THE WING IS THE THING (TWITT)

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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