The Wittman Big X is a four seat high wing variant of the

Wittman Buttercup The Wittman W-5 Buttercup is a two place aircraft designed and built by Steve Wittman in 1938. Designated as the Buttercup Model W, the original aircraft is housed in the Experimental Aircraft Association, EAA AirVenture Museum in Oshkosh, WI. T ...

. The aircraft received serious attention from both

Fairchild Aircraft Fairchild was an American aircraft and aerospace manufacturing company based at various times in Farmingdale, New York; Hagerstown, Maryland; and San Antonio, Texas. History Early aircraft The company was founded by Sherman Fairchild in 19 ...

, and

Cessna Aircraft Cessna () is an American brand of general aviation aircraft owned by Textron Aviation since 2014, headquartered in Wichita, Kansas. Originally, it was a brand of the Cessna Aircraft Company, an American general aviation aircraft manufacturin ...

in the post World War II aviation boom.

Development

On a cross-country fuel stop at

Hagerstown, Maryland Hagerstown is a city in Washington County, Maryland, United States, and its county seat. The population was 43,527 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Hagerstown ranks as Maryland's List of municipalities in Maryland, sixth-most popu ...

, with Wittman's design, the

Buttercup ''Ranunculus'' is a large genus of about 1750 species of flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae. Members of the genus are known as buttercups, spearworts and water crowfoots. The genus is distributed worldwide, primarily in temperate an ...

Fairchild Fairchild may refer to: Organizations * Fairchild Aerial Surveys, operated in cooperation with a subsidiary of Fairey Aviation Company * Fairchild Camera and Instrument * List of Sherman Fairchild companies, "Fairchild" companies * Fairchild ...

engineers expressed an interest in the design and even entered into negotiations for possible production of the aircraft. With the onset of World War II, production plans were shelved, but Fairchild contacted Wittman and proposed that a four-seat version would be marketable. Wittman designed the four-place "Big X" soon afterward. When Fairchild did not follow up on production offers, Wittman was contacted by Cessna in

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the List of cities in Kansas, most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397, ...

, to demonstrate the lightweight and strong spring steel landing gear of the Big X. Cessna bought the plane and its production rights in order to use the gear on its new

Cessna 195 The Cessna 190 and 195 Businessliner are a family of light single radial engine powered, conventional landing gear equipped, general aviation aircraft which were manufactured by Cessna between 1947 and 1954.Montgomery, MR & Gerald Foster: ...

taildragger. Wittman later produced an updated version in a two-place configuration called the

Wittman Tailwind The Wittman Tailwind is a popular two-seat light aircraft for homebuilding. It is a high-wing, braced cabin monoplane of taildragger configuration. It is constructed with a steel tubing fuselage, wood wings, and fabric covering. It offers excepti ...

that became a popular homebuilt aircraft.

Design

The Big X was built in the same manner as

. It was steel tube fuselage with fabric covering and all-wood wings. The original Big X featured a 130 hp Franklin engine, later upgraded to a 150 hp.

Operational history

Big X was used as a companion plane and baggage hauler during Wittman's years as an air racer. The original aircraft was rebuilt by Forrest Lovley in 1980.

Specifications Wittman Big X

Notes

References

{{Wittman aircraft Homebuilt aircraft

Big X is a science fiction manga series and an anime series by Osamu Tezuka, about German Nazis trying to create secret weapons toward the end of World War II. The anime, which was Tokyo Movie's first work, is considered lost, with only episode ...

Aircraft first flown in 1945 Single-engined tractor aircraft United States sport aircraft High-wing aircraft