Sky Baby in 1950

Around 1950 I met a man who had built a little airplane which he called the ‘World’s Smallest’. He designed and built the airplane he called ‘JR’ but was not able to fly it himself. He had problems getting a test pilot who wouldn’t crash the plane during testing. I guess he needed a real test pilot. I flew it with no problem. I was the only test pilot who was able to fly it successfully without cracking it up.

Not long after that, I moved my family to California. I began teaching myself how to crop dust while I was working for Northrup and Lockheed as an aircraft mechanic. In my spare time, I decided to help build and be the test pilot on the Sky Baby project with Stits. Sky Baby was the world’s smallest airplane according to record books in 1950.

I flew Sky Baby at the Detroit Air show in 1952. That little airplane really was a crowd pleaser and I enjoyed flying it for exhibitions. However, as fun as it was to be a co-builder and pilot of Sky Baby, problems developed between myself and my partner Stits. My name failed to be mentioned in much of the publicity surrounding the success of the Sky Baby project. It was at this point I decided to go my own way. I knew I could build and fly an aerodynamically superior plane that would take the world record in my name. So, I said adios to Stits and the airplanes (JR and Sky Baby) that he couldn’t even fly. The race was on and I was in it full throttle.

Bumble Bees 1984 – 1986

In 1955, I moved my family to Tempe, Arizona. In my spare time I began creating the plans for my World’s Smallest Airplane project. I had already decided to build a smaller airplane than the current record holder, Sky Baby. From my personal experience of flying JR and Sky Baby, I knew what had to be done to create a lighter, safer, and more aerodynamic airframe. So, 25 years later, in 1980, I finally started building the next world’s smallest airplane in my workshop in Tempe Arizona. I called my new project the Bumble Bee I and the workshop was dubbed ‘the skunk works’. On a side note, Skunk Works was the name of a top secret R & D team at Lockheed Aircraft Corp. back in the 1950’s, so I thought it was appropriate for my new secret airplane project workshop too.

After numerous test flights, I flew The Bumble Bee I for the record in 1984. It was quite a challenge to fly, but even at the age of 60 I still had the edge. However, once wasn’t good enough, so I built an even smaller airplane called the Bumble Bee II and bested my own record in 1986. The Guinness Book World record was mine, twice!