EAA Sport Aviation - March 2012

supposedly first flight demonstration for the newspapers and magazines. After the newspapers spread the news about the airplane, I got many calls for demonstration flights for magazine articles and newsreel stories.

I contacted the air show management at
Detroit and got a contract for Sky Baby to
fly at the three-day air show. After the
In 1955 I received a
letter from a book
publisher representative
in New York advising me
of a new publication
called Guinness Book
of World Records.

Detroit air show there were no more air shows on the horizon, and all the magazines had their stories written, and requests for demonstration flights ended, so I decided to retire Sky Baby and start on the Playboy project I had long planned.

Lester Cole, a former member of the
famous Cole Brothers Air Show, had asked
to fly Sky Baby. He had never flown any-
thing smaller than a clipped-wing Piper
J- 3 Cub. A few days before I removed Bob’s
engine from Sky Baby, I took Sky Baby to
Chino, and Lester, weighing about 170
pounds, flew it around the pattern and
reported no unusual characteristics. Sky
Baby was retired in October ’ 52 with about
25 hours’ flying time. It was later donated
to the Smithsonian National Air and Space
Museum and is on loan to the EAA
AirVenture Museum. The Stits Junior had
accumulated about 55 hours of flying time,
and the damaged structure was eventually
cut up and put in the trash. Contrary to
exaggerated magazine stories giving the
impression that only very skilled pilots
could fly Sky Baby and Junior, they were
not difficult airplanes to fly. Being short
airplanes, directional control on the
ground required a little more attention
than longer airplanes, and any competent
pilot could easily fly them, with pilot
weight being the only limitation. The key
word is “competent.”
In 1955 I received a letter from a book
publisher representative in New York
advising me of a new publication called
Guinness Book of World Records, and it said
I was listed in the book and asked me to buy
a copy. After the book was in circulation,
several people built small airplanes to claim
the title of the world’s smallest. Some
crashed after lifting off out of ground effect,
and one claimed to have made it around the
pattern once, but to date, 2011, none have
been demonstrated at an air show or other
large public gathering repeatedly as did the
Sky Baby and Junior.

Ray Stits, EAA 136, founded EAA’s first chapter in Riverside, California. He also developed the revolutionary Stits aircraft painting and covering process.

Automated Engine Monitoring...

..of up to 29 parameters with 62 alarms. From RPM to peak-detection leaning, the EIS does it all. Includes graphical and digital displays, customizable screens, and alarms with external warning light. Models for all engines up to 9-cylinders. Find out why the EIS is the choice of thousands of pilots.