A Brief History of VSTOL

VSTOL Aircraft Corp. may seem like a newcomer to the ultralight/ light plane market, it is, but it has deep roots. 

The CEO and Senior Designer of VSTOL Aircraft Corp. is Dick Turner, raised in Wichita, Kansas. He started in aircraft by being on the tooling crew (optical instruments specialist) that built the first 747. He was there for the birth of one of the largest aircraft ever built. He also did a tour of duty at Cessna's Twin Division. 

Dick was one of the early ultralight pioneers; he started Starflight Mfg. Inc. of Liberty, Mo. in 1980. Starflight Mfg. produced several different models, including the Starfire weight-shift, the TriStar, one of the first three-axis ultralights, later the DBL. The DBL was the first tandem ultralight trainer. Next came the popular XC series.

Because of his popularity and influence in the industry, in 1985 Dick was chosen as the Team U.S.A. manager to take the U.S.A. ultralight team to France for the first World Microlight Championships. 

In 1986 Dick teamed up with S.A.B.C.A., a Venezuelan spray company, to produce the first specially certified ultralight crop duster for developing countries. The XC Aglite uses half the normal chemicals and vegetable oil as the primary carrier. This made it the most environmentally friendly spray machine produced so far in the custom spray industry. 

The spray aircraft, along with all the special order ultralights, kept Dick busy until the end of 1994 working back and forth between the USA and South America. In 1995 Dick and his wife Carmen permanently located their new Shop in Ft. Myers Florida. Then in 1998 it was decided to build the ultimate spray plane, resulting in the current SS2000 and SST2000 which also became the new patrol and, sport machines. With over four hundred aircraft flying in the USA, Central and South America, South Africa, Finland and Mexico, Dick and his group look forward to supplying the world with unique aircraft for years to come