HANDS ON
The World’s Smallest?
Adventures with very small aircraft
BY RAY M. STITS
IN THE SUMMER OF 1948, I was working at Kellogg Field, Battle
Creek, Michigan. During the usual Saturday morning bull sessions,
the subject of very small aircraft came up, along with the question—
what was the smallest aircraft that flew successfully?
Someone mentioned a 13-foot wingspan
racer built by Steve Wittman, and Henri
Mignet’s tandem-wing Flying Flea was discussed along with other small aircraft. I
asked a rhetorical question, “If I was to build
an aircraft with a 10-foot 10-inch wingspan
and a 10-foot 10-inch fuselage, would it be
the world’s smallest airplane?” A self-proclaimed expert on all aviation matters spoke
up and said, “Stits, you can’t do it.” That put-down was all the incentive I needed to
finally start an aircraft building project that I
had long thought about doing.
