Stits DS-1
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| name=DS-1 "Baby Bird" | image=Stits DS-1 (7-29-2023) (cropped).jpg | caption=Stits DS-1 Baby Bird }}{{Infobox Aircraft Type | type=Homebuilt aircraft | national origin=United States | manufacturer= | designer=Don Stits | first flight=25 August 1984 | introduced= | retired= | status= | primary user= | more users= | produced= | number built=1 | program cost= | unit cost=$5,000 in 1984 | developed from= | variants with their own articles= }} |
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.{{cite web|title=Stits SA-2A|url=http://airandspace.si.edu/collections/artifact.cfm?id=A19730248000|accessdate=1 September 2013|archive-date=6 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006101703/http://airandspace.si.edu/collections/artifact.cfm?id=A19730248000|url-status=dead}}
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.{{cite web|title=Stits DS-1|url=http://www.airventuremuseum.org/collection/aircraft/Stits%20DS-1%20Baby%20Bird.asp|accessdate=1 September 2013}}
Operational history
Thirty-four flights took place in 1984 with United States Navy pilot Harold Nemer at the controls.{{cite news|newspaper=The Montreal Gazette|date=13 September 1986|title=The Baby Bird Flies}}
Specifications
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See also
References
{{commons category|Stits DS-1 Baby Bird}}
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{{Stits aircraft}}
Category:Single-engined tractor aircraft
Category:Aircraft first flown in 1984
Category:1980s United States experimental aircraft