[1] The Great Lakes Trophy was awarded in 1930 and 1931 to the fastest plane with an engine of 510 cubic inches or less that participated in the National Air Tour.

Because of problems recovering from flat spins, the top wing was swept back and that is what most people recognize first when looking at a Sport Trainer.

[4] The remaining stock of aircraft parts, as well as a complete set of drawings, were purchased at a bankruptcy sale by Charles E. Smith of Willoughby, Ohio.

[5] As the years went by, the original Cirrus engine installation was replaced by Warner radials, inline Menascos or Fairchild-Rangers, and horizontally-opposed Lycomings, Franklins, or Continentals.

Tex Rankin, a stunt pilot of the 1930s and 1940s, made the Great Lakes Sport Trainer famous.

Other pilots who made the Great Lakes reputation famous were: Hal Krier, Hank Kennedy, Bob "Tiger" Nance, Lindsay Parsons, Dorothy Hester, Betty Skelton, Charley Hillard, and Frank Price.

The first United States entry in a world aerobatics contest was a Great Lakes biplane that Frank Price of Texas took to Eastern Europe in 1960.

During the 1960s, Harvey Swack of Cleveland, Ohio, obtained the rights to the Sport Trainer design and all the factory drawings for it.

[7] In 1978, Dean Franklin bought Champlin's interest in Great Lakes and the factory, inventory and several airframes in various stages of completion were moved to Eastman, Georgia.