up!!!!!

RBH · Jan 6, 2011

Hey Jimmy I had the right idea from back in '06.

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?14207-Check-out-the-new-pin-on-my-Campdraft

That post was before I found the ad that stated the pin was silver.

rlk · Jan 6, 2011

RBH said:
Hey Jimmy I had the right idea from back in '06.

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?14207-Check-out-the-new-pin-on-my-Campdraft

That post was before I found the ad that stated the pin was silver.

This is confusing. The one you thought was wrong is really the one that is right, right?

RBH · Jan 6, 2011

Not really.
I have a DC-3 pin that is gold with no writing. That is the one I thought was on the Stetson Stratoliner.
I then found the ad that states the pin is silver, I still thought it had no writing.
Then you put forth your ad that proves it is a DC-3 with the TWA.
I always knew it was a DC-3 but was not correct on the TWA being on the pin.

jimmy the lid · Jan 6, 2011

RBH said:
Hey Jimmy I had the right idea from back in '06.

Absolutely! :eusa_clap Just to be clear, my reference to my own post from a couple years back was to highlight the Patty Stetson photo (which we all discovered and discussed at that time), along with an explanation for why it made complete sense that, from a marketing perspective, it didn't really matter whether the pin was a Stratoliner or not -- so long as it was tied to TWA.

Cheers,
JtL

jimmy the lid · Jan 7, 2011

OK, so, while I'm at it -- just one last point about the Strat pin...

The pin that was used on Stetson's hat was the result of a business/marketing deal between Stetson and TWA, and was not the result of some haphazard effort by Stetson execs who sourced some TWA pins without knowing what they were doing...My own belief is that the source of the TWA pins was TWA itself. And, I would guess that these pins were actually in more general use by TWA, which may explain why that pin came to be used on Stetson's Stratoliner. In other words, TWA may have had its own motives as to why it wanted that particular pin to be featured on Stetson's lids. Of course, as Fred H notes, we can never really be sure about the underlying reasons for the ultimate decisions that were made in this regard -- but those decisions certainly weren't made out of ignorance.

Cheers,
JtL

frussell · Jan 7, 2011

Fred H. said:
Didn't mean to be a parade-rainer! Sorry if I seemed EXTRA grumpy today.

BTW, and not to name names or anything, the whole *rebuild* saga from a few pages back on this thread shows why sometimes it's better to just leave great old hats alone and pass them along to someone who will enjoy them *as is* instead of trying to make a silk purse outta a pretty fine sow's ear. (I missed those posts because as a GOM, I make liberal use of the *ignore* option.)

*nice*

Mobile Vulgus · Jan 7, 2011

Here is my full Stratoliner set...

Jabos · Jan 7, 2011

Ponca huh? I was there just last week for a depo, but I bet Nathan's is long gone. Oil town so maybe owned by an oil exec?

St.Ignatz · Jan 7, 2011

I moved these Pic's a while ago so here's a re post.

Tom D.

Mobile Vulgus · Jan 7, 2011

Jabos said:
Ponca huh? I was there just last week for a depo, but I bet Nathan's is long gone. Oil town so maybe owned by an oil exec?

Not a bad guess, at least.

hatophile · Jan 7, 2011

St.Ignatz said:
I moved these Pic's a while ago so here's a re post.

Tom D.

That's a beauty!

The Stratoliner Society {VINTAGE}

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