T. Claude Ryan had a long and illustrious career as an aerospace engineer, starting many storied companies, including
Ryan Aeronautical Corporation and the
Ryan Aeronautical Company. Late in his career, in 1969 he sold Ryan Aeronautical to
Teledyne and it became
Teledyne-Ryan, with Ryan remaining as
chairman emeritus. He started yet another company
Ryson Aviation with his son,
Jerome Ryan and designed a new aircraft designated the
ST-100 and named the Cloudster in honour of the
Douglas Cloudster that he had purchased in 1925 and renamed the
Ryan Cloudster at that time. The ST-100 was intended to be first and foremost a motor glider and second a light aircraft to be flown cross country under power. The aircraft is made with all-metal construction and features a wingspan. The wing has
flaps with a range of -12 to +60° and a flap-
aileron interconnect. The landing gear is conventional and features
wheel pants. Power is supplied by a
Continental O-200-A mounted in
tractor configuration. The ST-100 has two batteries to ensure that the engine can be restarted in flight. ==Specifications (ST-100) ==