TWITT
came into being in June 1986 at Gillespie Field in El
Cajon, California, as the brain child of
co-founders Bob Fronius, Marc de Piolenc, Richard Miller
and Hernan Posnansky. They took a basic idea for a
tailless, high performance sailplane and gathered around
them a small group of engineers, craftsmen and pilots
who shared their fascination with tailless
aircraft. They envisioned achieving high
performance flight with a flying wing utilizing an
electro-hydraulic control stabilization system to assist
the pilot in flying at the extreme aft limit of the
aircraft's center of gravity. It was anticipated
this, when coupled with a flying wing’s low drag
coefficient, would result in significantly higher L/Ds.
Their initial goals were to: promote the design
and construction of tailless and all-wing airplanes;
provide a forum for the exchange of ideas and experience
through guest speakers and a monthly newsletter;
assemble a technical library devoted to tailless
aircraft, and; ultimately to build at least one powered
tailless airplane and one high-performance tailless
sailplane.
In the
past 30 plus years since TWITT was first formed,
it has maintained a core group of more than 80 worldwide
members. The membership is comprised of all types
of engineers, theorists, pilots, and model aircraft
enthusiasts who share TWITT's common goals,
including such notables of tailless flight as Dr. Karl
Nickel, Peter Selinger, Reinhold Stadler, Don Mitchell,
Al Backstrom, Bruce Carmichael and Dr. Paul MacCready.
Although the goal of building an aircraft is no longer a
reality due to the high construction costs and legal
liability issues, the other aspects of the organization
still remain and are quite active. This web page
is an example of TWITT's continuing efforts to
its members and other interested enthusiasts. We are always
looking for new material that can be added to the web
site to provide the broadest range of information for
the public to access in learning about the benefits of
flying wings over conventional aircraft.
For
years TWITT held monthly meeting, but due to
exhausting the sources of speakers reverted to holding
bi-monthly meetings at its headquarters in Hanger A-4,
Gillespie Field, on the third Saturday of the month at
1:30 PM, beginning in January of each year. In
recent years it has been difficult to find knowledgeable
and available speakers, so the meetings have been
sporadic, although there is always someone at the hanger
on the designated third Saturday. Meetings are
held when we can include a featured speaker whose
presentation would provide the membership insight into
some phase of tailless flight or aerodynamic phenomenon
related to the development of tailless aircraft.
Throughout the past years speakers have included:
Dr. Paul MacCready, Jack Lambie, Bruce Carmichael, Karl
Sanders, Kermit Van Every, Bruce Hinds (B-2 Test Pilot),
Barnaby Wainfan (Facet Mobile), Al Bowers (NASA Chief
Engineer) and Irv Culver (Culver Twist). Films,
slides and hands-on activities are included whenever
possible.
In addition to the meetings, a 12-page newsletter was
published each month which included extensive details of
the last meeting (when held) so the entire membership
could share in the information exchange. The
newsletter also included letters discussing various
projects, asking for advice, or sharing other relevant
information. Technical data which has come into
the library is also published.
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