Stinson 108-2 Voyager N9270K (c/n 108-2270) was owned by Goodyear and fitted with the Terra-Tire undercarriage unit for trials around the Akron area in the summer of 1956. It is seen here making light work of a rough field with the barrel-like tyres installed

The Stinson uses the 24in (61cm)-wide footprint of its Terra-Tires to roll across a field full of puddles and ditches with ease during trials. A large variant of the tyre was developed for use on the MM-1 Teracruzer missile-carrying vehicle built by the Four Wheel Drive Auto Company to transport the USAF’s Martin MGM-13 missiles.

The Stinson 108-2 was powered by a 165 h.p. Franklin six-cylinder horizontally opposed air-cooled engine and was typical of the sort of lightplane to which the Terra-Tire was intended to be fitted. Little more is known about the fate of N9270K after its tenure with Goodyear, other than that the registration was cancelled in 1989.

The Voyager demonstrates its ability to deal with uneven surfaces on an obstacle course made of wooden blocks and planks during trials at Akron Fulton Airport (now Akron Executive Airport), which was opened in 1929 as the Goodyear Airdock, where the company’s airships were built, and which also served as the Navy’s NAS Akron.