The Stits DS-1 Baby Bird is a homebuilt aircraft built to achieve a "world's smallest" status. The Baby Bird is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the “Smallest Airplane in the World.” as of 1984. The title was later defined as "world's smallest monoplane" to acknowledge
Robert H. Starr's
Bumble Bee II as the world's smallest biplane.
Development
The DS-1 is a single-engine, single-seat highwing aircraft. Development started in 1980 to beat
Ray Stits's record for World's smallest aircraft, the
Stits SA-2A Sky Baby flown by
Robert H. Starr. The fuselage is welded steel tubing with fabric covering. The wing is all-wood construction.
Operational history
Thirty-four flights took place in 1984 with
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
pilot Harold Nemer at the controls.
Specifications
See also
References
{{Stits aircraft
Homebuilt aircraft
High-wing aircraft
Single-engined tractor aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1984
1980s United States experimental aircraft
DS-1
Aircraft with fixed tricycle landing gear
Single-engined piston aircraft